1/350 USS Reagan CVN-76

[LE BOSCO]

hello Ryan

well done your deck is beautiful
cheers
Nicolas

[sgtryan13]

Thanks very much my friends!

This weekend was a very productive one! The flight deck got down and dirty, and I love it! I weathered this one a little heavier than previous builds, she is looking like she has been hard at work.

The island also got a lot of attention, and the major scratchbuilding of the structure is done, now for detailing. the process was simplified and sped up greatly with the use of my island templates, almost went together like it is a kit! I am really happy that those things are paying off!

[ArizonaBB39]

Excellent work so far!

[gtbred]

nicely done Ryan! still have 1/350 J.F.K and Coral Sea on hold.

[kidcurrie42]

Wow, Looks Great Happy New Year Ryan.

[LE BOSCO]

HI Ryan

a very nice weathering ,on your deck your mounting, starts to ramp up , it'll be great
happy new year
Nicolas

[sgtryan13]

Thanks guys and happy new year to you as well. GTB, get back to work!

Yesterday I had the day off, so the Reagan got some love. The flightdeck was attached to the hull, unfortunately, as I was downloading the pictures, I realized that I forgot to attach the arresting cables before attaching the deck I am mad at myself, that is a rookie mistake that I have not made in years!

Other than that, a lot of small details were done, I checked my references and was happy to find that the Reagan recieved the "Golden Anchor" award and had the gold anchors at the time I am depicting her (2006) so I was able to throw those on as well to give a nice little touch to the hull.

I made the covered stair wells that go around the ship inder the catwalks, kind of a monotinous PITA so I will probably make molds to cast these parts for future CVN's.

The island got some more work, and a coat of primer, lots of small details to add, but I am making sure I deal with all the seams before anyting else.

[boomstick68]

I think you've learned the important details on this one.

[kidcurrie42]

Looking very good Ryan

Happy Modeling

John

[gtbred]

o.k. i'll get back to work. have to sort out some things. private e-mails are on my case. by the way she looking great!

[sgtryan13]

Thanks guys! And yeah, every time i build this kit I learn or see or realize something new, which is a good thing, I guess it means I am progressing in my modeling skills, and not just staying at the same level building the same kit.

This weekend the Reagan got minimal attention, as most of my time was spent working with resin casting and mold making, and a side commission project.

I molded and cast the stairwells, the pics don't do these parts justice as I took some of them before I brushed off the resin dust from sanding them. Also very happy to report that my RAM launchers and sea sparrow missle radar parts were molded and cast perfectly, which will greatly help the detail phase of this and future CVn builds. Unfortunately I did not care for my scratch built RAMs and SSML Radars, so I made copies of the parts from the Wasp kit, and can not offer them to other modelers for sale because of copywright laws.

The catwalk bulkheads are going to get a LOT of attention this time around, as one of the my goals for improvement on this build. It will amount to a lot of random piping and junction boxes, but should add a lot to the overall look of the catwalks.

[ArizonaBB39]

Excellent work as always Ryan. Do you have a closet full of Nimitz kits? I was looking through the gallery and you've built several! Seeing all your builds make me want to get one, but the price tag is keeping me away for now. So I will continue to watch your builds and be inspired, keep it up!

[sgtryan13]

Thanks Abram. Out of all those Nimitz's in my gallery, only one, the very first one I did (to a sub par standard I might add) was actually for me. the rest, which were all much better than any CVN in my fleet, were for other people and unfortunately don't grace my shelves with their badassery.

This Reagan is for my collection, and when done she will no doubt be the flag ship of my fleet. I do have another 1980 fit Nimitz that is about 50% done which will replace the original Nimitz in my fleet. Then I think I will be done with CVN's for a bit.

The picture below really puts it into perspective: I was organizing and consolidating some stuff scattered around my shop last night, and organized all the aircraft I had scattered in every corner. What you see here is over 200 unbuilt modern Navy and Marine Corps aircraft, and this is after I have traded away / sold about 50 or so in the last few months!

[MartinJQuinn]

Ryan,

Anything new to report? Will we see her at MosquitoCon, or are you concentrating on New York?

[sgtryan13]

Hey Martin,

Not much new to report, been doing a little work on the catwalk bulkheads, but I was feeling a little burnout, so I switched over to that New York for an "easy" build. New York is nearly done, and major work will recommence ont eh Reagan shortly. It is possible, but not probable that the Reagan (sans airwing) will be done in time for MosquitoCon, but I imagine she will make an appearance there either way, weather she is actually entered or not, we'll see. Right now I am sure to be bringing the Reuben James and the NY to compete (though I don;t expect either to be a major contender), we'll see what else may make the trip...

[MartinJQuinn]

Right now I am sure to be bringing the Reuben James and the NY to compete (though I don;t expect either to be a major contender), we'll see what else may make the trip...

Says the man who won Best Ship at last years IPMS USA Nationals...

[sgtryan13]

Touche` martin! While I am still my own biggest critic, I have to be honest with myself too. I put effort into the James and New York to make them quality builds, but I certainly did not do any of the extra effort that takes good builds to the next level. They each have their flaws (which the keen eyes of you judges will find, me thinks), but I am ok with that, I had FUN building them both which was the whole intent. These weren't built to be real competitors, tho9ugh I do think I will make a good argument for NY in the "Cutting Edge" theme at mosquitocon...

This Reagan on the other hand, while I am having fun with her again, is being built to a whole different standard, hench the very slow progress. I am obsessing over every detail, seam, shine, angle, and probably some stuff I am simply imagining. I want the Reagan to be as strong a competitor in the 2014 shows as possible including Nationals, so that is the standard I am holding myself to. Right now I am competing with myself, I want to do better on this one than I did on the Bush, as that is the only real way to judge weather I am improving my skills still. So far I think this one is on track to beat out the Bush in terms of quality and detail.



Anywho, on with some progress finally! As I have stated before, one of the areas that I am really concentrating on to improve is the catwalks. These things, though small and thin, take up a lot of real estate around the flight deck, and I am hoping to make them an attraction in themselves, not just a border around the deck. I made the large vents/exhausts that are present under some of the catwalks out of styrene, and finished adding the stairwells that I cast in resin from my scratched masters. These stairwells are great, not only do they add detail, but they make attaching the PE catwalks much easier. For anyone who has built this kit, you know that the PE catwalks can test your nerves. I spent a great amount of time carefully mapping out what detials go where on the catwalks and making myself some diagrams on the tape edge. There are a couple small spots where I am going to have to do some guess work, but thanks to Ray Bean's CD's, I have photos of about 80% of the catwalks and their detials.

[sgtryan13]

Work on the catwalks is seeing some progress, lots and lots of tiny details being added, sources being old cell phones, soldering wire, and styrene and spare PE.

Everything in the pictures will be grey, with the hose reels and fire extinguishers and some green and white bits being applied after the grey is sprayed on.

All the details are from studying 100's of pictures from Ray Bean's CDs, I don't know what I would do without those!

If anyone has a good close up shot of the catwalk details between elevators 1 & 2 on Bush or Reagan and can direct me to them it would be much appreciated. That is the one area of catwalks that I don't have a real clear shot of.

[Dan K]

Lookin' good, Ryan.

[NWarty]

Seeing those PE catwalks sends a shiver down my spine

Great stuff Ryan