1/350 scale USS Solace LHD Amphibious Hospital Ship

seadude · June 28, 2016, 02:16:05 PM

Have the flight deck at least 98% done. What I have to wonder next is: How many Red Cross insignias should I put on the flight deck? 1, 2, or 3? And in exactly what areas? Any suggestions?

The Mercy class hospital ship has a Red Cross insignia amidships:
http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/19/091919720.jpg
And the Chinese hospital ship has one as well:
http://img.news.sina.com/china/p/2011/1219/U48P5029T2D424653F24DT20111220150432.jpg

Having a Red Cross insignia "on top" of the ship makes the ship more visible to aircraft flying overhead.

Sample pics of my flight deck:
https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7350/27964176885_a88948bf1a_k.jpg
https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7323/27350774393_f7ce8ef2a7_k.jpg
https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7790/27887192691_dce2f2f838_k.jpg

sandiego89 · June 28, 2016, 05:05:38 PM

Well done, those flight deck decals can be very finicky.

I would suggest 2 giant crosses. One by landing spot 2, the other by 9. A single cross amidships would obscured by the island. I think the red cross on a white square looks better than red on the gray non-skid, but in practice a white flight deck would not stay white for long.

- Dave

seadude · June 28, 2016, 06:54:04 PM

My replies to your post are in green.

Quote from: sandiego89 on June 28, 2016, 05:05:38 PM
Well done, those flight deck decals can be very finicky.

Yeah, they are finicky. But not if I cut everything into smaller segments for easier handling/placement.

I would suggest 2 giant crosses. One by landing spot 2, the other by 9. A single cross amidships would obscured by the island. I think the red cross on a white square looks better than red on the gray non-skid, but in practice a white flight deck would not stay white for long.

Unfortuneately, I only have 5 crosses to work with. 2 on the port side of the ship hull. 2 on the starboard side of the ship hull. The last one I might place near landing spot #2. But I have to wonder if a red cross on a white background, on the flight deck really is a good idea? It would get awfully dirty really fast with all the aircraft exhaust, tire marks, oil and hydraulic fluids, etc.

- Dave

Old Wombat · June 28, 2016, 07:11:43 PM

Looking at the photo below, there's not a lot of empty deck space when Wasp is operational;

So, it would depend on how large your air contingent is;
- Is it as large as USS Wasp's?
- Has it been reduced by turning hangar space into hospital space?
- Has it been reduced even further by operating costs, so it isn't at the numbers an operational military ship would carry (even with reduced hangar space)?

Interestingly Wasp is supposed to only carry about 20 aircraft of all types*; the photo shows more than that on her deck, alone.

However, for your Humanitarian Assistance role, I'd suggest you lose the current Deck Spot 1 (awkward, as you've already marked it $:-\$ ) & put a cross there, in the front starboard corner of the flight deck, & in the rear starboard corner of the flight deck, near the one you've marked, as these would be the least used locations

*

Quote from: wikipediaAircraft carried:

Variable by mission:
3 x MH-60S Knighthawk helicopters
4 × CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters
6 × AV-8B Harrier attack aircraft
3 × UH-1N Huey helicopters
4 × AH-1Z Viper helicopters
MV-22 Osprey VTOL tiltrotor aircraft

PS: Hmm, having seen your last post, as I was posting mine, we have a quandry. If you can, I'd suggest you find another cross (

), otherwise I'd probably still go with the front starboard corner & lose Spot 1.

PPS: Or lose Spot 3 & put it there. $:-\$

seadude · June 28, 2016, 07:29:51 PM

Quote- Is it as large as USS Wasp's?

About the same actually.

- Has it been reduced by turning hangar space into hospital space?

