disecting the 1/350 Trumpeter NIMITZ

[KevinYoung]

An incredible amount of work put into this project it is truly a masterful build hang your head up high .

[marijn van gils]

Awesome!!!!! ....the best Nimitz even seen, ..

congratulation

+1!

And those intruders look fantastic!

Cheers,

Marijn

[LE BOSCO]

Marjin has quite right for the intruders !!we could believe them at 1/72
cheers
Nicolas

[William4443]

Who says Lo Viz aircraft are boring? Incredible!

[anyahajobuzi]

Who says Lo Viz aircraft are boring? Incredible!

Awesome!!!!! I like the way you think!

Thanks everyone for throwing the occasional comment. I think it's great for me to know that I am not going at this project without support!
I am inching forward with the airwing. Out of the 51 aircraft that will be displayed on the deck, I only have 2 more Intruders to do!!!!!! There are lowered boarding ladders on those, so there is some designing involved... starting december I am back to working on the hull (finishing touches) and gonna leave the Island last. (that needs flags/rigging mostly).

Does anyone have an easy way of making thin , clear canopies? I will have 4 aircraft with the "windows" open

[DWD]

Does anyone have an easy way of making thin , clear canopies?

Hey Laci!

You may have already come across this before in regards to making clear canopies. But Kelly Quirk had posted this http://www.modelwarships.com/reviews/sh ... -main.html here on Modelwarships a while back. This is the technique I have used to create mine as well. I'm not sure if you can get your hands on the thermoform he used though, because I don't think squadron makes it anymore. I don't see why you couldn't use other thin clear plastic sheets from say a company like Evergreen Scale Models http://www.evergreenscalemodels.com/ or anywhere else for that matter. Hope this helps. Anyway, your aircraft are looking great man! I'm looking forward to seeing photos of the whole Air Wing aboard.

[simon b]

I have used the clear plastic on the trumpeter boxes with some sucess in the past. It may look a little thick but whe vac forming, it thins out nicely.

[anyahajobuzi]

First of all: Merry Christmas to all , fellow modelers! I hope it's been a very productive season for everyone. Looking at some of the threads I can for sure it has been!
Although I haven't posted anything in a while, I have been rather busy with the Nimitz. It's just been very delicate work, the kind that can't be rushed.

2 areas have been eating up my spare time : the Airwing and the Island

The AIRWING

Well, it's 95.653545% complete!!!!! I am just 4 open canopies and 3 pairs of boarding ladders away from calling the aircraft DONE! 51 in total!!! ( oh plus the 2 Intruders in the laft bottom corner need some tires painted on, as right now they look like they have white-wall tires from the 60s....)
But then I checked out Shapeways' selection of stuff to hang under the wings: well, they have a ton of goodies!!!! So I ordered a few things from them.
While none of it is cheap (especially with shipping) I bought a set of bombs on MERs, different "dumb" bombs, AA missiles ,(2 sets of) drop tanks and JET ENGINES ON MAINTENANCE CARTS!!! Greg Holmes is a genius for coming up with those!!! One is sooo going the stern!!
I paid a cool $100 (CAD) for 5 tiny bags of stuff that weighs 3 grams
While most of the things are exceptionally beautiful ( Mk 82, 83 and 84 bombs and the engine carts), the drop tanks need waaaay too much cleanup for the price. Their surface is very coarse and uneven... 48 droptanks that ALL need to be sanded !!! Not looking forward to that. So I put all airwing-related things off for a while, and started working on .....


The ISLAND


I started this epic battle with the Island 6 years ago. It seems like back then I was quite a bit more "rough". I didn't know what styere was and I didn't have very good reference-photos. Until a couple of years ago.. and now when I took the superstructure out for finishing, I realized I will have to continue the building with some destruction.

Just like the rest of the ship, the Island got many makeovers. for instance the ship was commissioned with no floodlight on the mast. The '80s have seen a ton of light move up there. Then in the mid '90s they all got moved to the top of the island, and the mast has't had floodlights on it since. Just one of the many things I needed to change. I had to make almost 50 of these little bastards.
There were many more on the real ship, but I cheated by omitting 1 light each on posts that have 3-4 light above each other. For Instance if one has 4 light in real life, I have 3, and if the post had 3 lights originally, I just have 2 on there. It still seems like a forest though. Painted the light-housing grey, and used glossy black for their flat (lights) side. Which no one will ever see since they point to the flightdeck so low. But I will sleep better. There are lights though that should be drilled and painted chrome. But there is only a handfull of them, and those only stayed until the mid 90s. They were in the front of the island.


