Paging the U.S. Navy on the white courtesy phone. Your new hospital ship has come in!
LARGE UPDATE! LOTS OF PICS. I’ll post a few explanations of things to go along with some of the pics. Some stuff may not make sense. Since this is a “what if” ship built for fun, I threw common sense out the window.
The ship
itself is 99% done. I should have it done by this weekend.
What’s next? All the aircraft, vehicles, cargo, and other smaller details and add-ons will be worked on from August to mid-October. With luck, I hope to have this project fully 100% done in time for a late October contest or early November contest. Comments and questions are welcome.
(Pic #'s 1 & 28 had to be omitted as I could only post 50 links within a post.)
PIC # 2 - All the red crosses on the ship are extra decals from spare model kits, specifically modern armor kits like the Boxer, Stryker, etc. I did use a ruler and Tamiya masking tape to get the red crosses “even” above the waterline.
https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7635/2861 ... 933a_k.jpgPIC #’s 3 & 4
https://c8.staticflickr.com/9/8787/2861 ... e98e_h.jpghttps://c4.staticflickr.com/9/8090/2861 ... efe8_h.jpgPIC # 5
Yes, I painted the life raft canisters orange. Why? White canisters on a white ship just looks too boring and too much white to me. I actually like it and see nothing wrong with it. Also, I put a large red cross decal on the flight deck. The better for overhead aircraft, helicopters, satellites, etc. to see that this ship is marked as a hospital ship.
https://c5.staticflickr.com/9/8860/2858 ... 86be_b.jpgPIC # 6
Large crane placed in the spot where the forward Seasparrow launcher used to be. This crane was from a small toy truck model railroad accessory. This will be the crane for on/off loading of large/heavy cargo as well as some ship’s boats.
https://c3.staticflickr.com/9/8605/2858 ... bc0d_b.jpgPIC # 7
Yes, I added .50 cal machine guns, SLQ-32 ECM, SBROC chaff launchers, and NULKA decoy launchers to the ship. A hospital ship would be foolish to go into any sort of combat zone ill equipped to defend itself. International laws and treaties prevent hospital ships from carrying any offensive weapons. But what about defensive?
Also, you can see an angled ramp underneath the island superstructure. This ramp leads from the front starboard corner of the hangar bay all the way up to the flight deck where the “angled doorway” is just aft of the cargo elevators. From what I’ve read, this ramp is used by troops, ship’s crew, and small flight deck tractors or other small vehicles to go from the flight deck to the hangar bay and vice versa.
https://c7.staticflickr.com/9/8570/2858 ... 9a34_b.jpgPIC #’s 8 & 9
https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8746/2858 ... ac77_b.jpghttps://c3.staticflickr.com/9/8066/2858 ... f739_b.jpgPIC # 10
I still have to add the ship’s launch to the boat cradle here. Also, you can see that I opened up the port side embarkation/debarkation entrance hatch. The doors for that were scratchbuilt.
https://c7.staticflickr.com/9/8587/2858 ... 69f6_h.jpgPIC #’s 11, 12, & 13
https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8862/2858 ... 9329_b.jpghttps://c3.staticflickr.com/9/8828/2858 ... 9828_b.jpghttps://c6.staticflickr.com/9/8800/2861 ... d2f9_b.jpgPIC # 14
Here you can see the large cargo crane better. Also, I scratchbuilt a cargo elevator that you can see transferring cargo from the flight deck to the cargo hold or vice versa.
https://c8.staticflickr.com/9/8861/2861 ... 39f6_c.jpgPIC # 15
I decided to add a second smaller cargo crane at the rear of the island superstructure to facilitate on/off loading of cargo to go to the aviation cargo holds and/or to be used to lowering/raising of some ship’s boats.
https://c2.staticflickr.com/9/8605/2861 ... 982f_b.jpgPIC # 16
A better view of the cargo elevator I scratchbuilt as well as the interior of the upper vehicle bay/deck.
