1/350 CVL-23 USS Princeton

[Jon]

Maritime.org's US Navy Documents is your friend, especially pages four through twelve of the Gun Mount & Turret Catalog.

Your not kidding Tracy, thanks! Never seen that before.

[itchygroin]

You are doing a fantastic job on this. I'm quite impress with with how you milled the 40mm bofrs. If you don't mind me asking, how do you mill the barrels with something so small? Do you just file the stump down?

[StevenVD]

Thanks! I just used a small polishing stone on the Dremel and removed the stump just almost to the barrel. Then I compare the second barrel to the first and go for another millisecond if it sticks out. For now, I'm busy with the hangar after wall, 'm using the WEM replacement part because it has extra detail on it but it also has an enclosed port hawser room subpart. I wonder if this was present in Princeton, it doesn't show up on the later Independence pictures where you can peer into the cavity below the flight deck aft. In the plans from Cabot it's there, so I'll use that as a reference.

[StevenVD]

Today I painted the hangar walls. I intended to make use of a bottle of Lifecolor thinner that seemed appropriate.



Bad idea. The paint congealed so I threw it. But not after having sprayed a bit, so I had to clean the airbrush completely. The paint was new and the bottle of thinner never used before and always stored inside.



Tap water did the job better, so the wall was soon painted blue 5-N (the Lifecolor version of it at least).



The vents on the outside were prepared with this color and a bit of rust on top. PE gratings still have to be added.



The airwing has had some attention too.



A lot of detail went into them.



To change some of the flaps I had to put the saw to the wings.



First some ground clearance before I add the WEM flaps. Also the wheel bay lids can be provided.

[Tracy White]

For what it is worth, the bulkheads and overheads (ceiling) were painted white except for the area visible as part of the elevator wells. Some of the ships extended the dark paint further in and used black, but I haven't been able to find anything definitive in photos or text.

[marijn van gils]

I'm wondering what you'll show us with the aircraft at this scale Steven. That can be beautiful!

Groetjes,

Marijn

[StevenVD]

I'm really appreciating the painting tips you gave, Tracy. In the next pics you'll see my rendition of what you said on page 1 about the elevator wells.
@Marijn: not sure if they will attend this year's KMK contest table, but something out of this topic should hit the show, and don't forget the cannon...

I didn't deplete the WEM grating fret but nevertheless the hull got covered completely (but for a tiny one).





Now only a simple paint session kept me from assembling th hull.



Vallejo's dark bluegrey was chosen for the deck and was also used to tone down the walls.



After the black outline of the elevators I joined the pieces of hangar, making good use of the Wolfcraft clamps. Some photo-etch didn't stand the warping while manipulating the walls. This will be re-attached later.





Inside the hangar the deck butts against the stack and shaft particles. The sides have a tendency to spread themselves open, so I used the clamps to fuse them with the bulkheads.



The fit of the upper hull is just fine and will not be very noticeable after I clamp the hangar wall ends. I was a bit clumsy with the glue as there are parts of the deck edge that have to be attached sideways and some with a vertical joint. I extended the glue trace almost to the bow, so it will have to be sanded smooth again.

[PetrolGator]

This is looking great!

[StevenVD]

Some other non-naval models are finished, but the Princeton has lagged behind because I wanted to acquire a few extra planes. In the mean time I visited the SIG Warships, meeting for the first time in Belgium. Princeton was met with critical acclaim, but it was found that the interior should have been white. In fact, due to Princeton not having hangar doors other than in the elevator shafts, this is not going to show.

Some recent investments to the project will be demonstrated in this update. The Lifecolor US Navy set 1 and 1 extra color Pale Gray should facilitate the painting. Then I was after Hellcats. The first I bumped into were L'Arsenal's. I ordered one bag of 5 and also the Bofors circular 40mm magazine storage racks, large and small.





I might have to complete the larger number of smaller magazine racks with some excess parts of the large ones.











