The Ship Model Forum

Update 103
I actually worked on the model itself last night. After much thought and discussion on the Calling all WWII Essex Class Carrier Fans Site regarding the smoke canisters and slide, I decided to go ahead and add them. For the slide I used a piece of PE fret and wrapped it around a piece of clothes hanger, which seemed the appropriate diameter. I then glued it to the little �jut� that I had wondered what was for and then cut a small strip of PE to secure and support it at the top at an angle that I eye-balled to match the photos I had found of the slide, including one of �SHANGRILA CV 38 UNREP 1945 STRBRD AFT� from the Bean Essex II DVD � Vol. 56, a clip of which is attached below. The support strip, visible in the first two photos below, taken without the flight deck, will not be visible with the flight deck attached, and will add strength to the piece so it isn�t just hanging out in space. I also added 5 smoke canisters to simulate the photo. I did this using 0.05� styrene rod that I rounded one end of before cutting to length. The canisters I have seen are white, so I didn�t even paint the styrene since it is already white. To see what it will look like when completed (more or less), I dry fit the flight deck in place and took more pix. Compare the photo below to the Shangri La photo above. I think it�s a pretty good representation. I�m pleased with the result. I like the chute and it went on easily enough. However, because I decided to add the canisters late in the process, it was difficult to access where they needed to go, so getting them aligned properly before the gel CA glue I used dried was difficult. Therefore, a couple of my canisters are slightly crooked. To cover this fact, or �explain� it, I think I will have a couple of guys handling them and then one guy leaning on the end one, perhaps smoking a cigarette. My advice is that, if you are going to include gas canisters, put them on before attaching the upper level (part C19). It will be a lot easier to install them correctly.

Obviously I have plenty of painting to do, but I think that I will deal with the Gallery Deck bulkheads first.

CHEERS!!!

Christian M. wrote:Because still thinking about same problems...
Beside Tamiya Set I only know 2 sets from Pit Road with ready painted IJN Seamen (80 figures each set). The ready painted PE crew does not impress me, simply they are flat and not full figures what is even in 1/350 scale visible.
Only for larger scale 1/200 (or even larger as that) it becomes better with figures from German manufacturer Preiser and others as accessories for model railways in 1/220. There are seaman inside, bu also other figures useable too.

Hey Christian,
I hear you about not being crazy about the flat PE figures. I think I found a solution to that on the following website:
http://titanic-model.com/articles/paint ... igures.htm

About half way down "3-D Detailing" is described. It sounds fairly simple and I was thinking about giving it a try. He does it before he paints them, but if the glue dries clear, I don't see why you couldn't do it over the paint.

And there are more options than Preiser out there.

http://www.freetimehobbies.com/search.a ... pe=figures

Indeed ... sounds and looks simple! Thank you for link and information!

About your update, looks pretty good and a clever solution you made!

Thanks Christian,
I just modified my last post to include a link you may be interested in:
Here it is again in case you missed it:
http://www.freetimehobbies.com/search.a ... pe=figures

The cylinders aren't "pretty good", they're very good.
The fact that they lean a little? Well so do some of them in the actual photos.

Thanks Russ!

This is simply put, an awesome project, your dad is gonna love it! I really like the artistic license areas you did too! Movie screen= super cool! AC-47...hell yes!

I am planning to add an AC-47 to my 'Nam specops carrier. I am trying to make a resin copy of the fuselage to practice what I hope will be a really cool conversion: Iplan to cut the fuselage in half right where the large rear door would be, with the intention of hollowing out the body of the aricraft, and then drilling the windows and the large rear door to install a basic interior. Hopefully this will be a success, but I am weary of cutting into the thing without a practice part, so hopefully the copy comes out ok.

Double Wow sgtryan13!

First Wow - You are all too kind in your compliments and I thank you much.
Having just looked through your CVN-77 WIP, I am more than humbled by your kind words.

Second Wow - I can't imagine trying to carve out the middle of a 1/350 scale AC-47. I thought about carving out the door and decided that that was too much for me, especially since the AC-47s are my only experience with resin. But you have more experience and skill than I do and I think it's a cool idea that I'm sure you can pull off. For what it's worth, it seems like the tricky part will be hollowing enough out to have a thin shell, without gouging through it.

Are you recording your 'Nam specops carrieron a WIP? If so, I would like to see it.

