1/350 USS Reagan CVN-76

[Keith T. Bender]

Holy crap, I just took a look at the template idea, hum the marine thought for himself for once,

It is a good idea , I will give you that much from this old swab jockey. Well not too old yet.

Keith

[mark_sch]

Wow stunning!!!!!
Mark

[JimVarnellABH2USN]

Once again Sarge, you seem to amaze me with these 350 NIMITZ's. Excellent work sir.

[sgtryan13]

You guys are too kind! Thanks!

And Keith, if you keep practicing with your crayons and "My little Pony" coloring books, once you can stay within the lines, you can make a template too!

Anyways, the catwalks are done except for the addition of the life raft canisters (I am doing a little experiemtn on these, to see if I can add just a little more to this thing). So since I had good momentum going on it this weekend I decided to put a little work in on the island and masts. I am very happy I did, because things are coming along very nice, and faster than I had anticipated.

I built this island out of thicker styrene than I used on the Bush, and it is making the work of fitting everything go easier. On the Bush, the mast was very difficult to get the correct shape on, and I was worried about it on this on as well.

On the Bush, I cut and shaped all the mast styrene with razor saws and sanding sticks, it was a slow process with many error masts thrown in the trash, and a difficult task aligning the different sections of the upright mast. Well, this time, I made sort of a platform jig to turn my dremel tool into a stationary disc sander with a platform for me to shape the masts, and I had success on the first try for both the main mast and the aft SPS49 mast! The pics of the main mast do not really show it, but the shape is a tapered square, that is all one piece, and I think should be much easier to install the yardarms to this instead of the multi-part mast I made on the Bush.

[gtbred]

Holy crap, I just took a look at the template idea, hum the marine thought for himself for once,

It is a good idea , I will give you that much from this old swab jockey. Well not too old yet.

Keith

Hey, we jarheads can think.Women,Food,Drinks etc. Keep putting out those Nimitz class Sarge. When are we gonna see a Ford class.

[Bigdaddy Mark]

Sweet!!!
What kind of razor saw do you recommend?

[sgtryan13]

ya know mark, I just checked, and there is not a single identifying mark on any of my razor saws. If I recall correct, they are Zona saws, I seem to recall an orange and white package. they have wooden handles if that helps...

[anyahajobuzi]

Sorry to join in late for the catwalk, I have tons of images that may had been helpful in eliminating the guessing game.
Your catwalks look awesome nevertheless, EXCELLENT job on those green-red valves... I wash I added them to my boat...
Anytime you need some images , let me know. And that goes out to everyone reading this thread.
Great work Ryan!!!!!

[sgtryan13]

Thanks Laci, yeah, I def would have taken you up on the images for that section of catwalk. I think I was able to get it pretty close with what I had. It certainly looks the part at least.

Well, I put a TON of time into the very humble beginnings of the main mast, probably close to 15-20 hours of actual working time on it so far. aligning everything on this completely scratchbuilt mast is a very very slow and tedius process, but so far I am very proud of the results. I think this is actually the hardest part of this heavily scratchbuilt / modified ship. With the exception of straightening the PE platform on the 2nd level that I must have bumped before the picture, cause I swear it was straight before, the difficult work on the mast is done. now I jaut have to add all the bracing and populate it with the domes and antennaes and rails.

The center piece is made from square styrene, sanded to shape, and the yard arms are from butterboard that I cut with a razor saw and attached styrenedecks on top of. The rest is spare modified PE parts from WEM and GMM sets.

[JimVarnellABH2USN]

Outstanding as always Ryan , keep them coming

[boomstick68]

Taking notes....

[Bigdaddy Mark]

Very nice!

[NWarty]

[anyahajobuzi]

And I mean that in the nicest way possible!

Way to stratchbuild, Ryan!!

[sgtryan13]

Many thanks guys! And Laci, being called nuts by a fellow nut is always a compliment!

Well, another 7 hours or so went into the main mast, and it is still no where near done! I pulled off a couple platforms and repositioned them because I thought that maybe I noticed a slight misalignment, but then again, I could be imagining it.

Added all the braces and started adding rails. There are a few small gaps in rail corners, but those areas will be "filled" with various antennaes and stuff, so I am not worried about them at the moment.

So far this mast is 2.25" tall, has 81 parts from styrene, butterboard, soldering wire, and brass, and is about 2/3 of the way done. Geez, maybe I am insane... I should switch back to legos!

lots of pictures of just one part, but I am kinda proud of it, and really, just need to share some visuals since I spent my entire sunday working on one stupid piece of my ship!

[DWD]

You should be proud. Nice mast and platforms. Everything is nice and square and cleanly built!

[sgtryan13]

Thanks Doug.

Well, work has slowed, I broke a few fingers a few weeks ago playing softball (first inning, but I stuck it through the game with a taped hand and even managed to hit a game -tying double in the bottom of the 7th. Like a BOSS ) but needless to say, my fine motor skills, since it is in my dominant hand, have been somewhat limited. I am finally able to at least get some work done, but it is very slow going.

masts and island got all the attention, and I am still very very happy with the results. The main mast is almost done, and has now topped the 150 parts count! When it is done it will be at about 175.

The SPS 49 mast is also scraqtchbuilt, carved out of butterboard, as is the SPS 48 mast, which I think I am going to shorten by about 1/8" after looking at it dry fitted with the main mast last night.

[sgtryan13]

The island got most of it's additional platforms installed, all from scratch, as well as what I believe is the camera housing under the 1st level of the bridge, whcih I shaped out of butterboard using a dremel saning attachment.

I have never been happy with the signal flag bag areas of my CVN's, finding good detail pics of this seems to be like finding a sasquatch, but I think I finally got it. Though not in the puictures, I made some signal platforms and scratch flag bags that I think are really gonna dress up the island's back side.

In addition to this work, I have also started on a commission build of CVN-72, USS Lincoln. Right now she is just getting all her hull prep, sanding the nasty hull seam and dealing with the poor fit there, but she will get her own WIP thread very shortly.

[DWD]

That is looking freakin sweet. Nice job on the mast and radar. Your Island is coming along nicely it looks like. Great detail work too with all of your scratchbuilt items.

[anyahajobuzi]

Good going Ryan!!!!
those antennas and mast pieces are amazing!!!! way to keep your cool throughout this difficult task. This is definitely a step, where a lot of modelers screw up, simply just by not aligning things to be square! But not you, my friend. Steady hands, like a gunfighter!
First I thought your windows were too wide, but heck, no, those Islands really changed a lot in the last decade. Nice catch.

Cheers: Laci