Calling all HMS Invincible & HMS Hermes "Harrier Carrier" fans

[Michael Potter]

For Frank Spahr:

On your excellent HMS Illustrious, which model grey is the flight deck?

[Frank Spahr]

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.



Best regards

Frank

[maxim]

HMS Illustrious, the last active carrier of the Invincible class, will be decommissioned today.

On Modellmarine is a special about HMS Illustrious:
HMS Illustrious special
(see links at the bottom of the page, including photos of the real Illustrious and Ark Royal)

There was also a special about HMS Ark Royal, when she was decommissioned:
HMS Ark Royal special
(including many photos of Ark Royal)

[Lifeline]

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

[Timmy C]

You can see the two sets on WEM's website:
742: https://www.whiteensignmodels.com/p/WEM ... oB0iugbOuU
716: https://www.whiteensignmodels.com/p/WEM ... oB0gegbOuU

It appears that the superset 746 includes enough parts to do THREE models - "Our upgraded set for these kits, which contains enough parts for one each 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.

[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?

[Maarten Sch�nfeld]

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?

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.

[Charybdis]

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.