HMS Illustrious in 1/350 scale by Airfix Kit# 14201
- Thread starter Jeff Head
- Start date
Thank you, Equation.
No, to date both the PLAN Liaoning and the USS Enterprise were bigger, had more pieces and details and were harder. For exmaple, neither of those came with a hanger deck (this Illustrious kit has a nice one included) and I had to scratch build those myself.
This model, though very nice, is not as large, the airwing is a lot smaller, and so there are fewer pieces...though it is a GREAT model and is of high difficulty.
The USS Iwo Jima I will build late this year or early next will be hard. It is a US Wasp Class LHD and has more than 1,600 pieces (not including the additional aircraft, the additional photo etch parts, etc. I will add) , has the well deck, the vehcile deck and the hanger deck all set so you can detail them and I will add lighting to them all. It will not be as big as the Enterprise or the Liaoning (or later Kuznetsov or Charles de Gaulle that I have) but it will have more photo etch railing and sensor material and I expect it to be at least a 6 month build.
Anyhow, as you can see, I have plenty to keep me buys.
Recently Trumpeter came out with a 1/350 scale Type 071 LPD model. It was announced in June and it will not ship until Ocotber but I have already put in a pre-order for it and will get it from one of the Chinese sites as soon as they get it in there. Several weeks before the US retailers get it.
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Thanks for sharing and thanks for the history lesson, this is the one place on the inter web where I can ask an honest question and get a sincere answer, well I should include the Smith and Wesson forum, but I have more great friends on Sino D than anywhere else. I always love to see your builds Jeff, I spent many hours even as a child trying to get that lousy glue to stick, my crowning engineering/building feat came with two Guillows rubber band powered models, after one wing broke, I rebuilt the whole thing into a twin engine, think the F-82 twin Mustang, it would take off of my Grandma's well platform, climb out steeply and start a slow turn into the dead engine when it quit, and glide neatly onto the grass. I have recently purchased several Cox Models, the most beautiful is obviously the Spitfire which bring quite a tariff, I have a complete Spit and now will have two fuselages, I have a new Canadian Corsair, which is new in the box, and a P-40. I am looking for a P-51B Razorback to display hanging with the Spitfire, which I have removed the main gear from! Great job Jeff, reminds me again how spoiled we are! Blessings to you and all our Sino D friends. brat
Thank you, Brat for taking the time to take a look and comment. I too spent many moons as a young man working at trying to get them put together. Back then, as often as not, on the ranch they ended up floating down the creek with defense work on the side made up of .410 and .20 guage shotguns blasting away at them! LOL!
Sounds fantastic, Brat! I have a number of aircraft already built, all in 1/72 scale:
F-35B
YF-23
F-22A
F-18C
F-16D
F-15E
A-10
AV-8B
E-2C
AC-130H
AH-64D
AH-1Z
MH-53E
UH-60
SU-27
Mig-29
Mig-31
Also have quite a few to build, also in 1/72 scale:
EA-18G
FA-18F
P-8A
XR-7
B-1B
B-2
B-52H
XB-70
SR-77
Shuttle Discovery
NCC-1701A Enterprise (1/3560 Scale)
JA-7
J-10
J-11B
J-15
J-20
AZ-10
Typhoon
Merlin HMA.1
Rafale B
Rafale M
SU-34
SU-37
T-50
KA-52
So, in addition to 3-4 years worth of 1/350 scale naval ships in my stash, I have another 3-4 years worth of aircraft. Plenty to do!
We are indeed blessed...and spoiled. God in HEaven sees to the first, my dear wife and sweetheart of 35 years sees to the second, though I always operate under the following SOP: "If mamma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!"
Or, put another way, "Happy wife, Happy life!"
The Build - Hull Construction and Flight Deck Decals - July 14, 2013
Ok, now I am getting to a really nice place with this build. Where it all starts coming together and looking like the 1/350 scale model of the Invincible Class aircraft carrier it is. Before I moved on to the actual hull however, I had to add a few decals to the haner deck and a few more details. This consisted mainly of the decals for the one elevator that I am showing lowered, a few more fire station and hanger details I wanted to add before closing it up, and the davits and ship's boats to be added into the small auxillary decks shown along the outside of the hanger deck on either side, including the "roofs" for each of those decks. All of these are important because they must line up properly with the hull sides when they ar glued together.
Then it was on to actually attaching the completed hanger deck assmbly to the upper hull. The Airfix model has the upper hull in two halves, one for each side for the entire length of the hull. It was a little more difficult than anticpated to line these parts up and attach them to the hanger deck along its length. Some adjustments in the roofs and sides of the auxillary decks weree necessary. In addition, the fit was not as tight (these long hull parts tend to not hold their shape too well in terms of the curvature), so utilizing clamps, rubber bands, and just holding them in place by hand until the initial bond was acheived were all necessary. In addition, I had to glue some stiffiners and other attachment pieces in place on the inside ot the vessel along these hull joint and attachment areas to ensure a good bond for the long term.
At this point, while that was drying, I took the time to add all of the parts to the lower hull. The shafts, the rudders, the sonar-dome, the supports and stabilizors. They all turned out pretty good and in my next build I will paint the lower hull, the warter line mark, and add this to the upper
hull.
Once the upper hull assembly had all dried in their proper places, it was then time to add the aft section of the hull across the aft space between the port and starboard upper hulls...by the fantail. This piece was difficult to fit properly. It too required clamps, holding in place, and stiffiners. In addition, once it dried, use of the Dremmel tool was required to get a satifcatory fit and seam lines.
Finally, it was time to glue the actual flight deck in place. Again, this was a more difficult task than antipated. Because of some of the cuuravature issues with the upper huill halves, the fit was not as tight or exact as desired. Once again, a lot of clamping, rubber bands, holding things in place, and then use of files and the dremmel tool wee required to get things to fit as desired. Even then, towardss the ski-jump, putty will be required to fill some seams.
Finally, once that was all dried, I had a completed main upper hull with the hanger deck and the flight deck. I will still have to place a lot of gangways, sponsons, and other details along the hull on either side, inluding the main launches and the crain, but the principle part is complete. So, it was time to place the decals on the flight deck. I had been looking forward to this because Airfix supplies such a rich decal set for the Illustrious flight deck. There are a LOT of decals, providing a very accurate representation of the flight deck markings. Upwards of sixty or more decals are required to get all of the take-off, landing positions, parking positions, and other markings in place. I took it in three parts. The bow area, the middle section, and the aft section. In order to let them dry properly and then move on to the next section, it was literally an all day affair, and into the night...actually until about midnight.
That is looking pretty good. Since the Island is already complete, I decided to do a dry fit of the island on the deck, and I have to say, it's starting to all come together. Also did several tests of the lighting system throughout this entire period, and it is working like a charm.
In my next installment, I hope to get the lower hull painted, the water line mark painted, and the lower hull added to the upperhull. I will also build the stand and run the lighting wire down into it and place the switch there with the battery. Also hope to add the various walk ways around the flight deck and the equipment, and then glue the island in place.
Blackstone
Brigadier
I can't say if it was white to red, or red to white.
I know that after the upgrade (when the deck was extended to the bow and the old Sea Dart system was taken out and the Phalanx put there), that there were no semi-circle warning marks for a time.
I know in 2011 she had them in Red, before her conversion to an LPH (which is what she is now, ie. no more Harriers, just helos).
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Nope, Lusty is all mine, along with her entire group.Are you going to Express ship the "Lusty" to Obi Wan when you finish the deed?
I get them at several places, and I thought for documentation sake, I'd go pretty detailed in my answer.
In the US, I use a lot, they have about the best selection of 1/350 scale vessels going. I also use , or , , and online in the US depending on what I am looking for.
If I need to go into a store here locally, I first go to the local and then may go to .
If I have to have something as soon as it comes out...I usually by from the Chinese outlets if it is a Chinese release (ie. Trumpeter or Dragon) usually either , or ). If it's a UK (Airfix) release, I get it from a UK outlet(like ), if it is a Japanese release (Fujimi, Hasegawa, or Tamiya), I get it from a Japanese outlet (like or ).
But usually, I do not have to do that and will just wait for it to come stateside. Actually, usually, when there is something I want, I price it out at all of those places, and then include too, because some times you can find a deal there. And then go with the lowest overall cost to me, getting it here to Idaho. Sometimes the shipping makes a huge difference.
I also have a BUNCH of places to get after market detail-up sets for Photo Etch metal, or Resin detail parts like , , , , , etc.
Then there are tons of forums of ALL types for just about every ship you can think of, either for the kits, or if you want to scratch build stuff. People are doing these things all the time and then posting online their experiences...just like me! Hehehe.
Yes I did! And they look great in the tests of the lighting I have done. When I am done I will have several pictures of how it looks through the passageways I opened up.equation said:
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