Russian CV 063 Kuznetsov in 1/350 scale

Introduction and What's in the Box - May 10, 2014

Kuznetsov Overview
The Soviet Union was very agressive in its maritime/naval operations. It developed a robust surface and sub-surface military capability in the open sea and agressively pursued its interests there, and made a point of challenging the US Navy.

One of the principle doctrines of the Soviet Union was to develop a nuclear submarine, ballistic missile capability (SSBN) that could be used as a credible deterrent to any first strike, and could also itself be used as part of a first strike option. To this end the Soviets produced numerous nuclear missile capable nuclear submarines and created "bastions" for them, from which they would be able to launch their weapons in relative safety.

In order to assure that safety, the USSR developed surface action groups that they used to defend those bastions against intrusion and attack by oposition forces, particularly opposition submarines.

Utlimately, the Soviets realized that they would need aircraft carrier groups to help defend these bastions, and to perform other maritime operations in pursuit of Soviet interests.

The emphasis of the carriers that the Soviets designed, and this consisted of first the two Moskva-class helicopter carriers, followed by the four Kiev-class carriers (both of which were essentially guided missile cruisers with progressively larger landing decks), was to provide significant anti-submarine and anti-surface guided missile capabilities, to be assisted, first by helicopters (Moskva) in those roles, and then by VSTOL aircraft (Kiev). As time progressed, it became apparent that these vessels, even with fairly significant anti-air capabilities, were woefully inadequate to defend the submarine bastions, and perfrom other maritime duties if they were threatened by a US aircrft carrier group.

So, in order to address these deficiencies, the Soviet Union developed a 65,000 ton, angled, full-deck carrier of their own. This aircraft carrier would be large enough to embark a strong air wing of air superiority fighters, and numerous helicoptes so it could perform both air defence for the groups protecting the submarines, and perfrom significant ASW duties itself. The Carrier also carried a heavy, anti-surface guided missile armamnet of twelve, long range P-700 Granite missiles for confronting and attacking any large surface combatants that intended to penetrate the bastion.

The Admiral Kuznetsov was the result of this design effort. She was laid down in 1982, launched in 1985, and initially commissioned in 1990. But she did not become operational until 1995, ten years after her launch. This was because of the fall of the Soviet Union, which intervened, and the lack of funding for the Russian Federation to complete the vessel until that time.

During that process, the Admiral Kuznetsov started construction as the Riga; was launched as the Leonid Brezhnev; embarked on he sea trials as Tbilisi; and was ultimately named Kuznetsov under the current Russian Federation. A second vessel was started, the Varyag, built to the same specifications. When the Soviet Union fell in the early 1990s, the Varyag was over 85% complete, but there were no funds to complete her. Ultimately, in the later 1990s she was put up for sale and the Chinese bought her in the early 2000s and she was towed to China and completely refitted and completed, then launched and commissioned as the Liaoning, CV-16 for the Chinese Navy, the PLAN.Specifications for the Kuznetsov include the following:

Displacement: 65,000 tons (full load)
Length: 1,001 feet
Beam: 236 feet
Draft: 33 ft.
Speed: 29 knots
Propulsion:
8 x turbo-pressurized boliers
2 × 50,000 hp (37 MW) turbines
9 × 2,011 hp (1,500 kW) turbogenerators
6 × 2,011 hp (1,500 kW) diesel generators
4 x shafts
Crew: 1,690
Aircraft: Up to 50 aircraft, consisting of:
- 14 x SU-33 Air Superiority fighters (Current)
- 28 x Mig-29K Strike fighters (After refit))
- 04 x SU-25 attack aircraft
- 12 x KA-27 ASW helicopters
- 04 x KA-31 AEW helciopters
Armament:
- 12 x P700 Granite SSMs (VLS)
- 18 x 8 3K95 Kinzhal SAMs (VLS)
- 08 x Kashtan CIWS (2 x 30mm cannon + 8 x 3k87 SAMs each)
- 08 x AK-630 30mm CIWS
- 02 x 10 RBU-12000 UDAV-1 ASW Rocket launchers
Elevators: 2

These are very heavily armed vessels. With very significant self defenses, a strong airwing, and a heavy anti-surface capability.

