1/350 USS Reagan CVN-76

[sgtryan13]

Thanks a lot guys. Fiber optics I think would be possible, but the whole array would have to be enlarged a bit to accomodate them, not necessarily taller, but certainly thicker, same with the base. I considered it once a long time ago, but did not want to add a "toy like" effect to a model, so scratched the idea before it really got much thought.

Martin, I'm looking forward to letting you guys critique her in person at mosquitocon, have it marked on my calendar, Reagan will be there, finished, come hell or high water!

A couple tiny updates on the build-
Yesterday 2 squadrons of F-18 Hornets arrived on deck, 26 birds, a little over half of her topside compliment reported aboard for duty.

The ship got her final detail after many many coats of flat, which is the detail I always save for last: the brass ship's bell. Kind of my own little christening ceremony thing!

And since I had to do a tiny bit of repair work to the island, I decided to add a special little personal touch: My department's flag, and our Honor Guard's Guideon. I actually designed both of the 1:1 scale flags for the department, and since over the course of this build, my other major project has been designing, training, and implementing our department's first ever Honor Guard, I am pretty proud of it, and thought it would be cool to represent it on the model I am most proud of as well!

[PetrolGator]

Beautiful work.

[MAJOR-B]

Outstanding work... I give you... ....

You know that now you have an airwing embarked she's now a CVN... keep it up... truly outstanding work.......

[kylewoody]

Gorgeous! And very nice touch with the flags, I like it.

Kyle

[Goodwood]

Awesome work, Ryan! The flags look very nice as well.

[kidcurrie42]

Ship is Superb Ryan

Fantastic looking Honor Guard, was always one of my favorite jobs in the Navy, Training Guards and Marching Platoons, Training was Blood. Sweat and Tears but always went smoothly on the day, seeing a bunch of Stokers, Chefs, Stewards, Stores accountants and Seaman march and throw a rifle around like they have always done it tends to bring a lump to the throat.

I am sure that you could have a Honor Guard at the front of Reagan, would be a nice personal touch



Happy Modeling

John

[DWD]

That is some sweet work Ryan! The flags add realism to an already spectacular island! I freakin love it. I'm gonna have to try your flag method you use, because yours always look so damn good. What are you using for rigging, if you don't mind my asking? Again, just fantastic dude.

[marijn van gils]

That is one detailed CVN!
Great job!

Marijn

[anyahajobuzi]

Those some very excellent looking flags, Sir! You really make them soooo real looking.

And very nice touch with the ship's bell on the Bow!!
Can't wait to see close-ups of your airwing!


Cheers: Laci

[sgtryan13]

Thanks a lot fellas! Flags seem to be one of htose things that gets a little easier every time you do them. I used to piss through a lot of attempts before I was happy, but everything you see on Reagan's mast is 1st attempt at each, so I know that I am making progress in my attempt to get better at that area.

DWD, I use "uni-caenis" 20 den fly tying thread. It is super thin, so thin in fact that I sometimes double the threads to get a little more thickness depending on the application. I am by no means a rigging expert though, I can't seem to make stretched sprue work for me to save my ass. this stuff is pretty decent though, and just slke sprue, it can be tightened with heat.

I wish I had the same success rate with my rigging, whcih is a big area I am still trying to improve on. I am happy with Reagan's rigging for the most part, and it is no doubt the best rigging job I have done so far, but it could certainly be better.

16 F-18f super hornets just got their primer coat, hopefully after my long weekend next week, they can join their little brothers on the flightdeck!

[MartinJQuinn]

Digging the flags - nice touch.

As for MosquitoCon: I bought a new high powered LED flashlight for the show.

[LE BOSCO]

Oups! I missed your last progress ,awesome and realistic work on your island , Ryan you can be proud of your work
regards
nicolas

[LE BOSCO]

Nicolas

[sgtryan13]

As for MosquitoCon: I bought a new high powered LED flashlight for the show.

Uh Oh... better not set it down, I'll be tempted to swap the batteries for some dull ones.


Well, I took a mini modeling vacation, I have been making good progress lately, but at the same time, I have been almost done for way too long now and I was getting worried I would not make my self-imposed deadline of March 30. So I had the past 6 days with nothing to do but work on Reagan from morning to night (other than clear several feet of snow from my driveway) and I put a huge dent in my remaining work and am now confident I will make my deadline.

