February 2015 Special Edition
The Big “E”
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Welcome to Model Builder international or as many of you have named us MBI! We know it has been a long time since we have put out a digital format magazine. Unfortunately many things came up in the past few years to keep us from doing what we wanted to do. But, enough of griping about the past and moving onto the future. Right now we are
CVN-65 By Lou Carabott
taking our time and getting the website up to 100% functonality. So you our friends can have a place to call home. This is a special edition of our magazine focusing on our friend Lou Carabott’s build of Tamiya’s 1:350 scale U.S.S. Enterprise
Editor
Kenny Conklin
Assistant Editor
Paul Tosney
Web design
Tom Conklin
Contributers
Lou Carabott
CVN65. The Big “E” is an incredible ship and an equally incredible job was done by Lou. This year we will be bringing you a few more special issues. We will be doing this so you get to know us and so the builders, kit manufacturers and other hobby related business have a chance to see where we are heading. We hope you enjoy this special issue of MBI and we hope you come join us at our site www.modelbuilderinternational.com! Thank you all again for your continued support throughout the years. All the best, Kenny Conklin
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the big “e� I started this build in June 2006 and the model was completed in February 2007. I have clocked 1,096 hours from start to finish. This Tamiya kit although very impressive needed a lot of alterations and scratch building to achieve the accuracy of the real ship. Photo etch from GMM and White Ensign was used for both the ship and the air wing. The model is portrayed in full alert conditions and I think I achieved that by a sortie going off on the two forward catapults, another sortie landing and another being fuelled and armed up on the port side.
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By Lou Carabott
The lower part of the hull was first sawn off and discarded since the carrier was going to be a waterline model. All details were sanded off and new piping and trunking were created for the correct areas. These were fashioned out of different gauges of straightened telephone wire, paper clips and various widths and lengths of plastic strip. I then scratch built sponsons and mountings for the Phalanx 20mm cannon, replacing those of the kit which were totally incorrect on the stern, port side and the mid-ships
Lou altered the hull to make it a waterline ship.
starboard side just underneath the island. The quarter decks, the after-bow, elevator mechanisms and all sponsons on the ship were extensively detailed with bits and bobs from a computer motherboard. The supporting structure was also detailed and reshaped especially the after-bow on the starboard side. More accurate scratch built air ducts were also added replacing the kit parts available. The stern was similarly detailed and various scratch built items
A view of the waterline at midship.
were added.
A look in Hangar Number 2
Phalanax Port Side
Phalanax Sponson Port Side
Sparrow Missle Launcher Starboard Side
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A trip around the Stern of the ship to see the details added by Lou.
Railings, Ladders and other scratch built details can be seen.
A full view of the stern.
You can see the added detail by Lou to bring his ship to life.
The hangar was entirely scratch built which includes detailed wall paneling and flooring. This was supported by trestle framework all along the ship and a girder ceiling was added. A lighting system was also added using sixteen 12v minute light bulbs with a 7.5 dc current to achieve a soft effect. I also scratch built the fire doors at the midpoint of the ship.
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The Number 1 elevator door was also removed to allow better visual clearance all along the hangar from bow to stern. After painting and weathering the hangar, it was populated with aircraft which were extensively detailed, some even with engines taken off or showing. I also altered L’Arsenal figures and added yellow gear and equipment, tow bars, engine trolleys, power units etc. which were all scratch built. A scratch built Admiral’s launch was also included. I fashioned the fire doors mural from a digitally mastered decal from an original photo which was scaled down accordingly to 1/350 scale.
New ceilings and interior decking were set in to create the interior of the ship.
The hangar is starting to get busy.
Here Lou has started to Scratch Build the interior of the ship. The top photo is of the forward hangar bay. And, the photo to the right is the stern hangar bay. Much time and effort was taken in reproducing the interior of the ship. And, finally the bottom photo is the ceiling of the hangar bays. Again this part was scratch built by Lou to represent the interior of the ship. On the opposite page Lou has laid the wiring, decking and more scratch built parts. The hangar has started to take life with aircraft, vehichles and crewmen working on the ship.
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Wire run through the ship to add lighting to the hangar’s.
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The island was sanded clean of all raised detailed. All trunking and piping were scratch built from telephone wires and plastic strips. The phalanx mounting platform and view gallery to flight deck were also scratch built. The main mast and radar were replaced with photoetched parts from the same manufacturers I stated earlier in the article. The starboard side facing was completely modified and altered to a more accurate look. Green transparent plastic card was used to simulate the flight operations viewing windows. Lighting was also included in this portion of the build.
All four elevators were detailed using both GMM photoetch flooring and parts from the White Ensign set. Support girder fretwork was also added using various converted evergreen strips. The walkway and catwalks were detailed, again using parts from the convenient computer motherboard and piping made up from telephone wire for the many hosing units, which I replaced using the White Ensign ones. The Fresnel lens, weather satellites, radar antennas and electronic warfare measures support antennas along the deck perimeter were all scratch built. Kit parts were discarded. The Life Raft containers were all individually detailed as one can see on the pictures. Ordnance disposal chutes were also included.
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The flight deck which came in three parts was first painted and weathered Individually. Then after the markings were applied using a combination of decals enamel paint and oils to finish the job. The parts were then glued to the hull and the grooves between them were carefully filled with very thin plastic strip and filler. They were carefully sanded and touched up thus achieving a uniform finish from bow to stern. The JBD’s on cats 1 and 2 were scratchbuilt as the ones available in the kit were incorrect. A small rectangular opening was hollowed out just behind the island to accommodate the aft armament elevator. The automatic landing control landing platform on the stern starboard side was scratch built.
As stated previously in this article most yellow gear was scratchbuilt .The heavy crane was extensively altered and detailed . A heavy forklift and tarmac sweeper were also included which were both scratch built and so were the ordnance lifting gear, twin agent fire fighting units and more trucks were also included. Towbars, ASU’s and GPU’s which were all scratchbuilt were also added on the port side of the deck servicing the aircraft being armed. All ordnance which include Sparrow, Maverick, Phoenix and Sidewinder missles were all scratchbuilt. Every individual unit was mostly made out of 10 individual pieces . The many extra fuel tanks on most of the aircraft were fashioned out of common toothpick ends. The aircraft available in the kit plus further Tamiya packs were utilized. Photoetch was used as well as further detail was added to enhance each and every individual aircraft. A KA-6D tanker and a C2-A Greyhound both converted from an A-6E and an E-2C Hawkeye were added to the ship. When finished the carrier was placed on a seascape sculpted with tissue paper and pollyfilla and painted wet on wet using different colors of simple house paint.
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Presenting Lou Carabott’s
U.S.S. Enterprise CVN-65 The Big
"E"
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The Attitude And Detail Decides The Whole!
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