aircraft carrier deck 1:144

[GMK]

Hi solowing666,

it took me a few hundred photo's from the internet over the last years to figure out most dimensions. What really helps is that the tie-down pattern in the deck is spaced very regularly. Knowing that they are spaced 8ft length wise and 10 ft across the deck, you can figure out where many features are.

so from many pictures I figured out the layout, starting with a large grid of circles in CAD and counting my way in all directions. The area around cat 3 and 4 is easiest because this is best visible from the island of the ship. Reconstructing the features and lines I made 2 drawings. please send me a PM and I will send the PDF to you by mail.

So good luck with your own project and you can contact me for specifics on photos and of course on those 3D printed tie-down points for your diorama!

I've grabbed some of your items from Shapeways - thanks for making them, & making them available.

Regarding your diagram above, have you got any information regarding the helo spot a bit farther forward, plum between the tracks of cats 3 & 4?

[Mr B]

Really great detail work. You must be a very patient fellow

Outstanding love the deck

Rgds

[hugogo]

Hi GMK,

short: no I don't, for my own modeling purpose I was mainly interested in the catapult area. But knowing now the trick with the tie-down counting, I am sure that if you find the right photo (and not all carriers have the helo signs during all era's) then you can figure out its location and size. I would be interested how that went if you decide to pursue this one!

and thank you Mr. B for the compliment, I am quite patient but also do not have a lot of space at home. My strategy of dealing with this is to make my projects more complex and time consuming than necessary

[James G]

Aha, this keeps getting better!

[hugogo]

Thanks James G!

since the Revell excursion that the Dutch IPMS organized last week, I have fully regained my engergy to start doing something with paint again. Armed to the teeth with paint, brushes, masking tape (and of course some new kits), I have started to resume work on the Hawkeye.

After assembly of the main parts and cleaning up the seems, I masked the windows and glued all smaller parts with some wood glue to wooden laundry clamps. With a bit of IPA on a cotton stick I removed grease and dust in preparation of paint. First layer was a thin semi-gloss white enamel as base coat. Did not make pictures of it since it was quite uneventful. This first layer enabled me to spot some areas that needed attention and after cleaning those up+ very light sanding for overall smoothness, it was time for a color coat.

This light gull grey coat I airbrushed with a new paint for me which was AK interactive. Bought it at ESM last year, 8 small tubes with modern US navy colors in 1 box. After reading the instructions, I noticed that the paints are described to have a 'scaling'effect in them, which I think means that they are a bit lighter than the real color. Because of the small scale, I decided to mix the paint with 20% white anyway. This mix was then diluted with 20% Revell aqua thinner and 20% IPA to make the mix even more liquid. It was a bit of an experiment but I was satisfied with the result:

Though the brushing goes much quicker on this small surface than I am used to, it is a real challenge to keep the layers thin and to keep a smooth surface!

In the mean time I also thought about how to customize the decals that I heed for this bird. I think I will order them via a print service that can print decals with white ink. Some day you will read about it in this article!

[phildagreek]

Really impressive stuff!

What print service do you intend to use?

[hugogo]

Hi Phildageek,

they are called decalwinkel.nl

they are a print service that print decals with colored and white ink on a transparent decal. I figured out the font type of the "AG" tailcode and in this scale I don't think that painting it by hand will be successful. I have no experience of their product yet but we will see how far we get with 5 euro per A4 print.

So what I am planning to do is to

- design some blue triangles with the computer program 'MS paint', put the letters on top in white,

- design the blue '603' code with white shadow on the nose (copied a nice drawing from the internet that shows the numbers really nice)

See how this gets printed. It is all a bit of an experiment but hey that is what hobby is all about, isn't it?

[hugogo]

I got some work done in the past few days, added more colors to the Hawkeye. With exception of the arrestor hook, all features have been painted now: de-icing boots on wing leading edge, 3 windows, anti-reflection zone around front window, black nose, air intakes and exhausts in silver and red flaps and wing parts.

During the painting of the rear wings I came to the conclusion that the mounting of the vertical rear wing surfaces was not such a good idea after all, first the anti slip coating in decal form must be put on the rear wing.

So I pulled them loose and repaired the damaged paint.

Also the 3D printed props turned out nicely under a layer of dark grey paint:

I borrowed this photo from SIMHQ to show the wonderful Hawkeye of VAW-121.

Then about those decals, I systematically worked my way towards a solution: First downloaded a assembly manual of a large hawkeye, then added the lines on the tail of where the blue must come later:

The font type of the letters AG I looked up in MS Word, it seems to be the itallic version of the font Monotype Corsilia, I reduced in size such that the letters are positioned about the same way as in real.

After this I measured the angles of the lines, this seems to be 15 degrees almost everywhere.

Looking at the size of the tail, the letters on my bird should become 2.7 mm high:

Furthermore I mounted the engines in order to fill the gaps between them and the wing. Flaps and landing gear were mounted temporarily to dry fit:

[danieltomcat]

Great job, man! Awaiting for the final result. Hey, put an F-14 D Tomcat from VF-31!!!!!!!!!!!!

[hugogo]

hi danieltomcat,

that might be for a next project, this project is going depict a situation from 2009, when Tomcats had been replaced by the Super Hornet. But indeed it gives inspiration for another diorama!

in the mean time, the solution for the color and the letters on the tail is becoming more and more elegant.