In 2012, it was announced that the Kuznetzov would undergo a 3+ year refit beginning in 2014-2015. During the refit the basic nature of the role of the carrier would be changed. The 12 large anti-surface missiles will be removed and the hanger spaces enlarged. The older SU-33 air superiority fighters will be retired in favor of new-build, Mig-29K strike fighters, which the carrier will embark twice as many of. These fighters are the same aircraft that the Russian Federation has sold to India in significant numbers to equip two Indian carriers, the Vikramaditya (which is a complete refit of the last of the Kiev class carriers, giving it a full deck with a ski jum), and the Vikrant, the Indian's first indegenous carrier.

What's in the Box:
Trumpeter is a Chinese modeling company that has emerged over the last ten years as perhaps the largest model maker in the world, and one of the best.

They have a very large inventory of 1/350 scale warships from most of the world's navies. They iclude vessels from World War I and before, up to modern times.

The Kuznbetsov is one of these kits...and it is a large kit, with a lot of details.

Trumpeter models have very little flash or other modling issues. They create very small intricate plastic pieces for most of the ship's sensors. Many of their current, new kits include photo etch metal parts for finer sensor detail, for railings, ladders, and other equipment. The Kuznetsov model does not include any PE parts with it.

it does however contain very well modled parts for most sensors. It also includes a full waterline option to build the vessel either as a waterline ship, or as a full hull. I elect to build my vessels full hull.

The kit also comes with a very decent number of aircraft, each of which is a miniature model in and of itself. The kit comes with SU-33 aircraft, Mig-29 aircraft, Yak-141 VSTOL aircraft,and KA-27 ASW helicopters. I wil augmented my Kuznetsov with a more modern, more realistic air wing.

I have purchased, from Trumpeter, more 1/350 scale aircraft of various types. As a result, I intend to build her as she will appear after her refit, embarking only 4-6 SU-33s, and 12 Mig-29Ks. The Yak-141 was a supersonic VSTOL aircraft that never came into production, so I will not use it. But I will have 4 Ka-31 AEW helos and 6 KA-27 ASW helos.

The kit has no provision for a hanger deck. I intend to scratch build an entire hanger deck and add a lighting system to it.

The kit comes with an excellent set of decals, but I am adding an after market decal set that is more accurate in some areas, and contains a number of markings not included with the set in the kit.

Finally, I have added the White Ensign Model photo etch metal set for the 1/350 scale Kuznetsov, which includes all of the railing, safety netting, and sensors as Photo Etch metal parts, along with a Gold Metal Models railing and ladder set in 1/350 scale.

The kit has an excellent instruction booklet, and a full-color painting guide.

Sadly, when opening my kit, I found that the two "E" Frets were missing from the sealed parts. This is concerning. The "E" frets include the elevators, and a number of structural components.

Luckily, I bought the kit from a very reputable, Chinese site on ebay called sell_model. It has been over a year and a half since I bought the kit. when I receive it, I did a cursury opening and review. Upon seeing everything came sealed, I presumed that all the parts were there.

I was wrong, and have no found that the two "E" frets were not included.

I contacted sell_model and explained the porblem and sent them a picture of it (included below). To my surprise, they immediately agreed to ship me the two missing frets, completely at their cost, even though it had been so long. As you can imagine, they have earned more of my business. I have bought from them a number of times. They have some of the best prices available, with reasonable shipping from China. Usually the shipping takes time so you canot be in a hurry...but ultimately their products have always been well cared for, completely sealed, and a real bargain after all was said and done.

Now I find that they completely stand behind the prodcut, even 18 months later. I will buy more from them and encourage others to do the same. It's the the sell_model store on ebay. Huge inventory, great prices, and phenominal support.

Here are pictures of everything out of the box:


This is going to be a really fun build, and for a complete carrier of this size and air wing, with a full hanger and a lighting system, will probably take at least two months. We shall see.


