The Ship Model Forum

Hi all!

Final work on the island... After studying pictures of Shangri-la taken in 1947 at PSNY that are very clear, and comparing those to pictures of Shangri-la in Sept.- Oct. 1945 that are quite blurry, I am now comfortable with building the final details of the island structure, especially the masts, antenna, and radar. I'm trying to be accurate with this area as probably all essex class carriers were different and simply by glancing at the island one can identify each ship. (I think everyone that his spent time scratch building these tiny parts have spent a far share on their knees trying to find one in the carpet - I know I have!!!) Firstr is a picture from PSNY and then my representation.
Capt652

Capt652

Terrific detail Capt652. I am working on the island of my Tico right now and even though there are many differences I appreciate clear photos showing similarities.

Very ,very nice work. I applause your work so far,can't wait to see more!!!!!

Been working on paint, this time the preliminary flight deck colors. I delayed doing stripes and numbers quite a while trying to find accurate information for Shang in Sept. - Oct. '45. A picture of Shangri-la taken during 'Navy Day' 1945 (some picture captions incorrectly date the picture as '46) show a white or light gray "Z" on the forward end of the FD. I couldn't find a picture in this time period that shows the aft end of the FD, all pictures of Shang have airplanes parked where the marking would be. For lack of better information I concluded that;

1.) The aft marking would be the same color, white / light gray.

2.) The aft marking would be the number 38 as opposed to another "Z".

If I'm wrong, so be it... but not to stress over this issue too long I mixed some paint and applied some color.

I had already purchased the GMM aircraft carrier decals, and of course the decals are flat black, but I didn't want black. I carefully cut out the three, the eight, and made a Z out of card stack and then using them for a pattern I made stencils out of .01" Evergreen sheet styrene. After looking at all the fantastic models in the gallery and seeing that colors have to be muted to look correct in scale I mixed flat white and flat black to come up with off-white for the "Z" and "38" and a darker gray for the hash marks.

I think that after weathering the deck should look nice and 'beat up'!
Capt652

A beautiful build Capt

John

Gorgeous!

Bob

That is fantastic! I love it.

Work continues on the gallery deck catwalks and 20mm guns. A quick word on these 20's; I decided to stay with the Trumpy supplied guns from the kit. I looked at all the options and I know there are after market choices. I minimized by not adding the GMM PE I have (except for the splinter shields). The Trumpy gun barrels look fat and ugly so I couldn't justify spending the time adding the PE when the result would end up being less than satisfying.
I worked on replicating the details of Shangri-la, adding extensions and missing sections of catwalk. Besides the few pictures I have of Shangri-la at this time period I used pictures of Essex class ships from AOTS Intrepid, Warships Perspectives Essex class of WW2, Ravens' Essex class book, and Squadron Essex class carriers for generic details.
Added features;
Gas stations made of copper wire and bits of PE scrap.
Fire hose racks and FF nozzles.
Vertical ladders and GMM inclined ladders with platforms.
I really liked how the bow corner gun directors came out, a feature that is quite prominent on long hull ships. The railing at the bottom of the flight deck ends radius' (although I not exactly sure what they are for) were added. Other gun director platforms were scratch built from brass PE fret as were mounts for the four whip antennas along the starboard side.
Flight deck perimeter lighting.
I still want to add navigation lights on all four corners and other FF equipment (extinguishers and foam cans)

Like I said before....gorgeous!

Bob

This the first time I ever messed around with rigging, and I am still intimidated with the whole process. I tried - without success - stretching sprue, but could not get even fine lines.

I went shopping for some fly tying line (somewhere I read a posting that '20 den Uni-Caenis' was a good size for 1:350 scale) but couldn't find any. I think that these rigging line should disappear from view only inches away from the model or they look way over-scale. I finally stopped in a outfitters store in Traverse City, MI and talked to a most helpful fly fisherman who took the time to explain fly tying lines (and even experimented with different lines and CA glue). He suggested and I purchased 8/0 black polyester line. Back at my bench I studied the reference materials I have for layout. I couldn't find diagrams that showed both attachment points for the flag halyards. Side shots of the flag bags don't show where the halyard attaches to the yardarm. Yardarm attachment points don't show where the line attaches below. Does the most aft line at the flag bag go to the outer most or inner most point on the yardarm?

I can't wait to do a ship with lots of rigging stem to stern!

Overall I'm happy.

Navigation lights and whip antennas

Hi all

Finishing details again, this time the above mentioned parts. I added the perimeter flight deck lighting, red on the port side and white on the starboard. Also added the leading edge nav lights. These lights appear to be a hourglass shape, from what I could tell from various blurry pictures.
Whip antennas, in the case of the Shangri-la numbered eight, four on the island and then four on the starboard side of the gallery deck. I used stainless steel wire, tapering the top in my Dremel, although it took a long time as stainless steel is pretty tough. There was a large square object at the bottom, possibly a counter-weight that I made from polystyrene. I know that these antenna would pivot horizontal and therefore the base would have to allow that. I didn't scratch build that way though, so a slight variation. To complete this ship I have some weathering to do and then a coat of Dullcote to seal. And I have to build my airwing.

Looks fantastic Capt

John

Just a outstanding build.

Great detail work, Timm. Can't wait to see her added to the gallery!

Bob

WOW! That is stunning! Unbelievable detail.

Where can I find a model to build or a completed model, thanks Brian.