Okay folks. This is my first ship I've ever built, as I got it on a whim at an outlet for half price. I usually do aircraft, or more recently, armor, but I thought this would be a nice break from worrying about how to paint 200 shades of flesh onto something the size of a shrunken pea.

Any comments before I start? Just looking at how others have approached building the Tamiya Enterprise, I think I'll build up the superstructure and hull before painting with spray cans. My usual brush method isn't going to work here, but at least I don't have to worry about camo patterns!

I plan to document this from start to finish with the digital camera, and will post the pictures to the right place (not sure where that is at the moment) as I go along.

Stephen

Hi Cactus,

Good luck with your ship. It will definitely be a nice change of pace from armor. You might consider getting a photoetch set for it. On ships, it really makes a difference with the rails and stuff added. Much more realistic and it's not as hard as I thought it would be to work with. Although if you are doing a modern Enterprise, not sure how much PE is needed.

Here's a good link to a nice gallery if you want to check out other model ships.

http://www.modelwarships.com/gallery/index-gallery.html

Look forward to seeing pics of your work.

Cheers,
Jason

I built that kit around 20 years ago. The ship itself is not bad. The planes were not that great as I recall. If you do want to replace the planes, Arii makes a set of 1/400 naval aircraft.

Thanks for the information, guys.

GhengisWong: When I opened up the box last night I was underwhelmed by the number of pieces. I guess I've grown used to huge numbers of pieces even at 1:72 armor. The addition of a PE set might make a big difference if the general (positive) correlation between number of pieces and detail holds up.

NimitzFan: The planes looked dreadful, and I had looked around for some aircraft. Thanks for the tip as I hadn't had much success in finding something appropriate (I was wondering how out of scale those 1:350 Tamiya planes would look...I would guess a lot since that's a roughly 33% difference in volume).

Where should I post pictures as construction progresses? (Wow, I'm so lazy I've become one of those people that just asked a question instead of finding out for himself!)

S

GOOD LUCK MY FRIEND
ROBERTO

Hi Cactus,

I did a little poking around and for 1/400 scale, there is not as much PE as say for 1/700 or 1/350, but if you can find any, it really will make things stand out.

Anyway, the other reason I was posting was you also might try and find some PE Sailors to go on the deck. You could almost make a mini diorama on the flight deck with guys working on planes and getting them taxied, etc.

Cheers,
Jason

Thanks for the encouragement and tips, everyone! I've started building the hull and aft section and it has gone together like a dream. I'll post some pictures soon. Next up is the forward hull, then I think I may go to the superstructure so that I can paint everything as efficiently as possible.

S

PS Check out some photos from the initial stages at Enterprise 1:400.

Well, I saw two things I lked better on that kit over the Tamiya 350 monster. Though the hull was two pieces, it was only a small piece easier to fix seam lines. You got a decal sheet for all the deck striping. Man I dread that on mine. Trying to mask that is not going to be fun. I'm curious, how many pieces did the flight deck come in. The Tamiya was three and that 's going to be a nightmare to try to hide the seam lines especially the way they are set up withthe metsl bracing. Good luck finding a PE set. You want one that hsa the netting. I just ordered the Gold Medal set for mine. Check Gold Medal Models, Tom's model works, and White Ensign Models for a PE set.

Blaster,

The deck is in 3 major pieces. I just finished building the superstructure, and the decking is next. I plan on priming and spray painting it before putting it together, as most of the other pieces are in haze grey (also known as whatever grey color I have in my spray cans ). I'm actually going to use Panzer Grey for the deck, as I don't have an alternative without waiting for something off the net.

To be honest, the quality of this build is not high enough to worry about secondary characteristics like the correct shade of dark grey under the midday sun. For example, the superstructure is built up from the bottom in layers like a big sandwich. However, the pieces don't exact line up on top of each other and they aren't flush. Fixing this would take an inordinate amount of time given the geometry of the sections. Other than this, I'd say that so far the build has gone very well with a minimum of sanding and seam correction. The long piece under the deck on one side bows a little bit along its approximately 16 inch length; that's going to be a challenge to sand and flatten correctly since it bows along its length.

Building the 48 (?) aircraft is going to be interesting. Mass production in models!

