The Ship Model Forum

use the wl length as that does not change between short hull & long hull. it was discussed years ago in the calling all Essex class carriers thread in the aircraft carrier forum above.

The problem is that in the models the stern doesn't follow the same curve as on the plans. The rear waterline point in the models is touching a horizontal line, that is not encountered in the plans.

do the plans show the waterline? do you know the draft of the ships?

At this moment I don't intend to remove a hull section, because I get the impression that the scale difference is evenly divided over the model. Removing a part causes a distortion somewhere in the model. Having a model being actually 1/340 won't really be visible unless you put it right next to a correct one. What did bother me was the visual deviation of the bow in Hancock. You'll see in this update my solution for that problem, it took about 1 day to correct.



First I installed the revised 40mm tubs, some spare PE was used for the walkway under it.



A reinforcement plate was removed from both as this is not visible on the Randolph pictures seen before. It would impede passage through the hangar door below.

Now the surgery marker was applied on Hancock's blunt nose.

The plastic is thick enough to do some rigorous sanding later on, so I'll mainly reuse parts.



A wedge-shaped cutout is removed from the side. The waterline section is removed to move it back.



To be able to move the front w/l point back, the hull halves need to be contracted. The bottom is cut open to the hole that was present.



Two 3mm holes are drilled in the bow.



The hull is clamped and two sprue bits are used as rivets to contain the stress. All is glued extensively.



Then the removed and shortened waterline bit is put back.



The cutout wedges are used to fill the voids.



I started filling up with Tamiya putty, but I had better used CA glued styrene strips. Some of the putty weakened the seams, necessitating CA addition.



Now the outline matches up with the plan.



About one cc of plastic dust was then produxed while sanding this smooth.



To get the deck edge straight again, I had to file along this line.



Not only the seams were sanded, part of the hull away from the keel was also attacked.



At the end of day I could feel no more recesses in the bow.



The main island parts have 18 doors each. Also, Essex has different doors cast on it than the Ticonderoga parts from Hancock. I did use some of these small PE doors on the hull, but I still have just enough for the island.



To remove the existing doors and the cast-on ladders would work out easiest with my Proxxon device, so I could mill the surface evenly between piping and walkway supports. The downside is the tolerance on the vertical axis, almost half a turn on the wheel before a direction change on the device is effective. If they had only used steel nuts in stead of plastic ones, the gauges on the wheels would be reliable.



So some scars needed to be filled, but that would be the same with hand tools and would have cost a lot more time and effort.



Pontos decided not to replace a few splintershields, so more filing was needed. Even the support ribs don't need replacement, because these were H-profiles.



Some warping in the Hancock island could have added to the milling problems.



I decided to prevent fitting problems later and install a bulwark in it. This needed to be on a level to make possible some open doors later, they are part of the 18 remaining ones on the Pontos fret.



I conclude with a comparison of 5 inch/38 mounts. The kit ones are really too fragmented, the Pontos resin ones gave much more detail. Some Flyhawk ones have casting marks, but they do have PE steps coming with them.







I didn't check if the commander hatches in my other Pontos set are covered like the Flyhawk ones. Also there's a difference in the glacis height and the barrels are fixed in angle.

look at the 5"/38 Mk. 32 gun mounts in this link as for the CV's. https://maritime.org/doc/guncat/index.php

Nice surgery on that bow Steven!

Agreed.

Incredible the work you did on the bow! Simply outstanding!!!

Thanks everyone. First let's continue the islands. Hancock goes faster because I already know how it should look from the pictures. Essex depends on the date I should build, it was changed later in the war.



By times the microscopic instruction plates make me miss something. Here it's the step in the floor for the bridge walkway. This will only be corrected late in this update.



Starboard side is ok like this.



On the port side a part needs to be stepped down and then step up again. Here I only stepped down, and on the left of the picture I removed a plastic ridge to make that happen. But this was needed for the step up, and the ribs on the left are not attached to the wall because of this. So don't remove the plastic supports.



The smoke stack is drilled out.



A small metal puzzle is then inserted, it took me a few try-outs because it's meant to be partly on intuition what goes where.



This grille on top of the stack works actually fine. Other parts are sometimes hard to locate, sometimes a part is shown detached and then it reappears on the model only a few steps later. Some number balloons are missing. Therefore a reference picture comes in handy.



The stack is closed down.



A series of identical supports are used under the walkway, it works best if you use all numbers 10 for it.



These footrails only sit straight if you glue the middle first and then arrange the sides.



The direction of the railing is very important here. Needless to say I tried it the wrong direction first.



Two turned brass steam pipes are an eye catcher here.



Pontos doesn't indicate the use of "quick-acting doors" or "non-quick-acting" ones, though just enough of them seem to be provided. I followed the Battleship blog of Ryan Zemanski to understand the difference:





To place the open doors, holes were drilled in the kit. Essex got the small hatches that were on the model, though I suspect these were later replaced like I see on the pictures. The pri-fly cabin is provided too.



