1/350 scale CVN-90 USS United States Stealth Aircraft Carrier

[seadude]

That's what transition curves are for, even if the USN doesn't seem to believe in them.

What do you mean? What are transition curves?

[PR19_Kit]

Where a flat panel at one angle transitions to a flat panel at another angle through a gradual, and usually linear,  change of angle.

It's commonly used in the motor industry, usually on internal panels where the 'styling' isn't significant.

[seadude]

Well, there might be a silver lining to rebuilding the port bow and starboard bow weapon sponsons. But I did say "might".
Did some digging through spare model kits I had that were missing parts or damaged. The first two pics show parts from a DRAGON T28 Super heavy tank kit, and also angled inlets from a Testor 1/32 scale YF-22 kit.
The YF-22 parts are really nice and the angles of them might match up nicely with the underside hull angles. BUT, most VLS missiles need a vertical boxy style structure to store/launch missiles. This can be seen in the very last two pics below showing the vertical launch systems on a modern French carrier. So the YF-22 parts are most likely out of the question and won't be used.
Using the T28 tank skirts/chassis parts looks like it might be the better option. I'll need to cut them down to size to make them work for my needs and add some scratch building to them as well. They're still angled somewhat, but I think with some slight modifications, I can make the boxy enough to still have VLS missile systems.

[seadude]

Got the weapon sponsons off which was a PITA chore.    Forgot how much glue I had used to put them on.   
Had to break apart the sponsons piece by tiny piece.
So now I have some cleanup to do by sanding the areas where they were.
Then I can start to scratch build new sponsons. But they will NOT connect to the rest of the underneath angled hull structure under the flight deck on the port and starboard sides.

[NARSES2]

Neat use of "spare" parts 

[seadude]

Neat use of "spare" parts 

Almost any model kit part can be used as a "spare part" if one knows how to use it. Just takes creativity and imagination.

[Gondor]

I would be careful with how high up the hull the port sponson goes, the end of the "runway" is above it so you don't want any errant jets falling onto that sponson. Those parts look good. Nice recycling which ever parts you use 

Gondor

[seadude]

I would be careful with how high up the hull the port sponson goes, the end of the "runway" is above it so you don't want any errant jets falling onto that sponson. Those parts look good. Nice recycling which ever parts you use 

Gondor

Hmmmm. Good point. I never thought about that.
Right now, I'm starting with scratch building the starboard side sponson. Port side will probably be worked on tomorrow.
I'm going to try and keep the "decks" of the new scratch built sponsons at the same height as the decks of the old sponsons if possible.

[seadude]

Ok, the starboard bow weapon sponson is done. Just have to do some puttying and sanding either tonight or tomorrow.
It looks a bit better than what I had before previously.
Now the whole sponson may seem too large, but you have to think about the following: A lot of space inside that sponson could be for piping, ductwork, electrical stuff, cableing, etc. which is all necessary for the VLS system and especially for the laser defense turret. This is why I didn't make the "blocky" VLS extension bigger.
Work on the port side will be either tomorrow or when I get back from the MMSI Model Show on Sunday.

[Old Wombat]

 

[NARSES2]

Indeed   

[seadude]

You guys may like it now. But every time I look at it, I end up thinking I made it worse than the original sponsons the model had. I mean, I know I wanted to improve the sponsons because the original ones seemed too small to me. But now when I look at the new one I created, seems like I made it too large.
I can't seem to get that "Goldilocks" moment where everything looks "just right", know what I mean? 
But there's another reason the new sponson is big, or I should say "long".
I can't have the VLS too close to the laser defense turret, and vice versa.
If missiles were launched from the VLS, you don't want the hot exhaust gases and flames getting too close to the laser turret.
Eventually, I'll need to create some sort of blast deflector that separates the VLS and laser turret.

[seadude]

The more I work on this model, the more I keep screwing it up.     
The port bow weapon sponson is done except for puttying and sanding.
Unfortuneately, when you look at the head on picture further below, you'll see where the port sponson is higher than the starboard one. The laser dome on the port sponson is higher than the flight deck. 
I don't know how to explain this error except maybe to say the laser turret needed to be "slightly" higher and needed a better firing arc, especially if firing to the left side to clear over the front edge of the angled flight deck.
And...........Gondor was right. The last picture shows the catapult tracks (Red lines) for the port side waist catapults. If an aircraft were to suffer some calamity while launching, it could hit the port weapon sponson. But I can't worry about that now. The sponson has been glued on. Too late to change it. Only way to explain this error/situation is if I had aircraft that used VTOL capability during the last few feet of the catapult launch to "lift them up" to clear the weapon sponson. That probably doesn't make sense, but it's all I can think of right now.
So I have to finish puttying and sanding both weapon sponsons, then after that, I have to rebuild the aft starboard weapon sponson as I gave that sponson too much space for VLS and the laser turret.
And I'm still waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting, etc. for my parts from 3D-Wild that I ordered. 

[kerick]

Personally, I don't think the sponsons are too big. They are supporting a lot of stuff so bigger is probably better.
The port laser turret looks taller because it appears to have an extra "layer" in the base for it. If you could trim off the base I think that would fix that problem.
I think you are on a good track here so don't be too self critical. No body knows what you intended to build, they only see the end result, which is looking better than I could do!

[seadude]

Personally, I don't think the sponsons are too big. They are supporting a lot of stuff so bigger is probably better.
The port laser turret looks taller because it appears to have an extra "layer" in the base for it. If you could trim off the base I think that would fix that problem.
I think you are on a good track here so don't be too self critical. No body knows what you intended to build, they only see the end result, which is looking better than I could do!

Nope. Not going to trim off the base like you mentioned. See my Post # 194 on Page 13 of this thread.
I made 4 laser turrets/bases and they all have to be the same.
One each for the:
Port bow weapon sponson
Port aft weapon sponson
Starboard bow weapon sponson
Starboard aft weapon sponson