Academy USS Kitty Hawk
the box art...Nifty!
instructions, the decals look nice...those white circle ones (#11) they say are optional, but they don't show where to put them !!
the hull.....
...close up
...
planes...
..more planes & choppers
flight deck, looks nice to me...
...close up...
...
the main parts tree
stand & nameplate stickers
first thing i did was drill the holes for the rudders
then clean up the mold seam, wet sanding w/a 400 then 600 hard sanding sticks
just clean up the top edge a bit with a 4oo hard stick
then i went over the entire hull lightly with a Tamiya 1000 grit sanding sponge, just to take the "shine" off the plastic, and give the paint a better grip.
One thing I've noticed on Academy kits I've built so is the way the sprue attaches to the part. It's not only attached to the side it hangs over the top edge too, making it that much more difficult to clean up. You can see it pretty clear in this picture
the "flight deck" before removing the sprues
this one's a little tough to get at. That's just poor design!
took a good 2 hours to clean up the sprues & the mold seams all around the edge of the deck
and...there are 3 of these "dimples" on the deck, this ones a bit close...
...this one is right on a line, it's gonna be tough!...
...but this one shouldn't be too bad ...
I covered the raised lines carefully w/Dymo tape, took a sharp scalpel blade and gently shaved off the offending dimples, then hit it lightly w/a soft 600 stick. they came off pretty easily, not as bad as I thought!
scuffed the entire deck lightly w/1000 sponge just enough to take off the shine
all the litle planes & deck vehicles cut from the tree & sorted. Putting all the little pieces together will be fun! lol
the hull primed
i only got one tiny little sag on a "sponson"
the deck primed, color is off
and the close up...off too
...the color is right on this one
you can barely notice those dimples
while the hull & deck dry for a few days, and the clear on the p-17 also dries, figured I might as well start on the aircraft, there's LOTS of them. The a-6's are the simplest, one piece
so i needed a narrower fine stick. so i took these (240 & 300 I think)sticks, peeled the existing grit off & used doublestck carpet tape to add 600 & 1000 sanding film. I must say i don't care much for the film stuff
the F-4 Phantoms, also 1 piece, nothing to glue on, but the rest have parts to assemble
12 A-7 Corsairs w/seperate vertical stabs
2 E-2 Hawkeyes w/seperate radar dish
Sprue B F-14 on the left Sprue D on the right just slightly different
bottoms (same)
sprue B tails one on each B & D planes (B in the foreground)
the D tails
The 10 F-14 Tomcats together, can you tell the 2 different ones?
S-3 Vikings
EA-6 Prowlers (L) & RA-5 Vigilantes (R)
I knew this piece was going to be trouble !! It was.
Everything else cleaned up & ready to be sticked up and primed
the bigger deck pieces
little bits
a few I did by hand with a brush, and the antennas (??) painted grey green
DA PLANES !!
.....
The decals were a dissapointment....AGAIN !!!
They just dont want to stick
...
ans they are so thick & stiff it took repeated applications of microsol to get the even partly formed over the arrestor wires.....and they kept coming off. TERRIBLE
Well, I really didn't want to "glue" the planes to the deck, but I had to stick them on there somehow......
...so I used the blue poster putty!
Because when I put it on the shelf and have the window open in the summer, a little breeze will blow them all off!
So, the blue shows, but maybe I can find some grey putty next time....
or maybe some of those sticky dot thingys...
It did turn out pretty nice even with the troublesome decals.....but next time I'll be painting on the deck stripings !!
Comments
4 15 November 2016, 03:43
Patrick HagelsteinHi Robert! For those dimples just use a no.10 or no. 15 scalpel. That way you can incrementally shave de dimple next up to the nearby details. Sounds hard to explain but just don't use any sanding sticks instead or the details will be lost.
16 November 2016, 05:47
Robert W MartelI gotcha Patrick! That's pretty much what I did. I covered the lines w/Dymo tape, shaved the dimples as you described then used a soft 600 stick just to clean it up. It didn't take much at all, and they came off pretty well. Thanks mate!
16 November 2016, 06:05
Ray SeppalaWatching with interest Robert. I have a 1/350 Nimitz (and Intrepid) to build but might have to have a go at one of these smaller builds to see what I am in for!
