Dancona Posted September 21, 2020 Author Share Posted September 21, 2020 Finally I have an update on “the beast”, I have a word of warning, never ever mutter the words “scratched four foot long Aircraft Carrier” together with the phrase “seems like a good idea”, it can lead to a tunnel so long it is measured in light years !! I feels like I have made some progress though, I replaced my earlier card and foam “bow sandwich” with a much more accurate lump of plastic that was built up on the bench from sections, looks much more convincing to me and should not require as much filler as the earlier alternative, though I have found that the 3mm styrene whilst cutting does require a lot of lubricating with Rioja. I have rebuilt all of the structure in 3mm styrene and am currently using a thin wooden batten as a spline to make sure that all of the curves run true. Those of you with an ounce of common sense have probably realised that it probably would have been quicker to have just built it out of plastic to start with, I cannot disagree…..BUT… I would have never started in the first place had I been faced by months of hacking out sections in thick plastic with nothing ship like to look at and make Aircraft Carrier like noises with (whatever they are), so I rest my case “Mi Lud” ! I dug out one of my 1/600 Airfix Victoriouses (Victorii ??) and taped it together to compare some of the hull forms, I always remember it as being quite big, though admittedly at the time I was quite small. I now realise that the bow on it is wrong, its too heavy around the waterline, if I ever get round to building a weeny one it will require a major rework around the pointy(ish) end, though now having one the size of a small canoe I think it is unlikely ! I am now the proud owner of an embryonic air wing, thanks to a fellow Britmodeller, Les (a.k.a. Gunzo) who firstly put me onto a “Vapour Trails” 1/200 Scimitar on ebay (I had never realised that they existed before), and very kindly sent me a diecast metal Seahawk (not officially on board in 61, but its one of my favourites so it may well find itself surreptitiously slipped onboard somewhere), so thank you Les, a true gent ! here we have the Scimitar doing a low pass !!! And the Seahawk sniffing the Scimitar's tail ! Les also put me onto the now defunct “Helmet Models” (though their website is still running), who specialised in 1/200 aircraft, and through that I made contact with Wotjek Benzinski who runs Cloudbreak models (fancy a 1/200 Princess flying boat anyone, or even a jewel like Rapide ?), anyway The charming and extremely helpful Wotjek is knocking up a batch of HAS 7 Whirlwinds for me, plus he has tracked down enough Gannets, Vixens (FAW 1) and Scimitars to give me a very busy flight deck, these are all beautiful little die cast kits with PE parts, so..thank you Wotjek, another true gent ! Cheers for now, I will post some more when I have moved forward towards the light a bit more ! David 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davecov Posted September 21, 2020 Share Posted September 21, 2020 Having scratchbuilt a couple of 1/350 QE Class carriers (80cm long), I am in awe at your work. I cheated and used cut down Tamiya USS Enterprise hulls as a base to work from as I couldn't be confident in my skills in constructing it with frames like yours. Dave 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry1954 Posted September 21, 2020 Share Posted September 21, 2020 35 minutes ago, Dancona said: That shot says it all for me. Absolutely amazing! The structure is developing extremely well David, and I'm most impressed. I do one day hope to scratch build a maritime subject (a long way off yet) and this is very inspiring work. Terry 6 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArnoldAmbrose Posted September 22, 2020 Share Posted September 22, 2020 Gidday David, that is very impressive hull forming. It's waaaaay out of my league. And I think that bow you've done is a masterpiece. Regards, Jeff. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dancona Posted September 22, 2020 Author Share Posted September 22, 2020 Dear Dave, Terry and Jeff, thank you for your kind words and confidence, though I have a terrible confession to make, ......I'm not sure that I really do know what I'm doing, though more by good luck (and doing everything several times) the project is moving creakily forward, if I can get this even close to your QE builds Dave I will be a very happy bunny indeed ! Cheers from the Viral Apocalypse David 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry1954 Posted September 22, 2020 Share Posted September 22, 2020 You are doing just fine David. Just keep well lubricated with the Rioja! Terry 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbudde Posted September 22, 2020 Share Posted September 22, 2020 On 9/21/2020 at 1:23 PM, Terry1954 said: hat shot says it all for me. Absolutely amazing! Wow, tha's big!!!!! I know the size of the Airfix one and it was big in scale to their old companions!. Amazing work. Do you have a garage to put it in? Cheers 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beefy66 Posted September 22, 2020 Share Posted September 22, 2020 On 9/21/2020 at 12:23 PM, Terry1954 said: That shot says it all for me. Absolutely amazing! And for me it definitely is what you call proper modelling making something from sheets of card £D printing is all well and good and the modern way but this is old school and so skillful beefy 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnT Posted September 22, 2020 Share Posted September 22, 2020 Caught up on this tonight as hadn’t seen it in a while. Simple comment - 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norman Posted September 23, 2020 Share Posted September 23, 2020 Wow i like what your doing here a LOT !! keep up the great work . 