1/700th scale HMS Habakkuk WIP (aka Project Habakkuk)

[Mossie]

Keep with it!   It looks great and the extra details will finish it off nicely.

[Stargazer]

Next stage when it's all over and done with: donate it to a museum that will protect it and take care of it. That's not exactly the kind of object you want to keep in your living room, especially if ever you plan to have a wife (who would complain about it) and kids (who would trample them, launch their Hot Wheels cars on the deck and shoot all kinds of plastic pellets and other projectiles on it!). It would be such a shame to ruin such a top class build!

[seadude]

Next stage when it's all over and done with: donate it to a museum that will protect it and take care of it. That's not exactly the kind of object you want to keep in your living room, especially if ever you plan to have a wife (who would complain about it) and kids (who would trample them, launch their Hot Wheels cars on the deck and shoot all kinds of plastic pellets and other projectiles on it!). It would be such a shame to ruin such a top class build!

I had slightly thought about that and maybe sending it to a museum up in Jasper, Canada in Alberta where the original Habakkuk prototype was built on Patricia Lake. But Jasper is too far and I doubt the model would survive such a trip. I think I'll just keep it to myself for awhile.
Sometime in the future, I also want to contact a Dr. Susan Langley who works here:
http://www.mdp.state.md.us/
........and talk to her about any further information she has on Project Habakkuk. She's purportedly writing a book on the subject from what I've heard.

[Taiidantomcat]

Congrats on a long job well done. spectacular model

[seadude]

Slightly off topic, but could use a few opinions.

Anyway, I got a rather interesting email from a modeling friend tonight. Seems the EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) Museum in Oshkosh, WI is having some type of family themed event in April: http://www.eaa.org/calendar/eventdetail.aspx?id=9485
I'm not sure who has been talking to whom or what was said, but the EAA is interested in having me display my Project Habakkuk aircraft carrier model there.  
Why, I don't know? There's no model contest there from what I could find out. Seems kinda odd for me to display a ship model there when the EAA Museum is mostly about aircraft and aviation instead, not ships.

I don't know. Should I go?

[Mossie]

Aircraft carriers are one of those grey areas.  Yes, they're ships which is usually a seperate area of interest, but they're floating airbases too so you often get a little bit of differing opinion on how they fit in to aviation.  Seems from their interest (& a quick look at their website) that the EAA are quite happy to include naval aviation.  It's possible that they'd like to put your model on longer term display, that happened to my family one time when a local museum took some interest in a old bus company my family had once owned.  They asked to keep the items on loan, but my Dad was quite happy to turn them over to them permanently.

I would go along, unless the aviation side really doesn't interest you.  Sounds like all your hard work is creating a bit of a buzz!

[NARSES2]

I can see why they would want to have it there. After all it's rather more of a "mobile" airbase rather then an "aircraft carrier" as such. If adopted it could have brought completely new thinking into the world of airpower.

Personally if it's easy for you to get there, I would go. It's a fantastic model and deserves greater recognition.

[PR19_Kit]

.... not to mention that the full size version would have been slightly larger than Oshkosh itself anyway! 

Go for it seadude, you deserve kudos from outside the Whiffing community for that masterpiece.

[seadude]

Here's something I never thought of before. Take a look at this pic here:
http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery/cv/cv-17/350-pm/cv17-24.jpg

Notice the two mast towers? What are these and what were they used for? I've noticed on most Essex carriers that there were two at the front of the ship, and two at the back. And all the towers were always on the right side of the ship. Why the right side?
I've read that these masts were some kind of radio tower, Is that correct? I'm wondering if I should add some of these types of towers to my Habakkuk? I'm just not sure how many to add and/or whether they should be on the right side of the ship only, or add them on the left side as well.
I came upon this drawing that sparked my curiosity in asking all this tonight.
http://www.shipbucket.com/Never%20Built%20Designs/Great%20Britain/CV%20HMS%20HABBAKUK.png

[Cliffy B]

They were indeed radio towers.  The radio antennae wires are strung between the tops of each pair of towers.  They're raised during normal steaming and lowered during flight ops.  Also, the radio masts, the island, the twin 5"/38s etc... are on the right side because the aircraft of the day would pull to the left side of the deck.  Pilots would have to apply hard rudder when taking off to avoid drifting to the left.  They put all of the stuff on the right to avoid accidents with those.  Islands have simply stayed on the right sides of the deck as matter of tradition though I believe.  I would expect Habbakuk to have a pretty serious comms setup though so a bunch of those radio towers or some even larger ones def wouldn't hurt.

[seadude]

They're raised during normal steaming and lowered during flight ops.

Though I have to wonder: Because a real Habakkuk ship is so wide (300 feet), then is it possible the towers would not need to be lowered during flight ops? On a real Habakkuk, there would be plenty of flight deck space that I doubt a aircraft taking off or landing would hit a tower if it stayed raised. I do want to add some aircraft as though they are taking off, and also landing. Take a look at the following pics for size reference.

[PR19_Kit]

Unless the aircraft operated were Lancasters or Liberators perhaps? Then the masts may need to be lowered.

[Cliffy B]

Well remember, that everything sticking up in the direction of the wind can cause little areas of turbulence.  You don't want to hit one while taking off or landing.  Just an idea.

[seadude]

I feel stupid now.  I wasn't thinking long ago when I started building the flight deck and I should have added catapults. It only makes sense because aircraft carriers generally head into the wind to launch their aircraft. Since the Habakkuk only has a top speed of 6-7 knots, plus a MASSIVELY huge turning radius, the Habakkuk would have needed all the help she could get to launch aircraft in a timely manner. So.......How do I go about adding catapults to the forward area of the flight deck without doing too much damage since the flight deck is all painted, etc.? Or should I just skip it?
Secondly, I'll probably be adding radio towers to BOTH sides of the ship. Think for a minute: If a German task force or other enemy wanted to attack the Habakkuk, You'd at least want to attack the ship on the right side where the bridge superstructure is and all the radio towers, thereby damaging/destroying as much command, control, and communications as possible. Might be better to have some radio towers on the left side of the ship "as backup" for lack of a better term.

[proditor]

If all else fails; cheat.  Fake three dimensions by using grey and black paint to make it look like a 3-d catapult.