Tamiya 1/700 USS Enterprise CV6

Igard

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May 16, 2011
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I hope I know what I'm getting myself into! Taking a risk with this as it's my first ever naval build!!

It's a diorama since I want to put it in the water (is a waterline kit after all) and it's got AM figures.

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EDIT: Doesn't look like alot of room here for the pics... :-\
 
Are you double dippin' son? Two build ups in 3 months?
Kinison to Dangerfield "I'll be watching you".
 
Very cool choice!!! Love the Big E!!!! Looking forward to watching your progress!!!
 
Good luck with her. The best thing about kits of ships that say so much action in war is that if you mess up you can always pull it off as "battle damage"
 
Yeah, very cool Igard!
And this beauty will look great on your shelf among the Ents from space btw ;)
 
Thanks for the encouragement folks! :)

Thought I'd get this started today, but caught up with other things. Maybe tomorrow.

@Glorfindel, yeah I know right! This way if mess one of them up, I've got another to fall back on! ;D

@lobo734, yeah, but battle damage from throwing it against the wall doesn't count right? LOL joking I'd never do that no matter how bad it gets. ;D

@Sol, That would be true if but for one minor snag. I haven't got any space Enterprises yet! Not even in my stash! :-X ;) :D :) ;D
 
Well, then You have the greatest opportunity to start building the timeline collection right from the beginning. Well, almost. I remember from the "Enterprise" intro there also was a sail-ship in the line.
Anyway, I'm absolutely sure this one will look magnificent on the shelf on her on.
 
Nice choice, Igard! I have 2 of these kits, to do one up as the Big "E" and the other as the Yorktown. If you're going the extra mile to add the Eduard PE crew figures, you might want also to pick up some of Trumpter's aircraft sets to replace the kit air wing. I'm doing that with my Hasegawa Essex. The kit airplanes will go in the hangar deck, and some Trumpeter planes on the flight deck.

Looking forward to following your build!
 
@Sol, I think there's been lots of ships with the name Enterprise in the British Royal navy. There is one in service right now. Would be alot of work to build all of them!

Then there's the space shuttle. And the current USS Enterprise air craft carrier.


@Baron, Thanks! I'll take a look at ordering those, however I'm not sure if the rules permit me to add more AM products. I only listed the Eduard sets on the application form.
 
Igard said:
@Baron, Thanks! I'll take a look at ordering those, however I'm not sure if the rules permit me to add more AM products. I only listed the Eduard sets on the application form.

The rules are fine with more AM. The kit itself has to be in an unstated condition.
 
Thanks for that Grendels. I've gone ahead and ordered it. I'll still take pics of the sprue with the date just to be sure. 8)
 
Oh, duh, I must have missed that--this is a contest build? Understood.

I think you'll have fun, Igard! I'm getting back to my Essex, which I started nearly 8 years ago, but let sit for a long, long time. The Tamiya/Hasegawa/Fujimi Waterline series models can give a nice enough model out of the box, or serve as a platform for some nice detailing and scratching. I'm adding the hangar deck on mine, and I open the rolling curtains so you can see inside.
 
Igard said:
Thanks for that Grendels. I've gone ahead and ordered it. I'll still take pics of the sprue with the date just to be sure. 8)

Your welcome! Someone else asked this very question in the Questions section and Scott gave the same answer that I gave you.
 
Baron, I've orderd the Trumpeter US WWII navy planes. I'm not sure about how to display them. I think they all have folding wings? I don't know too much about this stuff. :-[

I am going to open up some of the rollers. Some half way, some full as per the box art. I think I'll add a forward hangar deck, but not sure how much detail need to put in.

Meanwhile, all I've got done so far are the portholes on the port side drilled out just to give it more depth. I also found some small abnormalities in the plastic on the outside of the hull and a pretty nasty scratch, I only just took it out the bag, so nothing I did. Got that all sanded and sorted.

Nothing really to photograph yet. :)
 
The nice thing about 1/700 is that it's small enough that you can suggest details that you'd otherwise have to model in a larger scale. In my Essex, for example, I'm going to have planes, of course, and some side details on the outer walls, such as ducting under the island, aircraft parts, like spare wings, triced (ie, hung) on the sides. My photo references show medium gray walls and dark deck, so the aircraft will stand out against that. But I'm also going to position them closer to the openings, and the model itself is going on a molded sea base. So someone looking at the model won't be able to see too far in.

Regarding the Trumpeter aircraft and folding wings, I'll have to doublecheck (I haven't had them out in a while ::) I'm not far enough along in the build ;D ). But I do think they're molded in the extended position. I'm leaving most of mine as they are, because I'm building her recovering a strike. The kit's aircraft will provide the parts. The Trumpy kits do consist of separate pieces for each aircraft, with the fuselage and wings molded in one piece, the prop as another, and the landing gear as yet more parts. Some PE aftermarket sets include props and landing gear, which can give you more of an accurate look in scale. The nicest thing about the clear aircraft--I apologize if I'm repeating myself from an earlier post--is that you can paint the chromate green (or aluminum, for yellow wings aircraft), then paint the exterior, and the clear canopy does give a little bit of depth and you can see the color.

One detail I have learned from my research materials is that the USN had developed a method of tracking which aircraft was where in the hangar deck, using a tabletop map and profile cutouts of the aircraft, with their wings folded. The cutouts may have been plywood or fiber board, and they were between 1/48 and 1/32 in scale dimensions, to give you an idea of what I'm talking about. Seeing a photo of an enlisted man, with headphones and throat mike, working with that map, gave me an idea of how to lay out the planes in the hangar.
 

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