USS Intrepid CV-11 Vietnam Deployment

Torben Ke
Great start into an interesting project. I will stay tuned to this frequency. Looking forward to meeting you soon and discuss our approaches to the vietnam topic in detail.

Christian Bruer
I'm in, so we have WIP's of Intrepid, Ticonderoga and Hancock - great! Sven, the cover photo you use was made on the day I was born - long time ago!

By the way, what do you mean with - the inaccuracy in the whole after part of the model? Do you mention, that the kit is supposed to be to short aft of the island s discussed on Modelwarships? I do not think the kit is to short and if so we are talking about just a few millimetres. The planes of my air wing I placed aft of the island fit well and close to the original one without having less space to place the planes.

Cheers, Christian

Sven Schönyan
Torben knows best where exactly the inaccuracies are. I don´t care much about this because for me as for you the whole kits leaves a very good impression.

Sven Schönyan
Hope to have all 3 carriers on display next to each other soon!

Torben Ke
I did some research on TICO when I started with the Trumpeter kit two years ago. Usually I never check kits against drawings. I was facing a complete rebuild of the model with blistering the hull and altering more or less everything, as they did on the real thing. So extensive research and measuring was inavitable.

The Trumpeter kit is an almost perfect match to the dimensions of the class (length and beam). When the Gallery kit arrived on my desk I compared both hulls and Gallerys kit is much shorter. Well, I don´t want to kick off an accuracy discussion but I was quite confused if I did wrong on my Trumpeter rebuild. I checked all the dimensions again. I took the BuShips plans, verified all references, used Google Maps screen shots and: As all was scalel it turned out that the Gallery kit is indeed perfect from the bridge going forward, but...
Don´t care!!! If I had not started with the Trumpeter hull I would have build the Gallery model out of box. I will use a lot of this kit as it makes things much easier and the kit has very nice detailling. So just Keep on with this project and don´t mind the slight dimensional errors.

Cheers
Torben

Christian Bruer
I do not research it as you did Torben. I just got my information reading a thread on MW.com. For me the Gallery kit is quite accurate and ok and you can place Skyhawks, Crusaders etc. along the flight deck aft of the island without having any difference to photos of the original CV.

And my friend I'm with you - keep on with it😄

Torben Ke
Yes, totally agree with you Christian. The most important thing is that we have fun building our models. 🙂

Sven Schönyan
I second that Christian. And Torben, too, most important is the fun we have in building these models!

Mathias Carl
Ah, well then.
I´ll pick myself a place and stay tuned.

Ingmar Stöhr
I'm in as well.

Sven Schönyan
During the week I could do the first run of filling and sanding. Next step: side walls and hangar interior

Christian Bruer
The sponsons need a lot of filling and sanding to close the seam line to the hangar deck. Do you plan to add a hangar interior?

Sven Schönyan
I will do some minor hangar detailing. I will display the model during a UNREP situation with all hands on deck. Due to this situation and the subtropical climate nearly all doors are open but with lots of busy people handling the goods. So you won´t see much of the hangar and what you will see will be crowded with boxes, pallets, drums or a parked aircraft.

Torben Ke
Thats a great idea! You will benefit from Intrepids layout with relatively small roller doors. Intrepid and Hancock had the same hangar door configuration with much smaller doors than Ticonderoga. You will not see that much through these small openings. Some figures or material should be enough to show something happening behind the doors.

Christian Bruer
sounds good Sven 👍 You can place a plane next to the doors - guess they have some on the boat😄

Holger Kranich
Oh oh oh, what do we have here? Count me in, Sven! 🙂🙂

Sven Schönyan
During the last days I added the side walls with its details. The hull construction will be paused for a while because I´m waiting for the PE set from Tetra. Otherwise I could have glued the port overhang into position, too.
I will now focus on the hangar. picture 14 gives a little impression how it could look like later behind the hangar doors. Of course the area will be crowded with more pallets and boxes and people.

Christian Bruer
Nice progress Sven👍 I fill and sand most of the ejector pin marks inside of the side walls because they will be visible looking inside to take a photo as shown on photo no. 14. Don't forget, before you add all the structure parts (supports for the flight deck overhang) you should paint the hangar deck and the inner side of the support and add all the railing along the hangar deck. You'll later never reach it!

Sven Schönyan
Yes Christian hangar painting is the next step and then adding PE railing to the sponsons. Therefore the progress on the outside of the hull is stopped and I will concentrate on maintenance and stowing scenes for inside the hangar.

Christian Bruer
Some new SSN stuff or what do you use for all that bits and pieces?

