king derelict

Thank you Mike. The Hobby Boss PE provides the catwalks but no railings for them. I don't think it would look good so i'm very glad that I got the Eduard set. Even if it is a bit trying to fit it does look nice and it mirrors the real thing pretty closely. So far I have only found them to be wrong with the number of ordinance chutes but the ship has been around since 1986 and I'm attempting to show it in 2013 so things may well have changed. Alan

Thank you OC. I'm jumping in with both feet. The catwalks are starting to get to me Alan

I'm not familiar with the J79 but the look matches perfectly the engines I do know. The exhaust nozzle is especially good. that is an excellent job. Alan

The engine is coming together beautifully. Shining up the pipes and a bit on the unison rings is a good plan. It's going to look very real Alan

Absolutely beautiful Yves. Its especially impressive to think it all started as a couple of spools of filament. I just finished rereading Three Corvettes. Montserrat states that teh aft deck was the only place on the corvette where the whole crew could gather so I think you nailed it perfectly Great work Alan

A serious day of folding and building the starboard catwalks. Its slow work waiting for the lower catwalks to set in place before adding the upper ones. However the starboard side is complete apart from a couple of bracing pieces that go under the forward platforms It looks like the back of the upper catwalk has lifted since it was placed. A job for tomorrow Thanks for looking in and thanks for the kind feedback. This is turning out to be the biggest project I have attempted Have a great weekend everyone Alan

This is going to be a great build OC. I'm very tempted to follow along with its smaller brother; the 1/72 Flyhawk kit It would be a relief from the intense catwalk activity on Wasp Alan

I woke up this morning and realised that the aft catwalk is still wrong. The catwalks generally extend out from the edge of the flight deck and its usually not possible to fall off the edge of the flight deck and get your feet wet without at least bouncing off the catwalk. I dismantled the efforts of yesterday. I was lucky the thicker PE came off without any damage or distortion. I don't think I would have got away with this with Flyhawk PE. The use of Gators Grip glue helped too; it seems to separate fairly easily and clean up well. The upper catwalks were reinstalled in the correct position and it now looks right. A bit more touching up needed but I'm glad I did the rework This is the next section of upper catwalk ready to install. Fiddly to fold the braces but its thick enough to hold shape well This mounts on the outer edge of the lower catwalk level with the top of the railings The upper catwalk is installed on the lower section and the lower catwalk is installed at the bows along with a couple of ladders and short platforms on the hull Thanks for looking in Alan

Thank you kindly OC. The research is saving me from some stupid mistakes - and I see a lot of small details to add or change. I still think Hobby Boss did a decent job of the kit. Alan

Patrick The winter white wash looks superb Alan

I finished the PE on the fantail. It went quite well the PE is very nice to work with. My Gators Grip is almost out so I had bought a bottle of the Mig Ultra Glue to see how it behaves. It seems very similar to the Gators Grip which is good to know. I then moved onto the catwalks and spent the rest of the day trying to put together the aft starboard section behind the elevator. There are two main pieces plus three pieces of railing. The PE instructions really don't provide a good visualisation of how the pieces go together and then install on the hull. Especially the relationship between PE piece #2 and piece #37 Luckily I was able to find the detail in one of the photos I may be a bit challenged but that was not how i interpreted the instructions. I was able to dismantle my effort and remake the catwalk. The photo also shows that the ordinance dump chute seen in the above photo (the right hand one) doesn't exist in the real ship in 2013 so I'll have to clip that off and check if all the others are really there. I also did a fit check with the elevators in the raised position and found they didn't quite fit in the space in the deck. I was able to remove a small amount of material from the sides of the elevator and the rails on the hull and get a good fit. A lucky catch before the hull gets all delicate. The PE catwalk build up is going to take a while to work round the hull and as usual the photos show up some faults to correct Thanks for looking in Alan

The aircraft are masterpieces. They look so realistic. I'm rempted to go and burn my efforts Wonderful alan