So, the airwing got beefed up a bit, including 3 aggressor hornets from VFC-12 "Fighting Omars" who were doing carrier quals on Reagan at the very time I am modeling her, so I lucked out!

About 1/3 of her crew is ready to report on the flight deck, what you see here is mostly L'arsenal, with 7 or 8 figures from various Dragon sets. I have 3 sets of Northstar figures in-progress right now that will round out my deck gang.

[sgtryan13]

The other major hurdle, and one that I had been stressing about, is that I am well on my way to completing my above/below waterline seascape. I honestly lost sleep over stressing on how to do this, and if it would work the way I want. Now obviously there is still a lot to be done here, wake, waves, etc, but that is the easy stuff, getting the overall impression I wanted was what worried me, and I am very happy with it so far, and am confident that it will be a success.

My big worry was that when viewed from the top, the water would not look deep, with the base only a couple inches below it, but to my eye, it looks plenty deep, but I am certainly looking for any and all criticisim or critiques on this thing. Please fire away if you see something.

[anyahajobuzi]

It's a very neat idea to display it like this Ryan!

I love the weathering on the below-waterline part!

I am absolutely "fake water illiterate" , but I think 2 things would definitely add more depth to your already pretty deep ocean. Darker base colour, is the easier one to achieve, (not that I haven't seen the ocean being exactly the blue you used) and the other one would be mixing blue into your water, instead of leaving it clear. just like looking into a swimming pool... the deeper end looks sooo much deeper just because of the concentration of blue..

Otherwise, bravo! I love how you keep thinking about modeling parts on your ship/display. Always taking a road less-or not at all taken!!! I bet you lost sleep over it. I would be excited/worried about a build like this. maybe not after the 8th one though

Just kidding! keep those CVN-s coming, and show us the way!


All the best: Laci

[DWD]

Pretty sweet looking Ryan. I love the schemes for the aggressors and the fact they fit into your carrier. I will be very interested in seeing the finished setting and 3D water effects. I was also glad to see the L'Arsenal figures painted. You always see the pre-painted photo etch figures, but I dislike how flat they look. I bought a set of the L'Arsenal figures as well, and now seeing them first hand and your painting of them, I will probably try and pick up a few more sets. Thanks for posting photos of your progress. Always a pleasure to see your work.

[sgtryan13]

Thanks guys.

laci, I had actually thought of doing the base flat balck, but went with the darkest blue I could find. The "water" actually is tinted with a few coats of tamiya clear blue, but it is damn near impossible to tell in pictures. I wish I had a bunch of modeling buddies close to me, I would love some in-person feedback. Not that I do not appreciate yours, but I am no wiz at photography, and I really want to get this right! This is really the first thing I have been this nervous about in my modeling possibly ever.

I did a trial piece where I added another layer of darker (but still transparent) blue to the seascape you see here, and when it dried it looked exactly like I had painteed onto a previously more or less clear seascape, so I scrapped that idea real fast.

DWD- This is my first time using the resin figures. Honestly, in the past, though I was not entirely happy with them, I used the pre painted PE figures out of sheer lazyness and a mindset of "how different could 2 different makes of miniscule figures be?" . The answer is night and day! If you go with L'arsenal figures, get the "figures at combat post" set. the other set has all the figures wearing the dog bowl hats, and requires sanding of the heads or creative painting if you want to put them on a carrier deck. It takes a while, I would say about 10 minutes per figure to do it right, but it is worth it as far as I am concerned.

Now that I think of it, it's strange, after a long modeling session, I always seem to drink. A lot. Correlation or just coincidence???

[kylewoody]

I like it a lot! I agree, atleast looking at photos it could be a bit darker, but that is in no way a criticism but feedback. The idea of a ship being visible on both sides like this is awesome, I love it.

From what little bit of water base work I've done, it seems you can almost never go too dark on the ocean color, nor too glossy. Several coats of future always works good, then top them off with a couple more.

Kyle

[youngtiger1]

Nice work Ryan. I too love what you did to add your personal touch with those flags. The jets of Fighting Omars sure will add a nice splash of color on that deck Also, I've always pondered on the water idea you are working on. I even thought it will be cool to add 3 or 4 dolphins in front as I've seen on many photos where they are in front.

Anyway, good work. I wish I lived closer to your hometown so I could visit the model show and see this thing in person. Oh well, just post some pics for us

Mike