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I better get this thing started.....only 6 months!

So, this is the start to my CVN-65 U.S.S. Enterprise build. The kit says "Trumpeter" on the box. Sure, this particular kit may have come out of the Trumpeter factory, but it's Tamiya engineering. Given the art on the box and the date (1998) one can easily surmise that this is no more than a clone. And while it's not a terrible clone....it ain't a great one either. I got the kit for 35 bucks from one of my local shops. I pulled it off the shelf to have a peek and the guy said "If you can knock off all the dust you can have it for 35." I guess it had been sitting on the shelf since it came out in 1998! I already have one of the amazing 350th Nimitz kits in the stash, so I figured what the heck....this would make good practice for the Nimitz and if it turns out decent it will make a good counterpart to the Nimitz.

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The deck is going to take some major work.

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Here's a close up of it....there are injection marks all over the place. And not the nice little holes that need filling, but the ugly ones that leave a little tail cause the plastic was still coming out a little. Fun.

And the aircraft are a joke....

big_e_3.jpg

I am still debating what to do with these, if just bite the bullet and sink about 100 bucks into an airwing of Trumpeter aircraft or if I just go with the flow and use these mongoloid aircraft.

Edited by paul.nortness
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One thing about cloned kits that really sucks.....

big_e_4.jpg

Nasty seams from the original kit get nastier in the clone....and the bow/hull seam is no exception. I took advantage of the couple months grace period the GB mods gave us for the bigger builds, and set to work on this bad boy. After about a tube and a half of Squadron Green, this is what I have. I need to do some serious buffing to get those scratches out.

The Trumpeter plastic does not like sanding film very much. It really scratches easily.

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Going by the box art I guess it has the bee-hive radar and big arse radar panels? So thats a little different then the Tamiya.

THe hull looks the same as mine, the flight deck does look quite different.

As for the aircraft.......yep, go buy the aftermarket Trumpeter. Those ones you are showing are even worse then the Tamiya ones.

What year are you going with 60s -70s?

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It may say Trumpeter on the box somewhere, but as I recall, that one originated from their WSN/Wasan/Minihobby offshoot/underlings, which were generally more toylike kits originally created for the home Chinese market. A number of earlier armor and aircraft models from that conglomerate were of the same quality. I think AA kits may have been theirs as well. All of the stuff marketed by those companies generally have boxes with a lot more Chinese writing on them, and even worse artwork than 'actual' Trumpeter kits.

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Jason, that would explain the electric motor that it came with!

Mike, the pin marks I was referring to can be seen in the lower part of the pic, right by the guide lines for the island.

phantom, I am a bit limited because of the beehive....I might do the first Tomcat cruise. Not sure yet.

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It was a direct rip off of the Tamilya kit, the parts breakdown is the same and everything. Check the behive sizing, If I remember right, it is slightly underscale, but I am not 100% sure on that.

I will root around and see if I have any of the Tamiya birds, but to be honest, the Trumpeter planes are light years ahead of the Tamiya offerings. Clear canopies alone make it worthwhile.

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The kit didn't come with any decals, so I think I am going to order a couple sheets from Gold Medal models. Now I need to either find a sheet of decals that has the stripes for the deck or face the challenge of painting them.

Does anyone have any experience with Starfighter decals? I was looking at their site and saw they have a set of decals for CVW-14 1974-75 First Tomcat Cruise. Does anyone know how many aircraft are covered? The description on their site says it has markings for all squadrons, but how many aircraft per squadron?

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Can't answer for the 1974 sheet, but Starfighter is excellent. I bought the 2001 sheet. Came with 20 some odd for VF-41 and VF-14, 20 somethig for VFA-15 and 87. 4 for VAW-124, 4 for VAQ-141 , decals for 1 Greyhound , 7 Vikings from VS-24 and 6 HS-3 Helicopters.

Thats the entire airwing.

The decals are very small and take time to apply but are very much worth it. Especially as you will be doing a full colour airwing.

As for Gold Medal, they too are worth it. The big lines you paint but the red/white stripes and elevator warnings are decal required. GM also gives you the island markings.

