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A few years ago I was looking
through fine scale modeller magazine and saw a 1/72 USS Enterprise and was
awed by the workmanship. Then some two years later I saw another USS
Enterprise in 1/720 scale by Revell in her 1961 configuration. I was also
awed at the work and decided to try and build a carrier.
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Being a 1/48 scale aircraft guy and
having limited experience in building ships I proceeded cautiously. I
decided that with my limited space I have I would do a carrier in 1/720 scale.
I wanted to do the aircraft carrier Enterprise since my cousin was stationed
aboard and I have been aboard a couple times. I began with photos from
various sources and then my cousin let me borrow his cruise book. 1998
Desert Fox cruise was of interest to me so I decided to build the Enterprise at
that time. This was January of 2001. The Revell kit is the only
Enterprise kit in that scale around. So I bought a lot of evergreen
and plastruct styrene rods and Goldmedal model photo etch sets. Later I
would get both Skywave and Fujimi aircraft sets along with a Skywave weapons set
to detail out the ship.
The
biggest challenge of building the carrier was the island. The Revell kit
has her older honeycomb-box structure. The island was rebuilt in 1982 and
along with the rest of the carrier has seen numerous changes since then. I
started with some plans using references from photos and cruisebooks and the
Tamiya 1/350 and ARII 1/800 scale models. It took me three attempts before
I felt that the island was just right. I made a makeshift low detail
hanger bay.. really nothing detailed. I completely removed the catwalks
from the original kit and rebuilt them using the styrene. Some of the
sponsons were borrowed from Italeri carrier kits and also all the liferaft
capsules. Other modifications were made included a new "bustier"
upper bow and a stern dock. Additional I had to add the arresting wires.
This was my real first time scratchbuilding a lot of things and also doing some
kitbashing. The "TILLY" crane has been updated. Enterprise
had participated in the opening strikes against targets in Afganistan and
conducted some 800 combat missions.
Wanting to keep her up to finished the model in as she was in her 2001
Mediterranean/Persian Gulf/Arabian Gulf tour.
Bert
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