Tamiya 1/350 CVN 65 USS Enterprise

[ojays]

A long drawn out build as not the best of kits regards fit issues, and my frustrations with fat fingers and poor eyesight.
I originally saw this kit going for a reasonable price on E-Bay so bought on a whim.
Researching other peoples builds it came to light that to make it into a decent model, many aftermarket parts and patience would be needed.
I probably spent more on after market (PE, Vehicles, Airwings, Crew Figures, Decals) than I paid for the kit. (why do we do this to ourselves)
Presently she is on the shelf of doom as I started her over 3 years ago, frequently moving onto other projects when I got frustrated.
Hope this is of some interest to you all.
If your sitting comfortably, I will begin

 

[boatman]

HI Gregg will you ever build her ?
chris

 

[ojays]

HI Gregg will you ever build her ?
chris

Some more of the build following.

 

[ojays]

Always intending to convert to R/C and having hanger decks with lighting, I had no idea what I had got myself into.
I started by modifying the hull to allow for motors, working rudders and prop shafts.

 

[boatman]

COR Gregg you have done a fanstatic job on them motors an sharfts brilliant a chap on our Norwich pond sailed his but he had to wait for a calm day as he said if its to windy she would roll over an he had a keel wheight on as well is there any more pics to see
chris

 

[ojays]

Having seen several peoples builds with the hanger deck included, I set out to do something similar but still allowing for it to be removeable for access to the R/C gear.
Made totally from plasticard, I must admit was harder than I imagined as other builds I have seen were all static show models.
Initially I made it as one through deck, before realising that wouldn't be practical so I had to split it into two sections, each removeable seperately
Although not accurate to the real vessel, I achieved what I had set out to do.

 

[boatman]

HI again in that last pic are they yellow leds ? an has she sailed at all ? as I know how hard it is to get a carrier to balance as I built on here my USS NIMITZ in 1/144 scale an it was a devil to balance to sail but she did an good but what you have achieved in such a small scale is a miracle in my opinion an could you put on full size pics Gregg as on my windows 10 it cut off half the pics fantastic build very well done
chris

 

[boatman]

HI again Gregg exscuse me for askin but what part of ebay did you look on to find this ? as I cant find where the models are on there as im a fairly newbie on there
chris

 

[ojays]

HI again Gregg exscuse me for askin but what part of ebay did you look on to find this ? as I cant find where the models are on there as im a fairly newbie on there
chris

If you mean the main kit, I just typed in USS Enterprise model kits in the e-bay search bar.
The lighting is battery powered Christmas lights.
Hope this helps.

 

[boatman]

Very good Gregg yes I lit my Nimitz up in all the hanger bays but what you are doin in such a small scale as I said fabulas but has she been on the water yet ?
chris

 

[ojays]

HI again in that last pic are they yellow leds ? an has she sailed at all ? as I know how hard it is to get a carrier to balance as I built on here my USS NIMITZ in 1/144 scale an it was a devil to balance to sail but she did an good but what you have achieved in such a small scale is a miracle in my opinion an could you put on full size pics Gregg as on my windows 10 it cut off half the pics fantastic build very well done
chris

Not had out on the lake because of lockdown, however I have done ballast trials in the bathroom. Lots of ballast used to get her stable, but don't think she will handle anything but calm.
Don't the photo's enlarge if you double click them, if not I'll post the rest full size for you.

 

[boatman]

Not had out on the lake because of lockdown, however I have done ballast trials in the bathroom. Lots of ballast used to get her stable, but don't think she will handle anything but calm.
Don't the photo's enlarge if you double click them, if not I'll post the rest full size for you.

YES THE PICS do enlarge but on this windows 10 I can only see just over half the pic as its cut off so a full size pic is always better for me anyway cheers
chris

 

[Steven000]

Great work so far Gregg!
Very interesting project,
I hope you'll be able to finish her
Steven

 

[ojays]

To be able to light the bridge/tower internally I had to hollow out the interior. After this I used green tinted plasticard for the window area.
I decided to replace the kit radar arrays and other tower appendages with the PE parts from the detail up kit.

 

[boatman]

To be able to light the bridge/tower internally I had to hollow out the interior. After this I used green tinted plasticard for the window area.
I decided to replace the kit radar arrays and other tower appendages with the PE parts from the detail up kit.
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HI Gregg that is just fantatastic doin this in such a small scale an I have done my ships bridges windows in a pale green as well as as a boaty mate says its blue in the windows but I think its a pale green to cut down the suns glare on the sea but back to your model its great an all the pe as well an you say you have got fat fingers an such well I wish I could model this well you must have used a magnifier glass to do it im blown away very well done indeed an I like the big pics so now I can see an enjoy your work wow you the man any more to come hopefully
chris

 

[ojays]

I replaced the elevators with PE making the structure from plasticard again, this required the removal of the moulded on elevator.
These were then coated in etch primer, as were all the other PE modifications that were done.

 

[scottie3158]

Greg,
Some nice changes it looks good.

 

[Gern]

I can't cope with all the bits in this kit OOB! What you're doing is just fabulous!

 

[boatman]

What Dave said above you must have some good peppers

brillian work this very well done
chris

 

[ojays]

As the flight deck was going to be removable, I used my tried and tested miniature magnets to secure it with.

Having looked at many builds from different modellers with regards to the flight deck, and having looked at photo's of the real thing, I was originally going to highlight the tie downs with a mid grey. I attempted to paint the little raised rings the on the kit deck making, a complete mess of them.

Never making things easy for myself, I used a very fine needle drill to create minor indentations in each of these little rings.
The idea being that when painting the deck, the weathering powders will help highlight the tie downs without being over stated.

After ruining my already poor eyesight with the drilling, I started removing the kit moulded safety netting around the outer deck.
This was then replaced with PE netting where needed, which I feel looks far better than the moulded item..

Once all this was completed I then gave the whole deck a coat of Etch Primer, to provide a good key for the main colour.
Once the main deck colour had been applied and dried, I gave it all a coat of Kleer to seal it for the decals and weathering that I would apply
later.

I had bought a very expensive decal set which was said to cover most of the lines, numbers, warnings etc for the big 'E'.
These turned out to be a complete waste of money as having soaked them well as normal, they just disintegrated when removing
them from the backing sheet.
So out came the handy masking tape and using my best hairy stick, I hand painted all the deck markings prior to weathering.
I used as many photo's of the flight deck of several carriers as possible, to get an idea of where the most dirty areas would be.
Using my wife's (only joking) make up powders and blusher brush, I set to applying and rubbing in where necessary to get that dirty look.
This was then sealed in with Kleer again.