The Ship Model Forum

Reading posts about this recently inspired me to dig my Trumpeter Hornet out of the stash and take a look at it with the intent of seeing if I could bash together an improvement (that and I really need a break from the insanity that is Flyhawks 1/700 Takao PE set). I don't want to build the kit completely - I've already done an Enterprise in 1/700 which is enough for me for now - just see what can be done to remedy that oil tanker-esque abomination.

Two goals in mind:
1) Produce a set of hull lines modified from the original ship builders plan that suit the kit
2) See how little I can get away with modifying the hull; the aim being to assemble the hull and decks normally, cut a chunk out and fit a bass wood insert

I have considered cutting and pulling the original hull around but with the plastic being so thick there were problems with the top of the hull distorting badly such that the hanger walls and flightdeck would no longer fit so I discarded that idea.

First up, glue the bits together and cut a big chunk out:
Ok, no going back now. Why so big? It corresponds to approximately frame 100 on the plans and the 2nd deck. Turns out that the decks are very nearly 1/4" deep at 350 scale and the hold (lowest level) is 1/8" which corresponds very nicely to stock bass wood sheets. Working this much should hopefully allow for a smooth transition from existing to modified hull.

Next up, a set of modified hull lines.Taking a scanned set from the builders plan, these were adjusted in Photoshop to suit the dimensions of the Trumpeter hull where it had been cut but working toward being accurate the further I moved into my scratchbuilt piece. So moving down the decks and forward the lines approach those of the buiders plan.
Transfer to wood by cutting and pasting:
(The extra bits are locators to sit on top and to the rear to fit inside the platic hull).
Screw together and whittle and sand away. Mess, mess, mess. But there is something deeply satisfying about hacking away madly and using rough (150 grit) sandpaper when normally you're working on 1/700 scale. And here's one we prepared earlier:
Which compares to the original as follows:
It's looking promising but I've made my first sacrifice, the stabilisers. But I'm not worried about that, new ones will be straightforward (I think). What does worry me is the vertical contour of the hull, especially around the platform that juts out. The original lines have the hull cutting in sharply under the main (hanger) deck in this area. The Trumpeter hull doesn't reflect this and if I want the porthole moulding to remain intact (goal 2).....tricky. It's hard to show the problem in a picture but this is the area of concern:
[This is where I was at about 2 weeks ago - things have moved on....]

Richard,

So that's how it's done. Maybe you would consider finishing the kit now.
This looks very good.

Cheers
Jeroen

Great job!

Cough, make resin copies and sell, cough....

The trouble with knuckles...

Can't live with 'em so it's time to start 'attacking' the plastic hull to see what can be removed without losing porthole detail. Lots of very careful scraping and sanding particularly around the three portholes forward of the side platforms. All the time the sidewalls are getting thinner...
With the wood insert being held in place at this point, it's difficult work with and in order to get a smooth shape from plastic to wood I think I'm going to have to stick it on (there goes any resin part plans...). Before doing this it seems prudent to add extra thickeness to sidewalls courtesy of some40 thou plastic card on the inside. Due to the inside curvature, the plastic sheet is extensively glued along the bottom edge and against the underside of the deck. If I end up taking away more than the hull thickness, all should be covered. And yes....I did end up going through.....
The wood insert was the stuck on using copious quantities of 1 hour epoxy resin. Following this there was much more scraping sanding, sacrificial coats of paint, scraping, sanding, painting, sanding, filling, sanding. At one point I discovered that I had lost the true line of the bow so cursing, cutting, sanding, filling, sanding. Quick check of the deck lines just to discover I've actually thinned the area just behind the bulge to much. More cursing, filling, sanding etc etc etc. Arduous simply because I'm having to see what can be achieved rather than working to a plan. Finally an end result that seemed worthwhile so on with a base coat of grey (an arbitary light grey btw), a coat of Future and a very light sanding to make it completely smooth, et voila:
And I was about ready to leave it at that, but then...
...I just had to take one more close look at that problem area. Should of walked away. Couldn't. And that was last week over; two weeks down, still not happy.

Richard, looking good so far. I'm watching your thread with great interest. My next big planned project is Hornet, which I plan to attack as soon as I finish with my 1/350 North Carolina. The hull issue has been something I have been struggling with for some time but it seems that you may have finally hit upon a viable solution. Keep up the good work and please, keep us posted.

Bob

If it doesn't work this time then it ain't happening....

