1/350 CVN 65 - Project Enterprise

[silvershadow]

When i was a kid, I got a Tamiya catalogue magazine with models in it to buy. It was my favourite book with a huge collection of all types of models in it.
When I saw the Enterprise with all those tomcats on it, I was hooked. I built a few models as I grew up but never got to build her, eventually outgrew the hobby when
I became a teenager. At age 35, I have decided to be a kid again. This model will have a tiny bit of scratch building to it, I have never done this before, neither
painting, spraypainting, or even worked with photo edge before. This is all new to me and feel excited, and want to give it a bash. I am in no rush to complete this
project, and see this as a "I want to build it", and not "just get it done" project. Enjoy
< - Im building for the late modern era of this ship - >

[silvershadow]

more

[silvershadow]

more

[silvershadow]

that's it for now

[Miguel]

Stunning your job on the hull ,very interesting,will follow this post,maybe one day got the courage to build this massive kit

[silvershadow]

Thank you Miguel for your support Yeah this took me about a year to get to this point, lots of build / rebuild times. Eventually ended up realizing lots of stuff was a tad too big, and could look better in smaller finer detail. I realized this will be a long project, building parts and glue-ing this on to the ship at this stage might look great, but styrene turns yellow after a while if you don't paint it, it will just get covered with dust or break when you work on other sections of the ship. I looked at options to make it dry fit on the model and can be taken off and stored away until the big day of assembling. So, after the first cut I was hooked, and looked at the next section I can make removable to make life a little bit easier.

[silvershadow]

some pictures, sorry about photo dumps, let me know if its too much at a time, I know some people get annoyed when too many pictures at a time is posted and almost no talk in between

[silvershadow]

and the rest for today

[silvershadow]

image 051, last image - This is just ideas - and everything is loose fit, will come back to this section in a later time, but for now the bulk of that structure is in place.

[simon b]

Keep'em coming Jacques. We're thirsty for more

[silvershadow]

Thanks, I was starting to think whoa, this forum has some really tough crowds to please, lol, or they just don't want to see the big lady at the moment =)

[Strategos Augustus]

Thanks, I was starting to think whoa, this forum has some really tough crowds to please, lol, or they just don't want to see the big lady at the moment =)

It looks flippin' awesome. Keep 'em coming!

[Miguel]

Another impressive series of photos, thanks for sharing ,can I ask what time frame will be your Big E?

Thanks, I was starting to think whoa, this forum has some really tough crowds to please, lol, or they just don't want to see the big lady at the moment =)

Please,keep the posts ,here in this forum, people is quite cold,but You can see how many views you have ,so there is a lot of interest I can assure you.

[simon b]

Agreed, sometimes when these ultra detailed builds come along, people will just sit there patiently waiting for each new set of pics (Me included)
Incidentally the Enterprise (2012 config) is next in line for me so these pics are like gold dust.

[silvershadow]

Another impressive series of photos, thanks for sharing ,can I ask what time frame will be your Big E?

Thnx, I'm building the 2012 conversion, or at least trying to get her close to decommissioned date. But, love the tomcat, even tho it's not on the latest ship, Enterprise is not Enterprise without those birds hehe. But yeah, still a long way to go before I am there

[simon b]

Any thoughts on Decals ?
I had the Boatswain set sometime ago but thats now since gone.

[silvershadow]

So far I really don't know, too afraid buying something that is not really to scale (too big) Maybe leaning towards photoshopping my own if needed, (pretty good with photoshop (I'm a 3d artist in profession)) and put it on decal paper, but for now I'm going to try the old fashioned way first by masking lines and just try painting, but will need to look at it in later stages. Maybe by that time some company is making good quality decals for my missing items, or maybe just make the templates, and then ask around who can put this in decal paper for a price.

[simon b]

Ok, the only other option although not entirely accurate is the star fighter decals set for the Reagan. That would probably be my choice.
It's 2011 I think and has 2 super hornet and 2 hornet sqns so should do at a pinch.

[silvershadow]

ok pressing onwards - Some heavy structure inside. I have heard big plastic kits tend to bend after time, so I started to add these ribs and also sub structure for the future hangar bay, to keep the form a little bit better

[silvershadow]

I have probably rebuilt this section 3 times, probably why I ended up cutting away the back plate,but happy I did .