- By Jun 31, 2014, Complete the Russian Udaloy II DDG and the Russian Kuznetsov carrier.
- By Aug 31, 2014, Start the US Navy Amphibious Ready Group centered on the Gallery USS Wasp with an LHD, an LPD, a DDG, a SSN and two LCS.
- By Oct 31, 2014, Start the PLAN Amphibious Ready Group centered on the Trumpeter Type 071 LPD-999, with a FFG, and three DDGs.
- By Nov 31, 2014 Go back and start fleshing out the rest of the DDG and FFG escorts for each CSG and ARG group.

The completion of the PLAN Carrier group, centered on the already completed , (in addition to the other escorts already completed) included Mini Hobby's's PLAN Guangzhou, DDG-168. I recently pre-ordered a 1/350 scale model of the PLAN Type 071 LPD, Yuzhao Class, announced by Trumpeter and due out in October, 2013. I will end up adding two of those, propbably LPD-998 Yuzhao and LPD-999, Jinggangshan, add the PLAN- DDG-139, Ningbo, and the PLAN DDG-115, Shenyang, along with the PLAN Weifang, FFG-550 and thus build a PLAN ARG.

The completion of the US Carrier Strike group, centered on the completed , (in addition ot the other escorts already completed) included Trumpeter's, USS Freedom, LCS-1, Dragon's USS Preble, DDG-88 and Hobby Boss's USS Texas, SSN-775. When a 1/350 scale USS Enterprise, CVN-80 (or any Gerald R. Ford Class) is released from Trumpeter, Tamiya, Dragon, or whomever else, I will add it to this group along with another AEGIS Cruiser. Whichever Ford Class coms out in 1/350 scale, I will build it as the USS Enterprise, CVN-80.

The US ARG will include (which I have already completed), Trumpeter's 1/350 scale USS Iwo Jima LHD-7, Gallery's 1/350 scale USS Sommerset, LPD-25, Bronco Models 1/350 Scale USS New York, LPD-21, Cyber Hobby's USS Independence, LCS-2, Acadamy's 1/350 scale USS Rueben James, FFG-57, and another Flight IIA US AEGIS class detroyer based on Trumpeter's 1/350 scale USS Lassen, DDG-82...all of these models which I already own.

The UK Group is (as shown) featuring the Airfix 1/350 scale HMS Illustrious as its centerp[iece until a 1/350 scale Queen Elizabeth carrier is released. When that happens, I will add that carrier to the group as its centerpiece. The Royal Navy CSG will also include two Airfix 1/350 scale Daring Class DDGs (one of which is already completed), two Trumpeter 1/350 scale Type 23 HMS Duke class Frigates (one of which is already completed), and the Hobby Boss 1/350 scale HMS Astute SSN (which is also already completed) and Airfix 1/350 scale HMS Tragalgar SSN. One day, when a 1/350 scale HMS Ocean LPD come out, I will use tt to start building a Royal Navy ARG.

The French CSG is centered on Heller's 1/400 scale . I have purchased the 1/400 scale Heller French De Grasse, D612 DDG, which is an ASW DDG, the French Duquesne, D603 DDG which is an anti-air multi-purpose DDG, and the French Aconit F713 FFG and Guepratte F714 FFGs, both of which are Lafayette class frigates. These five vessels will round out my French CSG. As soon as a French Robin class nuclear sub, like the French Perale S606 SSN is released in 1/350 or 1/400 scale, I will add that to the group. Also as soon as the Forbin D620, Horizon class anti-air DDG is released in 1/350 or 1/400 scale, I will purchase two of them and replace the De Grrasse and Duquesne with them, and then save those two for when a Mistral Class LPD is released in 1/350 or 1/400 scale so I can create a French ARG with those vessels.

The Japanese JMSDF group will be centered on Fujimi's very finely detailed, 1/350 scale Hyuga, DDH-181, which I own. It will be escorted by Trumpeter's 1/350 scale DDG-177, Atago, an AEGIS class DDG and the JMSDF, DDG-174, Kongo class (which I own), Trumpeters's 1/350 scale DDG-114 Susunami and DDG-111 (both of which are Takinami Class DDGs which I own), and by the 1/350 scale SS-503 Hakuryu (which I own), one of Japans new, very modern and capable AIP Diesel Electric submarines. As soon as a DDG-115 Akizuki in 1/350 scale is released, I will add it to this group. Should a 1/350 scale Osumi Class LPD be relased, I will buy two of those vessels and create a JMSDF ARG.

