A bit more progress, and a lot of blood & sweat. Dispite a fair amount of fettling, the fit is poor. The fusalage has quite a a number ofinserts, none of which fit that well.





the nose needed binding with masking tape to keep it together. The gaps were edged with masking tape to ease clean up and protect detail, the big gap behind the radiator was plugged with a peice of palsticard.



And more filler.



More soon.

Si

More filling on the radiator.



Tailplane fitted, again doesn't fit even where it touches.



filled and sanded, as above masked round the ga, I am lazy and hate a lot of sanding, by masking and wiping the filler flush with the tape whilst wet, remove the tape and allow to dry, a couple of sweeps with a sanding stick & job done.

Finally! some components that fit! the fin and the lower wings.



More soon

Si

Good Lord Simon, you sure have your hands full with that one!

Here's some progress on the Big E:



Got the decals on. Word of warning to those attempting the big Polar Lights kit: The main (saucer) hull has a sort of texture molded on for some reason. Sand it smooth! I didn't and am paying for it badly with decal silvering. This isn't helping my mood on this kit which was very positive up to that point.

Michael

Michael,

I built the old AMT version of the Enterprise when I was a kid, nacelle droop and all (built as the Constellation, complete with battle damage done with my mom's cigarette lighter).

Your big Enterprise looks great!

Tim

Thanks Michael, it is a bit of pig, but I am not going to let it beat me (I hope) I did have a dig into the stash yesterday to see if I had an aeroclub 1/72nd Hawker Hart, because I think it would be easier to use the AModel floats on that, but no joy, so onwards & upewards.

Your Enterprise is certainly looking the part.

Si

Here is what I will be building for the campaign I will be doing one from the wolfpack squadron.

Cheers Rob.

I was looking through the stash a few minutes ago and found this little gem..

And it is from the USS Enterprise..

I may have run into a problem, I went to start my kit and found that some of it has been put together this was many years ago and not a lot has been done. Some of the Verlinden detail set has been glued on and a couple of panels opened up. Here is a pic and I will wait to see if it's alright to proceed.

Cheers Rob.

Rob,

Given that we're three months in already (and you certainly could have done that amount of work in three months) I'm going to give you the green light on this one. Go for it!

Michael

Thanks Michael!
I was thinking it might be ok, but I always like to ask.

Cheers Rob.

Some paint on the airframe, Looking at pics of Osprey floatplanes of the period the metal areas appear to cerux grey rather than polished aluminium as per the instructions.



Floats, I need to have another look, but they have been built ready for spraying.

Si

The paintjob continued.

The cerux grey areas of the nose have been masked off.



good old Tamiya tape. the alluminium doped areas were shot with another reliable standard, Humbrol 11 acrylic shot out of a rattlecan, this provides a nice surface for the decals.



The decaling has started, (my least favorite part of build) unfortunately the code K5749 was not in the kit, so I dug out an old modeldecal Pre War code letters / numbers sheet and have i have started to amke uo the serials one character at a time.



more soon,

Si

The decalling finished, and a mist coat of tamiya flat clear shot out of a rattlecan to seal the decals, and give an aluminium dope finish, which I think works rather well.



On with the building, exhausts struts, scarff ring etc



more soon

Si

She's a wee little ripper Si! Looking good!

Thanks Russell,

I am starting to really enjoy the challenges of the this little beast.

Interplane struts jigged and in place.I am a lttle cncerned with the softness of the plastic, that they will not give under the weight of the upper wing, and add the bracing wires to the top struts to give it a bit of rigidity.



Si

Si: Nice work! Quite the silk purse, if you know what I mean. Good luck with the top wing.

OK, for good or ill, stick a fork in this one, it's done:





No comments on the fact that I used the clear piece for the bridge. I know it's not completely correct, but I like it. So there!

The huge Polar Lights kit was great straight out of the box except for the one caveat I mentioned above about the texture on the hull. If you remember Star Trek like I do, getting the kit is a no brainer. I'm posting a couple of other images in the campaign gallery Thanks again to those Hanukkah elves for the kit, and sail on Big E fans!

Michael

Michael

Michael, looks great. I bought the same model a couple of years ago when i first got into modelling, the big box got me all excited. I screwed it up big time it ended up in the bin. I will have to get it again now i am more experienced at building models and give it another shot.

Gary,

Thanks for the comment. If you got it a couple of years ago you must have gotten the movie refit Enterprise (NCC-1701/A). The one I did here was only released in November or December last year. This is a much better engineered kit and I highly recommend it. Just remember if you get it to sand that saucer hull smooth before you start painting/decaling. Also, I would highly suggest having some tube glue handy, it really helps with all the deep connections on the kit.

Michael

Thanks Michael,

Great looking Enterprise, I am with you on the clear bridge dome I like it, shows off the interior.

Going to tackle the top wing tomorrow, so will update then or early in the week.

Si

Top wing is on, I decided in the end on to fit some rigging first, and after much juggling got there.



Cabane structs on, rigging next.



Si

On to the rigging, because of the small scale I am keeping it simple.





On with the floats next.

Si

Nice work Si, and thanks for keeping the faith! Anyone else out there working on their Enterprise project? We're a week away from the 75th anniversary of the commissioning of CV-6.

Michael

Hello Michael, You have finished your project and I havent even started yet.!
Well, today itself I have had a kick-off meeting, started a binder of drawings and estimating materials.
My project is to scratch build the island superstructure of CV-6 in 1/144 together with a piece of deck suitable for posing 1/144 airplane models.
I had looked at alot of photos and little 3-views of CV-6 on the internet, and was getting a bit discouraged, when I happened upon the web site of Mr. Paul Budzik he is scratch building a model of the entire ship in 1/350, and it is quite impressive!
He has been good enough to share a set of plans of CV-5, the Yorktown, as originally built, and with my rough skill, I find this will be quite precise enough to go forward with representing part of CV-6.

adjusting the scale to print 11x17s of the "platforms and bridges"
With these in hand I can start cutting sheets for the basic structure today.

I got this at the Brisbane PX yesterday for just $80..

Thanks Michael, appreciate the support,

still going with little beast, first attempt to get the beaching gear on.



Wrong!!!! couldn't see from the drawings in the instructions which way everything went.

Take 2



not lined up yet but roughly in place.

below lined up and with the floats joined.



next the tricky bit, mating the two sub assemblies.

Si