1/400 Otaki CVN-65 Enterprise
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Pieter
- Posts: 1605
- Joined: Sat Sep 17, 2005 9:19 am
Re: 1/400 Otaki CVN-65 Enterprise
Hey Steven, that is a massive amount of work you have been doing on this kit. The result looks nice though. About the dark ribbon on the hanger walls, most of my color pictures of hanger decks look like they were the same non-slip color as the hangar deck. I think is was a way to hide the soot and grime that comes with maintaining 90-ish jet aircraft. As I want to actually see all this in november I think you should attempt to light the hangar. Just ignore the resin ceiling and put in some LEDs. The ceiling is difficult to see unless you have flashlight and a mirror.
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StevenVD
- Posts: 616
- Joined: Fri Dec 27, 2013 6:32 pm
Re: 1/400 Otaki CVN-65 Enterprise
Too late, Pieter, the ceinling is already shaped. you'll see this in the next update. But I think it will work out fine, even with lighting.
I wanted a fast method of releasing a number of doors from the printing blocks. Because these are flat, they can be clamped between two rulers. A line was engraved first to guide the break.
Some taps of a hammer and most of the cuts are straight. The bad ones will be glued as the inner half of the door. Two of them will be even almost invisible and I have to shorten them because I shortened the wall too much.
For a moment I contemplated a replacement ceiling made from styrene plate and strips, but it would be stupid to remain with a large unused ceiling in resin that might just fit with some adaptation. So I started on the hardest section at the back.
I cut out this part along the walls of the smaller 1/400 hangar. I used a knife and traced the edges and then cracked small pieces off with the excellent Greenstuff thin-bladed nipper. Most of the flat parts snapped along the trace, it(s just the honeycomb structure that somtimes causes problems so I took care to cut that too. I made holes where some of the internal structures come, because of the support beams.
A view though the doors. The translucence will disappear when the deck is on top. I can now decide if I want the wiring below the ceiling. I can paint it white. A lot of PE racks will be added anyway.
At the front I noticed I had left the keel line, so I corrected it slightly. You won't see this anyway when you can't stand inside.
I tried with the deck on and I don't have to push very hard to close it.
I wanted a fast method of releasing a number of doors from the printing blocks. Because these are flat, they can be clamped between two rulers. A line was engraved first to guide the break.
Some taps of a hammer and most of the cuts are straight. The bad ones will be glued as the inner half of the door. Two of them will be even almost invisible and I have to shorten them because I shortened the wall too much.
For a moment I contemplated a replacement ceiling made from styrene plate and strips, but it would be stupid to remain with a large unused ceiling in resin that might just fit with some adaptation. So I started on the hardest section at the back.
I cut out this part along the walls of the smaller 1/400 hangar. I used a knife and traced the edges and then cracked small pieces off with the excellent Greenstuff thin-bladed nipper. Most of the flat parts snapped along the trace, it(s just the honeycomb structure that somtimes causes problems so I took care to cut that too. I made holes where some of the internal structures come, because of the support beams.
A view though the doors. The translucence will disappear when the deck is on top. I can now decide if I want the wiring below the ceiling. I can paint it white. A lot of PE racks will be added anyway.
At the front I noticed I had left the keel line, so I corrected it slightly. You won't see this anyway when you can't stand inside.
I tried with the deck on and I don't have to push very hard to close it.
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StevenVD
- Posts: 616
- Joined: Fri Dec 27, 2013 6:32 pm
Re: 1/400 Otaki CVN-65 Enterprise
Let's go on with the updates today.
The angled deck catapult ramp needed a different angle, here it's reapplied.
At the bow these ramps have a PE track, so I removed some material for it.
I decided to do the same for the jet blast deflectors, but these have a larger surface so I thought I could use the Proxxon mill to remove the surface geometrically. Some areas were unreachable and there was some melting happening, but I managed to create a good base for the PE parts. Some of it was milled and filed manually later on.
After some filling, the metal was applied.
The perforated kit crane is improved with two continuous PE sidewalls, but even these are adapted to the kit shape and have to be reshaped. Part of the massive plastic arm needed to be split open at the base.
The PE parts are applied to reinforce the base that was thinned considerably.
