The Ship Model Forum

Hi all,

It has been a long time since I posted a WIP on here, even though I have been busy building all this time, so I figured it was time to post one again.

I am backdating the 1/350 Kitty Hawk to her first Vietnam cruise. A little known fact is that during that cruise only, the US Navy was experimenting with the idea of camouflaging their birds for the Vietnam war. On that cruise, 1/2 of each combat squadron was painted in variations of green, green/black, green/tan, green/black/tan, while the other half was left in the typical high-viz paint scheme. The Navy didn't stick with it because they found it to be too difficult to maintain the paint schemes in the salty air, and also it made it harder for them to park and move the planes during night operations.

I think a flight deck full of phantoms, skyhawks, skyraiders and intruders in high-viz mixed with the camo birds will look totally badass and certainly be unique, so it was a no-brainer for me when I came across the pics of the camo birds when I was researching what fit I wanted to model the Kitty in.

I know a lot of the parts needed for this build are available from shapeways , but I still don't care for the shapeways parts, as they have the grainy texture even if you get the most expensive material, and I know I can make the parts from scratch to a better standard than shapeways could ever produce.

Starting with the hangar, I added 1/8" depth to each elevator opening, and am adding the large storage platforms which will be populated with various gear.

I am hoping to have this done in time to bring to the Nationals in TN this summer.

*photos of the planes are from Wikipedia*

_________________
Enlisted men are stupid, but very cunning and deceitful and bear considerable watching." - Marine Corps Officers Manual, 1894

http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html

Ah, the Shitty Kitty back before she got so grubby...

Should be fun to follow!

_________________
Sean Nash, ACG (aircraft camo gestapo)

On the ways:
1/200 Trumpeter HMS Nelson
1/700 Tamiya USS Yorktown CV-5

In the stash:
1/35 Italiari PT-109
1/35 Tamiya "Pibber" Patrol Boat
1/350 Trumpeter USS Yorktown CV-10

I believe I looked at his shop and did not see anything in the resin that will be needed on this build, but I will look again. I am searching for a high quality aft radar array, but I have plenty of time till I get to that part of the build.

_________________
Enlisted men are stupid, but very cunning and deceitful and bear considerable watching." - Marine Corps Officers Manual, 1894

http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html

The main structures for the hangar are complete and primed, I just painted them white after I took these pictures a little while ago. Finding detailed pictures of the hangar bay in the 1960's is a tall order, so this hangar is not 100% accurate but it is pretty close, there are just some areas that I could not find a picture of, so it is done with my best guess using common sense about how supercarrier hangars are generally laid out.

_________________
Enlisted men are stupid, but very cunning and deceitful and bear considerable watching." - Marine Corps Officers Manual, 1894

http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html

Looks good to me.

Glad to see you back. Still working on my Tonkin Gulf Kitty!

Really looking forward to watching this build. Having gone through your previous carrier builds and the improvements being made as you went along, this one should end up being absolutely fantastic.

_________________
On the Workbench:
1/350 USS New York (LPD-21)

In the Shipyard:
1/350 - USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7 2010)
1/350 - USS Abraham Lincoln (2003)

On the Drawing Board:
1/350 - USS JFK (1991)
1/350 - USS Hancock (1965)
1/350 - USS Valley Forge (1951)

Thanks guys, and Nice work Red! Where did you get the missile launchers and directors from? Can you post an up-close picture of them?

_________________
Enlisted men are stupid, but very cunning and deceitful and bear considerable watching." - Marine Corps Officers Manual, 1894

http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html

Hey Sgt,

I got both of them from Shapeways. I know, I know, the surface can look rough even at the highest level of material, but I got an air eraser on eBay and it took care of it so they're pretty perfect now.

Also, Shapeways now has modern USN Captain's Chairs in case you're looking.

Regards,

Scott

Like Scott said Shapeways. Post photos later today.

The hangar bay is progressing at a decent pace, I am close to where I wanted to be after this weekend, so I'll take it.

All of the hangar structures are from scratch, and yes, those are legos you see supporting them on the backside. I figure why waste time trying to ensure a 90 degree angle fit with styrene pieces when a lego brick guarantees it? Smarter, not harder! One lesson I learned well in the Marines!