Holger Kranich
Do i need new glasses or do you add aftermarket TER and MER???

Sven Schönyan
@ Christian: All details which I´m not pleased with and if there´s no aftermarket solution I design them by myself and if it makes sense I sell them under my SSN Modellbau label.

@ Holger: Yes there will be some true to scale aftermarket TER and MER on the planes.

Christian Bruer
Thx Sven, guess I have to place an order soon😉

Sven Schönyan
The planes from the kit will fill the hangar in the areas which can be seen from outside. I slightly modified them by cutting the wings and glue them into the parking position. I added a 0,2mm rod to the A-4s for the air refueling probe.
To give some more live to the model I build up some Material for the pallets. This will be casted soon in rough quantities as I will need a lot of them.

Torben Ke
Outstanding, Sven! The new products look phantastic. They will add a lot of realism to the model. I can´t wait to have the material set on my desk. Next in line are fork lifts to handle all these pallets and material. 🙂

Johne 69
Very clean work Sven

Sven Schönyan
The next point I found which was not mentioned until now is the typical US Navy forklifter used in the ´60s. After some research I found a picture from which I could drew my design sketch.
This accessoire will perfectly add to the replenishment scene where the forklifters will be transporting away the pallets in the hangar bay or on the flight deck.

Torben Ke
Wohoo! Just the perfect addition to my scene, Sven! Forklifts were used in numbers on the Hangar deck and flight deck. 👍

Ingmar Stöhr
Wow, very cool!

Edgars Bizūns
Looking fiiiine!

Sven Schönyan
Thank you guys for your comments!

Sven Schönyan
During the last weeks I did the paintwork of the hangar bay. I airbrushed the deck with Mr. Hobby H305 FS36118 and the side walls in white. The later visible area around the hangar opening for the elevators got a treatment with several washes from AK.
I painted the aircrafts with a coat of H325 FS26440.

Christian Bruer
Nice painting Sven. Will keep it in my mind to leave a dark gray band along the lower wall.
Cheers, Christian

Torben Ke
Very nice progress Sven. I especially like the weathering which gives a good impression of a heavy used hangar floor after a long deployment.

Ingmar Stöhr
Nice! I think I would have given the hangar deck a bit more of a color variation. But the washing and sprinkles do look very nice. And in the end with everything covered with planes and other stuff it will surely be great looking.

Sven Schönyan
@ Ingmar: as I don´t plan any illumination of the hangar this little weathering is ok I think. A dryfit with the flight deck on top shows a lot of shaddow inside. Therefore I also rejected to fill the ejector marks.
But you are right: on other carriers with much more view inside I would do some more detailing and more weathering.

Holger Kranich
Your planned Level of Detail is freaking awesome! Even pallets in 1:350! I´, looking Forward your next steps, Sven!🙂

Ingmar Stöhr
Sven, that sounds convincing. I also would not worry about things that you cannot see later. Also I think that the viewers attention will be drawn to all the stuff you plan to place in the opening.

Sven Schönyan
Last week I got a parcel with the long awaited test shots of the forklifters together with assorted cargo for my pallets and boxes. These key elements finally allow me to go on with the Intrepid build. I marked the black waterline stripe with an industrial engraving tool. The planes which I will place in the hangar bay got some detail painting.

Thomas Bischoff
outstanding! I will surely follow this one

Torben Ke
Wow! This will be a very busy hangar with great looking details! 👍

Burkhard D
Way cool!😎 - Following 🙂

Sven Schönyan
During the last 2 weeks I started painting the cargo boxes which will later be placed inside the hangar bay or on the pallets. I also glued the first PE parts in place, in this case 2 balconies which will later be very uncomfortable accessable for painting. So they became theirs Haze Grey colour before I glue the flight deck overhangs above them. It´s the same case for the railings around the main deck so I primed and sprayed them in Haze Grey, too.

Sven Schönyan
In order to avoid damaging the PEs which need to be mounted at the outside of the hull I started creating the waterplate before attaching the etched catwalks and railings.
The base is 30mm thick styrofoam. I thinned another 10mm plate to half of its thickness and I tried to cut out an irregularly pattern of smooth upsisings. These uprisings were fixed to the base with acrylic gel. After a day of drying time I trimmed the edges and cut the cutout for the hull.

Spanjaard
i am not a ship modeller, but this one looks really interesting. those pallets and forklifts are fantastic.

Sven Schönyan
Thanks a lot Spanjaard!

Norbert Steffens
Hi Sven Looking good already at this stage...How did you creat the "waves" on your styrene base?

Sven Schönyan
Hi Norbert, I took another plate of Styrofoam and cut it to this shape and then glued it on the base.