Update 104
I started today�s modeling session detailing the Gallery Deck bulkheads, but quickly realized that this would be better accomplished with the flight deck attached to the hull, so I switched gears to prepare for the �Closure�. The first thing I did was to add acetylene/oxygen canisters on the port side of the stern. I don�t know how the one guy got so short, unless it�s just out at the base, but I�m not going to try to change it at this point. I dropped one of the canisters while trying to put it on and had a heck of a time getting it out of there. Another good reason to put any canisters you are going to put on BEFORE you put on the upper level (part C19). Anyway, I think it will work.

The final major task I had to accomplish, prior to putting the flight deck on, was to install the stern light. Of course, I couldn�t find a good aft shot of Bennington, but I did find good stern shots of other Essex class carriers, and guess what? They have different configurations and are in different locations on the different ships. Imagine that! The easiest location to install is on the lower side of the flight deck, so that�s where I decided to put it.

I considered sawing a gap on the underside of the flight deck to accommodate the wires, but decided that they were small enough and on the underside that when painted they won�t be noticeable except to the most critical eye and there are plenty of other things on the model for that eye to gaze upon. I did put a notch in the guide tab to minimize it interfering with the fit. A dry fit test shows that I don�t have any interference, so I don�t think I need to cut a channel in the mate like I was considering. In order to get the wire down through the hull, I did like I did for the hangar and island lights, I drilled a hole and used styrene tubing to make a conduit. Hey, I know it�s not pretty, but the only people who will know are those of you following this WIP. Of course I had to test them and take pix� I love the lights, but I think that the stern light needs to be dimmed with at least one more coat of white enamel. I know that the lights are by no means realistic, but they are as close as my skills would allow, and I think that the effect is pretty cool. I could have perhaps used some of the fiber optic fibers one slim was kind enough to send me a while back, at least for the wake light, but I had already purchased the other lights, so I thought I would save that learning experience for my next adventure.

So, now all that needs to be done before I attach the flight deck is to spray the hangar with dull coat.

Update 105
This isn�t so much an update as it is a question and a final farewell.
The question has to do with the fit between the flight deck and hull. It fits in place nicely and in fact almost snaps in place and is somewhat difficult to remove when in position. However, there is one spot, on the starboard side, in front of the island where the hangar deck bulkhead juts out. I can get it to line up but I have to push fairly hard and the last time I pushed on it I heard a cracking sound which wasn�t good, so I don�t want to push on it too hard. Even so, I don�t know how I would hold it in position long enough for the glue to dry and even if it did, it seems like there would be a lot of force acting on that joint forever. I�m not sure what to do at this point, but I guess I have 3 options; 1) live with it, 2) try to force it into submission, or 3) heat it and ease it over.

I don�t particularly like any of these options. Any suggestions? Has anyone run across this fit problem before? If so, how did you deal with it? The hangar has been dull coated and awaits the flight deck. My intention was to put it on tonight, but I think I will wait and see if anyone has any suggestions before I do.
?
In the meantime, here are the parting shots of the hangar deck, before it goes forever into (at least partial) darkness. In sgtryan13�s WIP of his spectacular George H.W. Bush he mentioned the sense of sadness he felt having to part with models that he builds for others. I had this same feeling when I gave the diorama and the AC-47 to my dad, so I knew exactly what he was talking about. Strangely, I am having somewhat the same feeling on closing the hangar. I�m going to miss looking at it sitting on my work bench and seeing it from all angles. I know it�s not going anywhere, but in a way, it is.

As to flight deck fit, if your wiring tubes are glued in place, then you have about 3 of those tubes fighting movement of the hull sides. In the first interior shot in the above post, it seems to me that there is a slight curvature of the starboard side, outboard, with the said three tubes tending to hold it there. I think you might want to put a straight edge against the offending area to check and then try to alleviate anything that is holding it.

Then, some heat in the offending area to soften/ease the plastic and a couple of C-clamps with the clamp ends at mid height of the hull side but resting against verticle wood battens that are verticle and distribute the force of the clamps up and down the hull sides. The upper ends of the wood battens should be at or a hair below the hull sides. May need a shipyard assistant to hold the battens while you apply the clamps. Remove heat source. Now set the flight deck and if the fit is right, hold it down to the hull sides firmly with rubber bands or C-clams. Now apply liquid cement to the joint lines, letting capillary action work its magic.