https://c8.staticflickr.com/9/8614/2861 ... 76d3_b.jpgPIC #’s 17 & 18
https://c6.staticflickr.com/9/8690/2853 ... 573a_b.jpghttps://c6.staticflickr.com/9/8678/2853 ... ab53_z.jpgPIC #’s 19, 20, & 21
I have no idea what radars and sensors a hospital ship should have. When I painted and built the radar masts, I just took a guess on everything. For the radars I did remove, I did re-arrange some of the white domes a bit and put them in other positions.
https://c6.staticflickr.com/9/8855/2853 ... 528f_b.jpghttps://c4.staticflickr.com/9/8621/2853 ... 35ee_b.jpghttps://c7.staticflickr.com/9/8359/2832 ... 59f4_b.jpgPIC # 22
Looking into the well deck. The angled structures on the ceiling (Left & Right) are the green lighting system for the well deck which I explained/showed earlier in this thread.
https://c7.staticflickr.com/9/8702/2832 ... 2b86_b.jpgPIC #’s 23, 24, 25, & 26
https://c7.staticflickr.com/9/8557/2832 ... ab65_z.jpghttps://c3.staticflickr.com/9/8676/2832 ... 3733_b.jpghttps://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8371/2832 ... 7d63_b.jpghttps://c3.staticflickr.com/9/8709/2832 ... 8e64_b.jpgPIC # 27
I wanted the well deck to look a bit wet for when I put an LCAC inside, so I brushed a bit of acrylic gel on the floor of the well deck.
https://c6.staticflickr.com/9/8623/2799 ... 4a69_b.jpgPIC #’s 29 to 38
https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7547/2853 ... 0f42_h.jpghttps://c2.staticflickr.com/9/8181/2853 ... 1203_b.jpghttps://c4.staticflickr.com/9/8774/2853 ... f945_h.jpghttps://c4.staticflickr.com/9/8664/2853 ... a52e_h.jpghttps://c5.staticflickr.com/9/8752/2799 ... 4467_k.jpghttps://c5.staticflickr.com/9/8001/2799 ... 3950_b.jpghttps://c7.staticflickr.com/9/8469/2799 ... 19d6_k.jpghttps://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7483/2799 ... cb18_h.jpghttps://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8316/2850 ... 65ba_b.jpghttps://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8695/2850 ... ee82_b.jpgPIC # 39
Why so many boats you might be thinking? Not sure really. Guess I just wanted to imitate what the MERCY class hospital ships had with the amount of boats they have. But……if you really think about it, not only are they good for transferring cargo and patients and/or evacuation, but smaller boats can get to places where LCAC’s and aircraft might not be able to go like inland rivers and waterways for example.
https://c7.staticflickr.com/9/8743/2799 ... d204_h.jpgPIC # 40
All the island’s windows were painted (Drawn) with a .25mm Sakura Pigma Micron green ink pen.
https://c3.staticflickr.com/9/8732/2799 ... eb29_h.jpgPIC # 41
https://c3.staticflickr.com/9/8724/2858 ... f3ce_z.jpgPIC # 42
I cut open the doorway that leads from the replenishment area to the hangar bay.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8534/2858 ... 7c1e_b.jpgPIC #’s 43, 44, 45, & 46
https://c5.staticflickr.com/9/8893/2858 ... 64d1_h.jpghttps://c2.staticflickr.com/9/8653/2861 ... 5023_h.jpghttps://c6.staticflickr.com/9/8277/2861 ... 60ef_b.jpghttps://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7762/2799 ... d54e_b.jpgPIC # 47
In this pic on the right center side, you can see the scratchbuilt ramp I made that leads down to the lower vehicle bay/deck.
https://c8.staticflickr.com/9/8561/2799 ... 317a_b.jpgPIC # 48
https://c4.staticflickr.com/9/8614/2861 ... d5e1_b.jpgPIC # 49
A better view of the scratchbuilt cargo elevator on the left side, as well as the angled ramp underneath the island superstructure that leads from the hangar bay to the flight deck and vice versa.
https://c6.staticflickr.com/9/8584/2861 ... 92ea_b.jpgPIC # 50
https://c7.staticflickr.com/9/8644/2858 ... 82a5_b.jpgPIC # 51
This view shows the two aviation cargo elevators (Note the yellow “bars” above the elevator doorframes.). The cargo elevator on the right is open and has cargo inside it.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8796/2858 ... a45e_b.jpg