1/350 USS Lincoln, CVN-72

[sgtryan13]

Oops, I mis-typed. The flight deck will have around 50 aircraft topside. If I had 60, then the area in front of the waist cats would have to be filled with aircraft, but the aircraft layout I am going with is similar to this one here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEtZ5r0CIYI



I'll admit, I do tend to get a little insane with the CVNs. The Reagan is getting the full treatment solely because I was jealous of all my best builds being commissions, and therefore never having a carrier in my own collection that represents my passion appropriately. The only 2 carriers that I have completed for my collection are the Enterprise and Nimitz, both done long ago when my skills were not so good, and my budget was very small, so a lot of detail parts could not be purchased.

The Lincoln is shaping up to beat out the Reagan, not necessarily in scope of work and detail, since Reagan is more or less a scratchbuild at this point, but Lincoln is greatly reaping the benefits of lessons learned on previous builds, and is turning out to be cleaner and more soundly built right from the keel on up. Lincoln, at the request of her owner, is gonna be a dirty girl, having just completed back to back deployments at the onset of OEF/OIF. I also go the green light to add a very prominent and unique detail to her island that is specific to our timeframe, but that'll wait for the unveiling when I get to it and photograph it. (or one of you carrier nuts guesses it, it won't be too hard to figure it out.)

[sgtryan13]

Thanks Timmy! ONe of these days I'll get that youtube inbed thing right.

Well, the hull is painted, and I am very happy with it. The hull plate technique that I tried (and failed) on my Indy worked this time, as I tweaked my methods a little. This CVN is going to be much more weathered than the ones I have done in the past, something that I am very excited about.

Also, we found a picture of Lincoln where it looked like her bow area suffered a pretty big scrape against something that exposed a good sized chunk of her primer. While the picture was dated 1997, we decided that it was too cool of an effect not to include on our 2003ish Lincoln, so there it is and I like it! I may sharpen up some of the edges a little more, but i think it looks cool as hell.

I actually cut out a pattern and matching mask for the primer area, so that the layer of redish paint is actually under the hull grey, not over it where it would appear that the red was painted on, vs the grey being scraped off. Tiny detail, but then again, it's all about the details at this level

[MartinJQuinn]

Sharp looking work, Ryan.

[sgtryan13]

Thanks Martin.

There are a lot of things that I learned, or maybe I should say that I learned how to do better on the Bush and Reagan that I really wish I could incorporate into my Reagan now. Lincoln is reaping the benefits of the things learned though for sure.

I broke with my forever tradition on weathering for this one. In every build I have ever done, I saved weathering for pretty much close to last. No particular reason that I did this, other than it was just how I always did things. Well on this one, her owner wants her a little beat up. We are modeling her as she appeared after just completing back-to-back deployments at the onset of OIF, and many pictures of Lincoln at this time show her looking like she was rode hard and put away wet. I figured it would be smart to do the serious weathering before any of the delicate parts are installed, so I could go as crazy as I liked with pastels and oils without worrying about damaging any other parts. Just made sense.

The pictures are the beginnings of the weathering, and obviouly the lower hull has not been touched yet, but it'll get a good work over with some salt stains and the like soon enough.

[Goodwood]

Wow Ryan, you sure don't pull any punches!

She kinda reminds me of her namesake; at the beginning of his presidency, Abraham Lincoln was looking a bit careworn, with worry lines beginning to manifest, but all-in-all still a fighter. By April of 1865, though, he was a right mess�and one cannot in the least blame him for it. He went through a lot during his time as President...

Can't wait to see the final result...

[sgtryan13]

Well folks, I am back at the Lincoln finally, now that Reagan is on the back burner until I get the wind back in my sails and finally finish her.

There has been a major shift in Lincoln, as her future Captain has decided he would like her in a seascape instead of the original full hull plan. He wants her in a little more of a dramatic scape as opposed to my usual calmer water, so I am practicing on an old model and using Chris Floodberg's awesome water tutorial.

The hangar is getting my attention now (forgot to take pictures of the bulkheads I detailed, oops), all of the other details will wait until I mount Lincoln in her ocean.

In my never-ending quest to improve on each build, I have found myself pouring over every detail of Reagan looking for the areas I could do better, or pack more detail into. One that popped out at me was the elevator bay doors. In my past builds, these have been one or two pieces, but I studied pictures, and now they are made of 8 or 9 pieces, and much more realistic. I also added the tracks for the doors on the floor, a detail I meant to add on past ships, and somehow always forgot until it was too late.

So basically, that is how this build is gonna go. It's all about the small details at the level I am aiming for, so I am hoping to leave no stone left unturned...

[silvershadow]

Great build so far, looking excellent!!!

[LE BOSCO]

Hello Ryan

keep this path , nice job
best regards
Nicolas

[MartinJQuinn]

Great stuff, as always, Ryan. But what's this bit about Reagan "not being finished"? She looked pretty complete at MosquitoCon!

[sgtryan13]

Thanks guys.