With ladders and railings it starts to look like an island, but there is still a lot missing. And I'll have to do it all over again for Essex...

Fantastic update. Nothing beats very clean PE work. Bravo.

Thank you, Boomstick. I'll go on with that then, all on the Hancock island.



On this picture are visible the bridge splintershield running continuous around the front, with the venturi wind deflection system following almost the whole edge. Also remark how the 20mm gun gallery has a raised front with a squared corner.



In the Pontos set, there is a cutout I seem to miss on the picture. Also, the gallery is not raised and has a rounded corner.



I removed the wall with the circular saw without further damage.



A part of the fret is then used as a replacement wall. Holes in the floor are also covered up and the short ribs under it are replaced with tailored pieces of metal.



The gallery is now cut out, put back in a raised position and a rectangular wall provided.



To bend the venturi parts the bend radius must be augmented with the support length.



Some of the parts come loose during assembly. The venturi wing should have been longer with the option to shorten it, it doesn't match the picture for my ship.



In the top level, some additional wings are missing.



Maybe I find the courage to scratch some 30 supports myself. Now up to the main mast.



Very neat how the PE yardarms are stepped around the yard.



Some of the turned brass parts must carefully be compared to the silhouette image, they sometimes are equal in length but with different indentations or rings.



Preparation of the main mast and the platforms.



The struts are added.



While that seemed straight, it needs to be corrected n a dry-fit.



Symmetry is achieved, but other actions are needed to get the mast straight.



It is still angled forward by the struts.



The plastic bosses need to be removed on the kit, and holes drilled. I also removed the loudspeaker on the stack.



I needed to engrave the surface of the stack where the main platform touches it, to get both struts in the holes. Drilling was the safest method.





And now the position was fine.



The main mast platform was now reinforced, but there's no indication how to turn these triangles that all have different dimensions.



The railing option with the plate was selected as this is visible in the pictures.



The yard with IFF antennas and anemometers.





To avoid damage to the railing later on I now fixed the mast to the island.

These pictures from Navsource show the Hancock radar antennas I need to select.







I found all necessary antennas minus a few smaller ones.



The SM radar is nicely detailed, only the very fine meshing is left out but this would require the thinnest rigging wire in unwieldable frequencies. It will suffice like it is.









SK antenna was soon completed, followed by the masttop with YE homing beacon, TBS antenna and SG-1 dish. The airhorn is added but maybe the platform under it is too large.

Comparing the Mk.37 directors with a L'Arsenal set I bought:



Either the kit is overscale or the resin is underwhelming:





In the Trojca book a drawing shows the director on 1/100 as 30 mm broad. The kit one is 8,5 mm, matching reality well: 30x2=60 on 1/50 and then 60:7=8,6 on 1/350. So L'Arsenal is rather derived from 1/400 with 7,5 mm.





But of course L'Arsenal is more detailed with the hinges, ladders and footrails provided, in stead of the ugly molding lines in the kit.



Luckily, Pontos provided all of these but the hinges, maybe I can scratch these.



The director towers are bald with only an undetailed entrance hatch. There should be hatches in every direction. This is strangely not in the Pontos set if I checked it thoroughly, but I did have a lot of spares from the ABSD project. Almost enough for both ships.



The looking holes are drilled and then the hatch added.



Some remarks on the Mk.4 director antennas. The holder part is inscribed the other way as usual, so I bent it wrong and it disintegrated while I straightened it. They only did this because they needed grooves for the connector part. Also, the mesh part should be introduced in the frame as deep as possible, to get the dipoles flush with the frame. But the seat is well conceived, gripping on the director.



Assembly is straightforward.





For the "stove pipe antenna" there's at least a platform, if no antenna can be perceived.



And then there is a fine rear mast, which I completely built and then noticed it is not needed for Hancock, even if they included it in the kit instructions. Now some pictures to conclude this update.

Excellent PE work.

Thanks Dan. I had a nice weekend having won the Best of Show with the USS Columbia and ABSD in a contest from IPMS Tienen.

https://www.scalemates.com/profiles/mat ... bum=111487

But that didn't get me from continuing work on the Essexes. I did find the IFF-antenna and also replaced the poor kit searchlights with some extant resin and parts from Columbia. This resin is quite fragile and it broke on the casting block.



These Very Fire kit parts are still much better than the Trumpeter ones.



For Essex the decision is now made to build her to 1945 standard. Therefore some features like the short bridge front, teardrop-shaped mast platform, extra 40mm in front and reduced 20mm galleries have to be removed.



Also some earlier building steps have to be revised for this. But I'll be able to use the Corsairs I bought.



At the stern two trailing galleries are moved to starboard. The catwalk there remains short.





The upper part of the bridge is advanced, taking the spot of the 40mm installation. On the starboard smoke stack platform the SK-radar is added that on Hancock was in a central position. 2 short 20mm-galleries are enlarged to contain both 6x 20mm guns.