I've been moving slowly forward with Wasp but seem to have been working with a series of small items that have hardly been worth showing. The biggest area of progress has been with adding all the deck decals which seem to have ended up in the right places. A matt coat has been added to protect them in the subsequent handling. I had planned to mask the deck to add the exhaust staining in the active part of the deck but I was worried that even with the matt coat the masks might damage the decals. I practiced with some marked card and then free hand air brushed the sooting. It looks similar to the real thing with heavier areas at spots seven and nine (the usual VL spots) and forward where the STOs are launched. I think the deck generally still looks a bit too uniform and I am wondering whether to try some washes or filters. Any thoughts would be welcome. On completion of the flight deck an SH-60 was consigned to the hanger deck near the elevator doors and the flight deck added. With a strong light it is just possible to see the helo but it will probably be even darker when the upper gate to teh wet well is added. A second F-35 was built this time with doors closed. The PE is then just the gear and doors and the exhaust nozzle which I formed using the tip of a cocktail stick Both have been primered now The SH-60s have been made up and had a base coat of paint And a V-22 in primer for the DVs The crane, fire truck, tugs and fork trucks are in progress I found I didn't have any Tamiya yellow, only Vallejo and it was not at all nice to use. So I am back to working the details on the hull. I added the RIB and crane to teh side deck before putting on the railings. The railing are recessed into the structure of the hull rather than on the edge of the side deck and there is insufficient room to install the RIB if this is how the railings are being mounted. I filed off the inboard side of the RIB to get the clearance Adding the railing in the recessed position was not fun; I probably should have put them on the side deck assemblies before they went into the hull but I thought the PE would probably get knocked about Lots more railings and assorted PE to go on teh deck now Thanks for looking in Alan

Looking really nice. The details are impressive Alan

Very well deserved

Your work is consistently a wonder to me. You rate up in the Pantheon too Alan

There used to be a running joke in Germany back then. How do you get your very own Starfighter? Answer Buy a field and wait. Alan

The brass barrels look much nicer. It's a good choice and you added the brass neatly. I always seem to set mine at an angle. Alan

Doris work is absolutely wonderful. She is a true artist Alan

Drawing the profile on paper or making a card profile is a great way of getting complicated railing runs to work nicely. Alan

Looking forward to this Egilman. I have a Vampire in the pile that needs a bare metal finish and I haven't a clue so I will be all attention here Alan

The cats are absolutely stunning. The weathering is so effective Alan

The weathering of the wooden decks looks very good. The wood really has character. Do you use washes or oils to get that effect? The model definitely looks like its in an upward trajectory now. Great stuff Alan

I worked through the decals on the flight deck. All the landing spots crows feet are complete along with the foul line and the elevator markings. I need to let this all dry thoroughly before adding the tram line which will run down the gaps in the crows feet. The tie down points have been great reference markers for setting the decals and I think they are reasonably accurate. I did find one issue which gave me some thought. For the F-35 test flying a yellow cross bar was added to the tram line about 230 feet from the bow as a reference point. This is not standard and so not included in the kit. I was wondering if I dare mask the line and paint it - and then would the masking rip up the tram line decal. I was looking though the decals provided for the air wing and USMC vehicles and found there are yellow strips provided for the LCACs which I won't be using so I might be in luck. The AV-8B markings look better than the Orange Hobby ones and the MARINES markings are provided as well I moved onto adding the decals to the island. It was definitely easier while the island is off the boat. There are a couple of discrepancies with the kit positioning of the smaller decals but mostly they are correct. The AFFF station markers line up with the photos. Back to the hull and the aircraft again. Once the broken SH-60 is glued down on the hanger deck I can put the roof on and start the delicate business of adding the PE catwalks. Thanks for looking in Alan

Thanks You Mike; This is a slow build; having so much reference material seems to mean I spend half of the time looking at photos and comparing the real ship with the kit. Alan