The Ship Model Forum

I'm reading David Hobb's British Aircraft Carriers on the Invincibles. According to him, they had the largest freeboard of any RN ship when they entered service. Does anyone know what the freeboard was?

Seeing it next to the US LHDs, I'm guessing it was less than 65 feet.

[quote="Rob-UK"]I presume someone must have converted an Airfix 1:350 Illustrious into a 1982 Invincible, and I see Atlantic Models sell a nice looking Sea Dart set complete with launcher, missiles, shield and the Type 909 guidance radar domes.

Does anyone know of a guide or review that anyone has written for carrying out this conversion please?[/quote]
Hi Rob,

There are two such conversions in the Gallery, one from Louis Carabott and one from Phil Reeder, both made quite some time ago. I used both to get inspired, but I believe there is room for improvement. The Atlantic Models conversion set is certainly a valuable asset for the conversion, but the 'gazebo' requires some careful cleanup and slight alterations. The included radomes are spot on.

I presume someone must have converted an Airfix 1:350 Illustrious into a 1982 Invincible, and I see Atlantic Models sell a nice looking Sea Dart set complete with launcher, missiles, shield and the Type 909 guidance radar domes.

Does anyone know of a guide or review that anyone has written for carrying out this conversion please?

You can see the two sets on WEM's website:
742: https://www.whiteensignmodels.com/p/WEM+1700+Invincible+Class+Superset+PE+742/5470/#.WoB0iugbOuU
716: https://www.whiteensignmodels.com/p/WEM+1700+Invincible+Class+Support+Carrier+PE+716/5387/#.WoB0gegbOuU

It appears that the superset 746 includes enough parts to do THREE models - "Our upgraded set for these kits, which contains [b]enough parts for one each [/b]of Ark Royal, Invincible and Illustrious." There may be additional parts as well.

Does it make sense to buy the superset to have the spare parts for $8 more? Up to you I guess.

Hi,

First of all, I'm mostly build 1/72 Aircraft.. and so far only had finished 1 ship model (Academy 1/800 USS Kitty Hawk) which I built for a friend, and a 1/700 Oliver Hazard Perry frigate.

But, due to my big mouth saying "I won't buy that one kit unless you got the PE set for it" to my LHS owner.. Now, I have a Dragon 1/700 HMS Illustrious in my stash.

And, it turned out that my LHS also have -not just one - but both WEM 1/700 Invincible Class Support Carrier (PE 716), and the WEM 1/700 Invincible Class Superset (PE 742).

Which PE set should I choose? FYI, the kit is the Premium Edition.. the one which include generic PE, EH-101 Merlin and Harried Gr.8.

And, while we're at it.. Any recommended color/shade for the ship itself?

Many, many thanks..

Mario
Indonesia

HMS [i]Illustrious[/i], the last active carrier of the Invincible class, will be decommissioned today.

On Modellmarine is a special about HMS [i]Illustrious[/i]:
[url=http://www.modellmarine.de/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3943:hms-illustrious-spezial]HMS Illustrious special[/url]
(see links at the bottom of the page, including photos of the real [i]Illustrious[/i] and [i]Ark Royal[/i])

There was also a special about HMS [i]Ark Royal[/i], when she was decommissioned:
[url=http://www.modellmarine.de/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2586:sonderwoche-flugzeugtraeger-hms-ark-royal&catid=255:spezialwochen]HMS Ark Royal special[/url]
(including many photos of [i]Ark Royal[/i])

Good question, Michael!

To my shame, I did not note it, but I normally use Vallejo Model Air Grey Primer for these decks. I used to use JPS Maizuru Grey as long as JPS paints were still available, but have mostly switched to ModelAir by now. It�ll be interesting to see what WEM will do re acrylic paints in the future, so we finally might get some accurate acrylic RN paints. For the hulls, I used the last of my supplies of JPS Lichtgrau RAL 7035 blended with a darker grey. Meanwhile, I use ModelAir Pale Grey Blue and am quite happy with it - here to be seen on my 1:350 Illustrious.

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/fspahr/media/Scale%20Models/P9296828a.jpg.html][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v626/fspahr/Scale%20Models/P9296828a.jpg[/img][/url]

Best regards

Frank

For Frank Spahr:

On your excellent HMS [i]Illustrious[/i], which model grey is the flight deck?

Although you can't always go on who will release what (a lot of announcements are made without any result), you might want to wait for this one. I think you'll have too much of a conversion going.

I do love the Hermes and Eagle etc. A pitty that no real good recent kit of any of these ships exists. The Invincible is fine too, but still less good looking than the Hermes (original version).