I'm giving up on preserving the moulded porthole detail in the hope that I can get the right shape. I console myself by realising that I can now fill and redrill the bow portholes which are those horrible ovals you get as the mould tooling has to extract sideways. A trivial thing but given the ffort so far, why not?
And I can redo the eyebrows. When I look at pictures of the real ships the eyebrows are very difficult to see which I take to be because they are much finer and closer to the porthole than Trumpeter have moulded - and it looks like they arch further around the porthole.

Off came the side platforms as well. I now have carte blanche to hack away. And suddenly it becomes so much easier.
This mid-process picture shows the extent that the original moulded hull gets cut away:
It also reveals that I did not put enough plastic backing in place - the white is plastic, the rear is just the 1/16" wood locator piece I added on top of the main wood insert to line it up. I should have added at least a couple more inches of plastic card before gluing it all together. And thicker the 40 thou used in the center (where you can see the most white exposed). The yellow is Elmers wood filler which seems sticks to plastic/paint just as well as wood. It's used in areas where the moulding has a slight depression and it's easier to raise the surface rather than sand a much larger area around it down (also used where I got over enthusiastic in sanding elsewhere too....)

As before, there follows more sanding, painting, sanding, just trying to achieve smooth curves in the general style of the original ship lines. Everytime I put a coat of paint on in the assumption I'm done reveals a slight but definite bump somewhere that needs to go; particulalry towards the top where the hull is supposed to be slightly concave. I think I've written off about half a dozen finishes now because of this.

I have, however, reached a point where I am actually satisfied...

I've taken time out to draw some frame and deck lines on the hull before the final paint finish to illustrate the lines I've got. I've also taken some head-on photographs from the font and bottom which I've scaled to compare with the original line drawings and finalise my own lines.
Comparing to the original builders plans, it works well from the hold up to the 4th deck. Hoorah. Above that, my hull widens out more as I have to end up matching the moulded hull at the main deck level, even if it is only 1/4" high. Not very hoorah at all. The only solution to this is to either build the hull from scratch (I can't see any practical way of getting that pronounced inward curve under the main deck with any part of the Trumpeter hull) or go for a late war Enterprise (option 3: accept that it looks graceful but has errors elsewhere doesn't work for me, I am too finickity by far). I'm leaning towards the former as I like playing around with bass wood and I already have the latter built in 1/700. But that's much later as this was supposed to be a short distraction from my 1/700 Takao.


Anyhoo, here are the lines I ended up with (starting from buiders plan and modifying from measurement and photograph). The original builders lines are in red. I am bemused slightly by the 2nd and 3rd deck lines being so much narrower as around the rasied forecastle area (forward of frame 40) I have achieved quite a steep inward curve (reasonably comparable to real hull sections) yet my lines are much wider. Further back I can understand as the real hull is narrower than Trumpeters anyway. Still, it is what it is. These drawings are not 1/350 but are the same size relative to each other.

Hold 2nd Platform 1st platform 4th deck 3rd Deck 2nd Deck

Richard -
Good for you! I also could not bear the look of the Trump kit when compared to photos and plans of the real thing. Trump's version looks like a tanker, not a warship made for speed. I have posted several shots of my hull under the Calling All Ship Fans (CASF) - Aircraft Carriers thread on HORNET.
FWIW, those 'eyebrows' are way over scale and not properly shaped anyhow. Look at decent photos of HORNET or any other of the YORKTOWNs and you will have a very hard time seeing any kind of 'eyebrow' on the airports on the hull. They are more like a lip on the upper part of the circumference of the actual airport.
With this great success, you might want to look carefully at the stern as well. I'll leave it at that . . . . .

RichardP wrote:

art14.jpg

The lines are reminiscent of the Hasegawa Nagato!

Excellent work Richard. Really excellent work. You are to be commended. Especially since I'm being a lazy ass and taking the easy way out. John's tried to get me to see the light, but it hasn't worked yet....

Richard, I doff my cap to you. I do believe you have slayed the dragon. Clearly, your scratch building skills are more than a few notches above mine, so I expect when I start Hornet later this year I will probably just live with that hulk of a hull. But you have managed to make her look like a fast, 30+ knot warship, not a wallowing tanker, and to make it look like it came from the manufacturer like that - not an easy feat.

JTninja half jokingly suggested that you make resin copies and sell them, but I'm not joking. I think you would have a ready market should you choose to look into that to see if you make a profit making and selling resin copies to those of us with less skill, or a higher lazy quotient, than you.

Congratulations on a tough job well done. As James Edward Olmos said to Harrison Ford at the end of Blade Runner "You've done a man's work, sir".

Bob