EJS

I like the old ones too. I have a late 1950's era Revell 1/530/540 scale USS ESSEX with the angled flight deck. That was exactly (kinda) the ship I served on in 1961 - 1963. The aircraft were wrong but I found some aftermarket one's for her. Aftermarket aircraft, decals, island, hangar deck and details from Starfighter, Photo etch from Gold Medal. Corrected faired in hurricane bow from Mattie. Turned a simple build into a real project. Hope mine turns out a nice as yours did. EJ

Although I still have some Model Master Acrylics in the USN colors, The True North enamels deserve a look. I have used them as well. My very Favorite though is the White Ensign Models Colourcoats line of enamels. At one point they were hard to find in the US. I bought mine from Snyder & Short. When the supply seemed limited I really stocked up on the colors for US Naval, so I'm all set for a long time. I do believe they can be found in the US again. EJ

Beautiful collection. Thanks for posting. EJ

Another trick is to warm the spray can in warm water before decanting. It helps with mixing the solids in the bottom of the can when shaking. It also helps get a better finish if spraying directly from the can. EJ

Yes, those tankers have a lot of breakable bits on them. I always wondered if the real thing broke as many parts off as I did on my model. Nice job. EJ

Very nice.

👍

Nice work. Is this the 1/600ish scale model? EJ

Wow! that is one sweet looking launch. Sure made a silk purse out of a sow's ear. EJ

Love the lighting. I did the hangar bay on a Hasegawa 1/700 USS ESSEX. LED's were brand new then but I used grain of rice bulbs. Did not do anything on the island.

Your rigging looks magnificent! Wonderful work. EJ

Really looking nice!

An amazing teeny air group. Will be well worth the effort.

My 1/350 Tamiya model had similar surface defects. Sand and fill and sand. I did that after the hull was assembled and a few reinforcing strips were installed athwartships to keep the hull shape. I also build wood ships. Those kits are not kits in the plastic sense, with parts to be assembled, but more of a pile of materials used to make a ship, just like a real one was built. The newer models have more laser cut parts in them making them a bit more like kits, but all parts need fitting / shaping / sanding to fit.

I did an old Hasegawa 1/700 USS ESSEX kit. No hangar bay or open doors, so had to do all that first. this was before led stuff, so it is a 3 volt grain of rice bulbs, wires hidden in the base and under the flight deck in a channel. I liked the result. EJ