So I've had this Bluejacket CVE 73 Gambier Bay kit for about 25 years ago or so and it sat for a long time. I caught some motivation and started working on it around 2005/06 but really wasn't happy with my workmanship and put it back in the box not really sure what to do with it. My level of finesse just wasn't up to what I wanted it to be. Fast forward to a couple of days ago, I dug it out and am a little surprised by the fact that it's not as bad as I thought it was back then. There are a few rough spots but I may have just rekindled the drive to finish this.
There's a lot of stuff in that box.
The under side of the flight deck with some of the girder work started.
That square is where the anchor windless (I think that's the term) will sit.
The catapult was made from strip styrene. I have the deck masked off to paint simulate the tie down strips. Also, The Elevator borders are photo etch which I glued directly to the deck which I regret now, I may try to cut them out and get to sit a little more flush.
That fore deck house is not attached permanently yet
Some of the afore mentioned rough areas
Fittings and planes.
My original plan was to go with Gambier Bay's original MS-21 paint scheme, which was Navy Blue 5-N overall, hence why I started painting some areas with that color. I just felt MS-32/15a, the scheme she wore when sunk, the scheme you see in every image of CVE-73, was WAY more complicated than I wanted to attempt. But I recently discovered Measure 32/4a which was carried by CVE-60 USS Guadalcanal, which has a remarkable story in her own right being the only US Naval ship to capture an enemy vessel on since 1815(according to Wikipedia), German sub U-505. Seems a little more manageable to achieve even though CVE-73 probably didn't wear it.
Well thanks for looking hopefully some of this is interesting to someone. I'm really fired up to get this project going again...I just have to figure out were I left off and where to go from here....oh yeah, and what to do about those damn elevator out lines. 🙂