S

hey cactus, i am 3 quarters the way on making my 1 350 tamiya enterprise, i have been working on it for 6 months now, i am up to the stage of painting everything coz i build then paint, i find that painting the deck lines and hook up dots is very very very very dificult for me, do you have any tips on how to make this easy, thnx , matt
cant wait to see your end product

cheers

MATTTOMLIN,

I just primed the ship's major components yesterday after building up the superstructure. I'm going to let it dry until tomorrow night and then go over it again where necessary. I'll probably prime the decking at that point as well. A few days later I'll start to take a look at the detail work, and I'll let you know how it goes!

S

Sorry there hasn't been an update in a while, but I was waiting on my airbrush to get here before moving on. I bought a Iwata Eclipse BCS and just tried it out today for the first time. I plan on painting the major components over the next few weeks and will post some pictures at that time.

Stephen

I've been working on my 350 scale Essex for a while. Got it bilt up to the main deck (these beauty's have a full hanger deck.) Haven't attached deck yet as it is now time for aircraft builds to be put in hanger deck. Talk about mass builds, I have24 SBD's, and 20 ea Avengers and Hellcats. PLus decals!!!!!!!!!!!! So when that is done, place a bunch in hanger deck, glue on main deck, then airbrush the sides and island the appropriate color, fix deck the best I can to hide seam lines, airbrush it, then glue on island and gun emplacements and rest oflittle airplanes (using some of them to cover deck seam lines) Man those planes sure are tedious, but look great when they are done and sitting on the ship. So, are you having as much fun? I have really enjoyed making this kit almost as much as making a tank

Hello, I have been working on the same kit and just finnished grinding the hanger doors off, I want to scratch build the hanger, big job. I am trying to figure out how to make a template! Any sugetions would be appreciated

Shinano... A lot of work for nothing in my opinion. I took off a ton of doors, glued seveal planes in it. In all honesty, even up close and personal it is difficult to see planes parked next to doors let alone hanger deck interior. The Tom's PE set really makes the kit though. finished it a couple of days ago and even up close she looks out-freakin-standing. Look forward to doing the Hornet in near future and can't wait for Saratoga/Lexington and Nimitz in future.

Blaster,

Fiber optics will help a lot. I am opening up my Tamiya Big E and putting a lot of detail into the hangar area. I will be installing a fiber optics lighting so that all of that work will be seen. I don't have the link handy, but I got it off of ebay from the FiberOptics store (you can find them easily with a search).

Hello again everyone! I have taken some time off from this project for a number of reasons, primarily that I've been working out how to use my airbrush in my spare time instead of working on the ship. The other (implicit) consideration is that I haven't had as much time to work on models of any type recently.

However, that said, I've been looking at this giant hull of a ship in the bay next to where I park my car every day with some new appreciation after some time off. Although I've been put off by the fairly dismal level of fit and detail in this kit, I may get back into it soon.

I can't imagine scratch building the interior of one of these things and then running a million fiber optic lights everywhere! That must look spectacular!

Stephen

I only have done a little work on my Tamiya Enterprise. As the hanger doors are open, I laid some sections of sheet styrene across to make a deck. Got a couple of exta boxes of aircraft (found them on sale for $3 a pop) and plan to put planes in the hanger area. Been tied up the last everal months with other projects and haven't eve considered working on that monster anytime soon. Look forward to seeing how you are coming. Did you every find any photo etched? I still am a big fan of that stuff. Got some extra railing a while back and added it to my Yamato that I built umpteen years ago

I haven't found any PE for it. My interest in tricking up this baby wilted as I got a closer look at its level of detail. I'm surely spoiled by the latest releases from Hasegawa in small scale armor--the detail on the Enterprise just looks plain crude in comparison. I mean, what exactly is going on with these aircraft? Not only are they lacking detail (understandable) but they have the wrong shapes (slopes and rounded corners).

I am still very interested in this ship for a different reason, however--the chance to practice some naval weathering with my airbrush and chalks. I think I could have a lot of fun making the ship look used. I am also interested in trying my hand at setting it in a base, although we'll have to see how big that turns out to be! In any event, there is a lot of plastic just itching to be weathered on there. Plus, finding pictures of this beast in color is so much easier than, say, my other current project: Hasegawa's Flakpanzer Ostwind.

So although I'm not willing to invest any more money spiffing this pup up, I always try to find something positive about the model. The only exception to that rule is the (pirated?) Prowler I bought from Zhengdefu (it was labelled in a Kitech box). Stay away from these!!! Not good for anything except practicing painting, and you can buy some plastic sheet for a lot less!

S