The crane base is changed too by replacing the round axle by a square beam as is visible on photo's of the recently removed crane arm. This was drilled through with a brass pin used for elevation of the arm. The base is replaced by a larger steel roundel. When the crane will be resting on a new platform attached to the hull, some cabling will be added.
Earlier I pointed out the anchor shape problem in the Otaki kit. Last week I ordered a HS Models replacement set whilst looking for some Zerstörer goodies.
The HS anchors can provide replacement for two ships ans are accompanied by some shackles and an end of fully articulated chain.
It's a pity that I don't need the chain right now, I need the ship to be at speed to launch some of its aitwing. Even then I needed to modify the hull.
The position and shape of the hawse pipe seems wrong, so I need to relocate it.
A few kit roundel parts are changed to new hawse pipe reinforcement rings. The anchors are still unstocked.
A comparison with the Otaki anchors, even the scale is improved though this is an 1/350 upgrade set.
The hawse pipes are redone.
The new anchors are in position and the old holes are filled up.
The arrestor cables are now placed on deck. I had thoroughly removed all plastic detail from it so I had to indicate the position of the PE cables. I knew the Otaki deck arrangement was slightly deformed so I wanted to base the position of the cables on an aerial photograph. I noticed that on this photograph the diagonal covers of the shock absorbing wheels seemed shorter than the PE covers. I traced the positions from the photograph.
When comparing to the PE parts, the position was comparable so I followed the Pe set instructions and added the cables to the deck. On all other pictures the covers are identical to the PE set so I didn't adapt this. The covers are held in place by the removable connecting points so they have the correct angle. The crash barrier is provided to be placed erected but I preferred it to be flat on deck so I made the necessary adaptation.
The L'Arsénal PE fuel tank racks are now prepared to be added to the now hangar ceiling. Assembling the parts is straightforward, but closing up these fine PE box structures is challenging.
The angled deck catapult ramp needed a different angle, here it's reapplied.
At the bow these ramps have a PE track, so I removed some material for it.
I decided to do the same for the jet blast deflectors, but these have a larger surface so I thought I could use the Proxxon mill to remove the surface geometrically. Some areas were unreachable and there was some melting happening, but I managed to create a good base for the PE parts. Some of it was milled and filed manually later on.
After some filling, the metal was applied.
The perforated kit crane is improved with two continuous PE sidewalls, but even these are adapted to the kit shape and have to be reshaped. Part of the massive plastic arm needed to be split open at the base.
The PE parts are applied to reinforce the base that was thinned considerably.
The crane base is changed too by replacing the round axle by a square beam as is visible on photo's of the recently removed crane arm. This was drilled through with a brass pin used for elevation of the arm. The base is replaced by a larger steel roundel. When the crane will be resting on a new platform attached to the hull, some cabling will be added.
Earlier I pointed out the anchor shape problem in the Otaki kit. Last week I ordered a HS Models replacement set whilst looking for some Zerstörer goodies.
The HS anchors can provide replacement for two ships ans are accompanied by some shackles and an end of fully articulated chain.
It's a pity that I don't need the chain right now, I need the ship to be at speed to launch some of its aitwing. Even then I needed to modify the hull.
The position and shape of the hawse pipe seems wrong, so I need to relocate it.
A few kit roundel parts are changed to new hawse pipe reinforcement rings. The anchors are still unstocked.
A comparison with the Otaki anchors, even the scale is improved though this is an 1/350 upgrade set.
The hawse pipes are redone.
The new anchors are in position and the old holes are filled up.
The arrestor cables are now placed on deck. I had thoroughly removed all plastic detail from it so I had to indicate the position of the PE cables. I knew the Otaki deck arrangement was slightly deformed so I wanted to base the position of the cables on an aerial photograph. I noticed that on this photograph the diagonal covers of the shock absorbing wheels seemed shorter than the PE covers. I traced the positions from the photograph.
When comparing to the PE parts, the position was comparable so I followed the Pe set instructions and added the cables to the deck. On all other pictures the covers are identical to the PE set so I didn't adapt this. The covers are held in place by the removable connecting points so they have the correct angle. The crash barrier is provided to be placed erected but I preferred it to be flat on deck so I made the necessary adaptation.
The L'Arsénal PE fuel tank racks are now prepared to be added to the now hangar ceiling. Assembling the parts is straightforward, but closing up these fine PE box structures is challenging.