Just a thought

Thanks for the kind words! And yes, I am doing a WIP of the specops CV, not nearly as detailed as the Bush WIp, but it's here: viewtopic.php?f=59&t=107385

As to your hull fit issue, Russ makes a very good point and suggestion for a fix. Personally, I get very nervous when adding heat into the equation, especially at this late stage, so here is what I would do:

Given that the area is right in front of the island, and is obscured by the 5" mounts, and there is an overhang from the foreward mount anyways, I would just add a small styrene overhang to the deck edge in that area (maybe even mating it to the curved overhang) and paint it deck color and call it a day. It will be such a small part that only the most trained eye would possibly notice the artistic license you took. When ever I can, I try to take the "keep it simple" approach for things like this. I would greatly prefer a very small and slight inaccuracy rather than risk heating and potentially warping the hull, or cracking some bulkheads and ruining so much hard work. If you were much earlier in the build, then I would say totry and fix it right, as Russ described.

Ryan

Update 106
Fait Accompi!

The flight deck is attached and the hangar is permanently closed. Thanks Russ and SgtRyan for the advice. I ended up going with the KISS method. I had forgotten to mention that the misalignment issue existed from day 1, long before I put the light supports in. Not knowing any better, I at first thought it was supposed to be that way, because everything fit together so well elsewhere. I put a straight edge on it and it�s straight as can be. Perhaps the bulkhead wasn�t truly vertical? I don�t know, and at this point it doesn�t matter. When I turned it upside down to glue it all together, which I thought was easier and allowed the liquid cement to flow into the seam better (I used the capillary action Russ suggested) and applied lateral pressure when I glued it, some of the jut went away. As it turned out, it�s not too bad, so I�m not sure what else I will do here, if anything. Of course, since I put the flight deck on, I had to make sure that all of the lights worked. They did! And the �typhoon� deformed flight deck worked out well. The stern light is not as bright with another coat of paint on it. I might add another. I'm happy with the bomb crew in the light and dark, but if I was doing them over, I would paint their tops red. They were already assembled when I learned the clothing color codes. I�ll apply that on the flight deck. I�m happy with the movie theater, even if it does have the largest projector in history. Other scenes came out well too! And, of course, me on my bike going to see dad in his Puff. There are some gaps that will need filling, including a fairly large one around the top of the elevator shaft. I was concerned about getting them too tall and interfering with the fit, so I intentionally cut them off a little short, knowing that the gaps would be hidden by the flight deck. I didn�t think about the light, which takes your eyes right to it, as you can see in the last photo, above. I think however that the gap is small enough that with a little gel super glue or white glue and paint, it won�t be noticeable.

So, at this critical juncture, I am pleased with the results, and I have learned TONS
about naval architecture, naval jargon, naval procedures on numerous topics, carrier clothing, and of course modeling. I mean, I see gaps and seams that bug me now, where I don�t think I would have even noticed them before. But such is life. I am forging ahead, knowing that my modeling skill will only get better and that I am doing as good of job as my current skills allow.

And, if I ever do another carrier, somebody remind me not to paint the outside of it until I get at least to this stage. I have painted it, messed it up, painted it again, messed it up again, and... ad nauseum. I don�t recall this being an issue with either Missouri or England. Perhaps I�m just getting pickier.

Now, what to do tonight? Besides watch the Cards?

We learn with each build, and the next will be better for it, keep trudging ahead unless you want to compete with her and are really concerned where she places! everything has a "GEN 1" including your projector, just think of how big the now obsolete battleships were, so cut yourself some slack on the projector.

My only real concern is that you are apparently interested in some red birdies when the Yankees just won their series... seek help, ASAP.

Looks for me amazing ...

And the idea with projector is really great inside....

sgtryan13 wrote:We learn with each build, and the next will be better for it, keep trudging ahead unless you want to compete with her and are really concerned where she places! everything has a "GEN 1" including your projector, just think of how big the now obsolete battleships were, so cut yourself some slack on the projector.

My only real concern is that you are apparently interested in some red birdies when the Yankees just won their series... seek help, ASAP.

Down 3 after 3 batters, I think I do need to seek help.

I definitely don't plan on entering any competitions with it. I'm doing it strictly for the fun of it and to give to my dad. And I'm not down about the projector, in fact I am thrilled with everything, probably more than I let on, and WAY more than I thought I would be at this stage.