There are all sorts of antennas that only some high-resolution photos revealed! I had to make a little satellite dish type antenna, that I have never seen before on any other carriers... And it was short-lived even on the Nimitz...But in 1986 it was there! And then there are those square-looking antennas on the top of the mast, one on each arm on the sides. Well, it turn out they are not square ( corners are cut off at 45 degrees) and they are a mesh, NOT SOLID! So went back to the designing board, and made new ones. They do look better, but the mesh could be finer...

The big search-lights on each side of the island had to be re-manufactured too. The ones that come with the kit are too small, and as usual: wrong shape. And to make those even more fictional, I deepened them out and gave them a nice cote of chrome.... which choice of color turned out be incorrect..... These lights - at closer inspection- are not "chrome", but just about black. Like they have a very dark lens..

Doors had to be moved and removed. Ladders too. All in all: the Trumpeter island is horrible..

And then there are the things that I now realize I didn't do right, and there is just no way to fix those anymore. I think these are the most important ones. Here is a list of epic fails:


Everyone still awake? Good! These are the traps that I fell into, and I hope these notes will prevent from you guys falling into the same ones.

-The windows should be lighter in color. With walls and instruments and PEOPLE behind them. I hate myself for not thinking this thru before.....

-Check the location of doors and ladders. That ladder climbing up on the port side between the numbers? It shouldn't keep going into outer-space!! Stop it as soon as it gets to the first level with a bulwark. Send it off ALL other levels! ( Sorry, I don't know the different levels by name, which is pretty bad, but I just don't)

I will point out some other " bad ones" on the photos.


Thanks for listening! I hope you learnt your lesson.... I did: take MORE time than 6 years to build a Nimitz next time



Happy Holidays guys!!! Cheers: Laci

[anyahajobuzi]

I hope the picture quality is good enough for you gentleman, because I am not too happy with some of these, but I need more time to sort out what is different this time..

Enjoy!

Cheers: Laci

[anyahajobuzi]

An incredible amount of work put into this project it is truly a masterful build hang your head up high .

Thank you Kevin! I would like to, but the more I look at parts of the ship that were built many years ago, the more I shake my head....I better stop listing more major mistakes, before you change your mind with disgust

But it is still only my 8th ship, and believe me , you did not wanna see my first 7. 6 of those were built before I was 20...This is the only ship that survived my cruel censorship. So far....

Cheers: Laci

[DWD]

Just amazing man! Your air wing is spectacular. You have put so much detail into this build, I think you could go on and on about your "mistakes" and I doubt anyone would still notice them. Hats off to you on this build Laci. I still can't wait to see it altogether. I'm looking forward to it.

[marijn van gils]

Fantastic work, both on the airing and island!

Please don't sweat the small mistakes too much.
I know very well how they can be really bugging, but remember that no model ever is truly perfect (at least not to the builder himself), and try to keep focus on the big picture (the model as a whole). At one point, it is necessary to say to oneself 'too hard to correct anymore, I'll remember that one for the next project', otherwise no model ever gets finished. Your Nimitz will be so amazing anyway, so just remember that you will literally be the only person to see these mistakes.
But I know, they can still be bugging indeed�
Just IMHO and IME of course.

Cheers,

Marijn

[Channell]

I swear your air wing is at least 1/72 scale and every plane/helicopter is contest winner... I don't know how you accomplished that but I'd be worried about a secret government agency busting your door down and taking you into custody, then locking you away in some deep underground lab in Nevada, probably where they keep the aliens.

I can see where your dissatisfaction with the island comes in... on any other build it would be spectacular as-is but you set the bar so high on the rest of this one that it now doesn't quite make par compared to the rest of the ship. You've gone this far so maybe you shouldn't accept it as-is and start fresh with a new island? Maybe shapeways can do a better replacement? Just a thought anyway.

Still amazed at your work though... your skills are where I want to be someday when I grow up.

[boomstick68]

Simply awesome.

[anyahajobuzi]

Thank you guys, and thanks for cheering me on. I know Doug and Marijn are right: there will be things wrong with ANY model, it's just that this one starting show more discrepancies every day, and the fact that every single one these mistakes could've been corrected had I had decent photos from the beginning.. I feel it is still one of most accurate ones out there so I will stop whining. Definitely not the most detailed, because the hangar is particularly plain. That is one part of the ship that I didn't put any effort into, and it shows. Plus Doug set the bar soooo high on that, it cost me dearly at the chiropractor after I was staring at the sky too long trying to locate it. I heard that the Hubble-telescope found your bar Doug!

