The Ship Model Forum

Whelp, stick a fork in her....

This was a fun little build. I've always loved the smaller contributors to the war that don't get as much press as, say battleships and carriers. USS Barnes (CVE-20) spent much of her life ferrying aircraft around the Pacific, but did contribute directly to battle via raids on Tarawa Atoll, being one of the few American Bogues to see a lot of action. She wore some sort of dazzle at that time, but I couldn't find records of it.

This model went together easily. Assembly was so simple that I decided to delve into my box of aftermarket goodies and add some flair to the little jeep carrier.

Parts included:
- Tom's Modelworks PE for CVE/CVL
- Tom's Modelworks PE for USN aircraft
- Eduard USN and USN carrier figures
- Trumpeter 1/700 USN aircraft
- Flyhawk USN cat walks, for carriers
- Scratched "mast" and additional antennae.

I chose to do a lot of experimentation on this build. I used some Tamiya tape, cut, to simulate hull plating and nipped the wings off of the aircraft. I chose to model her taking some aircraft back on board because I thought it would pose an interesting challenge to properly spot landed birds AND appropriately stage crew. I also played with some water base ideas, which were mostly successful. Additional care must be taken with the placement of "foam" on my next go around.

Successes:
- Chopping wings.
- Hull plating.
- Weathering.
- Flight deck. I'm ESPECIALLY proud here. Masking the details off was the best decision I could have made.
- Crew
- Aircraft placement
- Halyards. I doubled these up. It was a pain, but still a successful experiment.

Lukewarm:
- Painted aircraft
- Wake patterns

Loathe:
- Actually, place wake pattern here. It's just not that good.


Overall, I'm REAL happy with what took me about 14 days of work to do. 1/700 is always a total chore to detail, let alone to keep "clean." I still have much to learn on the latter.

Anyway, pictures:

















Please feel free to provide feedback. I'm got thick skin and I cannot get better without criticism.

_________________
- Chris

1/700 Saratoga w/Pontos (Needs paint)
1/700 Potato w/Kurama (On hold)
1/700 Murdertorpedoboat Ooi

Very nice and sharp! Where are those 20mm ammo boxes from? I'm curious as they add a lot of detail.
Regards,
Timothy

Very beautiful model Chris! The flight deck is superb! I have to try that. Now I want to make one like this...

How did you do the flag? it looks very nice...

- I have used Flyhawk's ammo boxes, they look very good. Did you use those?

_________________
CV-8: http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=153851
DD-436: http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=157123
CVL-24 http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=158455

Thank you.

Heh. I forgot to even mention the boxes. hypno is right. These are Flyhawk's 20mm ammunition boxes. They're easy to fold and really add a lot to the model.

The flag was wet and folded. I then CAREFULLY manipulated it, over and over again, until it appeared crumpled. basically, I copied with Jim Baumann did on a build.


Also, it has been brought to my attention that these pictures, quality wise, leave much to be desired. I'll take some more when I have time and submit those to the gallery. I also re-glossed the water since it looked rather flat.

_________________
- Chris

1/700 Saratoga w/Pontos (Needs paint)
1/700 Potato w/Kurama (On hold)
1/700 Murdertorpedoboat Ooi

Very nice! One question, though: Would they really have landed aircraft on a CVE with that many planes forward? Seems awfully congested.

Thanks, Dan.

Not sure. I know CL's recovered aircraft with a lot of activity on the deck. I used a video filmed on a Independence class carrier for placement.

_________________
- Chris

1/700 Saratoga w/Pontos (Needs paint)
1/700 Potato w/Kurama (On hold)
1/700 Murdertorpedoboat Ooi