19 November 2016, 22:41
Robert W MartelRay,
From what I see so far bigger parts are easier to handle. Lots of SMALL parts here. This is 1/800, but a big ship. It's quite a bit bigger than the 1/700 Trumpeter Hornet cv8 for example. Personally I wish I had room for the larger scales, they'd be easier (?). I do have a few of the larger scale Revell's, but the detail is weak compared to the newer Dragon, Trumpy, HobbyBoss.
Ah well, we'll just see how it goes. I'm still having fun!!
27 November 2016, 20:48
Robert W Martel1/7/17
Actually a pretty nice kit, relatively easy to build, but the decals sucked (again). That's 0 for 3 for Academy decals. It looks great though. Next one I'll paint on the deck stripes.
I liked the fact that it had lots of planes, but when it came time to put them on the deck there are way too many. I had 18 left over! If I had put them all on the deck would be completely covered.
8 January 2017, 01:54
Calvin GiffordVery nice job! Glad Academy isn't stingy in giving their carrier kits aircraft! Since the model depicts the Kitty with the Terrier Missile System, you can leave off the S-3's and F/A-18's - those aircraft did not grace her decks until the Terrier System was replaced by the early Sea Sparrow System. 🙂
21 November 2018, 03:23
Robert W MartelThanks Clifford, Yea they give you tons of planes. Besides what's on the decks there's a handful left over that might be able to be used on something else. Heck I wouldn't know the difference between the missile systems anyway, but thanks for that info. I'll keep it in mind when I build the next one.
The Academy carrier kits are pretty decent for their price, I have 4 more.
Have a nice holiday Clifford, I'm hoping to get back into it soon after, next year!
18 December 2018, 18:22
Robert W MartelHey Clifford !!
I've been out of touch on scalemates for a while. Moved into this senior apt in Sept, but haven't been able to get back to modeling quite yet. It's driving me crazy. I've built 1 model this past year. I'm getting close, but it will be a few more weeks at least. I have a lot of catching up to do, bought lots more kits, need to get them in my stash. Too much to do, and I don't seem to be getting much done each day! It's going slower that I had hoped, I'm just dying to get back in the groove!
How are things with you?
30 January 2019, 19:22
Calvin GiffordI'm doing pretty good. Not as difficult to keep warm here in SoCal!!
30 January 2019, 19:25
WoodcoltonHey I'm trying to build this kit for my grandfather because he sailed on it. I just need to know what paint you used for the hull and island
20 June 2021, 06:10
Robert W MartelWoodcolton,
OMG !! I'm sure I cant remember the exact colors I used. I didn't really use any specific colors [that I remember]. Back then I was mixing a lot of my own colors w/ craft paint & varnish, Pledge, some Model Masters, Vallejo ???? I don't think you could go wrong with Tamiya Hull Red. As for the sides and the deck I just mixed up what I thought looked good, I'm sure they aren't really accurate. I just looked at all the pictures I could find, Google up what would have been the normal colors and tried to mix something close.
Sorry I cant be more help.... just go with what you think looks right. It's hard to tell from pictures, different lighting etc. and I'm sure she went through some repainting over the years, she served for 48 years!!
All in all I think the Academy carrier kits are pretty nice. Relatively simple, but good detail, and they give more planes than most other kits.
Good Luck, you'll figure it out. Have fun with it, that's what counts.
Cheers!
20 June 2021, 16:44
Album info
11/15/16
So...if nobody minds I'll go through this one step by step as much as I can, taking pics along the way. At least I'll try!!
I know nothing about aircraft carriers! I know plenty about cars, some about aircraft....but carriers...NADA! I know what the flight deck is, a hanger deck, elevators, island, bow, stern, port & starboard, just learned what a sponson is! As for the rest I have no clue, I see lots of little things sticking out all over and have no idea what they are!
And of course as per most kits, the instructions are no help at all! Unless they have a parts list (a few do), I have no idea what most of these parts are and what they do. Which one is the Oerlikon cannon???? 5 in guns??? etc etc
If anyone wants to chime in with hints, criticism, information, anything, I welcome all comments.
I would really like to at least be able to identify the basic components of a carrier, as I have quite a few I'd like to build.
11/14/16
I got this one at Hobby Lobby this summer (Aug). CHEAP! The plastic ha
