Ahoy Shipmates!!!

Join me as MSW Crewmember Tim Reynaga (TimReynaga) shares with us his build of the classic Revell kit of the USS Midway.


Link to Item

If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

An excellent presentation on both the ship and a classic kit!

The layout of the kit represents the Midway between 1946 and 1952. The original armored pilothouse was actually chopped off and the island forward of the funnel was completely replaced and the part of the flight deck that overhung the forecastle was actually cut back to produce an odd 'semi-hurricane bow'. In effect, the forward 3"-50's were left exposed but the rest of the forecastle was walled off, leaving secondary conn as a projecting bay-window. I recommend Pete Clayton's book on the Midway as an essential reference.

An interesting note about the flight deck colors: she was the first U. S. carrier to have an armored deck, so the steel was painted a dark deck gray, but then it was surmounted by thousands of black adhesive non-skid pads. These pads just touched one another end-to-end but were separated by 2-3 inches on the sides, producing a strange courderoy effect. How to paint that in 1/547 will be a challenge....perhaps decal film would work?

One advantage to working on the Midway is that you can still see vestiges of the ship's earlier layouts, especially on the hangar and flight deck levels. A 1:350 series on the Midways would be a welcome addition to the hobby.

--Karl

Talk about classic! Thanks!

Wow! Not bad for a kit that old. Good job!

Tim, great job! Brings back memories. Aside from the 3 inch twins, it would be make you look twice to tell it from some of the new models from the 1990s. And you are right about the aircraft - 1/350 planes made with a zillion parts, these old Revell skysteeds look pretty good when painted and decaled as well as you did. Salute!

Thanks guys!