My first 1:350 build, Trumpeter CVN-68 USS Nimitz

[NWarty]

Well, first round of deck tractors done; the fire fighting equipment. Eduard figures in the driver's seat, painted chrome silver with black visor, Starfighter decals on the tractors.

Little bit to clean up after seeing the macro-lens photos, but pretty happy thus far.

[JimVarnellABH2USN]

Outstanding job Blake, reminds me of my days work crash!!!

[NWarty]

Jim,
I was looking over this thread and giggling last night, telling my wife over a cold beer this quote you made sometime back:

"Well those things will happen, my boys when they were younger got into my stash and decided to help daddy build his models, only about 12 kits ruined, and a few completed builds somehow ended up in the bathtub.

Yes they are still alive, it was questionable for a while there"

"and a few completed builds somehow ended up in the bathtub"...I about lost it spewing beer through my nose. Truly sig-worthy

[Bigdaddy Mark]

aren't they a blast to make!!

[LE BOSCO]

Blake
for the scale is really superbly detailed outstanding job
cheers
Nicolas

[anyahajobuzi]

Hey Blake!

When you were painting the tractors I hope you painted the distributor caps black, not grey
NICE JOB! looking forward to building them myself... NOT!

Keep it up!!!

Laci

[boomstick68]

Hey Blake!

When you were painting the tractors I hope you painted the distributor caps black, not grey


Keep it up!!!

Laci

[NWarty]

Hey Blake!

When you were painting the tractors I hope you painted the distributor caps black, not grey
NICE JOB! looking forward to building them myself... NOT!

Keep it up!!!

Laci

Couldn't find a resin can of Copehagen in 1/350 or a pine tree air freshener, so I may have to improvise.

Got all of the yellow tractors painted and washed, just need to do the gloss coat, decals and a final dry brush.

[NWarty]

Couple of things to fix, but here they are minus drivers. Although you can't see them in the photo, the headlights were picked out with Chrome Silver which make them really pop and red tail lights.

[NWarty]

First coat of FGG is drying on the Tomcats and the PE from WEM for the Cats is enroute; opened an additional three canopies on the Tomcats too.

Now...built this AIM-54 Phoenix from Evergreen and Plastruct Rod and strip. Missile rail is separate. Got to find a way to cast these in resin or it's going to be a TEDIOUS process. Can anyone recommend a good, simple, resin casting tutorial?

[JimVarnellABH2USN]

Holy McKales Navy Blake,
everythings looking great, as far as the resin casting what about "Alumlite", you can pick it up at Hobbylobby if you have one near you..
Keep up the great work!!!!

[LE BOSCO]

HI Blake

Amazing Phoenix saw the scale ,it is superb
before the resin casting ,your master, present too much "draft angles". at the time of completion of the elastomer mold,and when you want to get out the master ,you are going snatch a lot of things...... that which indicate,that production will be difficult .
a front view ,would allow me to tell you more.
but in all cases ,given the size of the piece, vacuum molding, is recommeded
I hope I was clear(with my poor vocabulary) in my explanations
cheers
Nicolas

[boomstick68]

You would probably have to mold pieces separately. The fuselage of the missile then the fins. My guess.

[anyahajobuzi]

SERIOUSLY?! MOLDING MISSILES?! Damn, people! You guys are a new level of crazy! Blake, You are officially hired to build an airwing for my ship. I don't even care if don't put any armament on them, but I will pay you an extra $ 1.5 million, if you do! I can't wait to see these birdies done!
And all the sudden I don't want put any planes on my ship. Maybe one of each type...I'll just say I am modelling "fleet-week" and this is how the deck is awaiting the crowd: with 6 planes on deck....

hats off Blake! I am not even putting my hat back on because I will just get tired of lifting it...

Keep it up, and keep it sane

Laci

[NWarty]

LOL! Thanks Laci!!!!

Well, the first Phoenix was a little too large, so I'm going to build another. Luckily, I built two rails and they look pretty good. Just need to build a couple new missles in order to be able to cast 20+ missles and rails.

So it begins...Cat Painting. No wash or PE yet and I've got fill in the gaps with white glue. This one gets the PE flaps, nose gear lowered into launch position, etc. Slats are simulated with a thin line of red paint (looks weird in this photo due to it being glossy, but it's straight as an arrow). The wings near the root will get the "dirty swing area" with pastels like I did on my big 1:18 Tomcat. PE should arrive this week.

[sgtryan13]

Blake, the cat looks great, and the missle- WOW!

As for casting it, I am not an expert, but I have done enough casting now to at least offer an informed opinion (assuming you are new to it):

Getting a quality mold and cast of that thing is gonna be really hard. The undercuts and complexity of the fins, combined with the very small size are going to present a lot of issues.

First, it will have to be at least a 2 part mold, so you will have seams to clean up IF you even get good casts.

Second, Due to the small size and it's overall shape, you will have to use a thin easy flowing resin, and HAVE to use a pressure pot to get the resin into those tiny fins.

It CAN be done, but it aint gonna be easy. It might not be worth the hassle and frustration of casting depending on how many you want, so you may want to just bite the bullet and keep on scratchin em!

[NWarty]

It CAN be done, but it aint gonna be easy. It might not be worth the hassle and frustration of casting depending on how many you want, so you may want to just bite the bullet and keep on scratchin em!

Ryan,
That's exactly what I was thinking. The ROI just isn't worth it. Sigh...well, it's okay, I want to do them "right". It's just going to take a little longer than expected

[NWarty]

Again,
Glad I checked my reference photos before I got too far down the rabbit hole. Look at the photo below and check out the weapon load outs on the Cats....

That's right Double side-winders and Sparrows on the bellies. No AIM-54's to be found and no rails either.

This should be fun as I can utilize the GHQ stuff with a little reworking due to size

[Hallis]

For your first build you sure are demonstrating an advanced level of skill and psychosis.

[gtbred]

great work man!