Nope. Hangar space is the same. No additions or reductions.

seadude · June 29, 2016, 09:35:51 AM

Finished up decaling the flight deck last night as well as putting the Red Cross decals on the sides of the ship hull. I think it turned out fairly well. Not too bad at all. The flight deck is not attached to the hull. It is just sitting on top to give an impression of what the deck/ship will eventually look like. Flight deck has been painted in Testors Gunship Grey. Bottom of ship hull painted in Testors Insignia Red. White is Testors Acryl Flat White.
Still have a long way to go on this project. Will next be working on adding the lighting system to underneath the flight deck so that the interior vehicle storage deck is illuminated and more visible. After that, then I'll work on all the life raft racks and canisters. I'm thinking of painting all the life raft canisters bright orange. Maybe Testors Acryl International Orange. I know, it sounds weird, but I don't like having too much of the ship and ship fittings/accessories to be all white. Would make the model look too boring and plain.

Captain Canada · June 29, 2016, 10:02:22 AM

That deck looks wicked ! Love it !

seadude · June 29, 2016, 10:15:03 AM

P.S. - Eventually when it does come time to mount the flight deck to the hull, I plan to hopefully use magnets. This will allow me to easily remove the flight deck if needed in case I need to make repairs or something else to the interior of the ship. Not sure exactly what type of magnets to use or how strong they should be. Nothing too powerful though.

Old Wombat · June 29, 2016, 04:06:27 PM

seadude · June 29, 2016, 06:21:15 PM

And Yes, for anybody that is wondering, I did use Tamiya masking tape, some calculations, and my Mk.1 eyeball to get the Red Cross decals in the same positions on the port and starboard sides of the hull.

seadude · July 13, 2016, 08:12:46 PM

New pics of the progress on my hospital ship. The main hull/flight deck is 98-99% done. Just have a few tiny details to finish this weekend. Now if you're wondering about a few things in the pics, let me answer that for you right away before you start asking your questions.
1. No, there is no photoetch railing or any other photoetch. Why? My eyesight is wayyyyyyy too bad to deal with photoetch anymore. Not even an Optivisor will help. This whole project is built "just for fun".
2. Why orange colored life raft canisters? This whole model is going to have enough white as it is since hospital ships are primarily painted white. Might as well "break up" all that white with some other color choices. Frankly, I don't think it looks too bad. I used Testor Model Master Acryl International Orange for the life raft canisters.
3. Yes, there is armament on the ship in the form of .50 cal machine gun emplacements around the circumference of the ship. Hospital ships may NOT carry any offensive armaments, but they are allowed defensive armaments to protect the crew, patients, and the ship itself. Need proof of armament on hospital ships? See this pic here:
http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/12/09122066.jpg
4. Using this person's model as an example:
http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery/am/lhd/350-khj/khj-index.html
......you can see two large white radomes, one on the starboard side forward of the refueling area, and the other on the port side slightly aft of the aircraft elevator. I'm not sure what these are or what they're used for, but I didn't like the look of them, so I left them off my hospital ship. Also, the extra deck piece (Aft port side above well deck entrance.) that the aft RAM missile launcher sits on has been left off my model as I wasn't sure what to do with it.
5. The deck where the aft Seasparrow missile launcher normally sits above the well deck entrance might become a crew rest area with a few lounge chairs and an umbrella or two.

6. Will hopefully start work on the bridge island superstructure this weekend or next week.

https://c5.staticflickr.com/9/8634/28191675412_6bdbed8d85_k.jpg
https://c3.staticflickr.com/9/8809/28191675402_24c5ab640e_h.jpg
https://c5.staticflickr.com/9/8631/27679559724_8fe8211aab_h.jpg
https://c7.staticflickr.com/9/8596/27679559654_8a5d44953c_h.jpg
https://c4.staticflickr.com/9/8681/27680032323_7a3b7317d9_h.jpg
https://c8.staticflickr.com/9/8622/27680032303_5dff5a1501_k.jpg
https://c6.staticflickr.com/9/8827/27679934013_23a2f6fc13_h.jpg
https://c4.staticflickr.com/9/8821/27679933963_95849ecdb9_k.jpg

zenrat · July 14, 2016, 02:55:47 AM

Good call on the orange canisters, they look right.

Captain Canada · July 14, 2016, 06:47:06 AM

For sure, looks right to me ! Excellent work.

Old Wombat · July 14, 2016, 07:56:31 AM

Looking very good!

Life raft cannisters look A1!

seadude · July 14, 2016, 10:46:26 AM

Thanks, guys.