disecting the 1/350 Trumpeter NIMITZ

[anyahajobuzi]

Sorry about the no replying for a while, I've been busy dealing with some shady characters in the energy department, regarding some barely used uranuim rods for my little baby....
Thanks again for everyone who is following the build, I am very grateful for all the positive comments! Thank you, way to exaggerate my accuracy and workmanship. I made quite a few mistakes on this boat. You will enjoy this one: 1 year ago I built 2 different Sea sparrows: one from the Trumpy kit, and I borrowed one from my USS Wasp. The latter one was installed on the ship more than 6 months ago, and since then I totally forgot about the Trumpy one. So when time came last week to install the front starboard launcher, I see that I have an assembled launcher, painted and detailed, pretty much ready to be installed. So without using my brain or my eyes, I grabbed it, and glued-sorry, superglued- it to the sponson. The very next day after work what do I see? 2 slightly different sea sparrow launchers in the opposite corners of the ship!
When Channel suggested I bend some parts or dribble some glue on there to make sure it's not the actual Nimitz (thank you by the way) I thought: nah,, I made my obvious mistakes on my first 150 models. And then this fiasco with the launchers happen. Idiot. Well, I am not going to brake it off, that's for damn sure. But what I am sure of, is that the contest judges will rape me over this......
So to make up for something this absurd, I installed a bunch more insane details.
Now -minus the Whip antennas and the anchor- I can really call the starboard Bow section finished, and started working my way towards the stern. Started working on the Belknap pole as well. I had to come up with something where it is both sturdy and removable (for transport)
I wasn't happy with the anchors either. Of course Trumpy's went to the garbage in the blink of an eye, But Tamiya's had a chance. After some minor
(and also very very small) detailing it does resemble the anchors used on the Nimitz. Enjoy

Laci

[Timmy C]

But what I am sure of, is that the contest judges will rape me over this......

Oh I doubt it - IPMS judges based on neatness of workmanship, not accuracy.

[Admhawk]

But what I am sure of, is that the contest judges will rape me over this......

Oh I doubt it - IPMS judges based on neatness of workmanship, not accuracy.

Ya, but now that we know, I'll be sure to take points off!!!

KIDDING!!!!!

[Timmy C]

He's gotta bring it down from that frozen wasteland of the North first!

[boomstick68]

Looking great. I think you have covered every detail on this one. Like the saluting guns.

[anyahajobuzi]

Heeeey! Big thanx for the "canadian team" for cheering me on as well, I thought I was alone with this hobby in this huge country. Yeah,I do wanna get out of the great white north, I officially hate winters. Wanna move to Arizona. This not gonna sound very canadian, but I think Arizona is best place on the planet. high five, anyone? Except for the summer, when the Yukon takes the cake. Cake, anyone?!
oooookay, I think the cabin-fever is kicking in:)

[anyahajobuzi]

Hi Boomstick!

Those are saluting cannons? I had no idea!(and I am not being ironic). In a lot of the cases I am just duplicating stuff I see on the photos... Thank you for the info!

Laci

[J. Aguilar]

Stuning work, and realistic painting. Amazing job.


cheers


JAM

[anyahajobuzi]

So just so no one is thinking that I �jumped ship� (geez, I am on fire at 12:30 in the morning) here are some of the highlights of working on the port side catwalk. I told myself weeks ago that this side was gonna take way less time , but I am an optimistic bastard so naturally, I failed at making this statement a reality.
The forward catwalk was easy , but the set of stairs at the angle deck-end of it gave me a bit of headache. Yeah, there are stairs there, let�s not cheap out, people. I didn�t , and my therapist said it turned out nice. Also, there are 2 stairwells on this stretch, the forward one being quite bit bigger than the rest of them. Altogether there are 8 stairwells on the port side, and they are ALL different either by width or length or something rather. Those guys at Norfolk are pretty creative with your tax dollars, that�s for sure. I included a photo of all these stairwells , lined up in order from bow to stern, starting from the left. I hope the differences are noticeable. If not, I still enjoyed wasting all that time.
The catwalk section further back along the port took a bit of designing. It is made up of countless pieces (or eight) to create a catwalk resembling the real thing. Unfortunately this side resonates with the rest of the kit too, where the dimensions are all wrong, the side is too short, angles are out of whack, so there is simply no room for all the things that are on the actual ship. (for instance you will run out of space before you can install the proper number of life-raft canisters, and so forth�) So I omitted some things , but I promise the finished product will look close to the real ship.
I think that the Fresnel lights and the catapult control station parts from the kit can go straight into the garbage can (or the recycling bin). Try not to touch these pieces with bare hands while handling their disposal, as to not to get infected with poor modeling skills from the Chinese. I also threw away the platform holding the landing lights. Stratchbuilding the �meatball� is not easy , but the end result should be pretty rewarding.
On this side one of the areas getting the most face-lift is the catapult control station.
I would like to suggest paying attention to installing those safety nets around the angled-deck. The lengths of them are incorrect (because they follow the incorrect angles of the angle �deckon the model) Luckily, if you have both big White ensigh PE-s , you will have enough netting to make them look accurate.
Well, it is getting dangerously close to 1 A.M., so I can only hope I listed everything here.

Happy modeling

[anyahajobuzi]

some more close-ups of the long catwalk on the port. This area took a lot more work that initially anticipated, but it's because of things like this that make sure my project will go ooze into year 5....

[Bigdaddy Mark]

I was thinking of building one of those, but now I'm not so sure.
Way over the top.

[Admhawk]

Excellent work so far! Great info on issues and nice resolutions! It'll make my build that much easier knowing what to look for ahead of time, if I ever get to building her!!!

When you are done, you should get our kit of the Iroquois! She'd make a nice escort and much less work correcting and adding deficiencies cuz there are far fewer! !

Although I have to say, it's nice to see this much dedication from the northern part of our country! Good on ya, eh!

[DWD]

That is awesome work and BAD ACE craftsmanship!!!!!!
The photoetch vent covers in the hull. . . were they from a photoetch set or did you make them yourself? Thanks for the photos. It will kind of help as a tutorial for me when I build my catwalks. Excellent work man!

[NWarty]

Holy smokes!

[gtbred]

Man,have to up my game with Coral Sea!

[Gabor]

Well done! Just like the real one.

[JimVarnellABH2USN]

Laci you are "THE MAN"

Sorry for not emailing you back yet, got hurt at work and had been in the hospital. I'm still researching the info you asked about, don't give up on my just yet.

Honestly, NIMITZ is looking great. It scares me to see how much more detail you are going to add, knowing I'll never be able to compare to the ability you have shown everyone here.
great work bud.

[JimVarnellABH2USN]

Mark, Red, and Ryan
You guys gotta step it up now, don't ya?

[gtbred]

Yeah,working on the Coral Sea.Laci build is making me do more detailing work.

[sgtryan13]

Very Very nice work my firend! And the documentation on how to go about the alterations is great as well. I wish you did this build log about 5 years ago so I did not have to figure out all the nonsense on my own!