DSC_0281.jpg

Here is how mine looks so far after some weathering. Still have more flight deck decals to apply.

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I hand painted the landing stripes on mine, I used a off white, and actually did not even tape them off. I felt the decals were too stark white, after looking at pictures of the real thing.

here is mine

http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery/cv...r/rr-index.html

keep in mind, this was from 2003, so my modeling techniques have gotten better, and the model was still not finished at this time.

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Oh and something else, the aircraft are obviously not Big E specific, I wanted a variety of aircraft, as I knew I would not be building another in that scale, and most of the markings are hand painted. If you scroll all the way down on the left, you pull up a different gallery of just the aircraft.

It was also one of my first experiences with photo etch, I still remember the glue issues.

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Hey phantom, thanks for the info on Gold Medal. I just ordered the "US Nuclear Carrier" sheet from them. Turns out they are really close to me.

got a couple questions regarding your build....

first off....are the lines on the flight deck recessed or raised on the Tamiya version?

Secondly....love the weathering on the deck. What process did you use?

So a full airwing in those Starfighter decals, huh? In that case, to answer your earlier question about timeframe....definitely going to have to go with the first Tomcat cruise 74-75. Something about little tiny Wolfpack Tomcats!

richter....great build. Nice job on the aircraft. I like the proto-phantom and the Blue Angel sitting on the cat! Very nice

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Hey phantom, thanks for the info on Gold Medal. I just ordered the "US Nuclear Carrier" sheet from them. Turns out they are really close to me.

got a couple questions regarding your build....

first off....are the lines on the flight deck recessed or raised on the Tamiya version?

**They are raised, very little and subtle. But you need to sand off the 65 on the bow for the 2001 version as the raised numbers are applicable to a earlier age.**

Secondly....love the weathering on the deck. What process did you use?

**Full colour white and yellow markings dulled first with a overspray of the deck colour, then some Tamiya oil smeared in little blobs, the some streaks. The some Tamiya weathering makeup stuff. (the kind of stuff that looks like the wifes makeup.**

So a full airwing in those Starfighter decals, huh? In that case, to answer your earlier question about timeframe....definitely going to have to go with the first Tomcat cruise 74-75. Something about little tiny Wolfpack Tomcats!

** I think Starfighter sells that**

richter....great build. Nice job on the aircraft. I like the proto-phantom and the Blue Angel sitting on the cat! Very nice

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Are you going with photo etch?

It really does make the ship pop

*Edit because I was stupid...

I am still undecided on the PE. If I go with the Trumpeter aircraft, I am looking at close to $200 for the air wing alone

not sure if I am that willing to drop $250+ on aircraft and PE for a 35 dollar model.

@Phantom....thanks for the info. Yes, Starfighter does sell that sheet, I just saw them on their site.

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I am still undecided on the PE. If I go with the Trumpeter aircraft, I am looking at close to $200 for the air wing alone

not sure if I am that willing to drop $250+ on aircraft and PE for a 35 dollar model.

Paul, do you build a lot of ships? Because if you don't, you'd be amazed what PE can do for them. At the very least strongly consider getting a set of generic USN railings.

One way to keep the costs down (or at least, spread it out over a long period of time) would be to use the aircraft from the kit to populate the hangar deck, buy just a few packs of Trumpeter a/c for the flight deck now, and then get more of them a little at a time later on...

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I will do what I can.....I may be having some computer issues....my antivirus went crazy with warnings about 5 minutes before I had to leaving for work last night....if I can get my computer restored, I will definitely post some pics for you.

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There have been many grumps about the Tamiya kit,

incomplete/non existant hanger deck

Not really a correct representation of any configuration of the Enterprise.

It requires a good deal of scratch building, but the results turn out spectacular with a little TLC

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  • 3 weeks later...

I got the island built up to the beehive today....ran out of time for a photo op though. The one downside to the kit (Not sure of the Tamiya kit has it or not) are windows in the tower...the Trumpy version is just open, no glass. Is that normal?

Also, I am tossing around the idea of lightly rescribing the flight deck.

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