I'll avoid the resin tubs, because they seem frail and would have to be liberated and adapted. It seems to fit in the kit.



The Hellcats came with 9 (!) wheels and some PE.





This review compares the planes with the Dragon ones and the WEM photo-etch for them.





An eerie proportion difference baffled me. Also the surface detail was not as elaborated on the resin.



Wing span should measure 42ft 10 inch, length 33 ft and 7 inch.



Dragon (DML) spanned 37,2 mm and L'Arsenal (A) only 35.

37,2 x 350 = 13020 (mm at 1/1 scale)
13020 / 25 (mm per inch) = 520,8
This sums up to 43 ft 4 4/5 inch, slightly oversized. A compares to 40 ft 5/6 inch, well undersized. DML Fuselage length 32 feet 1/12 inch (no prop), A has 29 feet, also undersize.



WEM's PE has little more detail and it has wheelbay doors, missing in A which has only the legs.

Some adaptation is imminent, I guess.

[StevenVD]

I decided to order Trumpeter planes to use on main deck in stead of the L'Arsenals.



Unpacking was fun, it wasn't only Trumpeter in the box.



And on the same day arrived a new-born micro-gecko...







But now a comparison between these Trumpeter ("T") kits and the Dragon ("D") ones.











Both kits have tricolore sprues. Decals seem also identical.



F6F fuselages seem to compare well. Panellines differ slightly but are at least present here. Wings and stabilos are almost identical and the plan can be parked.





Avengers have a different section line to the cowling, overall length seems comparable. Bendix and windscreen on T are separate clearparts. D has an open bomb bay with torpedo in relief.





Span differs but D seems to have the tip slightly rounded, T looks more like pictures.

[photo data-id="459301"]https://modelbrouwers.nl/media/cache/07/46/07468e7a90e1c0e5ef4a7eac8c1618b1.jpg[/img]



The black sprue part contains undercarriage and prop. Some of this will be replaced with WEM stuff I bought in abundance.

[StevenVD]

5 out of 6 Hellcats are built.







They all have the WEM cockpit. The wings will be folded but Trumpeter botched the curve of the folding line. Props are also misplaced so the cowlings will be redrilled. WEM wheelbay doors add a lot.

[Marco]

And I thought I had my hands full with the Graf Spee�s Arado 196... HA! Great Work & details!!!

Marco

[marijn van gils]

Glad to see you back on this one Steven!

[StevenVD]

Thanks for the comments!

The engines are remade and the "mouths" are rescribed. Here a section with the WEM cockpit shown.

[StevenVD]

The first Dragon Avenger is built, starting wih the fuselage hollowing. A lot of material is removed with a file. This is easily accessible.





The two parts on the WEM manual should get a plastic spacer, but this can not be included in the 'pit.



The bomb bay has 2 articulated doors, but only 3 out of 6 TBFs get these in the open configuration. The undercarriage is very detailed.

[pascalemod]

Oh my god. ALl i can say looking at this airplane from brittle, hard to work with clear plastic. Ive just done 3 Kingfishers in 1/700 and I never wanna do another again in a long while. Big respect to you for this work.

[StevenVD]

I have to keep on going, Pascalemod. Today I made 4 of them, next to the one from yesterday.

[Captain Morgan]

Some other non-naval models are finished, but the Princeton has lagged behind because I wanted to acquire a few extra planes. In the mean time I visited the SIG Warships, meeting for the first time in Belgium. Princeton was met with critical acclaim, but it was found that the interior should have been white. In fact, due to Princeton not having hangar doors other than in the elevator shafts, this is not going to show.

Some recent investments to the project will be demonstrated in this update. The Lifecolor US Navy set 1 and 1 extra color Pale Gray should facilitate the painting. Then I was after Hellcats. The first I bumped into were L'Arsenal's. I ordered one bag of 5 and also the Bofors circular 40mm magazine storage racks, large and small.





I might have to complete the larger number of smaller magazine racks with some excess parts of the large ones.











