CV-6, Wooden Decks and Iron Men

[sequoiaranger]

I'm getting ancy with "finish fever".

I painted up a figure in khaki and put it in the gun director where my dad was (pic a little fuzzy--please excuse). I also painted in the windows around the bridge/pri-fly, did other touch-ups, and then re-built the aft antenna post. I have a new radar ready-to-go but am NOT going to put it on until...?



Next, I epoxy-ed a wing nut in the interior of the ship to take a bolt from the underside of the display base. Yeah, I know it looks like something the dog left behind.



I painted the ship's boats' waterline black.

The 5" guns are now ready to mount.

I have to paint the bottom of the hull red, and hull sides the proper gray, then I can final-assembly all the components to complete the model!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[NARSES2]

Nearly there...this has been such a worthwhile project. 

[Weaver]

Just catching up with this....

It looks superb already and it's going to look even better when it's finished. Now DON'T RUSH IT! 

Nice one!

[sequoiaranger]

Weaver: >It looks superb already and it's going to look even better when it's finished. Now DON'T RUSH IT!<

Thanks. I have an interim deadline of this Friday to complete the construction and painting of the model ship itself and "minimal" display mode. I'm pretty sure I can make that without any undue rush. That doesn't mean the whole display is final, as I want to add a reasonable airwing (I currently have finished mere EXAMPLES) and "populate" the ship for "final" display, as well as construct a suitable base and plaque. I want to do my dad proud!

Narses: >Nearly there...this has been such a worthwhile project.<

Thanks. For me it has been a beautiful concept well rendered, and VERY satisfying. I have put a whole lot more effort (and expen$e) into CV-6 than I had first envisioned, but it has been a joyous journey (fraught with considerable consternation at times). It will likely go on public display at the upcoming Midway observance on the USS Midway June 5th, and possibly the Coronado (hotbed of retired admirals) Library as "we" celebrate "100 years of Naval Aviation" next year.

[lenny100]

i hope one day that this work of art makes it over this side of the pond for us to see, maybe for a telford show were i am sure it would take a center stage

[sequoiaranger]

I carefully put a PE figure in the gun director to represent my dad, when I realized I had the "wrong" hair color! When I knew my dad he had black hair. But I remembered he was a "carrot-top" in his youth, and his hair was turning toward brown during the War. My older brother remembers his hair as dark auburn and when it eventually turned black, asked Dad about it. My youngest son had/has similar hair and change in color over the years. So I had to go back and change the "black" hair to red-brown. It's in focus, anyway!:



I wanted to photograph the rear elevator well before I put the rear flight deck piece on. I have "filled" the elevator well so there are no gaps to let light through, and the "shiny shafts" are prominently seen, both in this view and when seen from the side through the open hangar shutters:



I had to saw off the props to paint the hull, but have them "bronzed" and now ready to re-attach. I had three old Pactra "Bronze" bottles, but EVERY ONE OF THEM went bad. I went to my LHS and was disappointed and frustrated. Strange that neither Floquil, Testors, nor Tamiya make a "bronze" paint (does Humbrol? I didn't have access to their paints other than what I have on hand). "Brass" is available, but is too, well... BRASSY and not the right color. So I mixed my own.

My IPMS meeting is tonight, and I will bring CV-6, but she is only minimally presentable. I &%#$@*-up the black waterline strip and will need to re-do, and a few things aren't totally ready, but oh, well. I'm still hustling to complete, so no photo yet, but will have one here in about seven hours. [edit: I realized I would not get the below-the-waterline stuff done, so I am now content with this interim display:]



BTW, I found that the bomb elevators were miniature clones of the aircraft elevators--no "clamshell" doors, and the railings rose up whenever the elevator descended from the flightdeck. So I'm good as-is!

More photos will follow when the air group is fully embarked, and the acrylic display case and brass plaques (currently paper facsimiles) are in place!

Cheers!!!!

[sequoiaranger]

I have "hull issues" and "hangar deck" issues to work through before I can button up and cement the Enterprise's flight deck pieces, so my thoughts turn to considering CV-6's aircraft.

