MartinH-K

I think you are impressively nuts! I mean that in the nicest possible way. I have to say that if I had the room, the skills and the money... I'd do EXACTLY the same thing but with my battleship. Go for it and good luck.

duncan

Albion;I`m sure Homeland Defense or CIA or other men in dark suits will be calling on you some of these days. There used to be a big model airshow in U.S. that had a battle scene with a large IJN carrier (Ikagi ?) being bombed etc. 15ft bombers etc. Very politically incorrect these days. That carrier was wheeled in a shallow strip of water, or just behind the water. Suppose today it would be OK to chase Hair-hahbs in armed inflatables (British made probably) Oh Oh ..that`s me on the list too. Another website of interest is [url]http://groups.msn.com/MannedModelShips[url].

Task Force 57

I have to agree with you Duncan mate... a baby carrier might worry the three letter spooks stateside somewhat!

Been worrying about stability with you Vic m8.... with a thought to safety in mind as well, your carrier will be extreamly top heavy and prone to rolling with You in it. Perhaps a drop keel might be a plan. 15-20 degree roll en pitch is fine on a 35, 000 ton carrier with suffiecient freeboard and a lot of but might be a bit scary on a 110 feet with the Freeboard of a Harbour launch and engines rated to 20 knots? (ok... you will be steaming at more like 3knots to keep in scale speed, but even a moderate swell on a lake will be alarming).

I will be stateside in a couple of months... Id love to assist with fitting out if your within commuting distance of VA!

Albion

Well, I don't know if the feds will care or not (its an allied carrier). Besides, at this scale she will not have much, if any, combat or even terrorist potential. Then again if I keep increasing the scale ( I originally felt that 1/9 or 1/8 would be enough) they might draft it into the navy and send it to Iraq to support Operation Iraqi Freedom XXI. As for bombing a model IJN carrier.... on Pearl Harbor day you can see Japanese flags flying from a few houses in the area, so its hard to tell.
Stability worries me too. The original ship was steel, heavily armored and compartmentalized with a good bit of its weight above the waterline. The model won't have most of these issues, while internal ballast and stabilizers should be able to address those that remain. I think at this scale the model will be big enough to handle a few people on deck with minimal roll.
Volunteers for this project are always welcome.

duncan

I know you are wrong on whether certain parties would be interested in any vehicle that would have "potential". Out-of-visual range flying machines of all types are under very close scrutiny in the U.S. The FAA are upsetting a lot of innocent civilian aerial photographers that use various flying platforms, RPVs,UAVs, r/c helicopters and even blimps. The military use them so they know what can be done. However we mustn`t get paranoid over this but make friends with Coast Guards and Harbour Masters , Lifeboat crews and every official nautical organisation than can vouch that you are just an everyday normal kinda nutter and no risk to anyone . There was a 500 metre exclusion zone around a visiting U.S.N. destroyer on a goodwill visit to an event I was at. The armed picket boat shadowed me as I went round it for a look. There was a lot of chatter on the radio between the destroyer and patrol boat. Speaking to some crew members later that night in the pub they told me that I`d been picked up on radar and identified as a "two man canoe type craft" . The guys with binoculars were telling them below that it was an aircraft carrier , this led to bets of course. When they spotted me in the pub that night I got free beer from the "eyeball" crew. Radar picked me up at 3 mile range, not bad for a wooden canoe. You`ll have a load of laughs when you get her afloat. Just one question , what is your affinity with that particular ship ? Spook 57 ! Langley Va.? Looks like your cover is blown ! He He !

Albion

You are probably right about the ship causing some government interest, though I am still having a hard time imagening that it would. Theres not much activity on the Patuxent river, where I live. There is a Naval Air Station about eight miles downriver, no surface activity, just aircraft. I have only ever seen the regular Coast Guard here once, although the CG Auxiliary is quite active.
As for my interest in this partcular ship, I grew up surrounded by images and books related to the USN and RN. I had a couple uncles with Naval Libraries that together would amount to several hundred books, among these collections were a couple on HMS Victorious, there was also a scale model. Its a bit odd, but the ship just stuck with me over the years. I am not a nut about her, don't have any memorabilia or a stack of crew photos and ship's rosters. It was just a good ship, and when I decided to investigate the possibility of building a large scale model of a carrier, it was my natural choice.

Task Force 57

Hrrrrrrrm, "Spook 57" has a ring to it... might have to invest in a cloak and dagger and retire to the shadows of The Brogue Tavern for clandestine boozing. Shame there isnt a good bar within 10 miles of langley...with the possible exception of irelands Own in Alexandria (but My feet tend to smoke when i walk across the floor there, Im alergic to the residue of past overt Provisionals even if its the only source of good Bitter in the Nova area).

Albion

As you might have guessed, you gents are going over my head right now. Duncan has me a little worried though I will have to admit. I could not be described as a radical man by any stretch of the imagination. Yet I would have equal difficulty recalling the last time I conformed to a norm of any kind, I believe the descriptive word here is eccentric. Therefore I am doubtful if I would be able to instill confidence in the local authorities, if ever required to do so.

Task Force 57

Rofl! Methinks the late hour has (in conjuntion with a few ales) led to a degree of off topic sillyness....


Worry not old chap, We are all non conformists and somewhat weird... after all, we build models and tend to favour real ale and music played by musicians as opposed to computers.

I live about an hours drive from CIA headquarters when im stateside, The Pun was Duncans which i played upto (with a degree of flair and panache as to be expected).

Yours sincerly

Spook 57...oops, sorry make that TASKFORCE 57.


ps... dont worry about Duncan, I find those blue faced bottom flashing types over on the wrong side of the wall can be easily placated with a bottle of scotch and a Rangers or celtic season ticket (you gotta keep the restless savages distracted, thats the key! else its Rod stewart 24 hours a day and a strange scent of haggis wafting across the boards :P )

Albion

OK Russ, my mind went a different direction at first, but I think I have finally caught up now (not without a good deal of help though).

So, if anybody can think up a good opening line for me when I go tell the Coast Guard why I have a operational carrier (albeit a tiny one), sing out.