Ship Mania!!! (Pic intensive on page 8)

[Jschmus]

I had a stupid idea also enter my head when I bought the SoDak, but I'd need another two Richelieu class to do it, which I don't want to do... yet.

A SoDak with twelve 15" guns?  Or maybe with 16"/50s in quad turrets?

[Sauragnmon]

If it's the gun turrets you're after, the fact it's released under Pit Road as well, you can get in contact with Gernot over at Modelwarships, and he should be able to get you just the weapons sprues without a problem if you can identify the sprues you need - he's got a hobby contact, and if you want sprues from a Japanese kit, you can get them through him for a price, no problem - I got a full Aoshima Nagato superstructure from him without a problem.

[Thorvic]

Ant

If doing the 2md Wasp as a Whif, howabout taking the USS America Air Op only concept and cross with RN CVF by fitting Sponsons and skijump to improve F-35B ops  by allowing ample deck parking, together with dedicated runway and seperae dedicated landing area. Still a STOVL carrier but better suited air ops.

G

[anthonyp]

re: the French BB's, I've got ideas for them too    Turret sprues are nice, but on eBay I can get the whole thing for cheap, and have plans for the sisters to the Lafayette (the Rochambeau in US service, and the HMCS Cadillac in canadian service).

As for the SoDak and quad turrets, going between the two.  In any case, 12 large scale guns on a SoDak hull could be entertaining.

Geoff, that was one of the thoughts I had while staring at the Wasp class.  Another thought was one for a full on CTOL angled deck CVL that Sentinel Chicken did in this thread on the Tarawa class (unfortunately, the pics have disappeared).  I'd update it for the Wasp, but I think I'd be willing to wait for a third Wasp to do it, mainly because I've recently uncovered my first ever Tarawa class model that I built in the 80's.  Already ripped her apart to rebuild her (the hull had warped over the years) and I think I can pull it off.

AH!!!  Found them!!!

CVS off a Tarawa hull as done by Sentinel Chicken:




Which brings me to some long time designs on my hard drive I've been wanting to build:

Flight III Burke (almost a Burke CG; drawing by Mihoshik from Shipbucket):



Then there's this CCGN as done by someone on CanisD's forum a while ago:




And then there's this BBGN as done by the same guy:



Finally, there's this version of a BBGN done by CanisD.  It's smaller than his first iteration of the design, but I can't seem to find it right now.  The original had three turrets, and was based on a Nimitz hull.

[Joe C-P]

Ant

If doing the 2md Wasp as a Whif, howabout taking the USS America Air Op only concept and cross with RN CVF by fitting Sponsons and skijump to improve F-35B ops  by allowing ample deck parking, together with dedicated runway and seperae dedicated landing area. Still a STOVL carrier but better suited air ops.

G

Oh, wow, that idea... 

[anthonyp]

Found some other concepts I want to share.

First up is that Railgun CG(X) that inspired my stretched Burkes from the Warship Project Discussion Board (the site requires membership to view, so I thought I'd post the pics here.  The direct link can be found in one of my previous posts):





Next up is a preview from a now defunct (I think) website.  It had photoshopped images of warships.  I forget what it's called, but it shows my latest Trumpeter Iowa in "Real Life" glory:

USS Kentucky, BB-66, circa 1985:



Next are some pics of ships I've been playing with over the years that I want to do.  Some have appeared here before.

HMCS Ontario:



And two Soviet ships, the CVL Novorossiysk:



And the Helicopter Assault Bombardment ship Samsonov:



Finally is something that I'm basing my Tirpitz refit on.  I have no idea where I found this, but it inspired me:

[anthonyp]

Got my 1/700 South Dakota from eBay today, and built her up with the Phase II flight deck.  That Nichimo thing is just wrong in so many ways, namely the beam being the same as a 1/700 ship when the kit is supposed to be 1/900!!!

Anyways, on the SoDak, the flight deck fits perfectly!  I call her "mid-refit" as in the flight deck is there, some of the guns are removed, but no missile systems, modern defenses or new masts have been fit.  I think the SoDaks make better BBH platforms than Iowas anyways.   

