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Christian Bruer
Christian Bruer
DE

USS Hancock CVA-19

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2 24 December 2015, 09:17
Christian Bruer
Well first parts are cleaned up and assembled. Most of the parts just stick together. I only glued the hangar deck, some sponsons along the hangar deck level and bulwarks and side walls aft. All other parts, hangar deck side walls, flight deck, superstructure under the angled flight deck and the island are just prefixed to get a first overview.

All parts went together very well and there is just some minor filling and sanding to do, but not necessarily required. I fill and sand all the seams along the flight deck level and sponsons to get a smooth and straight surface. Some edges along the flight deck were incorrectly molded, so I repaired the edges by adding some flat styrene.

All in all it seems to me this will be a straightforward build, but a good planning is absolutely necessary to make sure to get the parts together well and to be able to reach all areas with paint.

Cheers, Christian
24 December 2015, 10:01
Sven Schönyan
I will curiously follow the build! The hull and island seems to be very nicely detailed.
24 December 2015, 10:47
Burkhard D
Your build reports are addictive, Christian. Can't help it I have to follow. 🙂
24 December 2015, 18:01
Christian Bruer
Thx for your interest🙂

Yep Sven, details are very very nice on that kit. Next to hull and island the flight deck with the mix of steel and wooden planking is highly detailed and state of the art. Details are missing only inside the hangar deck, but you can get over it because you can't see much looking inside. I think I will just fill and sand some ejector pin markings beside the hangar doors and put some planes and stuff in front of the openings. I plan to let the starboard elevator in the down position with an aircraft on it and the port elevator in position of flight deck level.

By the way, Sven, according to the discussion about the correct dimension of the kit. They compared it to a Trumpeter WWII Essex and found out the kit seems to be to short aft of the island. But it seems the WWII Essex was a bit to long, what means the angled deck is just ok by only 1,5mm to short. Mhhh, hope I can live with that inaccuracy😉

May it is something of your interest. As mentioned you can build USS Ticonderoga and USS Hancock next to USS Intrepid out of this kit with just slightly modifications. For Tico and Hanna you have to remove the stern anchor mounting and not to add the fantail platform. Radar set should be the same with just one difference, Tico and Hanna had a AN/SPS-43 instead an AN/SPS-37 long range radar, so you have to replace the bed spring antenna.

Cheers, Christian
25 December 2015, 09:41
Stefan Schacht
Hi Chris, bin dabei. Viele Grüße Stefan
25 December 2015, 09:45
Łukasz Gliński
Interesting project - watching 🙂
25 December 2015, 10:08
Sven Schönyan
Thanks for your short evaluation of the kit with its potential for her sisters. Now as I see this build log it brings me closer to this kit. Unfortunately there are still too many other kits an the workbench who want to be finished yet.
25 December 2015, 10:25
Christian Bruer
Thx mates🙂
Well Sven, same with me, but It doesn't matter🙂
26 December 2015, 09:10
Holger Kranich
Wow, Du bist ja schon weit!!!
26 December 2015, 10:21
Christian Bruer
Alles nur fake🙂 ist so gut wie noch nichts geklebt - aber wirkt, nicht wahr🙂
26 December 2015, 10:23
Holger Kranich
Oh das ist ja ein Vollrumpf! Ja, wirkt echt schon sehr !
26 December 2015, 10:53
Christian Bruer
Last two sponsons are filled and sanded. The opening for the bow anchor was closed using flat styrene. The contour was first cut out using a sharp Xacto and than shaped using small files and sanding paper. Last I add a coat of filler and just wait till it dries to shape it finally. Some more photos attached to show the main progress as mentioned before – hangar deck, aft upper works and sponsons still attached and glued in place. Rest is still snap fit. I can't resist and filled all the ejector pin marks etc. inside the hangar walls. Some more sanding to do tomorrow🙂
Cheers, Christian
27 December 2015, 18:04
Mathias Carl
This looks very promising.
So I´ll take myself a seat...😉
28 December 2015, 11:09
Gerald
👍
28 December 2015, 15:25
Christian Ristits
Pass me the popcorn!
28 December 2015, 15:35
Holger Kranich
Got beer?
28 December 2015, 15:41
Christian Bruer
Thx Gentleman, glad you like it. I was very pleased for all your very kind comments for my still basic WIP on that ship.
All Hangar side walls are cleaned up and glued in place. The fit was well, but I have to fill some minor gaps along the seam line to the hangar deck with PVA glue. Before I can add the superstructure below the angled flight deck I have to add the railings along the sponsons because you'll never reach them later.
@Holy, no beer, CV's are dry ships😉