I meant apart from that, they are major differences but I think I can manage with sanding off the ramp, and build something that looks more like the radar and mast.
I know my skill limits so I probably won't be able to do a perfect backdating, so I figured I could do at least these changes and any other ones I didn't notice yet, and can get a similar to real life 1960s Hermes.

EDITED:
I jsut notices that orange hobby will relase a 1968 version, so I will wait for that and next time do my modelling research better :)..

[quote="braxat2000"]
I looked at photos and notices that the radar and mast are different and also the flat deck, are there major differences I should look for?
[/quote]

You don't consider sanding/grinding off the ski-ramp and building a bunch of new radars and masts a major difference? ;)

Hi,
Should it be possible to backdate HMS hermes from orange hobby model to 1960's version?
I looked at photos and notices that the radar and mast are different and also the flat deck, are there major differences I should look for?
Thanks,
Eyal.

Well from rooting through a mess of photos online I've been able to figure out that the above drawing IS correct for the hangar and Airfix goofed it big time.

Found these and they're too good not to share. A photo tour of [i]HMS Ark Royal (R08)[/i] at Tyneside, November 2010. 263 photos in all including seldom seen areas like the quarterdeck and the then enclosed fo'c'sle. Some real neat shots inside and out, enjoy!

[url]http://www.finewaterline.com/pages/albums/arkroyal/ark1.html[/url]
[url]http://www.finewaterline.com/pages/albums/arkroyal/ark2.html[/url]
[url]http://www.finewaterline.com/pages/albums/arkroyal/ark3.html[/url]
[url]http://www.finewaterline.com/pages/albums/arkroyal/ark4.html[/url]
[url]http://www.finewaterline.com/pages/albums/arkroyal/ark5.html[/url]
[url]http://www.finewaterline.com/pages/albums/arkroyal/ark6.html[/url]

Alright that makes plenty of sense ADebroux but then what's with the Airfix kit? Is it a goof or what? I would think that Airfix would have had access to better info then the Soviets did above (unless they just ripped off someone else for the pub which is all too prevalent) and wasn't the kit endorsed by the RN and/or the ship herself? I'd tend to side with them for the layout if that's the case instead of the drawing. Anyone with a set of plans or possibly former crew members that could tell me for sure which is correct?

From what I've read the "dumb bell" shape of the hangar is the result from use of gas turbines which required large uptakes and the necessary internal volume to accomodate them.

Hey guys I was recently able to pick up one of DML's [i]Illustrious[/i] kits for next to nothing and while looking her over I have a question in regards to the hangar. What shape is it exactly? I've read that it was "dumb bell" shaped and have seen the following drawing that supports that.

[img]http://i647.photobucket.com/albums/uu194/CliffyB/05.jpg[/img]

I would have accepted that as close enough but then I saw the Airfix [i]Lusty[/i] kit and they have more a less a giant rectangle.

Scroll down past the sprue shots to post #2.
[url]http://airfixtributeforum.myfastforum.org/viewtopic.php?p=225511[/url]


Which is correct? Are they both correct for a given time period? Did the Soviets just draw that from bad intel? :big_grin: I'm going for 1982 era [i]Invincible[/i].

Any and all help is appreciated as always,
-Mike

Het Ron!

Thats a great looking model-the only modern carrier I have any affection for! :thumbs_up_1:

Hope you are as well as the carrier!

JB

I took this at our show in August

http://youtu.be/i5RONv2-zOI

Hi all, I'd read that the Admiralty had planned to buy enough Phantoms to equipe Ark Royal, Eagle and Hermes and the numbers bought would seem to imply this (Half of all Phantoms were delivered straight to the RAF even though they did not request them) Ark Royal was so equiped, Eagle could operate them for tests and as an emergency alternative even without a full update (with the special heat dissipation armoured plate on the flight deck). However I was always under the impression that Hermes was a whimsical flight of fancy, being much too small to operate Phantoms. So I was surprised today to see photographic evidence of Hermes cross decking American Phantoms on an Exercise. I know this is far from having it's own compliment of Phantoms and the practicality of operating them with weights and safety margins but it does mean it was feasable. Even 9 Phantoms as a full compliment (reminds me of Centaur basically just operating Sea Vixens) would have been a powerful force that would have dominated the Argentinians in the Fawklands conflict. I was wondering if an more photos exist of Hermes cross decking Phantoms?
[url]http://forum.keypublishing.com/attachment.php?s=dc9e12ebe85c54033181291cef0558bb&attachmentid=175767&d=1251039099[/url]

All:

And here is some beautiful video of HMS Hermes returning from the Falklands to Plymouth, UK.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h24wFe_zWUQ

There are some really nice close-ups of various parts of the ship.

Enjoy!

Mike E.