1/350 scale USS Solace LHD Amphibious Hospital Ship

[seadude]

Worked on all the humanitarian relief cargo tonight. I may not use all of it, but I at least wanted a diversity of different shapes, sizes, styles, and colors. The cargo on the right in the pic which includes larger bulks of boxes and bags, plus loads of piping and lumber, I will finish tomorrow.
https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7555/28528108613_d96624a176_b.jpg

So, it's down to the wire so to speak. What do I have to finish yet?
1. Finish painting and decaling all aircraft once I get them back from another modeling friend.
2. Finish painting all cargo tomorrow.
3. Load cargo into ship, trucks, and landing craft.
4. Place humanitarian vehicles into upper vehicle deck in ship, as well as load them onto landing craft.
5. Place some flight deck vehicles in hangar bay and upper vehicle deck. Placing flight deck vehicles on the flight deck itself will have to wait until I get the aircraft done and know where I want to place them.
6. Construct water display piece for some landing craft like I mentioned in my Post # 209 above.

After that, I think I'm pretty much done and can call this project a wrap. 

[Captain Canada]

I'd go with just the LCAC in the well. What are the boxes to the right ? They come as stacks like that ? Cool.

[seadude]

As mentioned before:

This is how I'll probably display the model at a contest. Put a few landing craft (On a water base. To be built yet.) in front of the main ship to show what the landing craft look like, their respective sizes, and the various cargo and trucks they can carry. I still need to buy and paint an LCM-8 to add to the display.
https://c5.staticflickr.com/9/8370/29102031956_a54e81ffa5_h.jpg

New possibility:
https://c2.staticflickr.com/9/8543/28625847873_b1458de3c8_h.jpg
Have a section below the landing craft to display all the vehicles I used with this project. I know the lower half looks blue. That's just the shrink wrap I have to remove from the clear acrylic sheet, then I'll paint the lower half some sort of color. And the top half won't look like that. From left to right will be 1x LARC-V amphibious resupply vehicle, 1x LCM-8, 1x LCAC, and 1x LCU.

[seadude]

So, it's down to the wire so to speak. What do I have to finish yet?
NOT FINISHED 1. Finish painting and decaling all aircraft once I get them back from another modeling friend.
DONE 2. Finish painting all cargo tomorrow.
DONE 3. Load cargo into ship, trucks, and landing craft.
DONE 4. Place humanitarian vehicles into upper vehicle deck in ship, as well as load them onto landing craft.
NOT FINISHED 5. Place some flight deck vehicles in hangar bay and upper vehicle deck. Placing flight deck vehicles on the flight deck itself will have to wait until I get the aircraft done and know where I want to place them.
IN PROGRESS 6. Construct water display piece for some landing craft like I mentioned in my Post # 209 above.

STILL TO DO:
1. Buy and build an LCM landing craft.
2. Buy and build a LARC-V landing craft vehicle.
3. Buy and build some 20ft. ISO containers.

[seadude]

Here's some "sample" shots of the interior upper vehicle deck as well as the well deck filled with vehicles and cargo for a humanitarian mission. There is also an LCU in the well deck.
The very last pic shows a small display I am making to display extra landing craft and vehicles. I'll attach the "water" portion to a slightly bigger base, then add the wording below that, then add the vehicles below the wording. It'll be sorta similar to what Peter Van Buren did here:
http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery/am/lhd/350-pvb/lhd1-02.jpg
http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery/am/lhd/350-pvb/pvb-index.html

[seadude]

If the pics are too big, then let me know and I'll change them back to links or make them smaller.

Either I need a new camera, or I need to time travel back 30 years and retake Photography class in high school.     In my defense as a first timer putting lighting inside a model, I have no other excuse to give other than: I tried.   
Two or three reasons why I added lighting in the upper vehicle deck and the well deck:
a) I wanted to try and replicate what others had done for the well deck.
b) I was concerned about how visible the interior would be at a contest or other place if there was inadequate lighting.


But the below pics show what the interior would look like in a completely darkened area/room. The first pic (After the diagram.) is what you might see yourself if standing next to the model. The rest of the pics are a little brighter, but that is due to me playing around with the camera settings trying to get decent pics. I've tried taking pics of the well deck while looking through the stern well gate, but no matter how hard I try, the pics turn out like crap, regardless of what camera settings I use.

[Old Wombat]

All looks good to me!

[Captain Canada]

Wow. Great details. This thing has so much work done to it it's amazing !

[seadude]

I just got back the aircraft (minus two) that I had given to another modeling friend to help detail since my eyesight is not that good, not even with an Optivisor helping me too.
I gave my friend 4x Osprey's, 4x Sea Stallions, 4x Chinooks, 4x Seahawks, and 2x Huey's to detail. Unfortuneately, he "may" have misplaced 1 Seahawk and 1 Huey.    But anyway, here's the pics of the shading, paneling, and windows he did. Not too bad I guess. Now it'll be up to me to finish decaling the birds and put the rotors on.

Now, a question or two: Should all the aircraft have red cross markings on them, or just some, or none at all? If the aircraft were PERMANENTLY embarked/attached on the hospital ship, then I might say yes. But if they were just regular Navy aviation units rotating on deployments and such to the ship, then perhaps no.  What do you think? To Red Cross or not to Red Cross all aircraft?

[Captain Canada]

Tough call. I'd say no, but if some are landing in hot zones, for strictly humanitarian reasons then maybe one or two.....or maybe none lol

[nighthunter]

I'd say yes for the Seahawks and Hueys, as those are routinely used by Medivac units, which would be stationed aboard.

[sandiego89]

I'd say your friend did very well on the birds.  Those are sea knights (since retired), not Chinooks.

[zenrat]

Wow!  Panel lines done on 1/350 aircraft!

[NARSES2]

Wow!  Panel lines done on 1/350 aircraft!

That's what I thought- scary

As for the Red Crosses ? I'd go for a mix on the basis that some would be permanently based on Solace whereas others would be temporarily attached. Mind you even some of those would be from Medic units, so a mix of say 60% with and 40% without ?

[Captain Canada]

I should have mentioned how good they looked myself, sorry ! Love the Sea Knights especially. Always loved those choppers.