Proditor's Perpetually unfinished Navies

[proditor]

Well the wife just took up knitting and sewing, so she was actually glad to see me getting back into modeling.  Something about me being less of a nuisance that way...

Well, while she was cutting out patterns for a vest, I revisited some old hulls.  I have this project for refit South American battleships called the three deaths (Tres Muertes!) and I decided to give another country the CVL.  Then I deciced they all needed escorts!

Cue the photos...(Oh, and just ignore the big cruiser thing at the top.  Nothing to see there...really.  Honest.)

The Three Cuts


And the CVL escorts

[proditor]

Another Update!  You'd think I was actually trying to finish something.

First up is the CVL I mentioned.  I got in the new deck, sanded the whole thing, and now I'm perversly considering not just scb110ing it, but going the whole 110.66 a la the USS Midway.



Next up, group shot of the escorts for my South American navies.  I made some decent progress, just mostly have to sort out aft superstructure on the ASW ships, and figure out what I'm doing for masts on a lot of them.



These are the two escorts that have progressed the furthest.  I'm calling them the terror twins for now.  They have 76mm Oto Melara cannons, 4x2 Harpoon ASM Launchers, SM-1ER Launchers, a 20mm Phalanx, and either 2 single 20mm cannons, or one twin 20mm.  I figure the difference was one of design.  While the twin brings more firepower, the singles can cover both sides of the ship at the same time.



And last, three up close and personal shots on the twins.  Fore, Midship, and Aft.

[Sauragnmon]

Interesting CVL there - I would consider recommending against the 110.66 full nose conversion as that would preclude the original location of the bridge unfortunately, if I recall.  It would take some work if it's a true Flat Top to rework around the full bow, unless I've completely missed my guess and it has an island.

The destroyers are equally quite a diverse population.  Three with three inch Oto guns, not uncommon on refitted USN WW2 Destroyers really.  Two AK-100 mounts (either side of the terror twins) and one with a pair of Mk42 5" mounts (quite a mauler that one).  And one with some manner of drum fed vertically-loaded launcher like the Sovremenny's launcher.  Though I have to comment, the Terror Twins don't have the SM-1ER but the MR instead - the SM-1ER, especially earlier non-VLS versions, had a rather substantial booster on the tail, as was supported on the older Mk10 twin-rail launchers from, say, the California Class.  A Gearing with SM-1ER would have resembled USS Gyatt in truth, though it would have needed refitting to accomodate at least one, though practicality would need two, SPG-55 illuminator radars to keep them on target.  Still, the Mk13 drum-fed has quite a nice operational rate of fire, and they have been upgraded, notably by Austrailia, to support SM-2MR as well (their Perries got that upgrade).

[proditor]

D'oh! I knew I was getting something wrong on that.  Yeah, I did mean MR, not ER. 

I just had to make an order to HLJ as my supply of Super-rapids is getting very, very sparse.

I agree on the CVL.  I'm going to keep it angled only, and the flight group is currently going to be skyhawks, assuming I can find some.  I had this brief moment of crazy where the flight group would be Frogfoots and Freestyles since the Carrier is probably headed to Venezuela.

I'm going to save the 110.66 for my hopeful entry to the ship GB, assuming that's in the super far off future.  I have enough to keep me busy for a little while, I mean, I haven't even started on the Battleships yet.   

[Sauragnmon]

Yeah, I've got a plan to put ER's on a Gearing, more on that eventually.  Just suffice it to say, Gearing from Hell sounds about right.

Wish I could pull off a parts order with HLJ, but they only like credit cards - as mine's prepaid, it doesn't work out very well.  I could love to get a few of the Dragonwave E-4 sprues sitting on the sidelines.

The CVL as a flat-top looks great too, I always liked the flat-top carriers.  Scooters is a good idea, Pitroad does a Modern Carrier set that includes scooters in the stack of aircraft - and their aircraft sets are always good for having both detail in the craft, and extra bits on top of that.  Hell, my Tamigawa Carrier Planes have been gifted with propellers from a Skywave set.  Frogfoots and Freestyles you can order from Trumpeter without much problem though.

Yeah, hold on to the 110.66 - it'd be interesting to see what you give that to.  I've got a fistful of unstarted ships I can pull out for the Ship GB if/when it kicks off.  Unlike you, I've started on the Battleships.  Some people say I have a Battleship Fetish... and they'd be right.

[proditor]

Another update!!

I'm still sorting out the masts for the escorts, but since that has me a little stymied, I figured I'd start in on the Belgrano.

Got a bit done tonight, a little more than in the pics actually, but they're close enough.

[Sauragnmon]

Interesting battleship you have there.  I have to say, the aft structure looks a little... small for the ship really, but the launchers might improve on that.  You might want to consider also adapting some of the hull lines to smooth it out some.  See my Kongo BCG for further reference.

[Thorvic]

Wish I could pull off a parts order with HLJ, but they only like credit cards - as mine's prepaid, it doesn't work out very well.  I could love to get a few of the Dragonwave E-4 sprues sitting on the sidelines.

HLJ does Paypal if thats any better for you, or you could try Bill Gruner at Pacific Front before he sells up

G

[Sauragnmon]

Unfortunately, Thor, HLJ's parts service does not do any other method but Credit Card - they got burned too often with other means and refuse to use any other means - it's on their page.  Bill's not a whole lot better, since his site won't use paypal.  Needless to say, the only way now to get the E-4 is from anything that uses them - Perries, Type 42's, Vinces and the like.  At least in my case.  Oh well.

[proditor]

Got some more sorted out! 

Sauragnmon: Yeah, I know the hanger looks dinky, I lifted it from a Type 42.  It fits with what I'm going for on the Belgrano though, it's more of an old school assault ship that happens to carry a couple or 4 attack helicopters than a a modern envelopment Assault Ship or a Hybrid.  (Those come later) 

Tonight we have a new slew of pics.  Two overhead progress shots (The second is really a mock-up as the LCVPs, the cranes, and the copter are either not glued in (The first two) or not what I'm going to use (the latter)

[proditor]

And then 4 up close and personal (And a little blurry...) shots from select spots from the bow to the stern.









I still have to clean up the hanger/pad and the stern, get my radars and directors figured out, and then buy an airbrush. 

[ChernayaAkula]

Oh, that does look niiiiice!   What are these things aft of the stack? 

[Sauragnmon]

Ahhh, it's a Beach Assault In a Can - I like it so far.  Of course, nothing to say there might not be a hangar below the shelter area, with the shelter being a preparation area or a handling area with an elevator up to the shelter, something akin to what I have planned for the Ise BB/CV when I get around to it.

I'm equally left to wonder what those are beside/behind the stack - I'm Guessing they're maybe a launcher of some form?  I don't know though.  The entire ensemble looks quite interesting though.

[Jschmus]

Oh, that does look niiiiice!   What are these things aft of the stack? 

They look like Seacats - early British point-defense missile system.

[proditor]

Yes, they are indeed dual seacat lauchers 

As to the hanger, yeah, the plan is to have an internal elevator, and the "above deck" hanger is the staging point.  I'm still only counting on 4 helos max, mostly because they're armed and will need resupply.