Norbert Steffens
Thanks. I'm eager to see the final water surface.

Sven Schönyan
Yesterday I placed a first layer of plaster onto the styrofoam waves. I will have to smooth down it and correct some minor issues before applying another layer.
I also decided to make a change in my colour choice. Instead of Gunze H305 I will now use Vallejo 161/836 London Grey for all horizontal surfaces because they are more easy to paint with the brush where I have to in some corners. It´s said they have the same FS number but actually Vallejo´s colour is lighter and more bluish. The contrast to the vertical applied Haze Grey (Vallejo Medium Sea Grey 158/870) is much better now.
And then I finally went on with some assembling. Now the stern is neraly completed.

Ingmar Stöhr
👍 your water surface looks very promising so far! Dis you use plain plaster? Don't you expect to get cracks in the plaster if the styrofoam bends for some reason?
Regarding the colors: I used MC70990 Light Grey on my Arleigh Burke. MC70870 was to dark for my liking. But I'm no color expert. I just compared some colors and used what I found to give the right look - for me.

Sven Schönyan
Thank you Ingmar! I used Motofill. This plaster doesn´t bend the styrofoam and normally doesn´t crack from shrinking. I got some cracks because I took off the ship too early and because the plaster also adheres to the side of the model. Normally there is some gap between water and model anyway which I always fill with acrylic gel and paint in water colour when finally placing the model to the base.

Christian Bruer
Mhh, seems to ma an unusual technique. Just like Ingmar I would be worried about any cracking of the plaster, even it is Moltofil! Anyhow, I guess time will tell 😉

Is there any sanding necessary or is it that smooth to add paint until the plaster is dry?!

The tanks on the stern platform – some new stuff?
Cheers, Christian

Sven Schönyan
Hi Christian, I thought it would crack actually 30mm Styrofoam is stiff enough. I will place the base later on a wood plank because I want to take it toexhibitions and it needs a stand for the plexi case.
Sanding of the plaster depends on how good the mixture was. In this case I mixed 3 cups that´s why there are different surface qualities and why I´m not so happy with it and want to apply another layer. But I will do the next layer from papier mâché.
The tanks are actually the transport boxes of the jet engines. They were stowed next to the 5" guns and also on the stern. These ones are prototypes. I´m still testing and cannot estimate if they become a new product.

Christian Bruer
Hi Sven, thx for the explanation! Be careful using papier mâché, I tried it several times on a Styrofoam board and it warped heavy once the papier mâché was dry!

Sven Schönyan
Thank you for the hint! So I will have to cut the wood plank tomorrow at work before doing more on my base.

Norbert Steffens
Hi Sven, your Sea Scape looks great. Did you ever use wall paint? It's more "elastic".

Sven Schönyan
Hi Norbert, thank you! I´ve used wall paint one time but was not happy with it. The paint I used was a cheap one and got lots of cracks.

Christian Bruer
Mhh, that depends on a layer applied to thick. The substrate could be also a reason for cracks. I had some bad experience with wall paint stippled on a wooden base. I choose than to a styrene covered MDF base and now use only Styrofoam normally in use for house insulation.
But anyhow, there's more than one way to skin a cat. Modelmaking lives from different experiences and trial and error. I much like to follow all the different ways on Scalenmates and to learn from different experiences. So I'm looking forward to the final result.

Cheers, Christian

Norbert Steffens
Yes you're right. It's more than interesting that there are several ways to create good sea scapes. Up to now, I only tried silicon, with good results, but i think only when there isn't a rough sea. But lets see what Sven result will look like

Sven Schönyan
So, after a while I came back to my Intrepid. Because the first water didn´t turn out as desired I built a new one. First I had to cut off the old styrofoam and apply a new one. After shaping the waves (a little bit smaller now) and cutting a opening for the hull they got a coat of plaster stone. With a little sanding I smoothed it the seascape and applied another layer of plaster this time an air drying type.
Because I want to get a good fit of the hull I first textured the plaster on one side of the hull and after a day of drying the other side.

Christian Bruer
Interesting but time consuming technique.

Martin von Schreckenstein
I am going to buy this kit one day despite having no space for it.. The build is going nicely! Nice job on the hagar floor weathering!

Norbert Steffens
Big effort for your scape, but looks quite good so far.

Martin Oostrom
A large project it is. Like the rest I'm curious how she'll end up. The start looks very promising 👍

Sven Schönyan
Thank you guys for your comments! It´s still a long way to go. Yesterday the plaster wasn´t as dry as expected so no work on it. Hope to find some time during this week.