Ryan;
you are a stud.. those aircraft look mean and lean.
For all of us with projects in box's any space is precious and yours looks like it's calling for more wonderful projects from your shipyard.
Major B
Paper for gear doors, huh?! never thought of that, although I never had a problem with PE ones coming off. Ha, I know why: I never went to a competition with any of my models.... Now you have me worried.
Keep up the good work, I hope you are going to get your full steam back soon! I also wanna wish you a Merry Christmas a very happy-carpal tunnel free-new year!
Thanks very much fellas. And I am actually feeling a little more enthusiastic about sitting down at the bench now that it is so clean and organized, though yesterday I failed to locate some things that I "organized" away somewhere. The next overhaul will have to be my display room, I currently am out of shelf space for anything larger than a 1/350 destroyer.
Once Lincoln is done, I have a commission of the Long Beach that I took a deposit on long ago, but after that, I am going to take a break from any major commission work for a while and try to put a dent in my ever-growing stash. With all these new 1/350 kits coming out that I never thought we'd see, I am re-evaluating my build plans. I already sold off my 1/200 Arizona, and am considering doing the same with the 1/200 Missouri and Bismarck, but we'll see.
Laci, I have seen plenty of modelers transport their stuff loaded with PE with no problems, but my personal experience with carting these carriers around has me weary. I simply do not use PE landing gear any more, and have had too many PE gear doors rattle loose or even get blown loose, so this is my solution. I wish I could use the PE landing gear as they look so much better, but I have witnessed the horror of what a loose plane can do to a finished carrier during transport, and it ain't pretty!
Enlisted men are stupid, but very cunning and deceitful and bear considerable watching." - Marine Corps Officers Manual, 1894
I switched gears and went full steam at the island, and am happy to say that the island is very close to being ready for install. Just a few signal flags, whip antennae, and the colored hatches on the flight deck level, and crew is it. The island is rigged with caenis line, mast is about 50% scratch, and the radar is a combo of scratch and the kit parts from the new Kitty Hawk kit.
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Enlisted men are stupid, but very cunning and deceitful and bear considerable watching." - Marine Corps Officers Manual, 1894
The island is more or less done, all I need to add is a couple whip antennae after it is installed on the deck. On every CV I have ever built, I have tried and failed to add the "ball-diamond-ball" configuration to the rigging that the carrier flies during flight ops to signal that she has limited maneuverability. Well, I FINALLY succeeded in getting that damn thing to look the way I wanted it to, so I am claiming victory!
The island also got populated with some onlookers on vulture's row, and to stay true to life, it shows that junior enlisted life sucks even at 1/350, as there is a working party swabbing the deck on the O-2 level. I would hope that the gloss there is obvious to a contest judge that it is on purpose to represent a wet deck, but I will probably add a note to the contest sheet none the less to remove all doubt.
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FINALLY! How this stupid little detail has beaten me so many times is mind-boggling!
Aint no party like a workin party!
I think one of these swabbies is Keith Bender when he had hair.
Enlisted men are stupid, but very cunning and deceitful and bear considerable watching." - Marine Corps Officers Manual, 1894
Heeey Ryan!!! Very excellent job on that flag!!! You make them sooo natural -looking! And of course you are still the king of rigging in my eyes!
I especially love how you come up with little dioramas within the dioramas! You always find some clever ways to use the figures in a cool scene: the guys getting their picture taken by the "aggressor" F-18, and now with the crew mopping the deck!!!
The fact that you are still able to add character to a CVN after so many builds, speaks volumes about your creativity!
How is your hand doing? I hope all is well! Your work certainly is amazing!
Well it has been a while since I posted, but I have been hard at work, it is just that all the final details are all so miniscule, it seemed pointless to take a picture of every little doo-dad that I installed.
Wile Lincoln is not 100% done, she is at least done enough to start hitting the local /regional competitions wile I finish her off, the first being Mosquitocon in New Jersey this coming Saturday.
There are a few details still to finish as time permits, bumpers on the boat dock, the Belknap pole, and a few more Hawkeyes and seahawks. Something about the prowlers I built for this ship is bugging me, but I am not sure what yet, so I have left them off until I either figure/fix the problem, or junk them and start again on those birds. I also have a bunch of painted crew figures to install still, but I may wait until I place the rest of the aircraft before I add them.
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Enlisted men are stupid, but very cunning and deceitful and bear considerable watching." - Marine Corps Officers Manual, 1894
As always, tremendous work, Ryan. Look forward to seeing her on Saturday.
Martin
"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." John Wayne
Yeah, it's been a while! I love what you do with all these little people! But there is one thing I would like to point out. You paint their heads with white helmets on ( and strangely enough Kelly Quirk has done it too) and was wondering why. In all the photos I have seen, the of the crew's helmet always matches the color of their vest/jersey. I mean minus some markings (which are almost too small to paint on in this scale, anyway) and of course the ear-muffs.
Otherwise I love them little guys. Your people are having so much fun
I really like your " water". I will forever be sorry for not doing it for my ship.
What is wrong with the Prowlers? Which ones are you using?
You are so fortunate to just travel to all these competitions!!!