1/350 USS Truman Conversion

[gtbred]

just out standing work sgtryan.

[navydavesof]

How wonderful! Thanks for the posts. This is really nice. It helps me map out how to address the angled window bridge area I will include in my modernized USS Iowa. You are doing a fantastic job! Keep it up!

[sgtryan13]

The accolades are appreciated guys, and Dave, that is exactly the reason I try to post so many close up shots; I sincerely hope someone finds them useful and helpful in one of their builds, I know I have sure used a lot of in progress pics that others have posted to help me in my projects.

Here are a few shots of the catwalk details, and I am pretty proud of these; I am trying to see how clsoe to 100% accurate I can come with the details, just as a challenge to myself.

I am pretty proud of them so far, especially the ship's bell and the saluting guns. I have never seen either of these details modeled on one of the 1/350 builds of this kit before. Having said that, I am sure someone will post links to 50 builds where these details were added, but as I said, I have not seen 'em, so I am going to continue to pat myself on the back!

I still have details to add to these areas, the white "rail" along the flight deck edge with it's corresponding color stripes to indicate what is on the catwalk below, as well as hoses and nozzles to the fire extinguishers.

[navydavesof]

The accolades are appreciated guys, and Dave, that is exactly the reason I try to post so many close up shots; I sincerely hope someone finds them useful and helpful in one of their builds, I know I have sure used a lot of in progress pics that others have posted to help me in my projects.

Fantastic, man. Keep up the good work.

As for your signature block...you got it. Look at me, an enlisted man plotting to disrupt the Navy's entiring ship-building plan.

[kidcurrie42]

Superb work, looking forward to seeing more

Happy Modeling

John

[gtbred]

no words.

[pingjockey]

Simply beautiful! Are the hose reels scratchbuilt or PE?

[sgtryan13]

Navydave- I always tell people I was too smart to be an officer! Truth is that I am just too vocal when things were FUBAR to ever be able to mix with the brass. I once told my CO, who is one of the few really good officers I served under that the only officers I respect are Captain Morgan and Captain Crunch! I was joking of course...sort of! My signature was a toss up between the one I have now and this one:

The 3 most dangerous things in the world are-
A Capt with an idea, a 1st Lt with a map, and a 2nd Lt with a compas!

Kidcurrie- the details I have gotten on the hull and outer catwalks and elevators yet to be seen are in no small part thanks to the link you sent me a while back, those pics are great and have been a huge help.

Pingjockey- The hose reels are from the WEM set, with styrene tube for the actual hose.
*** A not on these hose reels: the reels have always been my most dreaded part of any carrier build, they have always been a huge pain in the a**, but for some reason I had been having an easy time with these ones, and your question made me curious as to why. Well, for this build I have been using both WEM sets and both GMM sets, and I went with the WEM hose reels simply because they were what I grabbed first for this part of the build. I went back last night and compared them to the GMM ones, and found that the WEM ones are signifigantly larger and seem to me to be more accurate than the GMM ones. I think it is the larger width of the base and diameter of the reels that has made the difference this time around. In the past all I used were the GMM reels, and I probably ended up scrapping at least 25% of the completed reels because they came out looking like garbage. With the WEM ones I have used 100% of the reels I completed with the exception of the one I lost to the nether world of the floor!

On to a small update:
Looking at my last pics, I really did not like the chunky look of the .50 cal machine gun shields I added to the catwalks, so I scrapped them and remade a shield and cradle using GMM photo etch for orlikons. I trimmed each side of the shield a little, then added a styrene cradle and cut down the GMM gun sight to make the attachment bracket. I like the new result 100% better. See pics below.

I also added hoses to the fire extinguishers, hard to see, but they are there.

