Whiffers ultimate (insane) challenge: 1/144 aircraft carrier

[cthulhu77]

   I love this project !!!!

[Brian da Basher]

I think this is one of the most ambitious projects I've seen recently Nils, and you're building it with great skill and flair! I really like the island in particular. This aircraft carrier is one for the books!

Brian da Basher

[BlackOps]

Nils, when you get this finshed bring it over and we can pop it in the swimming pool for a photo shoot 

This is really coming along nicely 

[Spey_Phantom]

not much for an update,

parts of the hull, deck and the windows have now been taped off in preperation for the spraypainting.
still need to work on the catwalks allong side 

meanwhile another plan him my head  .
now that i have a decent carrier on the worktable, plans were to scrap my converted 1/400 to 1/144 carrier (ridiculous for such big aircraft with such a small island) and give it a new, wider deck, a 12° ski-jump and a new island.
this will be made using the knowledge gained with the building "Dendermonde".
this will become a smaller helicopter/VSTOL invincible-class like carrier, equiped with 2 Sea Harrier FRS.1's and 1 S-70 Blackhawk/seahawk helicopter, plans could be add an AV-8B+ (sea harrier FA.3) or an F-35B or 2 
possibly a New Zeeland, Swedish, Norwegian or Taiwanese carrier 

meanwhile im still having second thought about the airwing on board the "Dendermonde".
1 F-4B Phantom is already build but im having doubts about the FJ-3's Fury's i planned.
i made a selection of aircraft of witch i plan to place on the deck.

option 1:
-1 x F-4B Phantom II
-2 x FJ-3 Fury
-2 x TBM3 Avenger

option 2:
-1 x F-4B Phantom II
-2 x A-6 Intruder
-1 x SH-60 Seahawk

option 3:
-1 x F-4B Phantom II
-2 x Jaguar-M
-1 x SA330 Puma (would be more fitting in a end-1960's scenario)
-1 x TBM3 Avenger

Option 4:
-1 x F-4B Phantom II
-1 x TBM3 Avenger
-2 x FJ-3 Fury
-1 x SA-330 Puma

there arrent many good 1/144 50/60's carrier jets out there, and resin is a bit out of my pricerange at this scale.
revell, Academy or Trumpeter scould concider making a 1/144 A-7, F-8 or S-2 Tracker.

and here is the donor model for the second planned carrier, the LNS Hadock (in better times, as the deck has already been removedto make room for the new one)

[Sisko]

wow man still pluggin away on this!

Looks great, nice to see this coming together

[Spey_Phantom]

UPDATE:

this island superstructure now looks complete, but i cant help the feeling im forgetting something 
furthermore, 1 side of the carrier already recieved a catwalk.
the large platform thats on the side is the new location for the mirror landing aid, the smaller platform i made earlier is to small to accomodate it, so im gonna put a missile defence system on there.
the little poles on the catwalks are to recieve some black  cables after painting.

however, i found that the nosewheel of my F-4B contantly breaks off, so i replaced it with a new and stronger one, made from spares from a 737.

next up is the catwalks on the other side, there im gonna make the platforms for the liferafts and inflatables.
other plans include .50cal guns and Sea-Sparrow defenceive systems.

im gonna get some green spraypaint for the deck, as the dutch carrier, Karel Doorman, used this color on its flightdeck.
the island will be sprayed grey with black trim, not to mention its wooden nameplaque and "No Smoking" signs.

here's a pic of how she is at the moment 



PS: forgot to mention, i might concider increasing the number of phantoms from 1 to 2. also im planning on replacing the FJ-3's with a yet to be specified type, why cant i find a 1/144 A-7/F8 or Entendard IVP that isnt resin?

[Hobbes]

The poles on the catwalks look a bit high, they should be about 1/144 m, yours look about twice that (compare to the Phantom, forinstance). Carriers usually have more than 1 radar (add 1 or 2 small navigation radars, plus 2 spheres for satcom)

[Spey_Phantom]

thanks for the tip, Hobbes 

ive now cut the poles down to half the size, and it does look a lot better.
now im gonna need to find some parts to make the extra radars.

now, about the airwing 
i already have 1 phantom, but now im planning te replace the FJ-3's with 2 A-6A's (converted from Dragon's A-6E)
ive also been concidering to buy a RoG 1/144 E-2C Hawkeye, and downgrade it to a rough E-2B (Early hawkeye variant used in Vietnam) but i think that a bit overkill.
i already have 2 Trumpeter 1/144 Sabres, so i might as well use them as FJ-3's 
also, im still concidering placing an SA330 Puma on board 

[Spey_Phantom]

UPDATE.

