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Otaki / Arii / Microace / Academy 1:600 USS Enterprise


Rob S

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Apologies if something like this question has been posted before but I couldn’t find anything by Searching. 

 

Just wondering if anyone had used this Kit as a basis for conversion to a Kittyhawk, Constellation, America, or JFK?  

 

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Not a conversion I've ever considered but Enterprise was a fair bit longer than the Kittyhawks (~90 ft) so you'd need to lose around 46 mm off the hull.  There beam at the waterline was within a couple of feet but Enterprise was around 30 feet narrower at the extremity of the angled deck so you'd need to work out where you could make the reduction in length.  I would suggest that it would not be a straightforward conversion.  Good luck!

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I hope to get the time to progress both the kit as is and this conversion idea as I’m a 1:600 Modeller from way back in childhood and I’ve waited a long time to get my hands on this kit and Academy rereleasing / reboxing it has made it more readily available. 

 

Funny thing is I thought I saw this as an Otaki kit as a kid but looking around now I can only find the “Taka” boxing.  Does anyone know anything about “Taka”?  

 

Anyway as an update I found my ex-Otaki 1:800 USS America kit and while I don’t know how accurate the 1:800 kits are I put the Flight Deck on the Printer (both right side up and later upside down) and blew them up to 1:600 and laid the 1:600 kit Flight Deck on them to see where the similarities and differences were.  Definitely some similarities and differences  but definitely believe it’s doable if the 1:800 USS America is reasonably accurate. 

 

I think the biggest job other than what you mention above about the obvious difference in length is the area of the rear two starboard lifts and the Island as from memory (will have to take some photos otherwise it never happened!) the Enterprise appears to have these much closer together than the America obviously owing to the smaller Island on the Enterprise. 

 

Will require some surgery but not as much as what someone (Ambrose?) did in Airfix Magazine in the early 80s going the other way and stretching and converting an Airfix Forrestal to an Enterprise. Must find that article next time I am Home for a bit of a read. 

 

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The Forrestal to Enterprise article is in the January 1980 Airfix Magazine according to this

 

https://davecov.org/davecov/davecov-airfix-magazine-articles/

 

Specifically

 

https://www.davecov.org/modelling/reference/airfixmagazinearticles/warships/pdfs/January_1980_Converting_USS_Forrestal_to_USS_Enterprise.pdf

 

Edited by Rob S
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  • 2 weeks later...

OK I finally got the chance to compare the 1:600 Enterprise Deck to the 1:800 America model Deck blown up to 1:600 and here are my initial thoughts. 

 

N.B.  The caveat here is iff (if and only if) the Otaki/Microace/Lee/Kangnam/Zengdefu 1:800 America is reasonably accurate.  Hopefully one of the real “Experts” out there can comment on it’s accuracy?  

 

Starting at the Bow and if you line up the front two Starboard Elevators they are pretty much spot on as is the front of the Angled Deck on the Port Side meaning the length reduction is all at the Bow.  However the side of the Angled Deck has to be squared off and the “Second Angle” (or whatever it is called has to either be moved forward or extended and the “trailing angle” of it added to or reprofiled. 

 

Moving aft by lining up the rear of the Angled Deck the front two Starboard Elevators remain spot on (or saying another way by leaving the front two Starboard Elevators lined up the rear of the Angled Deck is spot on.).  However the rear Starboard Elevator will have to be positioned further aft and the two “steps” in the Deck to the rear of the Angled Deck moved and added to.  This obviously makes for a bigger area between the second Starboard Elevator and the rear Starboard Elevator to accomodate the larger Island. Conversely on the Port side slight reprofiling of the “steps” will be required and the Port Side Elevator will have to be completely moved forward (by about the width of it’s angled cutout).  

 

So more than doable iff the 1:800 Kit is accurate and iff the other 1:800 “Kittys” are also accurate (I suspect they will basically be the same Kit and not show the differences between the “Kittys” unless of course the Monogram 1:800 Kittyhawk is different to the ex Otaki kit?) so well worth I reckon getting a few more 1:600 Enterprises to convert to the “Kittys” (especially at 20 percent off like a Shop recently had “down South” and with free shipping if total spend over $100AUD!). 

