1:350 Enterprise CV6 Finished

[jeroen zuiderduin]

Hello gents,

I think I'm ready for this... I hope. It's Trumpeter's Hornet, converted to the Enterprise. The Island and deck are from Nautilus, the PE from GMM and the hanger detail PE from White Ensign Models.



The flight deck looks very nice, although a little bit bend, I hope it will straighten when painted.





Contruction has already started a few weeks ago and after dry fitting the flight deck there are some problems. The sides needs a little push, easy fix, but at the forward elevator there's a real issue. I will have to come up with a plan for that one.









The next photos shows that the sides have to go inside a little bit.





Now the Island. I have to say at first I was a bit shocked. The big resin pieces are bend and a lot of the small parts are broken... but then again, it's a challenge.









There is a question I have: the red circles in the next photo, should there be a door or two? I can't seem to find a good reference of it.



That's it, thanks for looking
Jeroen

[Jon C Ryckert]

Check out http://www.hnsa.org . There are plans for a 1940 Yorktown that you can download. Search under 'Manuals and Docuements' and then look for 'Booklet of General Plans'. It's not Enterprise but it will be close enough.

[jeroen zuiderduin]

Thanks Jon, exactly what I need.

Cheers
Jeroen

[robertmelvin]

Jeroen, I admire your courage in taking this project on. The Hornet kit has enough issues of its own, let alone tackling trying to convert her to Enterprise. I'll be watching your build with great interest. Its always amazed me that nobody, not Trumpeter, Tamiya, Hasegawa, nobody, has given us a 1/350 kit of possibly THE most iconic ship of World War II. I'd love to try to convert Hornet to Enterprise and I'll be watching your efforts as a guide. Do you have any of the PE sets for Hornet?

Great work so far,

Bob

[jeroen zuiderduin]

Bob, Thank you for your kind words. I agree, very strange to build an 1:350 Enterprise with so many pieces from different manufacturers. On the other hand, it gives alot of learning opportunities - like the fitting of the flight deck. If you use the plastic one there is a good fit but the wooden flight deck is smaller, so keep dry fitting before glue the sides of the hanger. I'm gonna use the two PE sets from GMM, the Detail and the Extra Detail Set.

Thanks for looking
Jeroen

[jeroen zuiderduin]

Hi everyone,


Printout of the Yorktown!


Scratch built interior


Scratch built interior


Scratch built interior


Scratch built interior


Planes ready for paint

Slow progress has been made due to hesitation from my part. The hanger deck is still under construction, planes and figures will be added after a bit of weathering and the addition of WEM's hanger detail set... which is fantastic!

To place the midships elevator surround, I checked if it lined up with the wooden deck's elevator, which of course, did not. This is a bit of a struggle because the wooden flight deck is smaller in length and width. I think if I line up the fore and aft elevator, the flight deck will be in the right place and build the rest from there on. The pictures below show the wooden deck on top of the plastic deck.









... and the next photo shows the wooden deck placed on the hull







Next, I'm off to find where the weapons come along the flight deck for the Midway version. I'm still searching but maybe some of the experts on this forum can help me with this. The red dots represents the 20mm Oerlikons. The ones near the island are a guess, can't really see it on the photo's that I have how many guns there are. And I have absolutely no idea where the .50 machine guns are placed. I believe there are six of them but really need help with that.



Cheers
Jeroen

[robertmelvin]

Jeroen, looking good so far. You are even making me consider going for a wooden deck on my Hornet build! I wait for your updates with anticipation.

One just can't help but wonder, though. I can't think of a more iconic U.S.N. warship of World War 2 than Enterprise. The only one of the pre-war carriers of her class to survive, the most decorated U.S. ship of World War 2, there for nearly every major engagement. Why no 1/350 injection kit? We get Independence, we get Gambier Bay. Worthy subjects both, but wouldn't Enterprise, especially a new tool (as opposed to a rework of Trumpy's Hornet) version the quality of those two efforts, generate a frenzy of excitement in the ship building community? Couldn't it command a premium price if of sufficient quality? I realize I'm wasting my breath, but it makes no sense to me. You would think that somebody, Dragon, Hasegawa, Tamiya, even Trumpeter, would fill this glaring void!

Bob

[JTninja]

The ones near the island are a guess, can't really see it on the photo's that I have how many guns there are

I found some you might like, the first feb '42, the other may '42


IMGP1059 by JTninja, on Flickr


IMGP1060 by JTninja, on Flickr

[jeroen zuiderduin]

Bob, try that wooden deck, it looks beautifull.

JT, thanks for the pictures!

Cheers
Jeroen

[navydavesof]

Wow!

What a project. Good luck with this one! I will be watching with great interest.

[John W.]

Jeroen -
Nice work. You have some challenges ahead of you as you are seeing as you make progress. Unfortunately, you will find that the Trumpeter kit does not match the plans you have for the YORKTOWN. Also, the wooden deck does seem to have a problem in that it does not match the outline of the flight deck on the plans either. Look carefully at the port edge of both the wooden deck and the plans. On the plans, as you start from the bow and move aft on the port side, about even with the forward edge og the 5" gun galleries, the deck edge angles outward at a shallow angle. So far, so good. Just aft of the end of the gun gallery, the edge turns outward 90 degrees for a few scale feet, then returns to the shallow angle as before. The wood deck does not have this 'bump out', the plans and the real ships did. This is why you are having some fit problems.