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midland1965 Posted September 26, 2020 Share Posted September 26, 2020 Great progress there. I'm in awe at the ambition of building a model ship of such scale and detail. The Seahawk looks great - something I now associate with fond memories of holidays on the Lizard driving past Culdrose - but you really need to save that for your follow-on builds of Eagle, Albion or Bulwark off Suez. Looking forward to your Sea Vixens/Sea Venoms, Whirlwinds and Gannets. Actually, have you decided on a precise date and air group? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBaron Posted September 26, 2020 Share Posted September 26, 2020 I'd have to describe this work as monumental in scope and detail David; an incredible pleasure reading through progress so far. 👏 Tony. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted September 27, 2020 Share Posted September 27, 2020 Blimey! That bow looks fantastic; top work 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dancona Posted September 28, 2020 Author Share Posted September 28, 2020 Thank you all again for your kind words ! On 22/09/2020 at 18:37, bbudde said: Do you have a garage to put it in? Actually I am blessed with a decent garage which does help, but is mostly full of oily bits of old car so I have to be a bit careful with cross hobby contamination, its probably going to have to live in the garage, unless it finds its way to the office like everything else, though I think it may be a bit too large ! On 26/09/2020 at 22:45, Midland1965 said: Actually, have you decided on a precise date and air group? It will be 1961 when my father served on her, but I haven't decided on an exact date yet, but the airgroup will be FAW 1 Vixens, Scimitars, AEW Gannets (plus a COD Gannet) and HAS 7 Whirlwinds, which leads me onto this !!!!!!!!!!!! I have already mentioned Wotjek Benzinski who is very kindly collecting airwing material for me and has produced this beautiful master for a very limited run of 1/200 HAS 7 Whirlwinds,, to give an idea of the quality of these kits, this is a Sikorsky Chickasaw, and yes it is 1/200 !!! Thanks again fellow travellers ! Cheers David 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbudde Posted September 28, 2020 Share Posted September 28, 2020 9 minutes ago, Dancona said: unless it finds its way to the office like everything else, though I think it may be a bit too large ! Ok, that's a statement Chapeau! Cheers 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chewbacca Posted September 28, 2020 Share Posted September 28, 2020 Some seriously good old school modelling here. That is very impressive David. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunzo Posted September 28, 2020 Share Posted September 28, 2020 Kudos to Wotjek! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunzo Posted September 28, 2020 Share Posted September 28, 2020 What's the provenance of the superb carrier in the display case ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted September 29, 2020 Share Posted September 29, 2020 The more I see of this the more I'm attracted to it, though a Airfix Vintage Classic Victorious is a far as I'm ever likely to go. I'll happily watch your efforts & maybe raise a glass or two of decent red to your efforts along the way. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArnoldAmbrose Posted September 29, 2020 Share Posted September 29, 2020 Gidday, this build is definitely worth raising a glass or two of red. But then, who needs an excuse to do that? 🍷 Looking forward to the next progress report. Regards, Jeff. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted September 29, 2020 Share Posted September 29, 2020 10 hours ago, Dancona said: It will be 1961 when my father served on her... Served IN her. As I am sure he’d be the first to point out 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dancona Posted September 29, 2020 Author Share Posted September 29, 2020 10 hours ago, gunzo said: Kudos to Wotjek! Well kudos to you as well, if you hadn't put me onto the 1/200 aircraft fraternity I would still have a big problem, and thanks again for the Seahawk ! As for the carrier, its the Heller (well actually very little of it survived) 1/400 Illustrious, built, (predictably enough) as Victorious in 1941.....you can probably spot a theme here !! I did post some pictures of it on here several years ago but I think that they have been "photobucketed" before anyone says anything, I know the colours are not strictly correct ! And finally, the gratuitous lighter shot ! 1 hour ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said: Served IN her. As I am sure he’d be the first to point out Yes he most certainly would Crispin, that could possibly lead to being disowned !! Cheers all David 16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry1954 Posted September 29, 2020 Share Posted September 29, 2020 3 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said: Served IN her. As I am sure he’d be the first to point out I was once similarly corrected by Crisp "in this matter" David. Actually I think I could have also validly stated "on this matter"......🤔 Superb looking 1/400 Victorious there. I think we can certainly expect a treat when the latest rendition appears twice as big. Terry 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robgizlu Posted September 29, 2020 Share Posted September 29, 2020 Love the 1/400 Victorious, and the the 1/200 model is indeed Monumental. Amazing stuff! Rob 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chewbacca Posted October 2, 2020 Share Posted October 2, 2020 That 1/400 version is beautiful. The level of detail is at least as good as many 1/96 scale models that I have seen. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now