On port position a pylon with a small dish is placed. The SC-2 radar will come on a second mast. No venturis are found on the front part of the bridge, only on the top platform. So I'll be able to complete Hancock' missing venturis.



This teardrop/racetrack shape of mast platform is not found in the Pontos set. A bit of cutting is needed.



Some Evergreen makes the kit bridge identical to Hancock.



Because the Pontos set for Essex contains the original and the 1944 Hornet splintershields, the changes in the bridge can be performed with some cutting.



With the two inserts in front patched up, this will serve well.



The new shield is made from metal strip.



Only the holes need to be filled now.



The pri-fly tent was not visible on the 1945 pictures, but as it is quite basic I added it. The detailing of the smoke stack is identical to Hancock.



I found no plan of the changed platform, so I guess it looks like this.



The supports under the walkways are added.



The 20mm galleries are so different form the kit ones, I scratched them entirely.



The gun positions are provided.



The mast frame is also the same, with the cutout in the stack still needed.



These parts are fixed, with the ships bell here visible.



The galleries are supported by pieces of PE fret.



I installed some radar antennas, but the pylon has the wrong suport structure. It is therefore removed again.



The SK platform is fixed. I got some airwing PE in the mail today, so that will be next.

What an amazing job !

This surgery is incredible

Thanks for the recognition. A comparison picture of Hancock with a complete set of venturis and Essex, still missing loudspeakers and lights.



One set of cockpits was ordered on Ebay, maybe another one will still arrive from a backorder.



Plus some older stuff from the stash.



The Avengers seem to contain most of the work.





The seats are placed but there is no contact between front and back. Here a shaped piece of plastic must be inserted.



Three cabins are set, but one is missing after an erratic movement involving an ant that visited the manual. The sides of the Avengers are cut thinner.



Maybe the rest of the Avengers can too get a cockpit, it depends from the order. The clearparts will have to be shelled.



A lot of white Tamiya paint is covering the hangar ceiling. It won't be directly visible but maybe in a reflection from a plane.



The walls are also done white, now masking will be needed for the deck.

Hi, Steven,

great work, as always! Hope to see you in Geel, June 2.

Cheers, Walter

That's the intention, Walter.

Over to the Helldivers. About the Avengers, I forgot the clearpart Dragon ones, so those will be made shut down.



Helldivers also get two PE cabins.



They don't need a plastic spacer, but it will be hard to make the canopy fit.



The turning PE gun ring is nice but the frame comes over the seat.



The fit is very well.



No picture of the guns, these were attached to the mounds resulting in some filing at the barrel.



The small Hellcat cockpits.



Just fitting in.



Now also the Dragon Hellcats are thought of. But one misses the win base.



The airplanes with the PE cockpit will get the canopy opend up. Another bunch will be closed down.



It's a good thing I only had one box of Corsairs, this PE is fitting badly even if I make deep gouges on the inside and put two clamps on the fuselage.



Two of them snapped and some seams will have to be filled. Now I only have Dauntless interiors left, but these will not feature. Still a lot of wheelbays and propeller PE expected...

Impressive work!

Thanks, SG!

Something needed some correction still on the hulls.



I know that in the "all fans called" thread there was mention of the aeration mesh in the port side stern. These are quite badly engraved in the kit. Also, there seems to be no Pontos solution for this. I did have some generic mesh.



First the old structures are drilled out and filed.



The first solution didn't please me, the chosen mesh is hard to shape in small fragments like these, so I removed it again.



I found a better solution in combining the smaller parts in one and place a PE crosshair in front of it. That came from spare PE and I found enough of that to make the two I needed in both ships.



Like this, the small ones could also be dealt with.



Then, Hancock got the same. I checked if both had them, because I know Thracy White wrote that later ships didn't had these.



The catwalks still needed to be shortened while already been bent.



Here the galleries were removed, the catwalk is placed back and the starboard side galleries from the kit are added with the Pontos ribs under them. There is a deck edge PE strip for this config but I had already adapted the 1943 strip for this. The triangles were scratch.



The bases for the 5 inch mounts are identical in both Pontos instruction guides but the numbering is adapted to the lay-out and that differs between the sets.



So it was a bit of a puzzle to collect these parts form both sets.



Assembly of the large parts.



Also the small ones are added without smearing on the perforations.



As L'Arsenal announces a two month retreat I decided not to wait for the out of stock cockpit PE and assemble the fuselages now.



The offset in the wing bases causes some very skewed wing positions in the Trumpeter planes. When assembled, the fuselage can be straightened out.



Because Trumpeter seems to think the planes will always be shown airborne, the wheelbays are closed down. I'll have to open them up in all these Avenger wings, and in the wheel base of the other types. The dragon Avengers I left over from Princeton have the wings stretched, so these now have the bomb bay closed. Any torpedoes I will be adding, will come on carts near the planes.