My plan to try to make the catwalks near 100% accurate is at an end. I was pouring over pics and came to realize the angle of the flight deck near the cats on the stbd side is wrong. The straight lenght that angles from the bow section aft of the CIWS sponson to the elevator side is too long, so I need to add extra hose reels to take up some of the blank space that should not be there. I guess it is a detail that not many people notice, I sure did not notice it on my 2 previous builds of this kit, but it is off. Oh well, I really don't think it will be noticable to anyone, but it's there.

[Mark McKinnis]

What a nice build!!!

You have set the bar high for the rest of us. Well Done!!

[pingjockey]

Navydave- I always tell people I was too smart to be an officer! Truth is that I am just too vocal when things were FUBAR to ever be able to mix with the brass. I once told my CO, who is one of the few really good officers I served under that the only officers I respect are Captain Morgan and Captain Crunch! I was joking of course...sort of! My signature was a toss up between the one I have now and this one:

The 3 most dangerous things in the world are-
A Capt with an idea, a 1st Lt with a map, and a 2nd Lt with a compas!

Good one! Being a retired Senior Chief, one of my favorite Broadside cartoons was of an Ensign and a Chief standing outside of the Chiefs mess. The Ensign says "Chief, why can Chiefs become officers but officers can't become Chiefs?" To which the Chief replies "Because we have standards."
By the way the build is coming along great!

[RDC]

looking great!

Russ

[sgtryan13]

Thanks, and Russ, your build of the Nimitz is a thread I had not come across before, nice job!

I am almost done with the catwalk detailing, I have been pouring over every picture I can find in order to cram as much detail onto these catwalks as possible.

The red and green "valves" for lack of a better term are overscale, on the ships they are much smaller, but I wanted to represent them sonehow,a nd the only way I could think of was to make them a little bigger. I used some styrene rod with a handwheel from a 20 mm orlikon as the valve. I think they add to the visual impact without being too grossly out of scale.

I am having a tough time finding detail shots of the port side catwalk midships, from what I have it seems that there are few if any of the large hose reels that are plentiful on the bow catwalks. Anyone have any input on this topic? Pics are even better.

[gtbred]

wonderful builds of Supercarriers guys.

[kidcurrie42]

Superb work Sir a pleasure seeing your updates.

Happy Modeling

John

[gtbred]

[sgtryan13]

This one finally has the end in sight! I am having a lot of fun (with some minor frustrations mixed in) with this build. I have really pushed the limits of my comfort zone with some of these details, and I am very happy with the results so far. I am hoping to enter her in a few of the regional contests before I deliver her, I am thinking of Valley Con in Mass. and Mosquito Con in Jersey, but we will see.

I am finally done with the catwalk details with the exception of 3 or 4 hoses to attach to the fire extinguishers. I finished scratchbuilding all the port side radar and satcomm sponsons. The large one towards the stern is made of styrene, and the early Nimitz radar array for the PE gridwork. I may shorten the end off a little, I am not liking the look, even though it matches my pictures pretty closely. thoughts anyone???

Next up is the life raft canisters, I am thinking of trying to wrap each one vertically with a length of blacked copper wire to simulate the strap that secures it to the bulkhead, but we'll see how the test ones turn out.

[sgtryan13]

The catwalks are done, I installed all the life raft canisters, my attempt to add the cable secureing each one to the rails did not work, so they are on without it.

I added the sea sparrow launchers and CIWS, only to realize we were short one CIWS gun since it was used on another project, so the last one should be here shortly.

I scratchbuilt the "Belknap Pole" out of styrene, spares, and some PE, I think it looks really good, certainly way better than the standard "T" that is on the Tamiya Enterprise.

[gtbred]

OUTSTANDING!!!!!

[pingjockey]

Hey Ryan,
When and where is Valley Con? I want to go to a show but never know when there are any around this neck of the woods.
The build is looking great!

[sgtryan13]

Valley Con will be my first show as well, I am looking forward to it. It is (according to the IPMS link) March 27th in Chicopee Mass. I assume it must be a decent show since according to their website it is the 21st consecutive contest. I figured it's worth a short trip up there, chicopee is just outside springfield if i remember correctly.