as noted by Hobbes, the carrier still needed the radar and the shorter poles on the catwalks.
that now has been done and i must say it is indeed an improvement. but i decided not to go for Satlink domes, as i wanted it to be a 50/60/70's style carrier like the "HMS Ark Royal" and "HMS Eagle".
the front radar was actually coppied of the Phillips radar, used on the dutch carrier "Karel Doorman".

also started are the catwalks on the other side of the ship, still need stick on the poles.
still planned for tonight is the painting of the Mirror Landing Aid, that is if i ever get to painting it, otherwise thats for tomorrow 

Airwing:
still having doubts about equiping the airwing with FJ-3's, and still whining why they didnt release any 1/144 Buccs, crusaders or corsair II's  . i might even have to concider navalising a pair of Revell Hawker Hunters or see if i can get my hands on a pair of 1/144 A-6's (preferably A-6E's, to convert to A-6A).
one thing is sure now, ive been doing some research, and i think an SA330 Puma helicopter is plausible in a scenario between '65 and '70 (puma was introduced in service in 1968/69). maybe equip the Belgian Navy with 6 early SA330B's and maybe ad 3 ex-belgian Gendarmerie SA330L's in 1994 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A%C3%A9rospatiale_Puma

picture time 

[Eddie M.]

I admire your willingness and guts to a carrier of this size and with your own materials.  OUTSTANDING!!!

[Spey_Phantom]

Update:

After a long wait, work has finally started on the first paintjob. problem is i still need to get some green paint for the top deck. the island and the hull have now been fully painted and and are drying at the moment, both should be dry by the morning 
ive encountered some problems with the spraying, as i used Enamel paint for grey and Industrial Coating Acrylic for red, the red in particulas was a lightmare as it was starting to run over the grey, to i had to wipe of those places and spray them over again.

tommorow i still need to get a can of green spraypaint for the flat-top.
also today, the money spent on the carrier has crossed the +100 euro investment line, with the purchase of the SA330 Puma helicopter, witch will be the SAR helo on board.

as son as the green paint has been applied, the boat will propably go on hold again, as i still need to spend some time on its airwing, beginning with the TBF1 Avenger 

Picture time 
in the last pic you notice something bad, but that will be worked out after i moved it back from the garage to the bedroom workshop 
the island looks kinda grey, but when its fully dryed, i will start detail painting 

[cthulhu77]

Looking close to seaworthy!

As an avid rattlecan user also, I like to leave the receding edge of the tape slightly up, and then slide in some cheap paper...push the tape down tight, and you have saved yourself hours of masking time.

[BlackOps]

Lookin' good Nils, looking forward to seeing the carrier and the airwing completed and ready to go. Are you going to do any escort ships?

[Spey_Phantom]

UPDATE:

the ship has now entered the final stages of construction. the topdeck has now recieved its long awaited spraypaint, although i might have to apply another layer as it doesnt come out so good 

the island on the other hand is as good as done 

Lookin' good Nils, looking forward to seeing the carrier and the airwing completed and ready to go. Are you going to do any escort ships?

Nope, i dont think im gonna do any escort vessels, afterall, im a plane builder kinda modeller.
if she needs an escort, i can always let a few Leutonian ships escort her.

now that you mention it, i have a few ships here, when she's done, i could make a picture of the completed carrier with the battle group 

OK, Picture time again:

as you can see, the green top has ben applied, with a possible second coat on the way.
the island has now been painted, althugh as you can see, the grey at the windows is slightly darker.
this is because the paint ran through the tape, i had to clean it of with paint cleaner and repaint it by hand.
she will propably recieve a lighter coat of Haze Grey later.

on the other hand, she doesnt look all that bad 

[Spey_Phantom]

Small Update:

checking on the ship a few hours ago, i spotted a problem that i should have seen coming in the first place.
as it was cold and snowy weather outside, the garage was kinda dampy.
and apparently, Mother Nature is a modelling enthousiast to 

the condensation was absorrbed into the decks paint, giving a few spots a weathery, worn kinda look.
at first i was affraid that i might have to respray the deck all over again, my dad said it kinda looked natural, as it had been at sea for a while 

most of the damage is concentrated on the rear deck, but the front was barely effected.
after taking a look at sime old carrier pics on the web, they seem to have the same problem.
so i decided to leave it as it was 

the ship is now back on the bench, and the work on the hull is now completed, the Island has now also been permanantly fitted on, although there are some gaps that need filling. the hull has also recieved its serial decals "A950".

still to do is:

-fiting self defence systems
-painting the landing strip
-fitting and painting the anchors
-fitting the lifeboats
-building the remainder of the air wing.

i decided to go for the FJ-3 afterall, and maybe replace them with newer aircraft like the A-4, A-7, buccaneer or F-8 when they might come out in kitform in the future