The Ship Model Forum

Terrific stuff, Jim.

A shame you aren't doing her in dazzle!

The safety nets came out great. I know you said the bases were Tom's white metal, are the 40mm's the kit parts or some other aftermarket accessory?

Bob

Martin, thanks for the kind words, I appreciate the interest.

Bob, this afternoon, before I read your post, I was looking throgh Wiper's book - with 15 PAGES devoted to Sara in dazzle - and I thought that it would be a crowd pleaser to do her in the dazzle scheme - BUT - she only wore that scheme on her trip from Puget Sound to Pearl. She was in meas 21 at Iwo and that fact should be honored. The only AA I was able to use from the 42 Lex was 16 20mm. Bought 4 twin closed 5"-38 (L'Arsenal), 8 5"-38 open (L'Arsenal) and made 23 quad and 2 twin 40mm. The quads had Tom's white metal base, YKM barrels, PE railing, scratch tub base (.020" styrene), scratch .010" brass splinter shield, scratch brush bristle shield flanges/ribs, scratch .005" brass angle support, and some had additional scratch .022" dia straight pin support posts! Three different tub designs were used. LOTS of PARTS!

Jim

Jim, are you going to reduce the height of the smoke stack?

Roberto,

The pictures I have posted show a reduced stack. I left on the sprue parts D13 (gun platform) and D4 - D5 (stack upper level). This action gave me a flight deck to stack top height of 2.26", FDD plans convert to 2.21". Much easier than I expected and a error I can live with! The funnel cap fits well on the reduced funnel, I reduced the wings and removed the cowl in front of #1 pipe, there is some work needed on the corners.

Jim

Finally done with the ship. There is more to do - deck vehicles & planes - but I have to clear the dining room table - taxes (which I cannot do on anything but an EMPTY table) and company next week (it is March in AZ).

I enjoyed this build. Sometimes you like a ship more after a build, sometimes less, this one was MORE.

Jim

More photos.....

One last photo, this is as close as I am going to get.

I'll call it Murderer's Row version jr2009.1

The middle three ships are actually correct (from the front Yorktown, Hornet and Hancock). In front Enterprise replaced the Wasp and in back Saratoga replaced Ticoderoga.

Jim

Awesome job, Jim! She's a beauty!

I can't believe the real one is sitting at the bottom of a lagoon at Bikini Atoll....

Love the shot of the fleet.

JimRussell wrote:but I have to clear the dining room table

I just had to do the same thing, but it's for a poker game!

Bob

Awesome work Jim!! I love it - and Murder's Row Jr.

Beautiful work Jim , One thing though! That flooring needs to be changed, a deep blue would work really well

Happy Modeling

John

Great work. One of my "someday when I have unlimited time and money" projects is a late-war Sara. Yours turns out beautiful.

She looks wonderful Jim!

Once I get back in the States next year I will need to make the drive from Tempe to Peoria to see your collection! Maybe you could teach me how you scratchbuild so much too!

Keep up the good work!

Abram,

Good to hear from you! When you get back the collection (45 and counting) will be here. I am a couple of miles from the NW corner of 101, the trip is all expressway.

Scratchbuilding is fun and not difficult. Get good references and start hacking. Most of the fun is figuring out how to do it. Failures are to be expected, are generally cheap and lead to an acceptable result.

The one hurdle to overcome on a major bash is the initial destruction of that "expensive" kit.

Jim

Love it. World class conversion!

Hello Jim:

Outstanding job on the Sara. I am planning on doing mine in the 30's scheme as depicted by the kit. No major reworks in mind. I like the "Murderer's row", looks great.

Best

Mark

JimRussell wrote:Modifying the flight deck turned out to be easier than I had any right to expect, the Trumpeter plank spacing was appx .039" and I bought some Evergreen .040 scribed sheet that was a very good match. Did NOT have to skin the entire deck.

As the pics show the flight deck bow and stern had to be modified for CV-3. The stern of CV-3 had the big ramp eliminated and was longer, while the bow section was slightly wider forward and had straight sides. Most of the midships area was identical (thankfully) between CV-2 and CV-3. The close up shows the match between Trumpeter and Evergreen.

Jim

Hi Jim! Your Saratoga looks amazing! I'm sorry for posting so long after you completed her but I've just started a conversion of the Trumpeter kit to Sara as she was on her transit to Bikini and I'm trying to make sure I get the correct flight deck styrene from Evergreen. Do you by chance remember which it was that you used? I know it was 0.040 scribed sheet but was it the V-groove? The clapboard? Freight car?

Thanks!
-Adrian

Adrian,

Evergreen #4040, V groove, .040" groove spacing and .040" thick. One 6" x 12" sheet is all you need if you use most of the Trumpeter deck (as I did).

Jim

JimRussell wrote:Adrian,

Evergreen #4040, V groove, .040" groove spacing and .040" thick. One 6" x 12" sheet is all you need if you use most of the Trumpeter deck (as I did).

Jim

Thanks Jim! Much appreciated.

-Adrian

Very impressive work on a proud and beautiful lady. I'd say you did her proud. Congratulations, she looks great.

Bob

JimRussell wrote:More photos.....

After moving to Japan from the U.S., dealing with three household goods moves, getting settled, and everything else that goes along with a military move, I'm finally getting back to my Bikini-transit Saratoga.

My question is (and please forgive me if this has been addressed and I'm missing it somewhere) how do I mask grooved styrene to get white deck lines like in Jim's pic? I've tried tape masking and the white seeped under the tape along the grooves. Should I be trying to use liquid mask? Something else?

I know this thread is old and I apologize but Jim's Saratoga is the canon for what I'm hoping to accomplish.

Thanks in advance to everyone for their help!

-Adrian