CV-6, Wooden Decks and Iron Men

[sequoiaranger]

Reeling from the IFF antenna fisaco, I turn my modeling mind on to the 20 mm gun galleries surrounding the flight deck. I had some schemes to transform the blobby kit 20mms into something reasonable. The first pic has an "untreated" gun gallery (right side) with blocky "pedestals" supporting the guns and none of the distinctive splinter shields. In reality, the 20mm barrels at this scale should be fishing-line thin and the shields probably no greater thickness than PE. However, the way the model itself is molded, so MANY things are overly-thick that the shields can match the thickness of the model-ship railings and be visually harmonious. I am not about to obsess with the dozen(s?) of tiny guns on this ship and leave so many other things "thick".

But, I *CAN* ameliorate the inaccurate and clunky kit 20mms by...taking a mini-MOTO-TOOL burr and undercutting the pedestal a bit, making them look kinda like muzzle-loading cannon aboard some sailing man-o-war (left side of pic). Then I cut tiny lengths of "square" cross-section .022 strip plastic. I glue the strips in alongside the 20mm gun barrels, and align them vertically. These strips are about right side-to-side, but too thick front-to-back for "realism". But, as I said before, they fit in well with the generally overly-thick plastic "realism" I'm dealing with here.



Next, I come along and snip the strips off at "shield" level (then I painted them), so you can see the final effect (left side of pic below). Reasonably good, methinks, and certainly better than the look of the un-modified kit 20mms along the gun galleries (right side of pic above). Incidentally, my dad, as an officer, was "in charge" of a battery of 20mm guns---the reason I am bothering at all to upgrade them for the kit.

The kit comes with many individual 20mm guns to be put in various places, but they all look like an un-clipped French poodle in need of a trim (single gun at bottom of pic). So I took a fine snipper and snipped off some of the bottom, and with a thin file created some "cleavage" in the shield. The bow of the kit did not have the twin 20mm platform it should have, so I had to scratch-build it, and put two modified 20mm mounts there (unpainted as of yet).

[sequoiaranger]

Yes, there ARE three apostrophes in the common contraction for "forecastle"!

I know I am bouncing around different areas of concern in the re-construction of the kit, but it relieves the "tedium" of concentrating on only one item too long. I have found that trying to REPLICATE something means time-consuming, rigorous, and lengthy consultation with photographs to try to get it right. Now I know why I switched to whiffs!  

Anyway, the Revell kit has very plain and open forecastle and fantail. In reality, there is a LOT of "structure" there. Not wanting to get bogged down in detail, I added some simple additions to help "fill in" the area (and will add a couple more things). I'm a little surprised that Revell put NOTHING in the bow, considering that the model's time frame is late 1942. When commissioned, CV-6 had no gun mount there, but even in 1941 there was a twin 20mm platform that later became a 40mm mount. So I added the two modified (see previous post) 20mm guns and the platforms (and a stairway to get there!) using a cast-off gun gallery piece and scratch-building the twin cylindrical pedestals. Then, there was a "girder-thingy" on the deck (now in white) upon which I will lay some life-rafts.

For the following pics I have lain the new deck on (only a few sections cut out for the wood, so far). You can see in the rear the VERY THIN perimeter of "metal". I am also trying to work out a support scheme so that I can attach the "metal" parts of the deck to the hull for painting purposes, and just lay in the wood when I'm done (can't afford any accidental paint on the precious wooden deck!). That is more engineering than I had expected.



For the fantail, there is a LOT missing on the Revell kit. There was an additional main deck that carried a boat or life-rafts, and peculiarly-shaped uprights that supported both the additional deck and the flight deck--almost "Y"-shaped in cross-section, with the arms of the "Y" flattened a bit. I consulted the 1/700 Trumpeter and Tamiya kits I have, but they both got the shape of the supports wrong.  I approximated that with a worked-over USS Essex bow catapult overhang. The tops ("protruding" through the invisible deck) will be snipped off when I carefully measure where the bottom of the flight deck would be. The measuring for this deck had to be meticulous. The uprights were on the outer rim of the fantail, and there was a tongue of the "Y" that protruded into the deck and the angle of the deck/support interface had to be JUST RIGHT for the whole thing to work.