Then, finally it will be a complete Russian CSG (centered on Trumpeter's Kuznetsov which I own) the Russian Kirov Class nuclear battle cruiser (CGN), the Peter the Great, by Trumpeter (which I own), the Russian Slava Class cruiser, Varyag by Trumperter (which I own), two Trumpeter 1/350 scale Udaloy DDGs (which I own), Hobby Boss's Akula II class SSN (which I own), and the new Yasen class Russian SSN (which I own), all in 1/350 scale. Some time in the more distant future when a 1/350 scale Russian version of the French Mistral class comes out (which is building in real life right now), I will add two of those and build a Russian ARG.

Recently I purchased Heller's 1/400 scale Foch, the Clemceau Class carrier that was sold to the Brazilians in 2000 and in 2002 was refitted and became the Brazilian CV, Sao Paulo, using steam catapaults. I will build the model as the Sao Paulo and thus start a Brazilian group, though the Type 22 DDGs and the FFGs the Brazilians use are not available at present. I have however purchased a set of 1/400 scale A-4 Skyhawks and S-3 Trackers to build a suitable airwing for the Sao Paulo.

Then, again, once the models are available, I'd like to build an Italian Carrier Strike Group centered on the Cavour and their Horizon DDGs, a Spanish Carrier Strike Group centered on the Juan Carlos and their F-100 AEGIS FFGs, and ultimatly an Australian Strike Group centered on the new Canberra Class LPD and the Hobart class AEGIS DDGs. If they ever build the models, an Indian Carrier Strike Group centered on either the Vikramaditya or their new ADS Carrier, the Vikrant, and their Kolkata class DDGs and Shivlak class FFGs would also be nice.

Years more worth of work!

You can see all of these actual carriers, read their histories and specifictions at my site:



...and most of their surface escorts at:

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The upper hull is in one large piece, but it has tabs for metal stiffners that have to be fitted and screwed in place. It comes with enough screws for one side of these metal stiffners, and the other side has a flange that fits into a slot on the starboard side. However, I had a bunch of plastic push screws to further tighten those down, along with screwing the stiffners into the port side.


Then it was time to build some of the auxillary decks on the port side, and then add the sponsons both forward and aft. These sponsons hold the various defense armaments for the vessel.

It turns out that the parts for the auxillary decks on the port side, toward the aft, use parts from the "E" frets. I fabricated some plastic parts to fill in. If the "E" parts mailed to me arrive in time, I will replace them when they come. Ptherwise, what I have done here will work and I will move forward.

I also added the bulbous bow to the lower portion of the hull in this session. Here's how all of that went, including the forward and aft sponsons.


At this point I began building the hanger deck. Since I am not using the waterline plate, I used that large plastic part to form the deck of the hanger. I added some support pieces underneath to ensure that they held in place. I have a good bit of plastic stock in 8 1/2 x 11" pieces to cut up for the walls. Once all of that was completed, I painted the hanger in the gray/green floor, and lighter gray walls used on the Kuznetsov, adding a white seperator line for the painting.


As you can see in that last photo, this session I also painted the lower hull and its sponsons in the darker gray typical of Russian Federation vessels. I used Model Master Gray primer for this.

I will now go in and add details on the hanger deck and build the aoircraft I intend to place there. Also, will start (and perhaps finish) the lighting system for the hanger deck in the next session.

Wow big box ! with separate boxes for aircrafts, unusual, Yak-141 still interesting.

You spoil us

FORBIN said:

Wow big box ! with separate boxes for aircrafts, unusual, Yak-141 still interesting.

You spoil us

Click to expand...

Well, the aircraft that came with the model were in a single separate box.

Those others for the Mig-29Ks, the SU-25s and the Ka-31s I bought separately to give it a more modern air wing.

