USS Enterprise (CV-6) by ted99 - Trumpeter - 1:200 - PLASTIC

[ted99]

Aha.  Thanks for both pieces of info.  I'll be able to repurpose some of those roller doors for the Hanger deck that I didn't install.

[ted99]

catapult equipment compartment--one each side.  bashed up from roller doors I did not use.  The Trumpeter kit made no sense with the bare platforms.  Both Trumpeter and MK 1 put a railing around each platform, but no way to access.  Better, now.

[ddp]

now you see why i tried to get you to correct that area. what time period are you doing the model in?

[ted99]

Generally speaking, mid-1943 to '44.  Wanting Measure 21 colors.  Would have put on the armor belt if the Wiki site had not confused me with "blister"--the strip you showed in the drawing was easily doable, but not willing to strip off the bottom paint to add it, at this stage, for .040".  Your resources and willingness to help have been very much appreciated.  I cut out the edges of the stern flight deck for the AA guns that were included with the Trumpeter kit.  I guess they left that option for someone doing an "early" CV-6.

[ted99]

Sorry, went back to check--.020".

[ddp]

what gun/s is going into the bow mounted gun tub besides the director in front of it? is that .50cal machine guns or 20mm aa guns mounted on the focsle deck on either side of that gun tub?

Edited July 13, 2023 by ddp

[ted99]

MK 1 has it as a 40mm Bofors quad.

 

For comparison, pictures of the aft platform for the "Landing Paddle Officer" as provided by Trumpeter and MK 1.  Trumpeter has "some" PE brass included, most of which is replaced by MK 1.

Last picture shows where I think the platform is mounted, based on a VERY imprecise diagram from Trumpeter.  Seems to me that this is a little restricted, though, because it's located beneath the longitudinal Flight deck supports.  I think a better place would have been on the end of the supports?  Anyone have a photo or plans of this area?

[ddp]

paddle officer would be on the side of the flight deck not at the actual end of it. look at Sheet 6 Flight Deck of the plans i linked before for you to download so you have them to look at to see if what you are doing is right or wrong.

until Oct 1943, a quad 1.1" aa gun was mounted in that forward gun tub. http://www.cv6.org/ship/armament.htm

what are those guns on either side of that gun tub at the bow?

Edited July 14, 2023 by ddp

[ted99]

Got it.  Thanks.  Rechecked the MK 1 pictures and the front tub guns ARE the 1.1" quad AA, not the Bofors.  The Trumpeter kit instructions don't say what kind of guns those on the side were, but the MK 1 instructions say they are .50 cal  AA.  MK 1 has better "printed" versions of these, and I will be replacing the Trumpeter guns with them, later.  From experience, I can say that these .50 cal guns would have been useless as AA--which the Armament page you provided says.  Nothing like actual experience to wise up the Buships mavens far from the battle.  The Ukraine experience should be proving to be VERY useful in figuring out what works in a peer-level conflict.  Had a lot of proximity to the M2 APC in Vietnam, which was largely useless in the mountainous triple canopy battlefields where we engaged in set-piece battles with the NVA.  But, looks like they are working well in the open-level assault for which they were designed.  Learning a lot about the vulnerabilities of Division Hq. and the utility of drone recon, too.

[ddp]

take all the .50 cal guns off as not there after July 1942 according to that link i posted above.

 

[ted99]

Will do.

[ted99]

I resisted as long as possible, but had to do it.  Added the belt armor to the sides.  Used .020" x 1/4" strips.  Much easier than I expected.  No compound curves.  Extrapolated location from the hull drawings.  I think the belt extended into the boot stripe and could have gone a little lower, but this seems to be "good enough for Government work".

 

The Trumpeter box art shows the surrounds around the elevators being white and white numbers along each side of the flight deck.  Was this done?  Seems like it would be a good aiming target for dive bombers.

