Bluejacket Gambier Bay CVE

[jep1210]

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. 🙂

 

[Jerry L]

Getting the popcorn, drawing up the chair. Looking forward to your build, which looks really nice so far.

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday Jep, this looks an interesting build. The scale on the box looked to be 1/16" - 1' if I made it out correctly. That would be 1/192? Quite a sizable model. Regards, Jeff.

[dnl42]

OH NICE! 

 

I am looking forward to watching this! 

[jep1210]

Thanks fellers, I guess the pressure is on to show some progress 😬...or it'll be the motivating factor to get some work done on this beast. 

[jep1210]

18 hours ago, ArnoldAmbrose said:

Gidday Jep, this looks an interesting build. The scale on the box looked to be 1/16" - 1' if I made it out correctly. That would be 1/192? Quite a sizable model. Regards, Jeff.

 

You got it Jeff, it's 1/192 scale. Here's a picture for scale, this is a fine line Sharpie on the flight deck. The block of wood is what the island will be represented by. I'm toying with the idea of making it out of sheet plastic instead.

 

I peeled some of the tape away to give a look at deck detail and one of the arrestor wire plates

[Courageous]

On 3/4/2021 at 2:55 AM, jep1210 said:

My level of finesse just wasn't up to what I wanted it to be.

We are our own worst critics but we all need to start somewhere. As others have said, looks an interesting build and a big one at that, the bags of goodies look interesting too.

9 hours ago, jep1210 said:

The block of wood is what the island will be represented by. I'm toying with the idea of making it out of sheet plastic instead.

You can use both. I've seen scratch builders of ships use the wood blocks as formers and skin it with plastic.

 

Stuart

[jep1210]

So I hit a snag right out of the gate reopening. 😁 I cut in recess for the cargo doors that go into the hangar deck last night and while sitting starring at it while having breakfast this morning, I noticed they don't look level. 😡 It wouldn't be so bad to fix but it means the sponsons are also not level with each other. However when I measure them, there's only a 32nd-16th of an inch difference. How can 16th look so off? Not sure what I'm missing. Also, they are both about a 1/4" too high according to the plans I have but I can live with that as long as they're even.

 

My plan is to make a 5/8 by 1/2 inch box out of .250 styrene to "box in" the opening, sort of shadow box style.

 

 

 

It's really evident on this port side shot with the flight deck removed, but when I measure it from the top of the hull, both sponsons measures the same distance or at the very least, within a 32nd".

 

Port aft sponson

 

Port fore sponson

 

Starboard fore sponson

 

Starboard aft sponson

 

All measurements seem to be fairly even within a 1/16th" but for some reason it looks way more off. I really don't want to remove those sponsons as it would mean making new one....these came out really good if I do say so myself...but I'm thinking there isn't any other option other than to remove at least one of them and reposition it. 

 

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

John

 

[dnl42]

Don't stare at it while having breakfast?

 

Only you can decide if you can live with it. I've lived with some things and not with others.

 

FWIW, I'd use a height gauge to align the sponsons. In the absence of that, a tick strip, dividers, or a spacer jig will do. Also, are you sure your datum is true?

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday, is the model to be painted in dazzle camouflage? This can distort the appearance of things sometimes - it's meant to. It can also 'hide' minor errors or discrepancies sometimes. For what it's worth, I thought the sponsons looked OK. HTH. Regards, Jeff. 

[jep1210]

9 hours ago, dnl42 said:

Don't stare at it while having breakfast?

 

Only you can decide if you can live with it. I've lived with some things and not with others.

 

FWIW, I'd use a height gauge to align the sponsons. In the absence of that, a tick strip, dividers, or a spacer jig will do. Also, are you sure your datum is true?

 

Yes but they still look uneven at lunch, dinner AND evening tea. 🤣

 

Forgive my ignorance but what is datum? As for the height gauge, I like that idea, I think we we have one at work. I'll have to borrow it.

[jep1210]

9 hours ago, ArnoldAmbrose said:

Gidday, is the model to be painted in dazzle camouflage? This can distort the appearance of things sometimes - it's meant to. It can also 'hide' minor errors or discrepancies sometimes. For what it's worth, I thought the sponsons looked OK. HTH. Regards, Jeff. 

 

Yes, I am going for Measure 32/4a even the Gambier Bay did carry that one....I know, I know, SACRILEDGE!!!!!!!!!!! 😃 Unfortunately, now that I've seen it I can't unsee it and it's not so much the sponsons but more the recesses for the cargo doors. only thing is the bottom of the recess lines up with top of the sponson, ipso facto the sponson MUST be wrong to.

[ArnoldAmbrose]

45 minutes ago, jep1210 said:

Unfortunately, now that I've seen it I can't unsee it

Gidday, yeah I can understand that. I've repeated work on some of my own models for that reason. Unfortunately we don't come with a "Delete" button. Regards, Jeff.

[dnl42]

1 hour ago, jep1210 said:

Forgive my ignorance but what is datum?

A reference point or line--what are you measuring from? Is that correct? 

[jep1210]

38 minutes ago, dnl42 said:

A reference point or line--what are you measuring from? Is that correct? 

Ah got it, I guess I can't really be sure. I'm going to snag the height guage from work and try that.