But it is a BIG model...not as big as the

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, was though! That thing was HUGE. The ull was too long and came in two pieces that had to be screwed together. That one took me six months.

During this session I concentrated on the hanger. This included the decals, the aircraft, and various equipment along the walls of the hanger.

I started with the decals. Basically I added decals to show the entry points at each hanger and a decal to show the center of the turntable at each end where aircraft enter and are turned to all them to then travel down the hanger to the location they will be worked on or strapped down. I added a few parking place decals, and a dashed line to guide the aircraft along the hanger.


Then I started in on the aircraft. I have decided to include the following aircraft in the hanger bay:

2 x SU-33 air superiority fighters
4 x Mig-29K Naval strike fighters
2 x SU-35 attack aircraft
2 x Ka-31 AEW helicopters
2 x Ka-27 ASW helicopters

This will be twelve aircraft altogether.

Most will have their wings or rotors folded, but I will include a couple entering or exiting the hanger with their wings unfolded too.

Each of these aircraft is a miniature model itself. The SU-33s have 22 pieces each. The Mig-29Ks have 16 pieces each. The SU-35s have 15 pieces each. The Ka-31s have 13 pieces each and the Ka-27s have 12 pieces each. This makes for a total of 188 ppieces just for these twelve aircraft. Each has different paint schemes too, and a number of decals for each.

So, I started with building the fixed wing aircraft, and then painting them and adding their landing gear and tail pipes.


I then added quite a bit of equipment, stations along the walls of the hanger bay, and then placed the fixed wing aircraft (not glued yet) to get a feel for how they would look.


I then went in on the helicopters, building them, painting them, adding their landing gear and rotors and then placing them within the hanger (again. jno glued yet) to see where they would fit the best and how they would look.

Once this was completed and I had a good layout, I added the decals to these aircraft and then glued them in place.



The hanger is going to look really nice once I get the lighting system finished and have the flight deck in place. My next session will focus on the lighting system for the hanger deck.

Alright! Putting in the lighting system.

I always enjoy this part of the larger vessels...get to do a little simple electronics.


I am using the left over parts from a couple of systems I have built in the past for the lighting system for the Kuznetzov. This will consist of a strip of six miniature LED lights along with several individual white LEDs that and a small printed circuit board from the Madman 1/350 scale aircraft carrier lighting system I purchased on Free Time Hobbies web site.

I started by taking the hanger bay roof, which I had previously cut out, and cutting the necessary holes into it to push the leads from the light up through such that they (the lights) were flush on the ceiling of the hanger deck.


Once I had arranged for the lights to be located in the appropriate spots on the ceiling, I then wired these lights together in series, with all the wiring on the top of the ceiling, outside of the hanger deck.

This meant taking the positive lead from the circuit board and wiring it to the longer lead of the first LED, and then continuing the wiring from the shorter lead of that LED to the next long lead on the next LED (and to the positive lead on the stip, and then continuing fromm the negative lead for that strip) until all of the lights were wired together in this fashion. I then took that last wire, which had been attached to the last LED's short lead, and brought it back to the appropriatre negative power lead coming from the circuit board. I then wired the circuit board to the power source, which in this case are two 9V batteries. I tested the lighting once this wirining was completed and it all worked fine. I then used electrical tape to tape down all of the wiring on the top side of the ceiling.


At that point I placed the hanger deck ceiling onto hanfger deck walls which I had constructed, and taped and glued it in place. This then made for a completed hanger deck. I tested the lights after putting all of this in place, to ensure that they worked. And they did!


A couple of more pictures of the lighting system lit up on the hanger deck. Then I painted the three large parts for the flight deck. I used testors semi-gloss primer grey for this, which is just a shade or two lighter than the Model Master's Primer gray I am using for all of the vertical surfaces of the vessel. I then dry fitted the flight deck into place.


That's looking pretty good.

Next I will paint the landing area on the flight deck (it is a darker gray) and then paint the lower hull section and attach both of those to the main hull and hanger deck I have completed. I will also cut out the panel on the lower hull where I intend to access the lighting systm batteries so I can change them. I may just attach the switch for the lighting system directly to the lower hull.

