HMCS Bonaventure by NavyShooter - 1/96 scale - an RCN fitting out

[Ian_Grant]

Looks great!  Did you have these decals custom-made?

[NavyShooter]

31 minutes ago, Ian_Grant said:

Looks great!  Did you have these decals custom-made?

Yes - I reached out to Above & Below Graphics and had them custom printed for me.  He apparently did the decal set for Bonnie in 1/144 for Don Linton's model of Bonnie (that's in the Aviation Museum in Ottawa) and still has the files onhand, so he scaled them to 1/96 for me, and here we are.

 

Ships – Above & Below Scale Graphics Ltd.

 

We won't discuss the cost.  It was....spendy....

[NavyShooter]

Decals applied - those which I'm going to use at least!

 

The elevator decals turned out damn near perfect on the forward elevator - the aft elevator is, for some reason, slightly off-center, but at this point it's an error I'm going to have to accept.  The triangle should be basically centered on the elevator - not offset to Port.  Alas.  

 

I decided to stack a few planes on the deck to appreciate how things look at this point.

 

One thing I decided/determined was that the 'center line' dashed stripe decals are too wide to use.  They're about 1/4" wide, and they should be about 1/8" wide.  So, I'm going to end up painting that line on instead of using the decals.  I spoke with the decal supplier, and we agree that this is probably an artefact of scaling the decals up from 1/400 to 1/144 - and now scaling them up to 1/96 for my model.  

 

Before I do the masking, I want the decals to dry and set - and I want a layer of clear coat applied to seal them so that when I mask, I don't accidentally pull any of the decals off.  So - Patience is a virtue!  

 

I have some painting left to do on the deck anyhow because I'm going to paint on the catapult line. 

[Canute]

She looks a proper bird farm, Chief.

[NavyShooter]

Put a layer of clear gloss on top to seal in the decals.  I now have to paint a couple more lines down the deck - the catapult, and the dashed center line (that's not quite on center for some reason?) 

 

 

[NavyShooter]

Catapult line masked....and painted.

 

 

 

 

Edited November 6 by NavyShooter

[realworkingsailor]

On 11/2/2025 at 12:31 PM, NavyShooter said:

Put a layer of clear gloss on top to seal in the decals.  I now have to paint a couple more lines down the deck - the catapult, and the dashed center line (that's not quite on center for some reason?) 

 

 

I wonder if that mark is an alternative take-off centre line, for aircraft not using the catapult, or if the catapult becomes disabled. Perhaps given the size increase of postwar aircraft, adequate clearance was needed around the superstructure, hence the angled nature of the line (rather than straight down the centre line).

 

Andy

[NavyShooter]

On 11/6/2025 at 1:57 PM, realworkingsailor said:

I wonder if that mark is an alternative take-off centre line, for aircraft not using the catapult, or if the catapult becomes disabled. Perhaps given the size increase of postwar aircraft, adequate clearance was needed around the superstructure, hence the angled nature of the line (rather than straight down the centre line).

 

Andy

Andy, yes, I think that's exactly what it is.  I've seen a couple photos of different launch spec/setups.

 

Option 1 is the catapult launch cycle as seen below - line the Tracker up on the cat, strap her on, and launch.  Bear in mind though that every launch saw the strop tossed over the bow.  

 

Option 2 - line the Trackers up and launch down the dashed line.  

 

I have no feeling for how often they did either of them, but a bit of google-fu shows that there's a lot of cat launch pictures, and while I've seen the through-deck launch pictured, I cannot find one in the first page of google results.

 

[realworkingsailor]

I found this picture, which got me thinking along those lines:

 

 

If you look at the wingspan of the aft Tracker, there’s no way it could launch safely down the centreline of the ship. 
 

Andy

[NavyShooter]

Here's a picture showing what appears to be a Tracker launch cycle from the flight deck not using the catapult, but using the line.

 

You can see the Trackers 'stacked' on the deck astern, with the lead Tracker lined up, wings unfolded, looking ready to launch. 

 

 

 

Edited Wednesday at 11:43 AM by NavyShooter

[NavyShooter]

This is neat - one of Bonnie's Aircraft Towing Tractors is still around in the Collection at the Canadian War Museum:

 

aircraft towing tractor | Canadian War Museumaircraft towing tractor | Canadian War Museum

[Diver]

When I arrived in Halifax in 1970 as a brand new Ordinary seaman the Bonny was still tied up in the dockyard, all though  she was De-Commisioned.  I was doing a Explosive Demolition course out at Portugese cove the day she was towed out on her way to the razor blade factory.  It was a sunny but sad day.  I think this would have been spring of 71, or maybe 72.

 

 

[NavyShooter]

I arrived in Halifax as a brand new Ordinary Seaman in January of 1993...I suspect the waterfront hadn't really changed that much in the intervening years.  

[Kenchington]

I arrived in 1977 (as a student), just in time to see a little of what had been there before the Waterfront Destruction (sorry: "Development") Commission tore down the last of the old archways that had led off Water Street. All long gone by 1993, by which time a working waterfront had become a recreational area.

 

I've lived in Bristol and Hobart, as well as Halifax. I've even had a chance to see something of London, Buenos Aires, Boston and others. Each city was faced with redeveloping a port area after the box boats replaced break-bulk freighters. Each found a different solution, though in my experience only Halifax simply bulldozed almost all that was there before. Then again, amongst the port cities I have known, only Halifax started with a run-down, all-wooden waterfront.

 

And Bristol could have been worse: The city Council planned to bridge over the entire Floating Harbour, keeping an underground water basin for flood-control only! Fortunately, money ran out and then the tourism value of site emerged. So that silly plan was scrubbed.

 

Trevor

[ddp]

Trevor, remember that the Halifax harbor front would be dated to about 1917 as that entire area had to be rebuild due to the largest non-nuclear man made explosion when a ship carrying 17,000 tons of ammo & other explosive materials blewup.

[Kenchington]

From the shipyard to the Richmond wharfs, yes, but not so much the area I knew, from Historic Properties southwards.  The bulk of Citadel Hill sheltered everything beyond.

 

One of my wife's relatives (aunt or uncle, I think) was in the South End at the time and came through without harm, unlike so many further north.

 

But, getting back to "Bonny": There was a time when I had teenage dreams of flying Phantoms off Ark Royal. Now, I look at those images of Trackers and I can't wrap my mind around the idea of operating heavy aircraft off the top of a ship at sea! It's extraordinary that it can be done aboard USN's 90,000 ton carriers but with one of the RN's "light-fleets"? Impossible! And yet it was done.

 

Trevor