¹⁄350

CVN65, The Big E

Gold medal and White Ensign Photoetch used to detail both the ship and the air wing, however, there was a lot of scratchbuilding and alterations to the actual kit.

The lower part of the hull was sawn off as this was going to be displayed as a waterline model on a seascape, which was fashioned out of tissue paper, white glue and polyfilla.

The Hangar was entirely scratchbuilt from back to front as seen in the pictures. The fire door mural was a scaled down digital image of the original. I decided to install a lighting system using very small 12 volt bulbs but using low current from a DC alternator, hence the wiring system. The island is also lit up using the same system. The hull was sanded clean of all raised detail and piping and trunking was all scratchbuilt using different gauges of straightened telephone wire and plastic strips. Sponsons for sparrow launchers finely detailed as well as afterbow and quarterdecks and support structure with odd bits from a spent computer motherboard.

Mountings for phalanx cannons in the stern and starboard amidships were scratchbuilt discarding the kit parts which were not accurate. Sparrow launchers and Phalanx cannons detailed. Elevators detailed adding further girder fretwork. The structure shown in elevator 3 was reshaped and restructured accurately. Catwalks and walkways detailed. The weather antennas and electronic warfare were scratchbuilt, discarding kit parts and again using odd bits from the old computer motherboard. RBOC launchers were also scratchbuilt. Life raft canisters detailed accordingly. The island was also sanded clean and detailed with scratchbuilt piping. I also scratchbuilt the viewing gallery port side facing the flight deck. Accurate superstructure detail on the starboard side was added altering the whole face available in the kit.

Limited available yellow gear equipment in the kit was detailed adding more scratchbuilt equipment mainly twin agent fire fighting units, more trucks, GPU’s , ASU’s, tow bars, trolleys, heavy forklift and even a tarmac sweeper. L’Arsenal figures were used ….don’t know how many but a lot were altered and converted to different poses. All ordnance was scratchbuilt which include sparrow, phoenix, maverick missiles and side winders mainly consisting of about 10 different minute parts. They can be seen on the port side as well as behind the island near the armament elevator.