Partial Air Wing, CV-3 Saratoga, 1936

[Skyking]

Although the boat itself is O/T, the aircraft are, so I thought I'd show a couple of shots of the aircraft that came with the kit. 6 each of a T4M-1, F3F-1, SBU-1 Corsair and BF2C aircraft. I'm using the Gold Medal PE set for the boat, which gives lovely little PE N Struts and props, rather than the clunky clear plastic kit struts. The kit decals are also lackluster, in that they do not give aircraft section numbers, Fortunately Starfighter Decals does a sheet that gives decals for EVERY aircraft in the wing, or 72 in all. It includes not only the various squadron aircraft, but also the utility aircraft, including the Admirals F3F-1 in Admiral Blue with polished aluminum tail surfaces. I've got all the kits aircraft assembled and have begin the painting process. Even in this scale the seams were relatively large, but easy to fill. In retrospect if I was to do them over I would have also filled all the scribed panels lines, as they are grossly out of scale, but at this point I'll live with it. This model will never see a contest table at any show, as it's my first ship, but it'll be fine for my display case. I'm seriously toying with the idea of getting more of the aircraft kits and doing the entire airwing, but it would completely fill the deck, and I'm not sure it would be visually appealing. We'll see.

Little airplanes everywhere! I have a straight pin stuck in the nose of each for a handle to hold them while painting. They are fragile little buggers, especially the PE struts.

The T4M's are almost all painted. I have the top wing set in place on the one to check and see how well they align, etc.... not to mention I was anxious to see how it looked..

Close up of one of the T4M's. No rigging on these guys. I'm not that masochistic.

Cheers

Mike

[danjparsons]

It is a very daunting and repetitious task you have undertaken. I built Trumpeter's CV-3 Saratoga in 1/700th scale last year for my girlfriend's grandfather who served on Sara during the later part of WWII. But I also opted to build her OOB in her 1936 formation. The A/C took a bit of time (and a lot of eye strain) to complete but looked beautiful on her deck when completed. Please continue to post pics. Would very much like to see how yours turns out. Good luck!

[jimz66]

Nice job on those minis. Now were is the Ship?

[Skyking]

Thanks Dan and Jim, appreciate the comments. Jim I'll post some of the boat in the "other stuff" forum a little later. Not much to see on it yet except some of the main island and funnel.

I've got one of the T4M's done. I used this one as a crash test dummy to see how the decals would go down, what areas to watch out for, etc. It went fairly easy, except for the fact my thumb is bigger than the model..lol. Rather than sweat the round engine, lack of interior, etc, I opted to paint the areas to represent them being covered with storm canvas, then I'll add tiny tie-downs when it comes time to put them on the deck. They came out pretty well, now I just have 23 more to go. If I'm not cross eyed after this it'll be a miracle.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Now only if I could draw little men as good as Chuk I'd be all set, but I can't even draw a stick figure, so we'll leave it to Abe this one time.

Cheers

Mike

[phantom]

Those are beautiful, good luck on the rest of the ships company.

[Skyking]

Five days, Six aircraft. These things are small, and the T4M's are the biggest of the bunch, so the next ones are really going to be testing my eyesight. I'll probably do the F3F-1's next, as I'm going to do 3 in Section colors, one as a squadron hack, and the other as the Admiral's aircraft, just for a little variety. The repitition is mind numbing, but I can also look at it this way... last year it took me a year to finish one model. So far in one week I've done 6, so I guess there's an upside..lol.

cheers

Mike

[Aggressor Supporter]

Simply WOW to these tiny guys! In that one pic, if you didn't put the penny beside it, you could have said it was 1/72 scale or something and I would have believed it.

[geedubelyer]

Hmmm,......I think I've seen some modellers try a test subject in a smaller scale before they tackle a big version but you scratch built a 1/48th scale T4M before you built the 1/350th scale version, right?

:D

Just pulling your leg Mike ;)

These little guys look the business. I love the look of the pre-war U.S Navy yellow wing birds.

This boat is going to be spectacular once complete. Keep us all posted with the progress please. I'm particularly looking forward to seeing the various different types together on deck.

p.s, Of course, there's a "none(grrr,..stoopid speling! :) ) aircraft" forum now, if you're shy about posting piccies of the carrier

Edited October 9, 2008 by geedubelyer

[HOLMES]

So Mike ,

Don't tell ME that you spent your Birthday doing this when you said that you had been given the day to PLASTIC by swmbo....Anyway this is absolutely

AWESOME and SO INCREDIBLE Mike.... ;)

The Ships COMPANY will look FABULOUS...

HOLMES.

[Marlin]

Wow !!!!!!!

I bow to the master.

I have the USS Hornet in my stash. If I can do my airwing looking half as good I would pleased

What a great work you have done.

Please give use more pics !

Best Regards

Bosse from Sweden

[smutz]

WOW is all I can say this is superb, I'd struggle with this in 72nd but.........

Andy

[Skyking]

Hiya Guy, thanks for the comments, as always. You know, Hasegawa made some righteous 32nd scale pre WW2 US Navy bipes that you would have a ball with. I have about 4 of each in the stash. Now with Vector coming out with new engines designed specifically for these kits they could really be made into a work of art.