 

Hopefully this weekend I might get the chance to look at this further that is if the 1:800 kit is accurate and also after I get the 1:800 kit blown up again that is if I can get a Photocopier big enough to fit on one piece of paper instead of splicing two sheets together. 

 

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Yes Jas a bit of surgery and I think the trickiest might be the hull reduction but the hardest will be the Elevator and Deck mods and ensuring that the restoration of the Deck doesn’t show where all the cuts and additions were made. 

 

The other big job of course will be making the new Island although if the 1:800 kit is accurate that might help as a template (“blown up” of course). 

 

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You're a braver man than me Rob! I'm breaking into a cold sweat just thinking about making those alterations....  lol Looking forward to see how this one progresses mate!

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Interesting idea Rob, I think my conversion of Forrestal to Ranger is a lot easier. At least I only have to muck around with sponson locations rather than moving elevators (mine's not 1/600 its the box scale 1/542, I can live with 10 percent difference). 

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20 hours ago, Romeo Alpha Yankee said:

(mine's not 1/600 its the box scale 1/542, I can live with 10 percent difference). 

 

You could always sell the Revell 1:542 Forrestal and use the money to buy an Airfix 1:600 Forrestal or even one of these 1:600 Enterprise kits. 

 

 

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2 hours ago, Rob S said:

 

You could always sell the Revell 1:542 Forrestal and use the money to buy an Airfix 1:600 Forrestal or even one of these 1:600 Enterprise kits. 

 

 

I suppose so, but I have started to cut plastic to modify her. So I will push on! Good luck with this very ambitious project Rob, oh! and how's that prototype A300 going BTW 😛

 

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4 hours ago, Romeo Alpha Yankee said:

I suppose so, but I have started to cut plastic to modify her. So I will push on! Good luck with this very ambitious project Rob, oh! and how's that prototype A300 going BTW 😛

 

 

I was half asleep today replying to your Post Ray @Romeo Alpha Yankee thinking I was replying to Jas @P-3s rule and wondering why he was mucking around with an “odd” scale Revell  Forrestal!  I suppose my excuse is I only had two hours sleep after travelling back from”Stash Alt” to “Stash Prime”.  Actually a Mate of Jas’s up north would probably pay good money for a Revell Forrestal more than funding an Airfix Forrestal or Academy Enterprise (or even both).  

 

Any particular reason you are modelling Ranger?  

 

The A300B is still in it’s box at “Stash Alt” waiting to be continued as I don’t get the time to do anything much up there as I generally only get a weekend up there every fortnight or so and may get even less time to do anything on it if we have to move permanently from “Alt” to “Prime”.  Not looking forward to that if it happens as if Delta does get a hold into Queensland it’ll most likely be down in “Prime” region and not in “Alt” region. 

 

How is your move going?  

 

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1 minute ago, Rob S said:

 

...

 

Any particular reason you are modelling Ranger?  

 

....

 

How is your move going?  

 

USS Ranger was the first US aircraft carrier I saw in the flesh on my first trip to Hawaii, so in my usual way of 'I've seen one, gotta build it' I decided to have a crack at modifying the Forrestal kit.

 

 

The move is stall, SA won't let us in 😞 Will be trying again in the new year when 'CoVid Norm' is in effect hopefully in all states.

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  • 1 year later...

Just updating the Thread and can’t believe a year and a half has flown by. 

 

OK so a recent trip to Officeworks and a very helpful Photocopy/Scanning Attendant resulted in the 1:800 deck being scanned top and bottom and then being resized and sent to their A2 Size Printer and wullah!  One piece 1:600 scale prints of the USS America that I can overlay the USS Enterprise kit and clearly see the differences rather than stuff around with cut and pasted prints from my A4 Printer. 
 

So next step will be to find the time and the courage to cut some rather expensive plastic. 
 

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  • 6 months later...
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