The Ship Model Forum

Hi all,

Here is a look at my 'Shang'. The picture of the bow is an earlier photo before I learned (Thanks Tracy!) that the quad 40mm gun directors were either behind the guns or on the corners of the flight deck. I am in the process of scratch-building the director tubs out of brass and since that photo I have removed the directors tubs behind the guns. I think I am finished with the island as I have studied all the pictures I can find of the details in regards to antenna and radar and railings. All the PE is from GMM. This is the first model I have built in MANY years, like about thirty-five.

One more view of the port side island

That is amazing work!

But, I have to ask, I really do: HOW are you going to paint her with all of that PE attached? Really? I know people pull it off, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to do it, and I am pretty anal about masking off everything before spraying and get fairly creative. But this stumps me.

-Devin

Paint.........well now that you mentioned it, I thought a lot about how to do it, I'm thinking even more about the hanger deck and all the open roller doors. How am I going to paint the bulkheads white and the hanger deck gray and not have any overspray when I paint the exterior? My plan is for a measure 21 paint job with a lot of weathering so it looks beat up. I figure to use my airbrush with barely a mist coming out of the nozzle and then just take my time. I bought Polly Scale acrylic paint, 5N for all the vertical surfaces and 20B for the horizontal. Dirty black for the funnel grills and all mast components above that level. Lots of dirty stains on the hull...stuff like that.

I do have 100 little 1:350 sailors that I could put to work. 100 tiny paint brushes and 100 little paint cans, it shouldn't take too long if I threaten not to feed them...

Happy Holidays!

I wanted to post a couple pictures of my progress on Shangri-la, circa end of the war Sept-Oct '45.

I am working on the bow under flight deck walkways and this is what I came up with so far;

A picture of the ship Jan '45 that shows a good view of those walkways. I think the design didn't change through 1946.
Here is the mock up of my ship.
Just like Tracy commented on the post from Steve in regards to the picture of the stern of the Hornet and the work on the Yorktown, those walkways were specific to each ship. Research and some scratch building using the PE (mine are from Gold Medal Models), and I'm comfortable with the result.

I worked the island a little more since I acquired the Raven Essex Class-Carriers book from a used book store through Amazon. I added the midway platform at the yard-arm level up to the tripod platform and the reproducer on the starboard side of the funnel. I also added the Paper Labs Mk 51 directors, which I personally think are more to scale than the L'Arsenal version along with splinter shielding on the tubs. I came up with my own version of caged ladders in various places. I used the Paper Labs 24" and 36" spotlights and took liberty in using a 24" spotlight to represent a signal light that was probably suppose to be 12" diameter.

You folks like snow? In the last two hours we got 12" of system snow, more lake effect to follow. Snow-blowing in the morning!!

Capt652

They Look AMAZING Capt652!!

Nick

Bravo to the both of you!

I've been working on the modified ventilation system that many of the carriers were either built with or modified to at some point. The Shangri-la was apparently built with the original internal vent system that was determined to be less than desirable if there was a fire on board. The smoke and toxic gases would be spread throughout the ship contaminating many spaces far from the damage. I can see on port side pictures while Shangri-la was in dazzle paint showing the lack of external vent intakes. But later views of the ship after the war returning to the west coast clearly show the modified system. My scratch build used brass tubing and copper and steel wire to represent ducts, flanges, and bracing.

Here is a image of CV-32 showing the external parts of the vent system; it is representative of, but not exactly the same as Shangri-la appeared.
And a picture of my ship
Capt652

w00ps! Somehow I got unsubscribed....

Capt: what carrier page is that picture on; I can't figure out which one to see the photo itself.

There is another ventilation tub just aft of the deck-edge elevator between it and the boat that's hard to see. Check out photo NS022126 on the Navsource Boxer page for one shot.. might be hard to see, but it's got a bit of a bend in it....

A Tribute to my Dad...