[ddp]

are you talking about the flight deck number "6" at either end of the flight deck? do you see any white in these pictures?

https://www.navsource.org/archives/02/020695.jpg

https://www.navsource.org/archives/02/020695a.jpg

https://www.navsource.org/archives/02/06a.htm

[ted99]

Those photos are fantastic.  No pictures of any white outlines of the elevators.  There appears to be a difference in texture of all of the metal deck fixtures compared to the wood decking, but they are the same color.  The white numbers along each side (and middle) of the Flight deck are present.  The big number "6" is black.  Interesting to see that the "6" is oriented in the direction a landing pilot would see on both fore and aft.  I would have wondered if the numbers were reversed, but it's clear that they are not.  Trumpeter provides a decal sheet with the small numbers, deck elevator outlines, and big "6" in white.  Clearly, I will use the small numbers, but paint the Flight deck metal fittings, including the elevator surrounds, Navy Blue (# 21 from Mission Models).  I'll be staining the MK I wooden deck with Minwax semi-transparent Navy 286.  I'll do some test swatches by adding some black to the #286 to see if it needs to be a little darker to match the #21.  I'll experiment with making a mask of the big "6" to spray it flat black.

 

Looked at all the pictures to see if any showed the armor belt.  There was one of damage at the port stern that "might" show the aft end of the armor belt.  If so, it extended about halfway into the boot stripe.  If I get really ambitious, I'll add a 1/8" .020 strip to the top and bottom of the two 1/4" strips I have already put there.  That should accommodate the extra curvature of the hull at each end without drama.

[Roger Pellett]

Every time I look at this beautiful model, I am astonished by how “long” it is.  Logically, of course this should not be surprising as she existed to provide a runway for aircraft.  Never less photos in the WWII Navy books in my library,  were usually at sea taken at sea level so her length relative to her breadth and depth is not apparent.  The model shows off her hull shape nicely.

 

Roger

[ddp]

Ted, did you download the Yorktown plans from the link i provided earlier?  about 1/3 of the armor belt is above the water to the top of the boot topping & about 2/3 below the waterline just past the bottom of the boot topping. just looked at my 1940 Yorktown drawings & the the top of the armor belt reaches to the floor of the 4th deck with the bottom of the armor belt 6' below the waterline with the waterline at 24' 4.5" from the bottom of the ship.

[ted99]

I did, but I was unable to extrapolate the dimentions--just did an "eyeball" on proportions.  Thanks for those actual numbers.  My calculator says that 6' is .36" at 1/200, so my current strips extend 1/2" below the bottom of the boot stripe. That makes the lower extent a little deeper than scale.  More exact would have been making the second strip on the bottom a 1/8" wide strip. I could add a further 1/4" strip to the top and that would take the belt to the top of the boot stripe.  That would mean repainting the red AND the black, though--and buying another package of the 1/4" strips.  Something for future builders to take note of.  Do all this before any hull painting.  By the way, thin CA did a good job of attaching the styrene strips--which I "had" to use to avoid stripping the paint back to the plastic.  It wicked beneath the strips nicely.  I think that would be the preferred method even on bare plastic as it would be difficult to keep the plastic cement "wet" over it's full length and the "wicking" method might leave a small residue at the edge which would prevent a close join of the next strip.  The CA did not leave an amount of residue that caused any problem.

[ted99]

Just watched the last two CV-6 videos (7 & 8) from MidWest Model shop.  I'm struck by how much better the Pontos detail set is, compared to MK 1.  And, from the glimpse of the Pontos picture sheets, these are MUCH better as well.  If I were doing it again, I would go with the Pontos detail set.

[ted99]

The ships boats after the upgrade detail from MK1 and the Mk1 cradles.

[Roger Pellett]

Beautiful work!

 

I can’t remember where I read this but WW 2 Navy specs required that anti-fouling paint for ships’ boats be prepared by mixing copper powder in black paint.  The dried paint would have appeared black.  Maybe Enterprise’s Bosun’ liked red paint better or maybe it was the First Lt.!

