1/350 USS Truman Conversion

[sgtryan13]

Ok, here are some decent pics of the airwing with proper lighting. I m almost done lecaling the whole airwing, just have to do the Prowlers, COD, and a couple more helos, then it is on to adding the rest of the PE details, ordinance adn drop tanks, flat coat and weathering.

[Smifh]

Hi mate I was woundering...what kind of paint do you use on the jets?

[johndon]

Great stuff Ryan

John

[sgtryan13]

Thanks John, she is almost done now!

Smifh- I actually just covered that question last night on the main forum, see the thread here: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=71587

[Keith T. Bender]

Ryan, where in CT do you live ? I lived in Norwich and New London from 85-2000 while working at EB, now it's DE. Hope to see the HST at Mosquito con.
Keith

[Mark McKinnis]

Starfighter's Decals are really sweat! The aircraft are very nice.

[sgtryan13]

Ryan, where in CT do you live ? I lived in Norwich and New London from 85-2000 while working at EB, now it's DE. Hope to see the HST at Mosquito con.
Keith

Keith, I live in Tolland, it's a really small town off of I-84 near UCONN Storrs campus. I worked in the USMC recruiting office in Norwich for a while in 2000-2001, I HATE that town! I swear it is like there is a permenant dark cloud over the entire town, something about it just depresses the hell out of me whenever I have to drive through there!

The Truman will certainly be making a stop in Jersey for Mosquitocon on her way down to Virginia. I am plugging away at her realy hard to make sure I am finished in time for the contest, I am sure I will have er done by then, my only concern is how many tries it will take me to build a display cover / case for her that I am happy with, or should say that I am willing to have on a ship that is not in my collection anyways! Luckily for me, I need 2 cases for my own carriers the same size, so if I make any mistakes on the first try, I will just use that on for one of mine and still have two more shots to get it right. I have never built a case before so it should be interesting...

[Cliffy B]

So you're bringing it down my way to VA huh? If you're coming far enough south we ought to meet up man.

[sgtryan13]

Cliffy, I was thinking the same thing, I was going to send you a PM when I get the exact timeframe figured out. My customer lives in Manassas, I believe we are meeting up around DC, and i am planning on spending a couple days in the area, seeing as I have never been to DC and I want to check out the memorials and Arlington, and hopefully make a stop at the museum of the Marine Corps on my way back up. Assuming I am done in time for Mosquitocon on April 2nd, my plan is to go to Jersey and enter the Truman in the show, and leave directly from there after the show and head to VA.

[Cliffy B]

DC is a little out the way for me right now. I'm down in Hampton Roads near NOB Norfolk. Maybe we could work something out. I don't want to take away from your DC time though.

[Guest]

sgtryan13, your model carrier is turning out to be one awesome ship. I just purchased my second ship and it 1/350 Enterprise. My knowledge is limited,..cough..cough..well, nothing, zilch, nada when it comes to ships and I just found out that tamiya enterprise needs a lot of work to look decent. I found your online build very informative. I am following it with great delight. Keep up the good work.

Mike

[sgtryan13]

Thanks Mike, good luck onthe Enterprise! That kit does need some work (especially if you want to do anything with the hangar area), but it is a decent kit, and there is plenty of aftermarket stuff to bring it up to par. A big improvement is to replace the ariwing with Trumpeter planes which I think are a lot better, though have their own flaws as well.

This airwing is getting the full PE treatment courtesy of WEM for everything except the Hornets, which are recieving PE from some leftover Tom's F-18 brass I had in my stash. This is getting mind boggling attaching all the landing bay doors! THe WEM sets come with full interiors for many aircraft, but MAJOR surgery and creative fitting is needed to use the interiors. I am using the interior brass pieces on only the A/C with open canopies, the rest of the A/C have interiors made from bits of styrene painted accordingly. With the canopies closed, you really can not tell the difference, and it is much easier to cut tiny strips of styrene to fit into the closed cockpits than it is to alter the cockpits to accept the PE parts.

I also added the white rail around the flight deck and added the correspondign colored stripes to indicate what gear is on the catwalk below. it is a tiny detail, but really adds a lot of visual interest and contrast to the flight deck.

[Cliffy B]

Hey Ryan, if you really want to get detail crazy, replicate the exposed radar on the open Hornet's nose. Just glue a very small PE circle on to the little protrusion. Airwing is looking fantastic, keep it up

[sgtryan13]

Cliffy, I have tried every diameter of rod and every circular bit in my spares bow and everything so far is way too big or way too tiny! That was and still is my intention, I just figured I would put something there in the mean time to fill the void!

[Cliffy B]

What size do you need? I may have some 1/700 PE that might fit the bill.

[sgtryan13]

Cliffy, it turned out that the answer was staring me in the face the whole time, landing gear for the airwing I am working on! I have plenty of sizes to choose from, and one will work for sure! Thanks for the offer though!

[gtbred]

[Cliffy B]

Don't you love it when that happens! Glad it worked out

[sgtryan13]

Just about finished now! These are the pics I took to show how I was thinking of spotting the airwing, and it recieved final approval, so I am in the process of fitting all the tow bars to the nose gear and attaching each plane to the deck. Some of the crew has been added (nit in these pics) with red shirts moving the ordinance onto the elevator, and some maintenance taking place on the Hornet with the nose cone opened up. Within the next day or two she will be DONE! I will post a bunch of pics of that momentous occasion!

For the purists out there, yes, I know the deck tractors are white, the yellow ones are just on loan from mine since the white ones were wet. Yes I know the crash trucks have red stripes, not done yet. Yes, I know the Truman never carried a 50 foot long St Bernard hair on her aft deck near the landing wires

Seriously though, if anyone notices a major screw up on my placement of anything, please speak up now!

[Mark McKinnis]

That is a sweet build!!!