Today, Jan. 12, 2008 is my Dad's 82nd birthday. He is a plank-owner of the Shangri-la being assigned to her during her construction as fire watch. He and others from Great Lakes would stand-by during welding operations to make sure construction could continue as quickly as possible without diversions such as fires caused by errant sparks from the welders. He related to me a story of how the ship acted during high seas while avoiding the typhoons. His living space was B319L. Being close to the hull he said he could hear the waves sweeping past the steel.

When the seas got really rough he could hear the two flight deck expansion joints creaking and moaning protesting the flexing of the structure of the ship. He told me the ship would pitch and roll quite dramatically. The best part is his description of the rolling motion; the ship would roll to one side over, over, over, then it would hump three or four times, then roll over some more. If he was in his bunk he would have to hang on or strap him self in to stay put. Then after a pause the ship would start over in the other direction and repeat the process again. He said that two of his buddies decided that during one of the storms they were going to go forward and watch the waves from the bow 40mm mounts. Well, he said it was only a few minutes and his shipmates were back, soaked head to toe and they weren't laughing either. They told him they were damn lucky they didn't get swept over the side the waves were so big.

On a lighter note, my Dad told me that a favorite place for him and his buddies was having breakfast on the port side hanger deck 40mm sponson. On the nice days he liked seeing the sea and other ships steaming in formation. I wish I could experience what he did!

Back to work on the ship

Capt 652

Happy Birthday to your Dad! He's in these shots somewhere...

Been working on the stern section of my 'Shang'. I drives me nuts that I can't look at clear photographs of the real ship. I know there must be pictures, especially when the ship was at the builders, but I don't have them! So looking at the pictures I do have, pictures of all the other Essex class carriers from the 'net, the reference books, the DVDs, the movies... oh my. The AOTS Intrepid and Raven's Essex-class plans usually don't do me much good as far as the visual details I want. All ships are different, so I try to concentrate on the three sisters built in Norfolk, Shangri-la, Lake Champlain, and Tarawa. Of course I haven't found many pictures of them. Those three seem to me to be the closest as built. For instance the gallery deck walkways are different on every ship. Here is the best picture I have of the Shangri-la that shows the arrangement below the flight deck.
And here is my model,

Two more of the stern...
And...

And...


Thanks for the great website!

Capt652

I would like to comment on the Trumpeter model as far as scale is concerned. While working on the stern section I have come to the conclusion that the model has some errors- or maybe it's just me. The rear bulkhead, the same part that Steve just showed a few posts back seems to me to be the wrong dimensions. The gallery deck protrusion should be lower down into the forecastle deck area, I think. Also the large quad sided, angled support girders should be farther back so that the transverse part of the support should line up with the vertical edge of the gallery deck level bulkhead. The rear-facing flange of the girder should then taper until it meets the bulkhead. Steve is more accurate with his depiction of the gallery deck bulkhead, taking off the heavy vertical supports and showing proper scale vertical and horizontal bracing. After much mental dilemma I decided to skip that part.... too much work to tear it all apart and do it over. It's suppose to be fun right? Serenity now!

Capt652

Capt652 wrote:It's suppose to be fun right?

I concur!

And your build looks magnificent!!

capt652 that sir is an inspiration! i only hope i can do a tenth of that beuty. is the ship you're building 1/350 or 1/700?

Steve Larsen wrote:

Capt652 wrote:...It's suppose to be fun right?

And your build looks magnificent!!

Capt652,

You and Steve are taken your Essex-class builds to another level. It more art than model building. Stunning - and inspirational - work by both of you. Thanks for sharing with us mere mortals!

CV-38

Here is my work on the starboard aft section of the gallery deck overhang. Using the AOTS Intrepid plans, pictures I have of the Shangri-la right after she slid into the water, and a certain dose of 'artistic license' this is what I came up with. I am using GMM PE catwalks, and unfortunately that PE is set up for the short hull- long flight deck (Wouldn't be nice to have a long hull- short flight deck version?) so I will be doing some 'custom' work to make it fit. I'm still torn if I should cut the catwalk to accommodate the drop down areas for bulkhead openings.

Capt652

Capt652 wrote:CV-38 Here is my work on the starboard aft section of the gallery deck overhang.

Looks like you nailed it! Fantastic work, Timm! See here: