February 8th update:
Work continues on the elevator shafts and the fore and aft superstructure. I did a test fit of the flightdeck. Beats me what Merit had in mind with the "shower cubicle glazed glass"
It will let light in but there will not be much visisble through the deck. I think more will be visible if I leave all the hanger bay rolling doors in the open position with a couple of "sky lights" in the flightdeck.

February 9th update:
Doing some dry runs on parts to see how the fit will be. The forward Hangar deck opening is where aircraft were launched using the hangar deck catapult. A very nasty way to leave the ship. Have also started weathering the hull, superstructure etc.:

Not a lot of room for error, generate lift, or swim! Al

I would be unbelievably p***** off if I was launched on the downroll.......The crosswind would be bad enough to compensate for. No wonder the Nimitz class of carriers didn't try shooting "Tomcats" off from the hangar deck

Looking good Julian,

That hanger deck catapult looks bit of an iffy way of getting airborne to say the least. Is it represented in the Kit?

Si

The extensions are included Simon, this model is an excellent tutorial on carrier do's, dont's and other things previously unknown. Luckily the fit is just about perfect.

Really nice work so far julien.....Cheers Mark

Thank you sir,

Valentine's day update:
Dry fitted the 4 sponsons for the 8 5" dual purpose guns.
Stern gallery also dry fitted now the motor launch painted and fitted. Twin Oerlikon bow tub fitted:

February 16th update:
Spent some time getting a good mix for the USN aircraft.
The F-4 looks quite nice in the grey/blue skin. I have started the weathering and streaking build up on the hull:







Slow progress,

[Quoted] Slow progress,

Better than NO progress! Looks good so far Julian, before you know it, she'll be done and you'll be searching for that next project.
Al

Hi Al, not complaining, (this time ).
Building up the weathering takes some time,certainly with a hull this long
This is a very interesting build though, learning a lot about the USN first generation of flat tops
This is a build I am really enjoying

Looks like quite a bit of progress to a simple fella like me Julian.

The F4 looks a real little gem, gives a sense of scale to the project.

I understand the progress feeling slow, spent a big chunk of this afternoon on Dreadnought's mainmast rigging, but whe I stood back and looked at it, I could see where the effort was. Hornet looks like she has a lot of effort put in, glsd to hear you are enjoying her.

Si

Thanks Simon, very kind of you. The Wildcat is a cute little plane is it? The hangar bay will look nice and full with the full complement of Wildcats, Dauntless's and Devestators.

Hi Julian, not looked in for a while . . . plenty of progress on an interesting build !

Never heard of a side catapult

The small hanger with F-4, is that a ' private ' hanger

Keep up the good work

Cheers Kev

Coming along really nice, Julian

The hangardeck cat was a new one for me to Kev, never too old to learn I guess. The private loo is actually the forward elevator. Huge piece of hardware that was

thank you Russell,

Man, that's one big boat kit. It's like building a real CV.

Do you find building in this scale easier or more demanding for adding detail?

So far, it's looking really good.

It's more challenging because you can see more details so you have to add more details. It's also easier for me to see the pieces in the larger scale and even then I need an optivisor.
Faults tend to show up much more than in 1/350 or 1/700.
I like this scale, Mrs. Gremlin56 hates it because sooner or later I have to park the build somewhere

And that was another thing I was wondering about.....

February 18th update:
Working on the stern structure with flightdeck support and 20mm galleries. PE is a lot better to work with than the "Spaghetti" grade PE supplied with the Big B. This is very reasonable for OOB PE:

Ahoy Julian

Impressive build indeed.

Great progress.

The scale is totally staggering to me!


Cheers


Sean

Ditto. Beautiful work continues Julien.....Cheers Mark

My god!!! I relax a moment and you appear with the finished Uss Navy!!!! Beautifull and clean work !!! Julian I go out 2 weeks of vacations ... do not finish it before please!!!

Regards my friend