And Holmes thank you for your enthusiastic response, 'tis much appreciated. Yes SWMBO let me have the day to do with pretty much as I pleased, so I spent most of it working on these little buggers. I can't say enough how nice it is to have a wife that not only supports the hobby but encourages me to actively pursue it. I'm one of the lucky ones.

Marlin thank you. Please post pictures when you have started. I think this will probably be my last early carrier, unless I go for just before WW2 and most of the aircraft are monoplanes. These are just too small for me to work on comfortably. I really tip my hat to anyone that can do these on a continuous basis, especially the 700th scale guys. I couldn't do it in that scale.

HIya smutz. Oh believe me I am struggling..lol. I started with the T4M's because they are the biggest of the lot. Now I went to the F3F's, they are the smallest, so if I can do both extremes I should be OK. I d know though, I won;t be ordering anymore of the aircraft kits to complete the entire air wing. I'd have to be committed after.

OK so here we are with the first F3F-3. Because I lost one.... yes... you read that right... lost one... an entire airplane... , I only have 5 left to display. So rather than have two complete sections, I will have one complete section and I'll use the other two for a squadron hack and the Air Wing Commanders airplane. I started with the Commanders airplane, as the decal sheet I am using from Starfighter Decals gives all the markings for them. Admiral Blue Fuselage, with Chrome yellow wings and polished aluminum tail feathers. I mixed my own admiral blue... didn't need to mix much for this little guy, and used Testors Chrome yellow right out of the bottle. The polished aluminum is Alclad Chrome, which is from one of the good lots and works to perfection. One thing I have learned about these little guys, and I will pass it along to anyone that may be contemplating doing them, is to paint and decal them BEFORE assembly. With the struts in place, the wings and stabilizers on, it's just too difficult to handle them without breaking something off. For the Commanders airplane I ended up removing (i.e. breaking them off) the wings and stabilizers, and found it was much easier to apply decals and paint with them out of the way. They fit well enough so that when you glue on the parts, there will no seam visible in this scale.

Sitting on top of a dime. Less than an inch in size. The tan areas are tan on purpose. I didn't care for the engines or cowls on any of these, so I painted them tan to simulate the storm canvas's over the engines and canopies. Simple but effective way of getting out of trying to make them look like they should.

Rear view. The Starfighter decals go on easy and snuggle down well with minimal setting solution. They are also well printed, as you can easily read the lettering, even in this small scale.

I think after I get these done, it'll be time for a break and I'll be going back to the Devastator. 48th scale is going to seem huge after working on these things.

As always thanks for looking.

Cheers

Mike

[Aggressor Supporter]

Wow!

[Skyking]

The eyestrain continues :blink: :blink:

Five tubby little Grummans, F3F-1's. One as the Commander Airwing aircraft, a second as a squadron hack, and the remaining three Flight Section 1. Believe it or not I lost the sixth airplane. I've lost parts before but this is a first. I've never lost an entire airplane before, but in this scale, the airplanes are smaller than most parts I've made..lol. I may buy another set of F3F's, but then again probably not, as I just want to get these things finished. Left to do yet are the SBC's and Corsairs, then I can get back to the boat itself.

I'm really enjoying the project in spite of the monotony of repetition. I think though my next ship will have a maximum of one or two aircraft, or maybe none. I love the Great White Fleet era, so maybe an Olympia or Oregon is in my future.

Thanks for looking

Cheers

Mike

Edited October 24, 2008 by Skyking

[silver1]

Wow, looks like you have built more planes in the last few weeks than I have in the last few years.

Ed

[moeggo]

Wow!!! Those are tiny!!!

[Aggressor Supporter]

[Pete "Pig" Fleischmann]

Looks great Mike...but I think the prop shafts are a little too long...but what do I know...I'm a jet guy!

HTH

Pig

Edited October 30, 2008 by Pete "Pig" Fleischmann

[thom]

I am so impressed by this. Soooo impressed.

[silver1]

Your work has inspired me to do a little research on the USS Saratoga. Beautiful ship with a rich history. I do beleive there is a yellow winged aircraft on my bench that just had it's markings chosen.

Ed

[Skyking]

Thanks for the comments guys. I appreciate it. The airplanes have been put on the back burner for a bit while I attack the boat itself. I needed to work on something substantial that I could actually hold in my fingers and see. :D.

Beautiful ship with a rich history. I do beleive there is a yellow winged aircraft on my bench that just had it's markings chosen.

Ahh Silver you are so correct. The Sara and Lexington both were very nice looking ships. Well proportioned and in the prewar grays and mahogony decks, very colorful compared to the drab war years. Glad you found some inspiration. What subject are you going to do?

Looks great Mike...but I think the prop shafts are a little too long...

Darn it Pete. I KNEW something wasn't quite right about them. Thanks for pointing it out. Not too bad for a jet guy. :lol:

Hurry up and get that drywalling done so you can get back to the bench. There's guys here turning blue as they hold their breath for the next Viper installment.

Cheers

Mike

[HOLMES]

Amazing piece of work Mike!!

[Spruemeister]

We require more information....

Your progress reports are overdue.

Rick L.

[Skyking]

HI Rick,

I finished the entire boat and there's a post over in the "Non-Aircraft" thread. It's probably buried pretty deep by now, so here's a couple of shots of the adt deck showing the aircraft in place.

Thanks for inquiring. I had forgotten about this thread..lol

Cheers

Mike