Hi Bob.

Thanks for the praise, I appreciate it very much.

The Buchanan was the first ship I had built for quite a while and I got carried away with the PE and attaching it before I remembered to paint it. I agree with you and normally I paint the PE before attaching it to the ship. It is far easier that way in my opinion, I painted all theSara's PE before I applied it.

I am still not sure how I am going to resolve the stripes problem. I have worked out how to fix the elevator boundary stripes if I can get some more decals..

Here are a few shots of some progress I have made after my stripe problem..

The flight deck side of the islands..

And the other side..

There are no references in the Tom's Modelworks PE set as to where much of the railings go so I am on the look out for a few pictures, or diagrams, showing me where they go.

Cheers
Warren

Warren, have you tried putting up a post on modelwarships.com forum to see if anybody has a set of decals for Sara they would part with? I've some luck there coming up with spare parts, etc., from time to time? Just a thought. You might get some guidance over there on the PE placement as well. Lots of really knowledgeable guys over there.

Seeing your work on Sara is starting to whet my appetite to start my most ambitious project yet. I've been putting this off until I felt I had honed my skills a bit more. The project is Trumpy's Hornet in 1/350, with all of the GMM PE. Still haven't decided whether to do her as Midway or Doolittle Raid set up though.

Great work, my friend.

Bob

Thanks Bob

GMM PE is very good. I used it with my 1/400 QM2 and it looks fantastic. Much better quality than Tom's Modelworks stuff. I have the GMM set for the 1930s airwing for the Sara as well.

I think I am just going to terminate the stripes so they are even length then stack planes over the disputed areas..

HI Warren: Your build is coming along nicely. As you mentioned the color of the flight deck is up to interpretation as the color itself changed with the weathering. I was on the Valley Forge in Vietnam and the flight deck reminded me of railroad ties both in color and texture, but that was 42 years ago, and memory plays tricks. The best way to stripe the flight deck might be careful masking and painting.

Good luck

Mark

Here's a few color photos of a pre-war USN carrier flight deck. I think there are all Enterprise, but the decks were all stained the same basic color.

http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?q=1940s+Hawaii+source:life&imgurl=5ead2265970fc0ad

http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?imgurl=d9580d4465444d42&q

http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?q=1940s+Hawaii+source:life&imgurl=17e4406559b16bd0

The Trumpeter instructions are incorrect when it comes to the stripes on the deck. The lines they show are metallic tracks on the deck. Off the top of my head, I forget what they were for, but you can see them in up close photos of the flight deck, as in this of Lexington.

The stripes on the Sara looked more like this.

@ Martin, that last link doesn't work but the other ones were very good. I think I will be repainting the deck and just painting over those stripes. Only problem will be the SARA decal on the back of the flight deck. I will have to be very careful around that. As to the stripes, one of the decks in those shots doesn't have any.. there is an option!

One more question to everyone, Trumpeter include lots of different coloured stripes in their aircraft declas, how do these relate? Do differnet squadrons have different stripes?

Hi all.

I am declaring this one finished, even though the deck stripes are not totally historically accurate. The air group will be built later...



I must say that I was a bit disappointed with the PE set I used. Compared to GMM and Eduard it was not very good. Some etching etched crooked, none of the fine stuff was very well finished off. Oh well. Live and learn. I might add some weathering later, although I think I may just build another Sara after the deck stripe disappointment.

Now it is back to the Showboat (North Carolina) in between the WW1 aircraft that are fascinating me at the moment.

Cheers, and thanks for looking.

Warren, nice work on Sara in spite of the shortcomings of the PE set. She looks mighty good to me. I'm just finishing up on my Tamiya Fletcher, hopefully should have her done this week, and then I'll be back on the Showboat myself. I'll be looking forward to seeing pics of your build of her.

Bob

Hi there Bob.
I am on a WW1 aircraft kick at the moment so the Showboat isn't receiving much attention. Am about to spray the second colour on the hull then leave that to dry for a few days or so. I got one of the quad 40mm mounts done with the PE and it wasn't bad at all. After the Saratoga PE I was a bit hesitent but as usual Edyard is great.
Cheers for now
Warren