Carrier Builders Yard, whats on the Slipway

[kidcurrie42]

Welcome to the Carrier builders yard, where i hope we can all share with each other what we have on the Slipway, my aim is to build every US Carrier from CV-1 to CVN-78 ect.

So lets get this launched....



All my Carriers up to the USS Enterprise, rest are in the cupboard.



So what do we get in the box, Italeri seemed to be the pioneers of the Super Carriers, and looked impressive when the box was opened, if only they had someone that knew Carriers to do the research, because what we ended up with was a mish mash of different era's put into one ship and box art was misleading especially with the reboxing of the Forrestal Class, but the basics are there and nothing that cannot be put right with research and a little cutting of plastic.





A view of a few that are on the Slipway and in advanced stages of build





USS Ranger (CV-61) and USS John F Kennedy (CV-67), a lot of work required on the Ranger, and there is no John F Kennedy in 1/720 or 1/700, so i am using the USS America and Kitty Hawk kits with lots of cutting and plastic sheet and filler.

Well thats all for now, i would like to mention a good friend Nektarios Koufopoulos, it is his love and enthusiasm of all things modern ships that has given me the motivation back to actually cut the plastic once more, i was becoming a buyer/collector, now i am back enjoying this wonderful hobby. Thanks Nektarios.

More later

[Nektarios]

Well done John upto now. I can t wait to see more photos of your carriers especially Midway, Coral Sea, JFK and Ranger which require more modifications than the other carriers you are building.This is a huge project building so many carriers at the same time. The fact that they are Arii, Italeri and Revell kits means that the ships you do have to be built not just assembled making your effort more demanding.Since you started posting photos of carriers under construction I ll add some photos of my build of CVN-75 (Trumpeter kit). I am waiting for the GMMs PE set to arrive to finish this kit and will have to work on the airwing to add the superb Starfighter decals on the aircraft.Of course I ll post photos when the project will be finished.

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/2299/c ... on1og6.jpg
http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/9523/c ... on1hx6.jpg
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/8707 ... on2an3.jpg
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/1553 ... on3as7.jpg
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/3793 ... on4uh1.jpg
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/7036 ... on7ig1.jpg

[Avery Boyer]

Someday I'm gonna build USS Nimitz as of 2006 from the Italeri kit....someday, but I have to get PE and do alot of scratchbuilding...no way I can find time now, I have so many other projects going.

[kidcurrie42]

Thanks for the comments guys. I hope you will post on here avery when you get around to doing a Nimitz, your CVN-75 is looking good Nektarios, will you be using the Starfighter decals on her airwing ? hope to see more of her soon.

Here is the USS Ranger in progress, showing some of the many areas that require attention.

These areas included the Aft Sponsons and the Stern, also a Hangar deck was added.







The Fwd Port and Starboard Sponsons needed making (these i utilised from a 1/600 kit and reduced to 1/720 scale), Fightedeck was filled and sanded, the tracks for the two Aft Catapults wrongly cross the port Elevator so they were filled and sanded and taken back to the correct position, Fwd Jet Blast Deflector shields were cut out and new ones will be made from plastic sheet.



A dry fitting of the Sea Sparrow Launcher and associated Radars.



Four shots of the Island rebuild.









More to follow

[Guido]

Great stuff, John!
I am not a carrier guy, but I like to see the whole mighty fleet of yours. I am always surprised how big them carriers are even in 1/700ish Nice work on the corrections. I hope we'll see them all in HQ-pics in the dailies.
Cheers,
Guido
(Long time no speak! Hope you and your family are doing good!?)

[Jason M.]

Here's my 350 Trumpy Nimitz up to this point...

[gtb -red]

Man I said it before you guys that build ships at that scale are so good.Keep going man keep going.

[Guest]

Hi there Guido, i am fine thanks, i hope you and your family are well also, i will email you later.
Hi Jason, your Nimitz is coming on great, i love that base, are you just lighting the hangar deck ? what era are you going to depict her in ?
I look forward to seeing more of her.

[Jason M.]

Yes, I am lighting the hanger bay using only battery power because I don't want to deal with cords and plugs. I am depicting her circa 1995, so I have some scratchbuilding ahead of me..!

[Gone Asiatic]

An ambitious project to say the least. In what era will you portray each?
Some of these carriers served 45+ years; each received extensive modernization over those years.

[kidcurrie42]

Here is my list of Carriers with the time frame that i intend to complete them in.

USS Midway - Desert Storm
USS Coral Sea - Op El Dorado Canyon
USS Forrestal - 1989/90
USS Saratoga - Desert Storm
USS Ranger - Desert Storm
USS Independence - Desert Shield
USS Kitty Hawk - 1998
USS Constellation - Gulf War 2
USS Enterprise - Op Praying Mantis
USS America - Op El Dorado Canyon
USS John F Kennedy - Desert Storm
USS Nimitz - 1975
USS Dwight D Eisenhower - Desert Shield
USS Carl Vinson - 1990
USS Theodore Roosevelt - Desert Storm
USS Abraham Lincoln - 2000/01
USS George Washington - 2000
USS John C Stennis - 1998
USS Harry S Truman - 2004/05
USS Ronald Reagan - 2007

[gtb -red]

Jason your nimitz is going to be a good build in that year.I made my mind up to do her in 05' instead of earlier on, because of what your doing with her now(tooo much work for me)will be outstanding.

[Jason M.]

Yes, it's a bitter-sweet deal for me. I want to depict her during the years I served on her, but it's a major overhaul. It will be worth it if I can manage to not screw it up. I am going to be asking a lot of questions in the near future in the Scratch Building section.....

[Avery Boyer]

jason, you have my e-mail, so drop me a line about scratchbuilding if you run into any trouble.

[kidcurrie42]

Well i am back in the USA and got the internet working again, brought the Ranger with me so the build will continue from here.....

[Mark McKinnis]

I am just finnishing up a 1/720 CVN-65 New Island config. The rest of the collection waits to have the Keel Laid.

[kidcurrie42]

Hi Mark,
That is a good choice that will keep you busy for a while. are you scratchbuilding the island or using the 1/800 from Kangam/Arii which is spot on for 1/700-1/720. i recommend you look at the post below by Nektarios with regardson his CVN-65 build,
Hopefully i will be cutting plastic today, everything i brought with me to the US seems to be intact.
Look forward to pics of your progress Mike.

[Guest]

Mate, you got more models in that collection than probably all the model shops in my state!

Great progress so far!

[kidcurrie42]

Well i have actually had some time to cut some plastic whilst i have been here as well as finding a house, here are some shots of my USS Midway, 1/800 ARII, My USS Ranger is in the background on a couple, she is next for finishing, i have a few little details left to do on Midway, then i will be doing her Airwing as they were at Desert Storm using the Recently released Starfighter decals for CVW-5 at Desert Storm which is superb.













and here is a shot of Starfighters decals for CVW-2 onboard USS Constellation in 2003, another outstanding set.

Happy Modeling

[gtb -red]

Hi kid I just bought the 1/720 the uss reagan to tried it out before I go to work on 1/350 uss bush. I must say looking at your work and other masterful 1/720 supercarriers by other modelers is impressive.May all your builds be well done.