After recently completing my Casimir Pulaski, it seemed a good idea - maybe to adopt permanently, from now on - to refit one of my older builds in between the completion of each new project. For which refitting, a truly prime candidate is my by now (almost exactly) decade-old Gambier Bay CVE-73:
"Scratch-bashed" (see below) in 1:500-ish scale, she still looks (at least, from some angles) pretty good - at least, from about 4 feet away (and growing ). However, in the decade-plus since I resumed modelling as an adult, my capabilities to improve upon what you see here, have grown by (at least) an order of magnitude: both in terms of construction/finishing, as well as bird-dogging accurate references, in the first place. (The latter due in no small part to growth of the Internet over the same 10-15 years - with still with no end in sight.) Meanwhile, over the same decade these, earliest of my "adult renaissance" builds, have suffered the inevitable ravages of time - including several moves - added to the typical mishaps, in general.
Thus, by now virtually all could use some sort of upgrade, ranging from simple detail-replacement - with perhaps some correction/freshening-up of the paint job - all the way through major reconstructive surgery, followed by complete refinishing, from there. The latter is definitely closer to what is now needed by my Gambier Bay - a ship for which no affordable replacement (not in this scale, anyway), neither OOB nor by way of conversion(s) - exist(s) as an alternative, even today. (Indeed, at- and around 500-scale, the only Gambier Bay available AFAIK is the $200-plus - though, admittedly, apparently excellent, artisanal-quality - resin kit by Aki, in true 1:500.) Thus, refitting my home-grown confection remains the best option - one for which it just so happens (not at all coincidentally) that I produce nearly all the upgrade detail-parts required (see below).
However by rights she could use far more than just detail-upgrades:
Click on Image to Enlarge! But, for its part, the mast - though a good effort from my "pre-multi-media, styrene-only" days - should by rights today be re-done - so much better, mostly (if not entirely) in PE, anyway.
In any case, the above will be the least of it: note the flight deck, at left (top), had become bowed (hogged) from amidships, going aft, due to insufficient attachment/anchoring there - as revealed at right - after enduring chronic high-heat and humidity, over the years. Worse yet: the keel (middle), incompletely filled/finished, to begin with, is progressively inaccurate towards the fantail (top), where each prop-shaft should be sheathed in a heavy tube, atop a lightweight skeg - and the keel extended in a short, stubby skeg of its own. These were direct results of insufficient references - indeed, the hull at large, bashed from the Imex (freighter) Trinidad, had been pinched too narrow for the length (and flight-deck, etc.) - such that, while its average scale is a creditable 1:488, the LOA (13.5") actually scales out to 1:455.3, while the beam (maximum, WL =1.5") scales to 1:521.
Then too, of course virtually all her details - made under the double-handicap of insufficient spares and (especially) references - are by today profoundly (embarrassingly!) in need of replacement/upgrade:
Click on Image to Enlarge
No doubt the above will only further highlight the offensive thickness/crudity of the gun tubs, and other splinter-shielding - particularly the curving sections abaft the island (far-left) - which virtually scream for replacement with something(s) finer/more scale-accurate - for which again, at far-right Matty's Models has (prototype) gun tubs in both larger-(top-left) and smaller (top-right) sizes.
Plus, Matt Stein Models (again, prototype-) USN Rectangular-Type Life Rafts (bottom), are among yet further upgrades:
Click on Image to Enlarge.
But the single thing most (embarassingly, offensively) desperately needing replacement must surely be the fantail "Single-5inch Open-Mount" (center-left, bottom) - scarcely resembling the intended (or any actual) weapon - in fact, being scaled closer to an 8-incher! Just as for the above Twin-40s, this unit can be replaced with a Matty's Models Single-5in Open-Mount, as at far-right - again, in 550-scale to be somewhat undersized, but with the tradeoff well worth it (even more-so). Finally, the decal flight deck "73"s (center-left, at top), "scratch-bashed" from insufficient decal-spares to begin with, have yellowed strongly and are easily replaced with new, far more accurate ones, e.g., from Gold Medal Models.
Thus, a very effective refit of my Gambier Bay is emminently do-able - with all the required materials already at hand:
So we are already rolling, for takeoff…
Cheers,
- Matty
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