Lots of stuff occurred on this build over the last week. Some really good progress.

First, I painted all of the sponson decks in the Russian Red/Brown around the flight deck, except the VLS ainti-air launchers which remain in the grey of the vertical surfaces.


I then painted the lower hull in the Model Mastewr's Guard's Red I am using for my entire Russian carrier group and glued it to the upper hull, which contains the hanger deck I had just completed. TYhere are a few fit issues with this assembly. I am not sure if it is just age, or deals with the supports that I hd put in for the hanger deck pushing the outer edge of the upper hull out, but the overall lower deck was off by a few millilmeters when attahed to the lower hull. I was able to make the fit noce fore and aft, but will have to use some putty, sanding, etc, at a couple of places on the starboard side.

I then also added the flight deck. There are some good size gaps at each of the seams for the three parts of the flight deck and I used putty, a little grinding, and some sanding to address this...but got them all in there. Once that was complete, I masked off the laning area and painted it the darker gray for the landing deck on the flight deck. I had used Tstor's Primer Gray for the flight deck itself, but found that the Model Master's Primer Gray is several shades darker and matched very close to the the landing area seen on later Kuxznetsov picture (liek the one at the beginning of this build) and so used that for the landing area.


Now it was tiome to begin building the island. Id ecdied to get the main structure built this session and then do the many details in the next session. So, the structure itself consists of twenty-four peices that went together as shown, with the first two decks on the island also painted in the russian red/brown.


This allowed me to them complete the main structure of the island. It has numerous openings in the structure for the various windows which I like. Makes for a more realistic look for all of the windows. After adding the aft VLS AAW cells, and a couple of other details to the flight deck area, I cimpleted the basic Island and then dry fitted it to the rest of the vessel.


Now THAT is starting to look like the Russian Kuznetsov carrier. In the next seession I will add a lot of the Island details (there are a lot) and also add a lot of the details around the flight deck. The eight Kashtan CIWS, the two RBU-1200 ASW weapons, life rafts, instruments, etc.

There are a lot of flight deck decals and markings for the Kuznetsov. I used decals both from the Trumpeter kit itself (principally) and also from an aftermarket set of decals for the Kuznetsov from Print Scale. It has two sheets...one for the ship itself, and the other for the airwing. I already used some of these decals for the aircraft in the hanger, and will use more later for the air wing.


As stated, there are a lot of decals, and many of them are of long stretched of dashed lines for luanch paths, centerlines for the landing area, and other lines to outline the various portions of the deck.

I have found it best to always cut these long decals into shorter, more managable sections...maybe 3-4 inches long...sometmes 6 inches long depending on the width of the decal. otherwise I find that they invariably break, or twist, or in some way become...well, unmangable.

I started with the the basic lines and the outline of the landing area;


I then began adding more details, including the outline of the landing area, the dshed lines marking the safe zones for aircrft and personnle, the parking area markings for the individual aircraft on deck, the launch locations, etc. I worked my way from the aft forward. Placing certain types of decals and moving forward while they dried. Then once dried, coming back and placing other types of decals.

The decals for the landing areas are good decals, but have to be carefully handled and slid off of the sheet because the various thin lines are all individual lines and unless you slide them off together, they are going to want to twist.. I do this by getting the decal very wet and insuring that the entire decal is ready to slide (by gently using my finger or a paint bruch to check each area and make sure it is loose) and then usually using either my thmb to press down gently across the various lines and then gently sliding it together onto the surface...making sutre thayt surface also is damp. but not pooled in water. In this way I can usually get all of the various parts of the decal coming off together and then adjusting for slight varioation, off agnles, etc. once it is on the surface.


Once all the decal were on the vessel was looking pretty nice. note that the island is just dry fitted. There's lots of work still to do on it and it is easier to do when it is separate. Also, plaing those landing position decals near the island were much easier to accomplish without the island being glued down. As dry fitted here, it does allow, once the decals are placed, for a good impression of how things are going to look to be obtained.