I already had an SBD, two F4F's, and two folded-wing TBD's made up (earlier post). My timeframe for CV-6 is the Battle of Midway's afternoon of June 6th, when the two limping Japanese cruisers were found, and a strike readied. Not only was this the last of the Battle of Midway airstrikes, but all three types of aircraft on hand were used (and thus I can show off all three types on board!).

Only four TBD's made it back from Torpedo 6's strike two days before, and only three were flight-worthy to go on the strike. I had picked up two after-market resin 1/500 TBD's made for this kit, but an attempt to get more failed---the caster and distributor have stopped making/selling them.  What to do about the third TBD??

Kitbash/scratchbuild in 1/500? You kidding?? I poked around in my parts-from-the-angled-deck-Essex kit (same scale as the Enterprise), but none of the aircraft would work (I was hoping for a Skyraider). There were several types of jets, and two prop planes--a "Trojan" and a twin-engined "Tracker". The Trojan had a high, curved windscreen like the TBD. That got me thinking. Well.... I took the Trojan, chopped off its engine (but saved it), chopped off its tailplanes and mainplanes, whittled its vertical stabilizer to a TBD shape, chopped off a Tracker engine, added the two engines out front for the long TBD snout, took some .010 sheet and fashioned both horizontal stabilizers and both mainplanes. Add a prop, rear gun and torpedo and...Voila! "instant" TBD! So I will have two TBD's with wings folded, and one ready to fly sitting aft of the elevator well (the dowdy TBD's needed all the flight deck they could muster to get airborne!). The cockades I added to the underside (folded) of the TBD wings curiously dissolved (!). I added them AGAIN, and took the opportunity of "breaking" the wings off and re-positioning them VERY close together over the canopy (as seen in pictures). I also painted the "top" of the folding wing to match the other top surfaces (as seen in pictures, again) and added the prominent oil cooler under the starboard wing. WHEW!!  I didn't like the front windscreen of the home-made TBD (too short), so chopped one off a "Tempco"(?) and added it. NOW WE'RE TALKIN' TBD's!!



From an earlier post: "The hardest part was decaling the planes and making sure the alignment of the stars, etc. was "correct". The surface tension of the water, at this scale, is tremendous, so the decals slide all over the place. Also, the tiny decals are "stiff" relative to their size, and especially the fuselage roundels on the Wildcat were insanely hard to position and press down over the contours."

The decals went on easily this time, due to a trick of putting a micro-dot of white glue (the tip of the sharpest toothpick you can find) on the spot just before putting the dry decal in the water. By the time the decal is ready, the white glue has gelled a bit and when the decal is placed on it and pressed down---NO SLIDING!! I touched up the aftermarket TBD's red dot, and put on the two underwing red dots, with a sharp toothpick dipped in red paint. MUCH better than trying to maneuver a tiny decal into there!!



and yes, those yellow thingys are little tractors I made!!

I also found some 1/700 Dauntlesses that I am going to put (along with some 1/700 figures) deeper in the hangar bay to simulate a distant 1/500 Dauntless. When I placed the aircraft in the hangar deck to check positioning, I found that my curved black "curtain" across the aft hangar deck was too close to the outside openings ["A"--and just above that the concave dark blur where the curtain formerly stood], and there wasn't room for an aircraft there, much less two to give depth effect when seen from outside. But.... I had noticed that the "L"-shaped hangar deck piece from the replacement CV-6 kit fit like a jigsaw puzzle to extend the aft hangar deck farther forward. I had to rip out the old "curtain" and other deck supports from that area to extend the hangar deck, but now with the new curtain [pic] there is more actual "depth", and I will use it to good effect. I will "fog" the black and gray together so there is not so abrupt a transition in color.



The strike had some 20+ Dauntlesses. I don't think I will load up my nice wooden deck that much, but will have a small group of Dauntlesses spotted mid-deck, then be "bringing up the rest" via the rear elevator and lined up on the hangar deck awaiting elevation.

BTW, it looks like the USS Midway folk don't want my CV-6 on display (even temporarily for the occasion) unless I *GIVE* it to them. *FAT CHANCE OF THAT!*  

[sequoiaranger]

I wanted to pose an F4F a little in front and above the bow flightdeck, as if it had just taken off (and another one "rolling down the flight deck"). My old rendition had an SBD on the end of a pin stuck in the flight deck just above the front round-down. I considered that, but wanted a more "transparent" support, have it farther in front of the bow, and MAYBE not compromise the deck or structure with a puncture.