When I first found this model on sale and decided to get it, I had wild thoughts about maybe including a movie screen and perhaps trying to bend the deck, but I really thought that they were just that, wild thoughts. Then everything fell in place. I saw a model on the Gallery with LEDs in it, I found some on-line and decided to go for it. If I was doing it over, I would probably do it differently, but the way I did it accomplishes what I set out to do in fact am going to end up with something far superior than anything I could have imagined and I couldn't be happier at this point. (OK, it's now 0-4, so I guess I could be happier. Um 0-6. Ikes! Last year was good! ) Same with bending the flight deck, it went as good, if not better than I had hoped.

The best thing about the whole experience, as great as it all has been, has been thinking about my dad. His time at Annapolis, imagining him as a young Midshipman from Ohio on a big ship, sailiing the ocean to Europe, his stories of he (the center), the QB, and receivers running plays on the flight deck, them watching the movies during Hurricane Barbara with water several inches deep in the flight deck sloshing from side to side, him reliving when the Banshee missed the hook and went down an elevator and landed on another plane. In fact, my original thought, before I actually bought the model was to build her in 1954, but I couldn't find the aircraft I needed for that time, so I switched gears. Of course, I have found them now, so maybe this will be a future build.

Anyway, I appreciate everyone's comments and I'm sure I will be posting something sometime, because I have no plans for the weekend, which means hat I will probably be modeling.

Update 107

Yeah Cards! Incredible game! If you didn�t see it, they were down 0-6, but they came back and, scoring 4 runs in the top of the 9th, won 9-7. I�m not a huge baseball fan, but my best friend lives in St. Louis and we have gone to several games, so I�m kind of partial to the Red Birds. They are fun to watch because you can never count them out. Just like last year, they were down to their last strike and found a way to rally and win. Plus, good games, no matter what the sport, are fun to watch.

So, I didn�t do anything on the model last night, but this morning I fixed the gaps in the elevator shaft. The gap was somewhat larger than I thought it was (~0.04�), so I ended up using 0.05� styrene rod to fill it. It was quite easy, I just turned the ship over, laid the pieces in place and then brushed on the �Plastruct Bondene� I have (which I am liking more and more the more I use it). I then painted it, including repainting the deck edge that I smudged paint on). You can see them a little from these low angles, but just barely and from the angle that the model will be viewed, you can�t see them. And they were effective at blocking the gaps. GO SOONERS!!!

You have put a lot of thought and work into this build and it looks great. Your dad is going to be proud to have it and he will also be proud of you for building it for him. Looking forward to your next post.

Update 108

Thanks Gordon! I appreciate the kind words.

Here�s the next post.

I had one of those days Sgt Ryan wrote about. I spent most of the day in my workshop without a lot to show for it. However, the words of encouragement from you guys really paid off.

When I started this journey, as I�ve said before, I didn�t really think about details and how they would be so different between sister ships. When I started learning some of the differences, I found them fascinating (I still do), and pretty much became obsessed with correctly trying to incorporate as much detail as possible. I�ve been fretting about the Gallery Deck bulkheads for some time, and have spent hours poring through pictures, trying to find good pix of the details, and have been helped by some of you who have sent me links to excellent photos. Still, I didn�t know what to do and was afraid of messing it up. The encouraging words you guys posted helped me regain a better perspective.

With all of the detail I am including and activity I plan to put on the flight deck, the Gallery Deck bulkheads aren�t going to receive much attention, and most people probably won�t even see them. Still, I don�t think they should be featureless either. So, I decided to just make it up, and that�s what I did. I created a hodgepodge of various pieces of styrene and a couple of pieces of wire to approximate some of the features I saw in pictures and didn�t worry about realism. Is it anywhere close to reality? No! But when painted it will at least break up the lines of an otherwise flat surface and it didn�t take me a lifetime to finish, just most of the day to do what�s shown in the pictures, so probably 3 or 4 days to do all of it. Is it worth it? I don�t know. I guess the end result will answer that question.

The white horizontal stripes along the bottom are the 0.03� x 0.03� shelves for the PE catwalks. You may have noticed that the doors (including the one on the gun platform) are cut below the deck surface. That is because I am incorporating this real recessed door feature in my model. Even though it will take a lot more time, I think in this case, the extra effort will definitely be worth it. I already know how I�m going to do it and thanks to Chris Toops, who was kind enough to send me extra catwalk that he had, I don�t think it will be that difficult to do.

It is really tempting to start putting on the catwalk, but it seems like it would be better to finish painting and weathering, before I start putting on PE pieces. Any thoughts on that?