Next session will be the many details and weapons systems around the flight deck itself. depending on how fast that goes, I may also start on the details on the island.

This session was taken up be building a lot of small assemblies for the Kusnetsov's defensive weapons systems. Those defensive systems are very significant. The most heavy self defense system armament of any aircraft carrier on earth, bar none.

There are eight Kashtin Close in Weapons Systems (CIWS). These consist of two multi barrell gatlin guns each, similar to the six barrell 20mm single guns on the US Phalanx CIWS> All in all, there are sixteen guns on the Kuznetsov (8x2). These CIEWS systems are however, dual systems. They each carry eight rady to launch anti-missile-missiles, similar to the US RAM missile. That's 64 ready missiles (8x8) all for Close in defense. In addition, there are six AK-630 six barrell 30mm CIWS gun systems, so that's now 22 CIWS guns.
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There are two RBU-1200 ASW systems which fire anti-submraine rockets. These systems have been upgraded to allow them to be used for defenses against incoming torpedos.

Finally, already in place on the model, there are four Anti-missile VLS installations, each containing six, eoight cell launchers. That's 48 missiles per installation, times four, or 196 medium range anti-missiles.

All in all, that's a heft self defense armament on the carrier itself:

64 x Kashtan Short Range Anti-missile missiles
16 x Kashtan 30mm CIWS guns
06 x AK-630 30mm CIWS
196 x Medium Range VLS anti-missile missiles.

By comparison, a US Nimitz class carrier has three Phalanx CIWS, three RAM Missile launchers with 21 missiles each, and two Sea Sparrow missile launchers with eight missiles each (there are being upgraded to Evolved Sea Sparros, meaning 16 missiles each. That makes for:

03 x 20mm Phalanx CIWS guns
42 x RAM short range CIWS missiles
32 x ESSM Medium Range Missiles

Each og the Kashtan systems is a rather involved sub-assemble consisting of three parts for the structure which inclued the guns, four prts for the missiles, and two parts for sensors. That's nine pieces each times eight. The AK0-630 CIWS are made up of three parts each times six. The RBU-2100 systems are single parts.

Many of these parts are small, and it took some time to cut them all out, paint, and assemble them


Once the parts were all put together, it was time to install them on the carrier. The Kashtan systems are two eack on sponsons at all four quarters. The AK-630 systems are one each on the two aft quarter sponsons, and two each in locations on the starboard and port sides of the ship. The RBU-1200s are one each on each aft quarter spnson.


Once these were in place, the carrier took on even more the aspect of a warship. It was time now to put the Jet Blast deflectors in place. The one on the port forwad side I ha dalready glued in place as it will remain down for a launch from the longer launch position on the port side. That jet blas deflector will be in the up posotion for an SU-25 Frgfoot aircraft I intend to locate at that launch position. The starboard forward blast deflector will also be up, for the launch of an SU-33 Flanker from that position. I had alread placed and cut the landing deck decals for these jet blast deflectors when I applied the flight deck decals.


She's looking better and better!

Next session should complete the details around the flight deck. Life boats, sensors, etc. I will place the antennae last. I will also start on the details for the Island.

Forward then.

This session was pretty straight forward. it consisted of painting and cutting out all pof the life rafts for the compliment of the vessel and then placing them in their approriate positions on the prt aft side of the flight deck, and on the starboard side under the island. There are a lot of them to accomodate the thousands of personnel on the carrier should they ever be needed.


Once these were in place I decided to build and put together the various radar domes on the island. This consisited of four smaller domes, and then the main radar on tope of the island forward of the smoke stack. There were quite a few pieces associated with this and some small assemblies. I always like starting to put the radar domes on the superstructure of a modern ship because you are now putting on some of the disticntice details for the vessels.


The details on the vessel are building up and she is looking good. Over the next session I hope to complete the details around the flight deck and the island. There are quite a few left, but I believe I can get that accomplished. Then it woill be on to the photo etch metal railing and sensors, then a long session for the air wing on deck, and finally, the shafts, supports, props and rudders befoe completing the vessel. Another 3 or 4 sessions.