I have the photos in my gallery , just don't know how to transfer them to a reply but I am trying this method so we shall see

Very nice

slowly getting there..

Dave,

The Ultimate Model Paint Conversion site http://www.paint4models.com/ says either Aggressor Gray or Light Ghost are matches for 5-H. But upon extremely unscientific review against the S&S color chips and the web site, I think Neutral Gray 36270 might be closest, but certainly others here might know more.

Hope this helps some. That site is a really good one, by the way.

Michael

Thanks a ton, I checked that site and I have to agree on its awesomeness

Awesome work Steve!

Well I had a nice long weekend. I had four days off and three colors to spray onto my USS Bogue. Sounded too easy, I only got one color done, the gray.

Hopefully next weekend I can get the blue camo on the sides. Heck I may even get lucky and also get to paint the deck.

Hopefully in a couple of weeks I will have more time.

I am having issues maksing my carrier for her camouflage pattern. I am trying the simple MS22 pattern that is just a blue stripe along the hull. The problem I have having is that stripe covers parts of the platforms at odd angles and I haven't been able to get it masked off in a straight line even after several attempts.

Here is a link showing an example of the camo pattern albeit on a cruiser.

Does anyone have any techniques or words of wisdom that I could try out?

That Akagi is simply stunning!
I'm going to be building the Aoshima 1/700 HMS Victorious for this build. Just arrived in the post this morning so currently doing a little digging round the net for good pics and references. Im hoping to complete the ship as she appeared whilst attached to the USS Saratoga during part of 1943 (apparently breifly renamed USS Robin/USS Robin Hood, depending on the site I looked at?). Just trying to figure out at what period of the war the kit represents. I will need to replace the kits basic aircraft no matter what. Trumpeter have that covered. According to fleetairmarchive.com Wildcats and Avengers were carried at this time but no mention of the colour schemes and markings. More research is needed before I start to glue anything!
Speaking of Trumpeter I saw looking through the pages their 1/700 USS Hornet and I notice that it comes with a vac-form sea base. Thats a nice touch that could save a lot of work. Do most of their ships include that and is it any good?

I'm working on the 1/700 Trumpeter Hornet right now for the campaign.....I plan to use the base included in the kit to see how it turns out with some color treatment. They provided a similar base with the Sara. If anything it may save some time in creating a base from scratch and besides, the wife thinks the base is the coolest thing about the kit (Remember to most women these are boats not ships - you get the picture)

Have tied myself up with outfiiting her with rails and I didn't realize when I started that a CV-5 class carrier would have so many rails, there are more walkways than meet the eye. Step back just a few feet and the railings and small details disappear.

Facing a similar dilemma about how far to take the detailing myself, not only with this build but a couple of others. I freely admit to not being the best when it comes to PE on large scale models, but at 1/700 I might make more of a mess than its worth. I'm giving it a go on a couple of things so we'll see how it turns out for me. I'm halfway through a 1/700 IJN destroyer, and to be perfectly honest looks great without any additions. My hat is off to all you guys who manage to make such fantastic models with PE railings and everything.

I have for the most part written off photo etch on 1/700 because from a foot away you can't notice it. There are a few things that will use PE for like some platforms but not rails or laders. Radars aren't even worth it at times.

Hey guys.
I think with PE railings one consideration should be railing type. Quite often on RN destroyers if you look at a photo, railings are very hard to make out. This is due to the thickness of the rail itself. On some ships i work on, rails can be as thin as 10mm. Take that to 1/700 and your talking a rail thickness of 0.014mm. This to me often makes destroyers kitted with PE handrails look almost drowned in them. Stantions were often thicker and to me would make more sense to maybe show these.
That being said railings on bigger ships are often a lot thicker, again on ships ive worked on a common thick rail could be 80mm. While PE is probably still overscale, its at least representing something that was a lot more visible. Although looking through photos again sometimes its actually hard to make out railings unless quite a close up photo. One thing that would help mask thickness is to paint in a slightly darker shade of colour it represents.
One other thing with the to PE or not to PE is display and photography. Sat on a shelf unless inspected very closely like you say PE will hardly be seen so is it worth it ? On the other hand close photography will certainly show this omission, Kostas Katseas' work is testiment to how good it can look.
Anyway, just my views to chuck in the mix. I have actually decided 1/700 is just too small for me. I opened up a trumpeter HMS eskimo in store after looking at a PE set, there is no way in the world i have the skill to work so much PE into a ship so tiny. I too am in awe of what people can achieve in this scale.

steve

Beatiful work everyone!

I figured this campaign would produce some killer builds, but everyone has blown away what I was expecting.

I agree that photoetched railings on 1/700 can be a major undertaking and nearly invisible but once you start it seems to get easier. For the Hornet with it's '42 camo there is a good contrast of colors with the deck blue, grey and mid blue colors. I tend to paint my rails just a tad lighter that the overall color to make them stand out just a little more. Some of the work on this site blows me away and I am no where near the level of some of the modelers on this site!

I'm fairly new to ship modeling as I have been doing air and armor since my return to the hobby, This will be my 4th build since I've returned to ships and rails are certainly a challenge for me. There definitely is a learning curve and part of that curve may include a jump to 1/350 to satisfy my urge to detail without losing my sanity.

Looking good

Yeah!

Hmmm.. I think maybe I should at least START my flattop..

AM going to be building the 1/350 Trumpeter USS Saratoga as that is the one I can get too easiest!

Everyone's builds look great. Hope I can do half as well. This will be my first ship in quite a while , in fact the last one I built was a 1/350 Liberty Ship from Trumpeter OOB.

I decided to switch to the measure 32 camo. It is a more complicated pattern but it will be easier to paint. I just couldn't seem to get a straight enough line along the bottom of all of those platforms.

So I have two colors painted on the hull. I have one more to go before I paint the deck. It is going to take a while to get the masking prepared for this last color but it should turn out fine.

Hmmm (again)... Only one slight problem with the Saratoga... It is in its pre-war configuration... As some famous person once said, "Back to the drawing board."

Could be a good excuse to buy the Hasegawa Akagi...

Here's my start to my 1/700 USS Vermillion CVE-52

Look forward to progress on this one. CVE are one of my favourite class of ship. 1/700 is just a little small for me as i had wanted to build one as HMS Attacker. I have just bought the trumpeter Graf Spee in 1/700 though (a bargin at £10) so i'll see how fiddley and who knows

Also some great builds by the others, great work all round

steve

Kenny, I see you found and filled in the same 'dimples' on the hull that I did. I don't think I filled mine in enough, I can see the outline of a couple of them still. We'll what the next coat of paint does to it...... once I get the time to finish masking it.

Hello gentlemen, I have an update for my Trumpeter 1/700 USS Hornet. I've been working away as I get time in my top secret shipbuilding yard. The main tasks going on now are the continuing installations of the anti-aircraft weapons and platforms. All eight of the 5"/38 guns and mounts have been installedas have some of the smaller AA weapons. I still have many more of the smaller caliber guns to install and will be working on those this week.

In these photos, the flight deck has not yet been attached and has just been set on top for the photos.

Nice work Scott. Yes I did David. I used Gunze's Mr. Dissolved Putty on them. Also, I'll get to build this kit again! The USS Breton CVE-23 was named after Breton Sound in Louisiana. Another member of the Louisiana Navy!