...I bought, among others...one each Revell and Renwal Essex angled deck carrier, a Midway CVB, and a Forrestal (as well as) a Long Beach, Chicago, Boston and USS King destroyer as 'escorts' (plus, a) Trumpeter 1/500 Nimitz on order.
...Normally I do 1/35 US modern AFVs, 1/32 US modern planes and 1/350 US modern ships. (But,) after assembling the huge 1/350 Wasp LHD in 2012 I did not...surpass (it with) a 1/350 Nimitz (as) at the moment, (I have been cramped) room-wise as well as (on spare time) because I am (working both in grad school and professionally) . So at the end of last year I assembled some modern and WWII carrier groups from 1/2400 GHQ and others miniatures...among them the two 1942 Battle of Midway TFs as well as a more modern Carrier Group...
(Now, with this latest project) the 'modeler's fever' has come upon me and the project has already gotten out of hand (including a) plan to augment these kits with GMM and Tom's PE as well as (aftermarket) decals and resin aircraft. That is the way I...'stumbled' on (the Matt Stein Models) site...while researching the internet for 1/500, 1/540 or boxscale kits from Revell or Renwal...and (Matty's Models') 'specials' which the other producers do not do...Anything to improve these nice but older kits...
...The (above) Revell USS Hornet...I want to depict as CVS-10 Yorktown in the late 1960ies:
(Submitted below are) some pictures of the first batch (of) in-progress shots of my 1/540 CVS-10 Yorktown (with my text) descriptions (and) additional pictures (still to come) ....
...Waterlining was done by using a dremel (and) after lots of fitting I was able to glue the deck to the hull:
(Note it features) PE from Gold Medal models as well as some scratch parts (white plastic) The SPS-30 was stolen from another Revell box scale kit: the cruiser Chicago (And) of course I (utilize) a Matt Stein Models 'boxy' (Cold War) style Mk37 Director (purple) on top of the...bridge... (At center, the white-resin) single-5inch open-mount...from Veteran Models in 350-scale (is) very nice, but, as (expected, just too) oversized for the 1/530 Yorktown. They do fit 'onto' the sponsons - not 'into' (so instead I will use) your (Improved-Version 1:550 Single-5inch Open Mounts, which) are similarly detailed...real eyecatchers.
(At right, everything has now been painted - just as the rest of) the carrier...using a revell airbrush. The hull is painted gunze H338, all top areas including the flight deck are painted in H 305 (And now shown are some in-progress aircraft) The Yorktown will carry resin aircraft (upgrades) : Seakings, Skyhawks, Tracers and Trackers.
...Still lack (ing are some) PE railings; and the island will undergo further detailing...Despite many pictures from navsource, books and other sources, I am not that perfectionist (but already) the 'fighting lady' looks pretty!"
[Editor's Note: She sure IS, Daniel - GREAT build, and Great submission, buddy!]
"More or Less" COMPLETED - Definitely MORE AWESOME!
Posted by Daniel Fuhrer (via Matty) on June 21, 2014, 20:44:51, in reply to "BUILD LOG: YORKTOWN CVS-10"
-- Originally Posted 3/16/14--
"...I finally got to finish the YORKTOWN more or less. (And here are) some pictures (of her now):
...(Again, the painting was done) using a revell airbrush. The hull is painted gunze H338, all top areas including the flight deck are painted in H 305 (and) the 'landing strip' is H339...(and) decals...sealed by a coat of gloss Gunze spray can.
...(After painting,) weathering was done using Tamiya's panel line accent color gray as well as a washing with MIG productions thinner and black oil paint. The washing somehow "ate" through the coat of gloss finish I applied after decaling...(flaking the decals so that) now the landing area looks very weathered! A modelmaster flat topcoat was applied to finish.
...The same (weathering/finishing described above was used) with the aircraft:
...The aircraft...I improved by adding a rather primitive undercarriage using styrene strips (square 0.5mm for the legs, round 0.5/1.0mm for the wheels). PE rotors and propellers are from Gold Medal Models.
...The Skyhawks as well got simple drop tanks made from plastic strip:
...If you can spot a cat behind the carrier, it is the same one who nearly ate one of the Seakings as well as a Tracker...I could have killed him!
...I will finish the carrier next weekend more or less by adding some Tom's Modelworks 1/500 PE figures...(Matt Stein Models') Mk56 gun directors...(and) Matt Stein Models single-5inch open-mounts...(which) will fit nicely on (both of) my two ESSEXes and on the CHICAGO (which still had two of these after conversion to Guided-missile Cruiser).
...I made (all of) these pictures (in natural sunlight) on our balcony:
...Thank you very much...for praising my build...(and) please do not hesitate to ask questions if something is not described as clearly as it should be... "
This is so excellent, Daniel - even your decal/clearcoat "trouble", which IMHO helped create one of the best-weathered flight decks I've ever seen! That, plus of course your painting job - everywhere not only top-flight, but also exploiting surface imperfections (particularly on the resin parts) to create excellent weathering on those, too.
Your detailing of the aircraft is among the highest I've ever seen - and inspires me to mold yet more of such features into Matty's Models' parts.
And then there is your photography - the lighting, and the composition - along with the very high quality of your camera, really let your pics "have it all": beautifully lit/exposed, with exquisite detail, while at the same time covering the entire model (the raw originals actually being more pixels than my web-storage can hold).
Not only your photographic composition, but your backdrop arrangement - a minimalist allusion to a ship's wake, in just two squares of blue- and blue-green paper - I find to be astoundingly effective: beyond craftsmanship - this is true art.
So, obviously I am very grateful for these submissions to ModelFleet, Daniel - indeed, I am "just chuffed" (as some of you Europeans might say) to use one of these for the latest header-image over the board. And of course I am looking forward to your final/fully-completed pics of this excellent angled-deck Yorktown-II build, from this classic kit.
Oh and BTW: Welcome to ModelFleet, buddy!
Cheers,
- Matty
Re: High Art!
Posted by Daniel on June 21, 2014, 20:48:59, in reply to "High Art!"
I am really happy about these classic carrier kits, already working on my box scale MIDWAY CVB-41, In Progress
And a "LINK-ER", too!
Posted by Matty on June 21, 2014, 20:51:02, in reply to "Re: High Art!"
--Originally Posted 3/29/14--
Holy Smokes - he also writes REAL HTML LINKS into his posts!
Of course, such unsolicited plugging of my product pages - surely worth some under-the-table kickback, right there(!) - in this case, involving the Single-5inch Open-Mounts, is actually forcing me to scramble and update that page. Because the latest Improved Version - with full, tapered barrels now molded-in - is such an improvement over the old ones, that the existing page/pics are now largely incorrect/irrelevant.
So THANKS for making me have to WORK more! Of course Daniel, I'm joking: this is the kind of work one looks forward to being able to do. Not to mention the chance to see what pictures you're going to take, showing these new-version guns, on your carriers!
Meantime, it's on to taking a good look at the latest progress on your Midway, buddy!