Cheers, Christian
28 December 2015, 19:04
Ingmar Stöhr
Seems like I missed the start of a very interesting project. Impressive kit. I recently got the USS Wasp (LHD-1) so I have a good feeling for the size 🙂
31 December 2015, 08:14
Christian Bruer
No problem, will take a while🙂

Yep, they are nearly of the same size. But even big ships they are small compared to the latest CV's.
Yesterday I start working on the Airwing I'd like to use. I cut out all the resin A-1, A-4 and F-8 and start building the A-3, E-1 and Seasprite. A first arrangement was made for a further discussion with one of my shipmates who is well with CV aviation and aircraft handling on carriers. I will post some photos once I'm sure how to put all the tiny planes ontop of my flattop.

I guess all in all I'll need 50 aero planes of the types to make it busy aboard. A project inside of a project.

Cheers and have a good start in 2016

Christian
31 December 2015, 09:53
George Bacon
Looking good! I want to follow this one!
31 December 2015, 17:43
Christian Bruer
Thx George, glad you'd like to follow🙂
1 January 2016, 13:36
Christian Bruer
Wish you all a happy and prosperous New Year 2016🙂

Today I spent some time to start detailing the first aircraft. I choose the Skyraider and the Seasprite. The helicopter is nearly finished, just one seam line has to be filled, and two of the ten Skyraiders are assembled. I tried a little bit how to do it best because some small details are missing. I cut of the wings to display them folded. To let it fit proper I add small brass strips to simulate the hinges and to snap fit the wings as easy as possible once painted. That all comes out very nice so far and I hope to make faster progress on the remaining eight because I know now how it will work.

By the way, the big pencil is back🙂

Cheers, Christian
1 January 2016, 19:05
Ingmar Stöhr
Nice! Have to get myself such a big pencil 😉
Do the planes have panel lines? Looks like you'll need a tiny scriber there... 😉
2 January 2016, 06:50
Torben Ke
Great progress and a cool folding mechanism, Christian! How many planes did your CVW include? I heard that someone is currently making ordnance for 1:350 Vietnam aircraft... 😉 Some MK82 would fit perfectly to your planes.
2 January 2016, 07:24
Thomas Bischoff
this is a decent start into 2016 - I take a seat here.
2 January 2016, 09:14
Christian Bruer
Two A-4 finished with scratch build flaps and one F-8 finished. They all look quite nice, just curious how they will look when they got a first coat of paint?!

Hehe, Ingmar, I guess everybody has such a pencil🙂

No, unfortunately the L'Arsenal planes does not have panel lines. No joke I thought about scribing some panel lines but I left it because it will take to much time. I thing I will paint some small lines with oils once painted.

@Torben, according to my research CVW-5 have had 24 x A-4, 26 x F-8, 12 x A-1, 4 x A-3, 5 x RF-8, 3 x E-1 and 2 x UH-2 all in all 74 aero planes and 2 helicopters. I think I will display 11 x F-8 and RF-8, 18 x A4, 10 x A-1, 2 x A-3, 2 x E-1 and 1 x UH-2, all in all 43 aero planes and 1 helicopter.
I heard too someone is working on that🙂 May you not the A-1 and A-8 lack drop tanks😉

@Thomas, glad you're taking a seat to follow🙂
2 January 2016, 15:09
Sven Schönyan
It´s getting more and more interesting! Your airwing will be an eyecatching mix. I´ve just ordered my Intrepid kit.
2 January 2016, 15:32
Christian Bruer
Hehe, gotcha🙂
Which one do you want to build - Intrepid or one of her sisters?
2 January 2016, 16:14
Ingmar Stöhr
Those planes look great! And clean work as always
2 January 2016, 20:49
Christian Ristits
You work on those tiny aircrafts is just awesome!
2 January 2016, 21:35
Christian Lehmann
The planes are amazing. What about the hydrailic pipes at landing gear? 😉
2 January 2016, 22:42
Christian Bruer
Thank you mates, your very kind comments are much appreciated🙂

@Guido, guess you mean the main thickens of material or the main dimension of the slats?!
Material is 0,1mm Styrene, the thinnest Styrene I still have. I sand the slats down a little bit not to tower above the main wing. They really look prominent but according to photos they do so on the real thing. I thought about to cut out the wings to represent the slat intake, but I left it because not to damage the very tiny structure and racks on the wings underside. I think it is ok to represent the intakes with an illusionary painting in red along the intake outline.