With a handy website on the net http://scalemodeldb.com/paint you can analyse the colors used in a submitted picture.

with the cursor on the tail of the Hawkeye I came to a color ratio of red:1 green:102 blue: 199. These colors I used to make a triangle in MS Powerpoint in the right blue color. with the white letters added on top (font size 13) it became more and more what I needed. A laserprint results in the following:

after cutting some triangles I managed to make a sneak peek of what the tail could become:

I think I will solve this puzzle!

[phildagreek]

Wow. I keep looking to check the scale. Wow.

[hugogo]

With the Hawkeye in the right colors I gave the whole thing a few layers of gloss varnish; 1 part Tamyia varnish, 1 part Tamyia thinner, 2 parts IPA to make the mix even more fluid.

After each layer I removed dust specs, after 3 layers I let the lot dry for a few days.

In the mean time my attention has shifted a bit towards the Super Hornets, 2 F/A-18F's for my diorama and another F/A-18E for a different project. For each of the planes I wanted to make the intakes a bit more realistic without spending too much time. Drilling out the blanked off intake and filing it neat was the least I could do:

Only the bottom of the intake needs a bit of filler, no problem!

With 8 parts you already have the main part ready:

also filed off the rectangular lips to make the transition to the round duct smoother:

Next step is the separation of the flaps:

The parked Super Hornet also has its wings folded:

and flaps that point downwards with the lack of hydraulic pressure:

I also wanted to open up the avionics bays, and have these 3D printed:

So...let the sawing commence!

To give an idea of scale: the avionics bay is about 5 mm high...

the housing of the nose wheel must make a bit of space

it will be ok!

also removed material for the front bays:

[hugogo]

even though the rectangular intakes must still be mounted, you will probably still see into the gaping hole on the inside:

after grinding away the surplus of filler, the intake has become much better to the eye:

But still I would like to solve this puzzle and come up with some kind of trunk...en then it seems like I received some devine intervention....a straw!!!

Went quickly looking for a straw in th kitchen and YES...fits exactly! Now I just needed to make a nice transition from trunk to intake, behold the tool that I do not even know the name of.

Just warm up above the stove and press it into the straw, then gently press towards the sides of the intake:

Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce to you: seamless intakes in 1:144!

finally add some white paint on the inside:

and the major parts can be glued together!

[At Sea]

Wow.

[Neal]

The straw intakes are a great idea

[John_W]

Wow. It wasn't untill you put the straw in that I realised how small it was. Stunning work.

[hugogo]

Hi Neal, John, At Sea,

indeed sometimes it is those simple things that can bring to much joy to life and to the hobby! Having put the super hornets together, I have also placed the flaps back on. First ground the curved fronts with a file, then reattached then in the right angle:

and then I made a new flap piece from PS. They will need some sanding still to become flush with the wing:

During the time that this had to dry, I decided to give the decals a go on my Hawkeye. I must say that the decal sheet is quire comprehensive! decals settled quite nice, no silvering anywhere.

What is still missing is the nose code '603' in blue and white shadow (and the tail of course). this will also be made from custom made decal.

Edited May 27, 2018 by hugogo

[perdu]

That Hawkeye looks very nice

I have an elderly Fujimi (I think) Hawkeye with no decal sheet, you have given me a push to design and print some for it.

[James G]

Excellent work Hugogo...can't wait to see electronics bays in 1/144!

[lordstrpe]

Much like what others have said.......WOW!!

[hugogo]

Hi James G et al,

indeed this is not a bad kit this Hawkeye, the level of detail is at least the same as its bigger Fujimi brother in 1:72.

[Random Username]

Hugogo I just found this thread absolutely stunning stuff hopefully one day I will use some of you 3D stuff...........land do it justice

[hugogo]

Hi 1001KJK,

thanks for your compliment, me being the first one that you would post to is an equal honor for me. My view on the hobby is: just have fun with it, make a model to the best of your own abilities and learn from your experience. So no justice to, nor sizing up to anyone else but yourself. It was only until 4 years back that I started to share my work in my Dutch IPMS magazine, until then I was sure that nobody but myself was interested in my creations. I consider work of others purely as a source of inspiration, it comes in very handy when you suffer from a modeling dip. I read it regularly in modeling magazines: Sizing a model up to modelers with almost-professional level can easily result in the advanced modeler's syndrome, where you feel blocked to do any building because you have to high expectations of your end result.

So have fun in what you build and you will be surprised how many people will be interested in your work if you post it on a forum!

For whatever it's worth!

[hugogo]

here is a short update before the weekend: Using MS paint I almost completed the tail surfaces, I think I managed the right blue color too. Put them on a print and test fitted the parts on the tail surfaces:

You can see that my printer shows a bit the individual colors of cyan and magenta to make the right color blue. I hope these colors will mix a bit better when I have them printed by the decal print shop.

 

Edited May 27, 2018 by hugogo

[hugogo]

after quite some time of vacation, work and other things that kept me from my hobby, there is finally some progress worthy of mentioning. Having now completed the almost biblical task of creating my own decals for the Hawkeye and 3 newly acquired F/A-18C Hornets, I have created a laser print on the right scale, with the right colors:
 

 

I scanned a decal sheet of VFA-131 Wildcats as they were flying from the G. Washington (thanks mr Twobobs), then changed them here and there to match the scheme when the squadron was flying from the Eisenhower in 2010.

Let's see how these behave in water....

Edited May 27, 2018 by hugogo