 

Roger

Edited August 1, 2023 by Roger Pellett

[ted99]

Interesting.  I'll be painting the "portholes" a very dark gray.  Could do the bottoms, too if this info is confirmed.  The Enterprise photos are B&W, so either color would come out dark gray in the photo.  They would certainly look better that way and my memory from my surface craft days is that in the 70's the boat bottoms were dark gray/black--but I think tin/copper in bottom paint was prohibited by then, so might not be a good indicator.

[ted99]

Just looked at the box art for the trumpeter kit and the boat bottoms are black.  I'll be changing them as that's enough confirmation for me.  Looks much better, also.

[ted99]

After repainting--much better.

[ted99]

Been piddling around with subassemblies.  Planes awaiting paint.  The drawers are being used as "resting" places out of the way until assembled on to the hull.

 

Been watching other U-tube videos of CV-6 assembly and it's very evident that the Pontos detail set is FAR superior to the MK I.  Well worth the extra cost.  Plus, the MK I "instructions" are so skimpy that I expect that I'll have a lot of parts left over because I can't find where they go.  

[ddp]

why do you have a B-25 Mitchell bomber in the drawer when the Enterprise never carried them?

[ted99]

As I said in an earlier post, thought I'd do one for the deck "Just for fun".  CV-6 was part of the TF that launched the B-25 raid, but as you said, did not actually carry one.  The scale shows that the B-25 was only a little larger than the "regular" planes carried by CV-6, which was interesting to me.

[ted99]

Continuing with the little bits.  Pictures of the AA guns and the Island.  Lots of bits for the Island and I've completed all the pieces I can do, until it's mounted on the deck.  My first time working with 3-D printed details.  They are excellent for the amount of detail included.  Compared to the equivalent pieces in the Amati Bismarck kit, the detail is extraordinary--but there is not a lot of "building" going on there.  Overall, I think they are an improvement for the hobby.  But, they do require a new technique to detach them from their "base".  Still working out different ways to do this.  ie: nippers, #11 exacto, fingers, or a combination of all.

 

Just painted the added belt armor on the hull, in preparation to adding the MK I details on the perimeter of the hanger deck.  

 

Also just painted the MK I wooden deck pieces "Navy Blue".  Used Minwax semi-transparent stain.  Really soaked into the wood deck, while preserving the "printed" board lines. It's oil-based so no warping problem. These deck pieces have a LOT of SS PE metal dividers between the boards, which I will paint with Mission Models acrylic Flight Deck Blue 21 before attaching with CA glue.  This will be a first for me and it looks to be very challenging.  I plan to start in the middle at the Island and work toward each end.  I think that will give me the best chance of getting all the pieces in the correct place.  Any advice on the use of a primer on the SS PE before the Mission Models paint?  Currently thinking a very light coat of Tamiya light gray primer spray, but is a primer necessary?

[ted99]

Lack of motivation lately.  Just doing railings and ladders, which are boring.  Have completed that as far as I'm going to go and now going to start the Flight Deck.  Never done anything like this before, so it's going to be interesting.  I would have liked for the Midwest Model supply video of the CV-6 to have gotten this far, but no luck.  The videos have been very helpful

[ted99]

Setting up work on the flight deck.  I stained the wood-colored deck that came with the Mk 1 detail set with "Navy Blue" Minwax semi-transparent stain.  Oil based, so no warping of the wood.  Primed the SS PE deck detail sheets with Tamiya light gray primer and then air brushed with Mission Model "US Navy Flight Deck Blue" using the Micro-Mark battery-powered air brush.  The air brush worked out OK.  I'm sure it's not as good as a real air brush, but it's ideal for my situation in a Retirement Home condo.  Especially as I can use paint colors that are not available in spray cans.

 

I'm going to start on the decking at the center island where I'm sure of the location and can use it as the register for the subsequent pieces being added.  The picture shows it dry-fitted. Lots and lots of PE pieces interior to the wood deck and it's going to be a learning process as I go forward.  air brush sitting below the flight deck.

[yvesvidal]

Very interesting project as we are not having too many aircraft carriers on this forum. They are always welcome.

 

Yves