NVMS Jan Zonder Vrees

[Spey_Phantom]

the NVMS Jan Zonder Vrees (english translation: "Fearless John") is the New Flanders Navy's newest aircraft carrier, it is a refurbished ex-Belgian light carrier, surrently in upgrade and is expected to be introduced into service in the spring of 2013.
to equip its fighter force, the navy has ordered 18 MIG-29K's (14 single seat MIG-29K's and 4 2-seat MIG-29KUB's)

the model itsself is my old 1/144 Belgian Navy light aircraft carrier "BNS Dendermonde", built a number of years back. after noticing breaks and cracks in the island superstructure, i decided to give the ship a refit and upgrade.
as a change of pace, i decided to rebuild it as a STOBAR aircraft carrier, since the deck's already running crooked, almost like a ski-jump. the island supertructure was damaged and repair would mean a complete scrapping of it, so i decided to build a new one from scratch.
as for deck markings, i went for a combination of Western and Russian style layouts.

there is still a lot of work to be done, including completion and detailing of the new superstructure, addition of the airwing and fitting of OLS and self defence systems.

the airwing will consist of 3 MIG-29K's (2 mig-29K single seaters and 1 KUB twinseater), 1 EC635N and a S-70B Seahawk.
the first MIG-29K, a KUB 2-seater has already been build (converted revell 1/144 mig-29A, with canopy and cockpit from a revell F/A-18D). the 2 single seaters will follow shortly.

[NARSES2]

I do like you projects 

[Captain Canada]

Bring her in for a refit...love it ! Why 2 kinds of choppers on such a small ship ? I'd go with one or the other....

[Army of One]

I like this......any progress.....??

[kerick]

Bring her in for a refit...love it ! Why 2 kinds of choppers on such a small ship ? I'd go with one or the other....

One could be a visitor. Or an Army machine on a training mission to cooperate with Navy assets. That would give a couple different painting options.

[Spey_Phantom]

I like this......any progress.....??

yes, there has been significant progress this week.
i just finished detailing the main island superstructure for about 90%, i still need to build some antennas and paint the top.
also, 2 days ago i started building the 2 single-seat MIG-29K's. as for color scheme, i think of going for a 60's US Navy white/grey scheme.
i didnt like how the 2-tone grey (darker grey on top) of the 2-seater MIG-29KUB blended in with the deck, looked almost invisible  , i could concider it a night attack version if i put some LGB's under the wings 

im gonna post a progress picture later this evening 

[Army of One]

Oooh......looking forward to that........

[Spey_Phantom]

ok, here's a WIP pic.
the large AESA equiped mast still needs paintwork (white = primer)

[Army of One]

Great work Nils.,...looking forward to more.....what weapon systems for the carrier....??

[Father Ennis]

Gee,I thought you had already finished ... !!!!!!   LMAO

[Spey_Phantom]

Update:

while the carrier itsself has made little to no progress, i have just completed building the last of the airwing.
i finished in the 2 single seat MIG-29K fighters.

used kits are the Revell 1/144 MIG-29 Fulcrum.
one thing i noticed is that the revell kit is to short and the pylons are on the wrong position.
to fix this (and to make the model more accurate) i extended the nose section by 4mm , and placed the pylons in a more correct position.
aside from the nose extention, the only scratchbuilt parts are the tailhooks and decals.
i couldnt come up with a good seabourne aircraft camoflage, so i ended up with boring 2-tone grey, but i did paint the underside in typical soviet underside blue, just to give it some color.

1 mig is armed for Air-to-Air Combat (2 AIM-9M's and 4 AIM-120's), the other for Anti-Ship/strike (2 AIM-9M, 2 AGM-84 Harpoon and 2 Mk83 bombs).
i also armed my earlier build 2 seater (1 AIM-9M, 1 Lantirn laser designator and 2 GBU-16's)

although i am concidering another fighter type in the future to replace or supplement the MIG-29K's.
i would like to add some Sea Gripens or Naval Sukhoi T-50's (come on Revell on 1/144 Gripen!)

[NARSES2]

Nice Nils 

[Spey_Phantom]

UPDATE:

although the ship was nearing completion last time i posted, i decided to delay the completion date after i decided to redo the the catwalks allong the ships side, as the first ones appeared to be to narrow.

this will also allow for more room for defensive armament, including a RIM-116 RAM laucher (from Revell 1/144 Gepard-Class missile boat, i was gonna sovietize one anyway), some Exocet launchtubes (from the same kit) and CIWS (scratchbuild).

i also need to work on applying some final detail to the island superstrucure.

pictures to follow later