-- Originally Posted August 24, 2008 --

Of course you have already seen how a "Combined Type" bow was impressioned from a scratchbuilt master:


Click on Image to EnlargeThe idea being to create a pattern - castings such as this one - which could serve as "blanks" from which to develop all three types of Essex hurricane bow.

However, that earlier master did not take into account the substantial additional length required to accurize the Revell kit bow, which is significantly greater challenge:


Click on Image to EnlargeHere marks on the OOB Revell hull indicate, firstly, how far aft from the bow corrections would have to extend at the levels of the flight deck and waterline (2nd marks; cutout at bottom) in order to end up with a decently plausible forward hull shape overall.

This does not even account for the fully (approximately) inch-long extension of bow length; needed at the keel, flight deck and all points in between. Thus, with the above casting insufficient to encompass the required correction - whose weight, all in one solid resin piece, would be prohibitive (for several reasons), in any case - the upgrade was redesigned as a multi-piece correction:


Click on Image to EnlargeNot only multi-piece, but modular - as I realized I already have, at almost exactly the same scale. a discrete, finished part depicting the clipper bow section (purple); from the Long-Hull "Clipper" Bow, developed to correct the Lindberg (straight-decked) Essex kit. To correct the Revell kit, this clipper bow will be sandwiched beteen a keel correction (gray and white plastic) below, and the flared, upper enclosure (transparent yellow resin) adapted from the above, generic hurricane bow resin "blanks".

To simplify installation, parts were form-fitted to the OOB Revell bow via "reverse-molding" - as previously described, using "Mold Builder®" brush-on latex rubber (white gel, at bottom right) as a barrier/release agent, between plastic and resin - to mold resin surfaces directly to the kit contours.

A start on the rest of this correction - hull sides and substantial (though as-yet undecided) length of flight deck - was made with additional molding of the scratchbuilt prototype:


Click on Image to EnlargeThe original mold (of the nose portion) having already served its purpose, it was decided to complete a mold for the starboard side (top) by squaring off the side and building a mold aft with RTV poured into an "impoundment" made of (economical!) chunks of old, discarded molds, as shown for the port side (bottom), after completing and then cutting away the (upper) starboard-side mold.

Castings produced in these molds will not be long enough to accommodate the new, additional length required, but should provide a very useful start on the final hull-side upgrades of sufficient length. Likewise for several moldings of flight deck sections:


Click on Image to EnlargeAll of which has recently given the Matty's Models bench the appearance of an Essex shipyard yard, with work on both modified and OOB flight decks progressing (at left), and bow corrections for Revell and Lindberg testbed hulls, at right (from left to right), respectively.

Look for work on all these upgrades - Long-, Short-Hull and Hurricane Bow (as well as a raft of other) corrections - to make significant progress, in upcoming weeks.

Cheers,

-Matty