Won the kit in a raffle and have been doing some light research as I knew nothing of the ship or kit. I have picked up the Eduard set for the kit since the best I have seen that is best option given the scale issues of the kit. I think I might have a been a little shop happy as I got the Starfigher Decals too.
The fixes as I understand them:
- Portholes need to be removed
- The island is too skinny but widening (how much?) impacts the deck features
- Picking a year to make as the kits features are conflicting
I get the kit is old and what I have found is some text talking generally about the issues but does any one know of a build that shows someone addressing the issues in detail?
I am thinking I want to show at least one bird on the deck and the elevator raising/lowering with another bird on it. Outside of that I prefer the easiest and most correct version that can be built from the kit just don’t know what and where to modify.
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Don’t know if you have seen this or not, but perhaps it may help:
If this is the same kit you have, the review indicates it’s a late war version, which addresses question number 3.
Building any ship, especially a US Navy ship, almost always requires you to decide what period or time frame you intend to depict the model as warships are constantly being updated and upgraded with new technologies and armament which can significantly alter their appearance. Kits (if they are a well researched one) should have taken this in to account and come already manufactured to depict a certain version, but sometimes they’ll get some things right and others, not so much.
One of the best things to do is to try to locate an in depth reference book which chronicles the sort of changes in things like radars, and anti-aircraft armament that the Enterprise underwent during the course of the war, along with paint schemes, which may or may not have been changed.
Luckily, the Enterprise is probably the most famous US warship of WW II and there are a TON of photos available and that should help.
The OTHER problem you have with an aircraft carrier is that you also need to ensure that the composition and painting of the planes in the attached Air Group are consistent with the period in which you’re depicting the ship, so for example no Corsairs or Hellcats if you’re depicting her at Midway, or no TBDs if she’s being depicted as a 1945 night carrier.
While not a build log, and without any aircraft, this appears to be an excellent build of a Tamiya 1/700 Enterprise in her late war configuration as shown by the radar suite and all the 40mm and 20mm AA guns
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Thanks I don’t know if I saw that one. The build linked is basically what I want to do but with a plane or two on the deck.
Two excellent references which can provide a lot of detail to decide how to model the ship based on the period you wish to depict are:
U.S. Aircraft Carriers, by Norman Friedman, and Aircraft Carriers of the U.S. Navy, by Stefan Terzibaschitsch.
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terrible that she was scrapped and not made into a museum
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