@Christian, hehe, yep I thought of that, next to some other mad and crazy ideas – what is about open canopies and cockpit? Some ejection seats, some maintenance work, open hatches, etc. That all will work, you only need some patience, good magnifiers and time.

As to be seen here:
shipmodels.info/mws_..hp?f=59&t=143699

I don't want to hang around with my build for six years as he still did with his Nimitz, but this is all possible.

Cheers, Christian
3 January 2016, 09:58
Christian Ristits
OK...this guy is really crazy...!
3 January 2016, 11:09
Christian Lehmann
Awesome Nimitz.
3 January 2016, 11:35
Sven Schönyan
I´m looking foward to your solution of open canopies if should do them.
3 January 2016, 19:39
Christian Bruer
Thx Guido, good to know all is good. And thx you mentioned it. Better to note it soon than to late to modify🙂
Well Sven, just a thought. I do not have a good idea so far. Thermo forming with transparent foil is the only solution I think, but I'm not well with this technique and thing it is much to small to bend the foil respectively the foil will be to thick even for this scale. But time will tell
4 January 2016, 17:09
yvan van impe
Nice work christian, I follow with interest
4 January 2016, 17:14
Choppa Nutta
............... errr..... that's 1/350th ?!?!?!??!!!!!
....... good grief .... those ant builders are good !! 😄
4 January 2016, 17:36
Christian Bruer
Thx Yvan🙂
Yep Choppa, I press them again to make all the fiddly work🙂
4 January 2016, 18:20
Choppa Nutta
are the aircraft 3d printed ?
4 January 2016, 18:38
Christian Bruer
They are resin casted. I'm not really sure about the master pattern, but I know they were 3D computer designed, so I guess the master was a 3D print and then cleaned and finished, because you could not see any step so prominent for 3D printing.
They have as well a lot of trucks, tanks etc. in their scale 1/350 program. I used some of the truck in my HMS Montgomery diorama. They're really nice and detail for this tiny scale. I guess they still have them in scale 1/700 too?!
4 January 2016, 18:48
Martien Lourens
I can only say: awesome
4 January 2016, 19:23
Choppa Nutta
I suspect you're right, the masters will have been high resolution 3D prints and molds made from them.
High precision 3D printing is expensive but it can be done fine enough not to see the steps but, but of course higher resolution takes a lot longer hence the high price etc.

4 January 2016, 19:31
Christian Bruer
Thx Martien🙂

Yep Choppa just a question to redeem the cost for the master pattern and maybe extra work with a good bunch of kits to sell in a exactable time.

Cheers, Christian
5 January 2016, 19:22
Yari Brunings
Some very nice work, i shall take some tips from this build if you don't mind 🙂
8 January 2016, 08:01
Christian Bruer
You're welcome Yari, and thx for looking at it🙂

I made some progress with the airwing, I will post some photos tomorrow. I've got the excellent Intrepid CVA/CVS-11 photo CD by Ray Bean, which includes a lot of photos from Hanna and Tico, this week. I found some more small things to modify to build USS Hancock out of the Intrepid kit. One of the stbd. sponson has to be shortened, some fuel lines along the hull need some correction and an interesting topic, the radar dome just abaft the island was missing on her 1967 deployment.

Cheers, Christian
.
8 January 2016, 19:11
Christian Bruer
As mentioned before some progress on the airwing. The street looks busy with eight moving Scooters preparing to launch. The fantail was crowded as well with some parked Sandy's, a Whale and Crusaders. Some more aircraft are in progress.

Further photos explain the necessary modification to make a Hanna out of the Intrepid kit. Some more research will follow soon.

All in all so far an much interesting project, but a lot of basic work to do with the airwing to get a lifelike and correct result to represent this CVA on Yankee Station.