The plan above is HORNET, so there are some structures on the starboard side that are different and/or in a different place than on either ENTERPRISE or YORKTOWN. The flight decks are essentially identical on all three ships with the exception of the very forward most part of HORNET's deck.

One suggestion I'd like to make is that if you can, find a copying store that can scale your plans down to 1/350. I have done this and it really helps to be able to lay a part over the plan to see where the problem may be. It is time and money well spent - you wouldn't need to do all the plans, just some key ones. Unfortunately, you will find that there are quite a number of key components on the model that are not placed correctly or sized correctly. Do not be discouraged, just be aware you will probably have to make some, shall we say, 'Executive Decisions'.

[robertmelvin]

Jeroen, you are making a very persuasive case to me for using that wooden deck on my Honet build. I'm going to continue to follow your progress with great anticipation and continue to mull over the proposition. So far, your work makes me seriously consider something I had previously dismissed out of hand!

Bob

[Jerry Phillips]

Jereon,

If I may! I am also watching....taking notes. Remember the splinter-shielding (STS) is wrong for the Hornet, way off for the Enterprise. CV-6 had rounded shields for her 5"/38cals (CV-8 has "squared off" STS) and there was no extension of STS between the mounts (neither did CV-8 for that matter). Looks good!

Jerry Phillips

[jeroen zuiderduin]

To all a big thank you for taking the time to reply, answer and help me with this build. I thought this conversion would be to ambitious but now I think it will be okay.

John: The fit problems are clear to me now and I did scale down some pages of the plan but only the hanger deck... not the flight deck... how silly is that. I will make some new printouts.

Bob: When I bought the wooden deck, I thought I'd have a perfect scale flight deck but as mentioned by John, it's not. I can't go back to the plastic deck, the sides of the hanger deck are fixed. Not that I'm complaining, the wooden deck still looks great and I can live with a few flaws.

Jerry: (sigh, when does the hurting stop) You're right. I will look into this first thing. Thanks for the comment.

[jeroen zuiderduin]

Quick update concerning the splinter-shielding. I'm a bit ashamed, having all these collected reference materials and not looking at it. The gun platforms are shaped wrong aswell, but I'm gonna leave them as they are.



The old splinter-shielding was replaced by a rounded one. The fact is that I'm so very very bad at maths and calculating things that I copied the size of the old splinter-shield and made a round one. The result is too big I think, but it's round.



The aft gun platform has all those angles and therefore different size shielding. Same here, old shielding removed, same size round shielding placed.





The extension between the mounts still need to be removed.

Cheers
Jeroen

[jeroen zuiderduin]

Hi everybody,

My oldest son came up, bedtime, asked me if he could help me. Bless him.



He is a master in stalling so here we go. I have been trying to get all the bits and pieces ready for the hangar deck. The planes are from Trumpeter, not done yet, some of them out of the box for the hangar deck. PE from WEM will be added for planes on the flight deck.



The figures are from L'Arsenal. When I got them, some were broken beyond repair and quite a few required alot of cleaning up. But when painted they look so much better then the PE figures.



The reason for the slow progress on the Enterprise itself is due to fit problems. Because of adjusting the sides of the hangar to make the flight deck fit, the catwalks and hangar interior wouldn't fit. I got some gaps between the catwalks and sides of the ship. The only possible solution for me was to add a L-profile under the catwalks to fill that gap and at the same time provide support.



This is how far the exterior is at the moment.







The hangar deck interior. I have added some support to make it firmer and to make sure the flight deck has a better fit when it is placed upon these beams.



Flight deck painted.


Okay... that's it. Thanks Liam, for helping me out.



Cheers
Jeroen

[robertmelvin]

Jeroen, she's looking good! You've obviously put a lot of work into planning and preparation, not to mention the work in building her. Very impressive indeed, my friend. Keep up the great work, I'll be watching for updates.

Bob

[gtbred]

nicely done.

[jeroen zuiderduin]

I have been reading some bits and pieces on this forum concerning Seamaster's 20mm Oerlikon's. I bought a set out of curiosity. It is difficult to put together, and after finally finishing one and completely screwing up two it still is difficult. Here is a little step by step on how I made it a little bit 'less difficult' by changing the order of the assembly manual. Sorry for the poor quality pictures.

First, the shield-section can be build as shown in the manual. After assembly, put it on the tripod.



Next, fold the ammunition magazine.


Fold the sides of this part. I used two blades.


Put this part and the shield + tripod together.




After assembly you can easily fold the other parts and add the barrel.


Fix the gun on something solid and put the wheel on with a toothpick. Ready for paint.


It is very time consuming but I like the result. I ordered another set, 18 is not enough

Cheers
Jeroen

[jeroen zuiderduin]

I finally started with the island. It was a lot of work to get all the parts to fit. The curved resin parts were first immersed in hot water and then straightened. Here and there some pieces broke off so they were re-created with evergreen. Looking at photos, there is an extension that is not supplied with the resin island� I do not know if that applies to the Enterprise or Yorktown, have to figure that out.






Replacement 1.1" guns from L'Arsenal.



Replacement 5" guns from Veteran Models. These are very, very nice.



And finally I got the hangar-deck ready, so the flight-deck can be placed, I wait with glue. Without flight deck it is easier to handle.












Thanks for watching.
Jeroen