The flight deck round-down is washed out in this first pic, but I had to scratch-build one from plastic tubing cut into quarters, and some decking added on the sides to connect up with the 20mm gun gallery. Notice the "brass" propellers and the "navel" at the end of the shaft. The real CV-6 had "bullet" ends to the shafts, and so will my model when I'm done. Also notice the curved nameplate. Revell stupidly had a STRAIGHT decal of "Enterprise" to put on the curved surface. But at least in the more modern iteration of the kit, the decal is properly curved so it will sit horizontal when applied.



Here is another look, from above, that shows off the "new" deck and supports. It shows off the modified 20mm mounts, and the wooden elevator is standing on two unseen "girder" supports to allow it to be just below flight deck surface when completed. The "round-down" and little half-round connecting deck are not "washed out" and can be seen. The kit round-down was a later iteration that had 20mm gun galleries wrapped around both sides, with only the middle third of the round-down there. I had to make it go all the way across the flight deck. Luckily, that also provided an end "frame" to strengthen the spindly perimeter of the flight deck.

[sequoiaranger]

The Laurel-and-Hardy quote notwithstanding, I wanted to upgrade the too plain and too elongated stacked life-rafts of the Revell Enterprise model to make them look more like the real thing, and create some "piles" of same-sized rafts that other pics has shown as replacing most of the ship's boats. Shown in this pic of the Enterprise's sister ship Hornet is the look of the rafts:



I had some fine mesh that I have used for HO car grilles, 1/72 German N. African dust filters, and now the life-rafts (section of mesh cut in upper left of pic). I had some .040 plastic rod that I hoped was pliable enough to wrap around a beveled, square-cross-sectioned plastic stock.



I CA'd the rod to the broad side at the bottom, then wrapped it tightly around, being careful to keep the coil "level" until it got around to the back, and THEN angled it to continue the coil. I CA'd the end of the coil, and then cut the square rod off so that the inevitable angle-cut piece of round rod was in the back. Then I made a single-coil "raft" to go on top (VERY difficult with only two hands and needing a third to apply accelerator to the CA). I cut an appropriately-sized piece of mesh to put on top of the pile, then glued the single coil to the top and filled in gaps with CA.



When they were painted, they looked pretty "authentic". I even put some mesh in the kit life-rafts to spruce them up, as shown in the bottom of the photo (photo-shopped in from another picture for clarity). The untreated rafts are on the right:



I also ended up rounding off the outer sharp edge of the kit rafts (where they went up against the ship--made them seem like "limpets" rather than rafts--I did this rounding-off post-picture so you only see the sharp-edged "limpets" here) to give it a better "tube" look. All of the above was more work than I thought, but I got "inspired" with the coil idea. There are lots of "piles" of same-sized life-rafts on ledges and decks in pics of the Enterprise, so they will supplement the boats and the kit's large-medium-small stacks of life-rafts.

[sequoiaranger]

The propellers for the Revell model were a little thick, but at least properly "handed" for each side of the ship. The end of the shaft housing, however, was just cut off square to the cylindrical housing, and "needed" to have a tapered "bullet" end. So I spent some time and effort finding some 1/72 bombs that had the appropriate diameter noses, snipped them off, and attached them to the Revell props and installed them on the model ship. Naturally, I then re-consulted a photo of the Enterprise that showed the propellers and their "bullet" shaft ends, and just about fainted!!

The Revell kit props had FOUR blades per shaft, but the real Enterprise only had THREE!! NOW WHAT?? Any veteran of the Enterprise, or carrier "experts" would find the inaccurate props laughable, so I *HAD* to come up with a way to put the proper props on the model. I mean, if I had made a model of a Mitsubishi Zero fighter plane at the time of Pearl Harbor and had a four-blade prop on it,  the JMN's would be outraged, and the rest would shake their heads in pity. I consulted my 1/700 Hornet kit (non-waterline), but its three-bladed props were far too small to get away with putting on this 1/480 kit. I *DREADED* the thought of breaking off all the prop blades from the kit props and re-gluing three instead of four, but...

My modeling muse told me that the kit props were WAAAY too thick anyway, so...she steered me toward a fairly simple fix:



1. Use a hole-punch on some .010 sheet.

2. Snip off a slight chord and round off the snip.

3. Take a small, rat-tail file and radius the inner blade where it would attach to a shaft.

4. Find some 1/72 rockets that had nice, tapered noses and the right shaft diameter.

5. Glue the new prop blades 60 degrees apart and properly angled.

VOILA! Now all I have to do is snip off the "rocket" nose and attach to the Enterprise's prop shafts, and I am back in business!