Martin, Reagan was "close enough" for me to bring her to a few shows, but she is still missing 3 Prowlers, a Greyhound, her tilley crane, and about 100 more crew on the flight deck. I just got burnt the hell out trying to finish her in time for the shows, so decided to call it quits for a while vs have the quality suffer due to my burnout.

Lincoln's seascape is coming along, my eyes are bleeding from all the CA glue fumes seeing as I am using Chris Floodberg's oat tachnique. Hopefully by the end of the weekend I will have some real progress pictures to show.

[DWD]

Looking good Ryan! Hopefully your eyes aren't really bleeding because that kind of made me laugh when I read it. I build a ton using super glue (cyanoacrylate), so I feel your pain. I will definitely be interested in seeing your progress on the hangar on this one since you are looking to add more detail.

[sgtryan13]

Well my eyes weren't actually bleeding, but they sure felt like it, and when I wiped my nose, I was certain there would be blood! Luckily I survived.

The hangar is going to get stepped up as far as I can take it. The aft hangar bay has a walkway/workshop area/ something on the upper port side bulkhead that appears to be pretty unique to Lincoln, or at least unique compared to the 1000s of other CVN hangar pics I have seen. I want to really get that area right, but getting good detail shots of it is so far proving to be pretty elusive.

Well the seascape is well under way. No where near done yet, but it is progressing. I did the base coat, and some of the color variations, now I am in the process of adding the cotton swells as well as more lighter color variations. It is a fun and pretty simple process, just time consuming.

[DWD]

Hey Ryan,

I was only kidding about the bleeding eyes. That ocean scape is looking good. I will be interested in seeing the ocean completed. I like the fact that using this technique gives you freedom to create larger waves, wakes, and make "choppy" water. You have got me thinking about possibly using this technique for a future build now. Pretty sweet looking man.

Are you going to be constructing the whole hangar deck? I see there are some quite large round "access panels" in your hangar deck floor in some areas. Didn't know if you would fill these in, or just close off the hangar in those areas.

[sgtryan13]

Doug, this technique is by far the most enjoyable one I have tried. Just pop something on TV or the computer to watch (listen to) and keep plugging away with the cotton.

The Port side is almost done with the cotton stage of swells and waves, I have to leave off the wake at the stern until I attach the boat dock. I am still debating the best course of action in that area, as the dock is very fragile. I usually leave that for the very end of the build, which I will probably do this time as well. I added some greenish tones into some of the swells to mimic the 1:1 picture in my last post. I am really happy with the look so far.

The one downfall of this technique for CVN builders, is that it is difficult to place, glue, and paint the oats right butting the hull in the areas that have the overhangs like the waist cats, and under the island and at the curvature of the bow. Slab sided warships this seems easy and simple, but it is really tricky with a painted hull that has all these overhangs and curves.

As for the hangar, this one will be a detailed aft bay, and the mid bay detailed to the extent that it can be seen through the 2 aft elevator doors. The front 2 bays will be sealed up from the outside as she is to be displayed with her port side facing the viewer, and cutting down on the size of the hangar and associated air wing was the biggest way to keep the costs down on this commission.

[silvershadow]

Looking good ^^) , what are those holes for in the lower deck? Sorry for the silly question lol

[sgtryan13]

what are those holes for in the lower deck?

Those holes are for the bolts that will mount the whole assembly to it's final wooden base, and for the wiring for the interior lights, which will run to a self-contained battery pack.

[ESO]

Recently joined the forums here and I am stunned at the work you are able to get out of these kits!

Simply amazing! I have now finished all three-four(?) of the build logs of your Nimitz class carriers (Bush, Reagan, Truman and now this one) and must say these are a very nice level to aspire to.

Keep up the excellent work Ryan. I am in the planing stages for a late model Nimitz class myself, and these threads are very inspiring and educational. I don't think I have quite your scratch building talents, but things always improve right?

Best regards,
Espen

[sgtryan13]

Thanks for the kind words Espen, and I am glad you find the build logs helpful, that is exactly why I take all the time to document and try to explain what I did, hoping that it may help another modeler tackle one of these carriers. And you are absolutely right, things always improve. When I look back at my first real attempt at this kit, compared to what I can do with it now, it is night and day difference. Each one gets a little (or sometimes a lot) better, and that is what I strive to do, just constantly improve as a modeler.


Well, the seascape's major work is done. Waaaaay more hours than I expected were spent pulling cotton to make it look just like I wanted, then picking out miniscule bits of cotton seeds, but all the time looks to be worth it to me. I love this ocean look. I have a little more work to do around the bow, and obviously the stern wake once I install the boat dock. Today I will finish off the bow and then coat the whole thing in the gloss varnish.

[Devin]

So, Ryan, when you close your eyes at night, do you see 1/350th scale CVNs sailing past?

Nice work. Great effect on the water.

[sgtryan13]

So, Ryan, when you close your eyes at night, do you see 1/350th scale CVNs sailing past?

.

Uh, yeah. Doesn't everyone???

Just a shot of Lincoln's scar near the bow. I really like the color contrast this gives the ship. As I said before, the bow area is the only spot left that still needs some attention from the cotton froth effects.