Clear rod of the small size needed was actually too flexible and would bend and wobble. I searched for, and found, some clear plastic tube (from an eyebrow-pencil case) from which I could carefully saw out a section that would small enough and still have stiff support. I had initially thought that I would need to pierce the underhang of the bow round-down and stick the support rod through it, but I will now "hook" the support UNDER the underhang so as not to compromise the look of the bow. There is JUST enough room between the bow 20mm guns to do that. Pretend you didn't see the tweezers.



On the original model I had the taking-off SBD with its wheels up before it got away from the deck. NOT LIKELY! Although the F4F most likely would have easily gotten airborne in the deck's length, the process of cranking up the landing gear (some 30 turns by hand) took a while, and the "Wildcat Wobble" was usually evident by observers as the pilot frantically wound the crank and his body motions translated into minute stick movements.

Now here is a nice profile of my "handmade" TBD. Because the original "Trojan" had *TOO* high a canopy, I took the opportunity of filing down the rear part of it to give the characteristic "extra hump" look of the TBD's slid-back canopy! The 1/700 Dauntlesses for "depth effect" on the hangar deck are in the background (awaiting completion).

[proditor]

Forced perspective, your dad on the director, a Wildcat mid-take off.  This build is just epic man.   

[NARSES2]

This build is just epic man.   

Got to agree with that 

[sequoiaranger]

I had untold (well, I'm telling you now!) miseries with the hull masking and painting, but I now have a decent look. The "Enterprise" nameplate is now on the stern, and I feel like it just got launched! The three-bladed propellers are all scratch-built and "handed" properly.



The hangar deck now has its set of 1/480 aircraft (several SBD's and one TBD with folded wings), some with engine turning, some with canopies open, etc., and I also put several 1/700 SBD's in the background to add a sense of depth to those who stick their eyeball up to the openings. I also put a few green-shirted plane handlers to add interest to the hangar deck, and even two 1/700 figures near the smaller SBD's for effect!

Here is the forward hangar, with its "shiny shafts" to hold up the elevator at flightdeck level, the black curtain to obscure the ending of the hangar, and the aircraft. Each aircraft had to be painted top and bottom, decalled with cockades, cockpit "opened", painted, and glossed, stumpy landing gear narrowed and then wheel-shaped at the bottom (and painted), propeller painted (or "spinning prop" clear circle ringed in yellow), and in the case of the TBD, wings broken and folded. I think the tiny figures give it a tremendous extra visual oomph.



Rear hangar is similar, with more background SBD's and the midway-down elevator (a plane will be on it when I'm done).



Then here is a side-view, as an interested observer might see it. The open hangar of American carriers practically screams out for SOME hangar-deck activity. I positioned the people near the openings, to attract casual viewers for a closer look. There are three people in view, two partially obscured.



I had several instances of broken parts from handling (antennas, guns, and radar, mainly) that needed re-doing, but my next step is to lay on the wooden decking. The island and deck stuff is already attached to the decking, so once the deck goes on, I am *FINISHED* with the ship. I need to make a few more aircraft for the flightdeck, but will not be putting a whole lot on that will obscure the "meat" of the matter---the wooden deck. I will put some arrestor wires in the rear (skip the useless ones up front, even though they were there), the F4F taking off and then I am REALLY, REALLY finished!

Then I will work on the display case (the current dark wood base will be replaced with Enterprise wood set atop a plywood base) which is still a concept at the moment.

[PR19_Kit]

STREWTH, that's good! 

[royabulgaf]

I carefully put a PE figure in the gun director to represent my dad, when I realized I had the "wrong" hair color! When I knew my dad he had black hair. But I remembered he was a "carrot-top" in his youth, and his hair was turning toward brown during the War. My older brother remembers his hair as dark auburn and when it eventually turned black, asked Dad about it. My youngest son had/has similar hair and change in color over the years. So I had to go back and change the "black" hair to red-brown. It's in focus, anyway!:


Sir, you are the rivet counter's rivet counter.

[Joe C-P]

  



Amazing work!

[NARSES2]

 



Amazing work!

Agreed