[Hobbes]

Well done! Some creative use of materials there.

[sequoiaranger]

Thanks, Hobbes. I get lucky, sometimes!

Below is a pic that shows some of the "improvements" to the original kit. The "dark olive-gray" plastic is the original kit, and some inner portions have been previously painted black. Light gray denotes the new kit parts that I occasionally substitute, some light blue-gray paint is seen splashed on, which will be the standard color when done. Then there is the lily-white stuff that is new material from scratch-building stock material. From left to right the improvements are:

1. Little half-round decks added where the hangar-deck cranes will be (small positioning hole barely seen on edge of the kit deck). It was just a "walk-around" platform, but easily seen in photographs--just a hole-punched sheet plastic disc cut in half (the other half went on the other side!).

2. Hangar deck "curtains" and their vertical supports--the original kit just had wide-open spaces here. I put a couple of partially-raised "curtains" there just to add interest--they were cut out of the side of my extra hull where it showed "closed" curtains, and the vertical supports are .022 square stock. The black line was the kit "athwart-ship catapult". Nice touch for the kit, but my research places it on the opposite side up front! It'll get painted over.

3. Looking down at the bottom of the pic you can see the new props and "bullet" ends (previous post).

4. Directly above the inner prop in the photo are the aft 5" gun batteries (two holes). Though the deck itself extended inward, it was blanked off, and so I also blanked it off, coinciding with the elevator well. The white pillars left and right of the gun deck are "artistic license" supports for the thin, spindly plastic rim of the flight deck.

5. I have two "girder" pieces glued into the elevator well, upon which an Enterprise-wood elevator will sit. The girders themselves will be unseen, but make a nice flat support for the elevator.

6. I laid a band of sheet plastic across the stern, ostensibly to rest on the scratch-built upright pillars I had made earlier, but a slight error in measurement means that it will be "floating in space" instead. Still, it bolsters the rigidity of the setup. Seen under the band, but not apparent in shape, is a flattened-V support for a block-and-tackle setup (I just snipped the runner and pulley off an old crane and glued it underneath!).

Much of this under-structure (and more to come as I advance bow-ward with the wooden deck) is designed to allow the kit's plastic flightdeck to be glued securely in proper position without the wooden deck, painted, then allowing the wooden deck sections to be PLACED over the support structure so that the wooden deck is flush with the plastic deck. Slight differences in thickness of the wooden slabs dictates "custom" fitting throughout. I don't mind, but it *IS* extra work.

Research, Measure, Fabricate, Install, Adjust, REPEAT. Almost like "PSR", this trying-to-replicate stuff is repetitive and EXHAUSTING! So much of my time is studying photographs before and after fabricating and installing a part, to see if I am "close". I just have to keep the vision of the end product in mind.

[proditor]

That's just coming along beautifully. 

[sequoiaranger]

>That's just coming along beautifully.<

Thanks, Proditor. In general I would have to agree. I have put a LOT more work into it so far than I had planned, but I am pleased with the fruit of my labor.

Since my last post I have added/replaced another large section of wooden deck, but have now reached the island area that poses complications and decisions about how "complete" to go with the wooden decking. If I do it up correctly, the "island" will truly be an island of steel ringed completely by wood. I may have to take some liberties here to de-complicate the proceedings. I can explain/illustrate in about a week. (In the photo below, the darker color of the rear part of the deck is merely from some Krylon sealant applied. The entire wooden deck will be so sealed (gloss finish), then some dullcote spray will be applied for a uniform color more like the lighter stuff).

I am off on another sea cruise, this time up along the West Coast of the US, from San Diego to Vancouver, B.C., stopping in Astoria, Oregon to meet up with my son in Portland.

See ya then.

[Weaver]

Excellent detail work and research there - no way would I have the patience. 

[Taiidantomcat]

What incredible detail! 

[sequoiaranger]

Taiid and Weav--Thanks.

Since getting back from my cruise (high seas, rainy and gray  ) I did a little measuring, and found that the flightdeck-hull interface of the stock kit produces a "swayback" appearance, with the sag around the island area. It's slight, but noticeable. I had to look many times, and measure and re-measure to be sure I was right. So at least with the re-decking project I will be able to correct this defect and make a straight, level deck.