Cheers, Christian
9 January 2016, 11:26
Ingmar Stöhr
That looks indeed like a busy flight deck. Will also require lots of 1/350 personnel 😉 Looks like a lot of work.
9 January 2016, 20:14
Christian Bruer
Yep will need a lot of brown, red, green, purple and yellow shirts next to all the sailors necessary to run a carrier. Unfortunately there is no 3Dm carrier personal available, only the Eduard flat 2D PE figures. Hope North Star models is working on some. Still they have Japanese carrier personal, but no US carrier personal. Well time will tell.
No it is time to get back to my two Whales, yesterday I cut out the whole undercarriage for the landing gear. Will post some photos soon.
Cheers, Christian
10 January 2016, 11:09
Łukasz Gliński
There are bloating (is it the right word?) figures for 1/350 made by Aber:
scalemates.com/kits/236413-aber-350s06-ships-crew
Maybe they can solve the problem
10 January 2016, 12:29
Christian Bruer
Thank you for the link and information Lukasz. Mhh, guess these are PE figures you have to fold, but curious how temperature will expand them to get a 3D appearance?

What I'm referring to are figures like these Japanese pilots:
northstarmodels.com/..ship-ww2-3d-figures/

North Star has a wide range of these 3D resin figures in different dynamic poses. I used them on my HMS Montgomery and still use them only on my current projects. They fit well for a lot of ships, but you'll need some additional poses for aircraft carrier personal.
10 January 2016, 13:00
Łukasz Gliński
Well, the cover I uploaded says 265'C. I thought they may come in handy - you should be able to shape them they way you need as they are photetched.
But yes, the figures from Northstar are much more detailed indeed.
10 January 2016, 13:04
Choppa Nutta
what about dipping the PE figures in PVA to "thicken" up the figures and give them some shape ?
wiping off the excess of course 🙂
10 January 2016, 14:39
Christian Bruer
Well Choppa it should work, but I do not like these PE figures and you can get more realistic 3D figures from North Star. Instead of dipping PE sailors into PVA - and create a lot of Fatty's - I think I will operate the North Star figures to get more different poses.

Two Whales are finished. Because the main landing gear wheel well wasn't detailed and open at the kit part I cut out the wheel well and made it new including the wheel well doors. I add the clear plastic canopy without any painting below because I will paint the glass as I have to do with the rest of the airwing because all other planes do not have clear parts.

I don't know why Trumpeter choose a different material in black plastic for some parts. Nearly impossible to sand and clean the parts. That just look nice in the clear box but not a good choice for modelmakers. Still have to wait until it is painted how it will look at the end.

Cheers, Christian
10 January 2016, 17:50
Christian Bruer
Yep Guido, the A-3 Skywarrior was called the Whale because of it's size even for the big carriers like Independence or Kitty Hawk.

Well I'm just playing with the flight deck arrangement and I'm not really sure how it will look at the end. I chat about that with one of my close shipmates who is very well with aircraft carriers and carrier aviation, as well as I still have a look to more than 600 photos from Ray Bean's USS Intrepid photo CD🙂

Cheers, Christian
10 January 2016, 18:28
Martien Lourens
Awesome, Christian. Will there be on the F34 flying Lead pencil still wings 🙂 🙂
10 January 2016, 18:59
Choppa Nutta
What was I thinking !!
offering advice to someone of your excellence, doh ! 😄

of course, you have it all in hand, I'm interested to see what 1/350 figure set looks like 🙂
10 January 2016, 19:19
Ingmar Stöhr
very cool work on those wheel wells.
Maybe you are lucky and there will be some 1/350 carrier crews available if you finale reach that stage of the build. More likely they will be released shortly after you finished the ship. But then I can use them on my LHD-1 Wasp 😉
10 January 2016, 21:08
Christian Bruer
Well Guido, the man can be helped:
heller.fr/en/maquett..e-3279510529050.html
Not scale 1/350 but close. I guess L'Arsenal has some aero planes etc. in their program😉

Thx Martien , hehe F34, no not wings just fins to put it under the wing of one of the jets🙂

Hey Choppa don't be to sad😉 may I'll give it a try to soak and drown one of the flat PE sailors. But if so I will only use a black shoe, cause a brown shoe never ever will fit in a cockpit🙂

Thx Ingmar, mhh reminds me of some other projects – I call it Murphy's Law🙂

Cheers and have a nice week
Christian
11 January 2016, 17:43
Christian Bruer
Where there's a will, there's a way🙂
12 January 2016, 17:47
Clifford Keesler
Looking awesome as always Christian.
12 January 2016, 18:43
Christian Bruer
Thank you Clifford. You're very kind comment is much appreciated🙂
12 January 2016, 19:28
Christian Bruer
Most of the jets and props recently got their feet's what makes the flight deck look much busy now. Some Crusader's and Tracer's are still in progress. Once finished they will replace some of the A-1 and A-4, which I than will hand over to the hangar deck.