These carriers, especially during the war, were absolutely packed to the gills with cargo stored in every space they could find, so that is what I am going for here. All of the piles of cargo are from Black Dog models, some cut and reshaped to suit my needs. Individual pallets of gear and boxes will be added later tonight or tomorrow.

_________________
Enlisted men are stupid, but very cunning and deceitful and bear considerable watching." - Marine Corps Officers Manual, 1894

http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html

Well detail.

Kitty Hawk's hangar Bay is complete, I'm pretty happy with how it came out.
I have gotten into the habit of pre-weathering the hulls on my builds, and it is paying Hoff nicely. It allows me to get at all sorts of spots on the ship without details being in the way or at risk of being knocked off.
A lot of ships, especially during the fast tempo of combat, develop a pretty noticeable thick line of gunk on and above the water line, I've meant to try to replicate it in the past but forgot until it was too far into the build. This time I remembered, and I love the character it adds, especially since Kitty did not have a ton of rust on her hull at this point in her career, so this breaks things up nicely I feel.

And now on to what is really going to make this carrier unique amongst my fleet:. Her airwing. This is going to test my airbrush skills, but the results should pay off big time. On this cruise, 1/2 of each squadron was painted in various types of camouflage schemes and colors as an experiment, but the Navy opted not to go with it after the tests. Since it was experimental, there was not a set scheme or pattern, so I get to have a lot of fun. Some birds were all green, some all black, some a combo of greens, and some in tri or even quad color schemes. This is going to allow me to have a lot of variation on her flight deck. Some here are still tests for me to see what shades I prefer compared with pictures of the real planes, but I can tell already that I'm going to love the way these look parked next to high-viz planes.

One of the scenes I decided on for the hangar is an engine Being removed from a phantom that took some decent AAA damage.

_________________
Enlisted men are stupid, but very cunning and deceitful and bear considerable watching." - Marine Corps Officers Manual, 1894

http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html

Hi sgtryan13,
Beautiful model.
I'm starting with mine Connie. Do you have any photos of the hangar deck (kitty hawk class) that you can share?

Thanks very much.

For my hangar references I used Ray Bean's (stillmotion graphics) photo DVD on the Kitty&Connie, available direct from him at stillmotion or possibly from freetime hobies. I also supplemented what is on his DVD with whatever I could find on google to come up with the est collage of pictures I could find.

_________________
Enlisted men are stupid, but very cunning and deceitful and bear considerable watching." - Marine Corps Officers Manual, 1894

http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html

Way better than mine!

Since it can be tough creating a seascape for a carrier that has all the over hanging decks and elevators, I decided to be smart and do it before all those things are added.
To represent the waters in the Vietnam theater of operations, I started with a muddy green base, and then went over that with a darkish blue/gray color, intentionally leaving it slightly patchy to let some of the green show through here and there.
For a base color, I am very happy with how it came out, usually I need to re-do the paint on my water a few times before I am happy with the base, but I got lucky and nailed it on the first try with this one.
And yes, I repainted my workbench in a hideous orange color to make it harder for tiny model pieces to disappear on me.

_________________
Enlisted men are stupid, but very cunning and deceitful and bear considerable watching." - Marine Corps Officers Manual, 1894

http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html

She looks great so far, Ryan ! I'm loving that hanger deck. The detail is fantastic.

Beautifully done hangar deck, Ryan. I love the flak damage on the aircraft - very realistic!

_________________
Paul
"A man's GOT to know his limitations. . . . "

Thanks fellas!

Well, I haven't been nearly as busy updating this thread as I have at the workbench, so lots of progress to report.

While waiting on the airwing decals, I have jumped ahead and been working on the island. Lots of kit parts were omitted, and others were significantly altered to backdate the Kitty. The mast was scratch built from brass rods and bars, shaped appropriately with a sanding attachment on my Dremel. The mast has a very slight taper that honestly I could have probably saved myself a lot of time and just used a perfectly round brass rod, but where would the torture in that be? The rest of the mast details are either scratch built or are repurposed and altered leftover PE or styrene parts from various kits and PE sets I have used on other projects over the years.

The island is mostly done, I have a few details to add, but I am going to do the rigging first since the remaining details are too delicate and need to wait until I am done manhandling the island.

_________________
Enlisted men are stupid, but very cunning and deceitful and bear considerable watching." - Marine Corps Officers Manual, 1894

http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html