Right now I am trying to figure out what lies beneath the elevator when in the "up" position: Like, what holds and/or pushes the elevator up? A "scissor-works", a central column? Are there "guides" on the sides, like a fork-lift? Remember, this is a centerline elevator of WW II. I have a few pictures of elevators from the top, but none from underneath. If I stood on the hangar deck by the elevator area when the elevator is in the "up" (flightdeck level) position, what do I see? What kind of "well" is under the hangar deck? Wouldn't a big "hole" like that (and a "cage" of elevator supports?) impede moving aircraft around on the hangar deck, especially with non-folding-wing aircraft like the Dauntless (I know, I know, that is the reason the deck-edge lifts were introduced on Wasp and then followed up with the Essex's)?

Questions, Questions.

If you have any answers....PLEASE!

[Weaver]

As far as I know, the RN Invincible-class Harrier-carriers were the first type to have a scissors lift and it was regarded as a major innovation. In all previous types, inboard lifts were raised by cables attached to the edge of the lift, which ran up guide tracks, over pulleys just below the flight deck, and then down to winches under the hanger deck. I know some lifts were "boxed in" with walls in-between some of the guide tracks, but I'm not sure if there were any that were "skeletal", i.e. with just the guide tracks.

EDIT: if you go to this page, you can see the elevator of the USS Hornet as currently on display. The elevator is at the end of the hanger, so it doesn't interfere with aircraft movement and is boxed-in on three sides. Go to the picture marked Hanger Deck 1 and click on it: it's an interactive panorama, so I can't just post it here:

http://www.uss-hornet.org/exhibits/photos/


There are some pics on this page which show parts of Enterprise's lift wall:

http://www.navsource.org/archives/02/06.htm

There's also a page on that site showing pictures taken whilst she was being scrapped: sad, but informative.

[sequoiaranger]

Weaver--thanks for the links. I especially like the "devil" costumes with horns in the head--maybe that would be appropriate (red anyway) for the ordnance handlers on deck!

Thanks to you and some others who responded privately, I have a MUCH better idea of what the elevator area looks like. Here is a link to a fine photo of Saratoga's hangar/elevator in which two shiny shafts are holding the elevator up. I can't discern if the pistons are the driving force, or just guiding, but for modeling purposes it is irrelevant. My one elevator (aft) that can be seen will have such shafts "holding it up", and some guides on the side if I have room (otherwise they may be "painted on" instead of physical.

http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?imgurl=5eb82b8338abf7a4&source:life&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dhangar%2Bbay%2Bsource:life%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DG%26tbs%3Disch:1

The fore and aft elevators of the Enterprise were indeed "boxed in" on three sides, were at the far ends of the hangar, and were not really part of the "parking area" of the hangar. The midships elevator, however, was. In one photo I have, it seems there is only one "wall" (elevator offset to the island side of the ship), the other three sides being "freestanding" with no guides or other visible apparatus.

http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?imgurl=661c82707ab1419b&source:life&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dhangar%2Bdeck%2Bsource:life%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DG%26tbs%3Disch:1

That one was often used as a stage for presentations, boxing matches, etc, by elevating it six feet or so. One respondent also mentioned that there was an additional partial elevator underneath the midships elevator that would come up to hangar deck level to cover most of the elevator well so that planes could be moved around without tumbling into what otherwise would be the well.

I done larned sump'n!!

[Weaver]

Well that's all very interesting....

On the Saratoga pic, are you sure those are "shiney shafts" and not just guide tracks on the back wall catching the light? I don't quite know how to "read" them if you see what I mean.....

That midships lift on the Enterprise is interesting: I wonder if it's like an "inboard deck-edge-lift", so to speak, running up the side of the island structure on one side with the other side supported by a cantilever structure from beneath?

[sequoiaranger]

>That midships lift on the Enterprise is interesting: I wonder if it's like an "inboard deck-edge-lift", so to speak, running up the side of the island structure on one side with the other side supported by a cantilever structure from beneath?<

...or supported underneath by two "shiney shafts"!  

To me, the way the light shades incrementally on the "shafts" indicate that they are round, IMHO. Notice the guides on the sides in the same picture--in both the Saratoga and Enterprise pics the guides on the sides are rectangular--they would have the same sheen. I was told by the respondent that there were indeed round shafts holding up the elevator, but in all honesty I don't know if that was inferred by the respondent as an interpretation of the photo, or other independently corroborative evidence.