I'll avoid the resin tubs, because they seem frail and would have to be liberated and adapted. It seems to fit in the kit.



The Hellcats came with 9 (!) wheels and some PE.





This review compares the planes with the Dragon ones and the WEM photo-etch for them.





An eerie proportion difference baffled me. Also the surface detail was not as elaborated on the resin.



Wing span should measure 42ft 10 inch, length 33 ft and 7 inch.



Dragon (DML) spanned 37,2 mm and L'Arsenal (A) only 35.

37,2 x 350 = 13020 (mm at 1/1 scale)
13020 / 25 (mm per inch) = 520,8
This sums up to 43 ft 4 4/5 inch, slightly oversized. A compares to 40 ft 5/6 inch, well undersized. DML Fuselage length 32 feet 1/12 inch (no prop), A has 29 feet, also undersize.



WEM's PE has little more detail and it has wheelbay doors, missing in A which has only the legs.

Some adaptation is imminent, I guess.

Just a note, if you divide the 13020 by 25.4 mm/inch (the actual number to use) you would get 42" 7" wingspan for the DML F6F which makes the short one even shorter.

[Captain Morgan]

Some other non-naval models are finished, but the Princeton has lagged behind because I wanted to acquire a few extra planes. In the mean time I visited the SIG Warships, meeting for the first time in Belgium. Princeton was met with critical acclaim, but it was found that the interior should have been white. In fact, due to Princeton not having hangar doors other than in the elevator shafts, this is not going to show.

Some recent investments to the project will be demonstrated in this update. The Lifecolor US Navy set 1 and 1 extra color Pale Gray should facilitate the painting. Then I was after Hellcats. The first I bumped into were L'Arsenal's. I ordered one bag of 5 and also the Bofors circular 40mm magazine storage racks, large and small.





I might have to complete the larger number of smaller magazine racks with some excess parts of the large ones.











I'll avoid the resin tubs, because they seem frail and would have to be liberated and adapted. It seems to fit in the kit.



The Hellcats came with 9 (!) wheels and some PE.





This review compares the planes with the Dragon ones and the WEM photo-etch for them.





An eerie proportion difference baffled me. Also the surface detail was not as elaborated on the resin.



Wing span should measure 42ft 10 inch, length 33 ft and 7 inch.



Dragon (DML) spanned 37,2 mm and L'Arsenal (A) only 35.

37,2 x 350 = 13020 (mm at 1/1 scale)
13020 / 25 (mm per inch) = 520,8
This sums up to 43 ft 4 4/5 inch, slightly oversized. A compares to 40 ft 5/6 inch, well undersized. DML Fuselage length 32 feet 1/12 inch (no prop), A has 29 feet, also undersize.



WEM's PE has little more detail and it has wheelbay doors, missing in A which has only the legs.

Some adaptation is imminent, I guess.

Just a note, if you divide the 13020 by 25.4 mm/inch (the actual number to use) you would get 42" 7" wingspan for the DML F6F which makes the short one even shorter.

[StevenVD]

That might be the case, but I decided to use them still, clip the wings and put all of them on a less visible place, e.g. the hangar deck. But for the Avengers with single wing parts all of the airwing is built. They're too large to put all of them on deck.



A comparison between Dragon's and Trumpeter Avengers. The undercarriage deviates but the Trumpeter black stuff is too hard to scratch with. PE meant for the Dragons has been used here too.



Milling the cockpit is easy when the fuselage is hollow.





The wheelbays had to be drilled with a jagged end of a broken drill bit. Like that they are perfectly cilindric.



The prop on one sprue was unachieved. This will be replaced anyway.



Resin Hellcats are clipped.



I improved the position of the struts by bending and repositioning.

Here the entire airwing is presented on a mirror, as I will try out on IPMS Netherlands next saturday.















For october '44 overall Sea Blue would probably be mandatory. Te canopies must still be reworked, they are too bulky to fit the extensions of the PE cockpit parts.