Well, time to put my attention to the hull and flight deck before I can go back to the birds.

Cheers, Christian
17 January 2016, 13:08
Stephan Ryll
Very impressive work Christian - the planes are awsome small- respect 👍
21 October 2016, 12:57
Christian Bruer
Thank you Stephan🙂
21 October 2016, 17:33
Dan Stinson
Hello all - a newbie here. "Sven from Modellbau sent me." I've tried to read all the comments in this thread, as best I could using a translator. Christian, absolutely stunning work on the aircraft! I appreciate all the comments and photos of the modifications so far.

I'm working on a 1/350 conversion of the Gallery USS Intrepid kit to the USS Hancock, CVA-19, as she was on her seventh of nine deployments to the South China Sea 1972-01-07 to 1972-10-03 with CVW-21. [source: Where we were in Vietnam 1945-75, by Michael Kelley] (By the way Christian, her 1967 deployment was the Hanna's third to Vietnam after 10/64-5/65 and 11/65-8/66.)

Unfortunately for me, by '72 most of the aircraft had changed, so most of the aircraft that come with the kit are not all that usable. By '72 the A1s were gone, the Seasprites were replaced by SH3G Sea Kings, and the A4-Cs of VA 55 were upgraded to A4-Fs, while VA 93 was upgraded to A4-Es and Fs. The added avionics hump on the later A4s is really noticeable. Luckily VF 54's F-8C Crusaders were upgraded to F8-Js with little visible difference. A lot of what I needed I've found online, but I'm still pondering A4-F/G options.

Ray Bean has been very helpful, and between he and Sven they have managed to help me spend a lot of money with them. I suppose it was inevitable. I look forward to following along, and I'll try to add something of value if I get the chance.

Dano
4 July 2019, 01:40
Stephan H.
Great work so far. The pictures with the complete air wing already look great! "thumbs pressed"😉
4 July 2019, 07:21
Christian Bruer
Thank you Dan for you kind words and your interest. Welcome aboard, it would be fine to see your progress on Hanna. I put her beside due to several other progressing projects, but I hope to finish her one day.
Mmhhh I don't know if there are A4's with hump available in 1/350?

Looking forward to see your WIP here.

Cheers Christian
4 July 2019, 18:02
Christian Bruer
Thank you Stephan 🙂
4 July 2019, 18:03
Dan Stinson
I'm glad to be here, Christian!

There are several different 3D printed 1/350 aircraft on Shapeways. ( www.shapeways.com ) I just ran this filter for 1/350, but a finer search would winnow that down.
( shapeways.com/market..roduct&q=1%2F350 )
I'm going to order a couple different models and see what I think. I suspect the most important thing is to get them in a material that's easy to work with and paint.

Another advantage is that they can be done as a single part, which would make the landing gear easier to work with. Of course there must be some trade-off for part thickness, but I want to find out.

Perhaps others know of different 3D printers with useful products? Does anyone know any more about this guy's project?
cs.finescale.com/fsm...aspx?sortorder=desc

Dano
5 July 2019, 00:52
Sergej I
Oh wow, and I thought my 1/72 Skyhawk was tiny 😄
Great job so far, looking forward for more!
5 July 2019, 15:54
Christian Bruer
Thank you for all your kind comments. Well mates, due to a lot of other projects I put this time consumpting one beside. I'll come back to it one day and if you have the patience to want you're welcome to take a seat 🙂

Cheers Christian
5 July 2019, 17:05

Album info

This model will represent USS Hancock CVA-19 in her Vietnam war appearance during her 2. Vietnam War Deployment from January 1967 till July 1967 with CVW-5 embarked.
The Air Group was much colorful and versatile with F-8 Crusader, A-1 Skyraider, A-3 Skywarrior, A-4 Skyhawk, E-1 Tracer and Seasprite Helicopters aboard.
CVA-11, CVA-14 and CVA-19 are nearly identical because they belonged to the first batch they underwent SCB-27 modernization in the early 50's and SCB-125 in the late 50's of the last century.
Deck layout, elevators, island, catapults etc. was still similar. Just the radar configuration as well as some minor hull details were different. I will come up with modifications only in areas noticeable, as was the radar layout to get a best as possible representation with just slightly modifications.

43 images
1:350
On hold
1:350 USS Intrepid CV-11 (Gallery Models 64008)1:350 Douglas A-1 Skyraider (L'Arsenal AC 350 69)1:350 A-3 Skywarrior (Trumpeter 06223)11+

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