Jason: You don't even know how close you are with your suggestion to start over on the island. I seriously considered it!!! But I want to see this thing finished, so the time-factor won that argument... But you are right: it SHOULD be a little jewel as-is.....
You wanna have my skills one day?!?!?! As far as I can tell you have no shortage of that my friend, but thank you! I however would like to have your bravery one day, and build one 200 scale ship..Not a little boat, a battleship like yours.... But that's beyond my level....

Thanks again guys!!!

I started sanding the droptanks! 8 more to go ( I am only using about 40 on this ship, I will save the other 8 for my CH-53s on the LHD.) I am hoping to spray all the weapons and tanks this week and maybe have that darn airwing completed soon.


Cheers: Laci

[sgtryan13]

Awesome job man, that airwing looks beautiful!

As far as thinking your island is not up to snuff with your current skills, I say leave it, finish this damn thing and move on. No matter how much skill and effort and tears you put into this thing to make it as close to perfect as possible, a few years from now, your skill will be even better, and the better they get, the more things you will look and find on this Nimitz and see things you could have done better with your newest skills.

Personally, unless I am doing something quick and painless that I just want to throw together, I try to out-do myself on every serious project I take on, that is the only real way I can evaluate if my skills are improving. When I built Nimitz (version 2.0), it was badass and the pinnacle of my skills and I was thrilled with it. Then I built Truman, it was badass and the pinnacle of my skills and I was thrilled with it, and it was my first attempt at moderate scratch built additions, and it made me look back at Nimitz and see what I could have done better. Then I built Bush, it was badass and the pinnacle of my skills and I was thrilled with it, and I added a TON of sctatch built parts, and made me look back at Truman and I was truly disappointed in some of the things I did. Then I built Reagan, it was badass and the pinnacle of my skills and I was thrilled with it, with the exception of the hull and flight deck, I hardly used any parts from the original kit at all, and I was convinced that I had reached the limits of what I could do with that Nimitz kit. Now I am building Lincoln, and while she does not require as much scratch and modification as Reagan, she is already better than Reagan in terms of craftsmanship, details, and accuracy, and she is not even done yet.

Over the years you have been building Nimitz, your skills have evolved and improved. Even if you were to re build the entire island and finish this model in the next few months, think of how much more you skills will have evolved and improved in another 5 years from now? You will inevitably look back on this Nimitz and see something that you could now do better. So I say keep plugging along and put this baby to rest finally, and be proud of her and all the effort you have put into her, because you should be proud. Move on to another build, and try to make the next one even better than Nimitz, and just keep challenging yourself to improve, and most of all have fun!

[youngtiger1]

Dang boy, you weren't kidding about all those air wings I like it a lot

Hope you and your lovely wife had a great Christmas and that you both will have a wonderful New Years. Take care and talk to you soon. Oh and let's see some update over here ah

Mike

[JimVarnellABH2USN]

Laci,

My friend allow me to say in agreement with Ryan, all the "little" things you find wrong with your build are going to drive you mad, not that you are not already mad, I personally think that the only person to find these tiny flaws {besides yourself} is the naval architect who designed the original blueprints for NIMITZ. No model is ever actually perfect, if you are ever allowed to go to the Naval Architect and Design center and see the design models and concept versions, you'll see that your NIMITZ is far better then those, your skills are far above a lot of builders here and I for one will admit that they are better then mine. Don't allow these little imperfections to drive you crazy.

In time you will find your skills advancing more and more, just like Ryan said. Always try to improve your skills with each and every build you tackle. Please know this one thing if you get much better then there is no hope for the rest of us. Beside your wife might allow you to build another NIMITZ class carrier in the future and all those "little imperfections" can be addressed then. Your NIMITZ is a show stopper and would rival any concept naval build hands down.

Take care my friend and I look forward to seeing more of your work in the near future.

[gtbred]

Laci, I threw away my Nimitz about a 3 months ago. I now have 3 Supercarriers to build. The Connie will be my first of two waterline builds. I look at all of your photos and noted that my air wing will be nothing like yours. That being sad, Connie will be back dated to 71-73. You have set the stander for Supercarriers. Like others have said nothing perfect. But your build is damn close. Mardis

[NWarty]

Beautiful work Laci

As a side note, we saw Nimitz yesterday in Bremerton along with Stennis. We were going on a hike as a family near Seabeck, WA and passed through the Naval Yard. Coming home at dusk, both Stennis and Nimitz had their island numbers lit up. Pretty cool to see