Finally, pics this weekend!  I got my desktop photo studio almost ready for use (great Christmas gift).

[Jschmus]

Got it from Ebay today, and already built it?  Damn...

[anthonyp]

Me am determined!!!!  RARRRRRRR!!!!!

She's not finished, still working on the main mast, but she's now armed with four Phalanx, three IBPDMS, four harpoon quartets, and rebuilt the in-flight-deck VLS to be a 128 cell VLS (down from over 300 cells in 1/900 scale!  It was just plain WRONG!!!!!!).

Discovered that the Nichimo 1/900 Iowa-ish thing matches exactly the length and beam of the SoDak!!!!  Nichimo truly, truly, truly SUCKS at scaling!!!!!  Not sure how I'm going to build up the Nichimo hull, other than it's going to be another SoDak in 1/700.

I need a dremmel of some sort for a lot of the ships I've got planned.  I've got at least half a dozen Minicraft full hull ships that need water lining.

Oh, and I went to my local Hobby Lobby today and found the model section!  I'm gonna need a dremmel for sure for some projects that popped into my head while staring at the selection.

[Thorvic]

Hi Ant

Some interesting projects planned there, what will you be using as a basis for HMCS Ontario as both resin Modernised Essex kits are OOP (Why the hell can't Dragon & Trumpeter understand that the ship modelling world is crying out for these Post War conversions!!!!!  ).

Anyway the Ontario should prove to be an interesting build, especially when it comes to an Airgroup, would you follow the RAN Oriskany proposal and include a sqdn of Phantoms for Interceptors & Strike roles in addition to the traditional ASW wing that would have come over from Bonnie ?

G

[Sauragnmon]

I'd wonder at Phantoms off an Essex, but it could be a possibility.  I think an RCN Essex might have been motivation for scooters though, as the Navy wanted them for replacement of the Banshees for air support at the time.  Alternately, Crusaders could have been an option, IIRC the Essexes could fly those, and the Forces were looking at Crusaders if I recall..

[anthonyp]

Hi Ant

Some interesting projects planned there, what will you be using as a basis for HMCS Ontario as both resin Modernised Essex kits are OOP (Why the hell can't Dragon & Trumpeter understand that the ship modelling world is crying out for these Post War conversions!!!!!  ).

Actually, Dragon has started on the post war mods.  So far, they've only got a 1/700 USS Antietam immediately after her angled deck refit.  I haven't seen on in stores yet, but they pop up on eBay from time to time.  Been wanting to pick one up, but keep missing the auctions, and they get ridiculous in price.

Looking at my Ontario pic, I have to redo the port lift.  I did that pic a long time ago, forgetting the port life at the fore end of the angled deck actually was flush with the hull.  I moved it a bit too far out   

As for F-4's on the deck, I'd just do the F-4L or F-4HL versions with Spey engines (as proposed for use off the Essex class).  I'd have to do an Oriskany mod, and replace the deck with metal, but that wouldn't be a problem.

I've got the airwing somewhere on this site.  It was part of THE MANIFESTO (know The Manifesto, love The Manifesto, fear The Manifesto, because The Manifesto couldn't give a monkey's rear about you...).

[Thorvic]

Aye i know about Antietam, Bonne Homme Richard and Boxer, but would be nice to see the fully modified ships in both Attack role and ASW role.

Then again the Forrestal class and Enterprise have never been done in 1/700 either (just the smaller 1/720)

G

[Sauragnmon]

*cough* OR Midway, Thor.

[Joe C-P]

If you can find one, the ARII 1/800 Midway actually scales out to about 1/730. I'm going to build one with USS New Jersey, BB-62, as they operated together in 1983. The diorama will be "one-sided" so I can use forced perspective to allow for the smaller scale Midway.

The problem with modeling post-war Essexes is the many variations between ships. It's hard to create a base kit that can be easily altered into the many different appearances.

The Nichimo Iowa's hull more closely resembles the Yamato class, actually. It is a miserable model.