Airfix Illustrious progress

Frank Spahr
Thanks, Michael,

I´m working on it and am currently tackling the crane and ship´s boats.

Frank

Aghis Barberopoulos
Beautiful work Frank !

DFGH
nice work Frank!

Frank Spahr
Thank you all!

I just added an image of the Coles Crane, which was detailed with styrene and putty around the driver´s cabin, the PE supports are included in the aircraft PE fret. Apart from that, I did a number of cable reels, the floddlight gantries and some other small stuff over the weekend. Needs painting, accentuating and installing now ...

Dave Flitton
Awesome...Can't wait to see the finished project!!!

Frank Spahr
Last weekend´s poor weather helped the project a lot. The ship proper is now done, lightly weathered and flatcoated. Now´s the time for tackling the deck vehicles and aircraft - plus enlisting enough crew members to give the flight deck a credible look.

Holger Kranich
Hell, yeah, looks great so far! I love the way, the watereffect comes out!

Wilfried Bogaerts
Waaaw impressive display Frank, this will look very realistic with vehicles, aircraft and crew. I hope the weather stays poor over the next few weeks so we can enjoy the pics of the finished carrier soon ... 😉
Very well done !

Aghis Barberopoulos
Excellent! Inspiring!

Frank Spahr
Well, folks,

all sorts of commitments slowed me down, but I managed to do some work on the aircraft over the last weeks. The latest images show my first attempt at arranging a part of the aircraft complement on the deck. The idea is to show the ship prior to commencing the day´s flight ops. The plane guard and AEW helo will take off presently, and then the twelve Harriers will follow. Two spare helos will be parked on the foredeck, a third (the one currently on the fore lift) will be parked near to the island. I also have a number of deck vehicles, and will have to get together a credible number of personnel, too. Currently, I´m stumped by the lack of drop tanks. I know you can make them from 1:144 Mk. 82 Snakeeye bombs, but canßt lay my hand on the Italeri A-6 Intruder kit which contains them. So I´ll probably wait for resin replacements before I finalize the model (as in glue all the iffy stuff to the deck).

All the best from

Frank

Aghis Barberopoulos
Looks great Frank, love those tiny harriers!

Wilfried Bogaerts
Masterpiece !

Holger Kranich
Cant you make the tanks yourself from any other material? Maybe from putty and pe rest´s? Or will a toothpick make it? After extencive sanding, certainly? I try to imagine but they are so small!

Holger Kranich
Totally forgot to say: Great work on this carrier, Frank!

Frank Spahr
Hi again - and thanks for your kind comments!

I might do the tanks from scratc, but admittedly I´m too lazy for that. I´d need a few dozen of them, not just to put them under the a/c, but also as props lying around on deck - so having readymades would be far more preferable.

I did complete the remaining five RAF Harriers in the meantime, and having done the vehicles that leaves this project on hold for the time being. I´ll bring her to Heiden on 31 March, and will most probably have no figures up yet, but I´m very sure I´ll have the whole thing wrapped up for Telford.

Frank

Holger Kranich
Hello Frank! I´ve read the pe review on modellversium. Even the weapontrolleys are included! This means a lot of work to you, to realise all the detail!I would love to see pix about it from Telford!

Duncan Cook
Splendid work Frank.
I know how much work is in this kit because I work on it too.
I get it for free from a friend who gave it away because the fitting was so poor.

I needed a half tube of Revell Putty to close the gaps and a big file to adjust the deck and remove the old paint.

Frank Spahr
Hi all,

I just logged in here for the first time after quite some while, sorry for not posting earlier. Illustrious is still awaiting completion, but I do have the machined brass drop tanks for the Harriers now, and I secured two boxes of prepainted 1:350 naval figures from PitRoad during my visit to NNT models during my vacation. So - provided I get the workbench clear of the quite complex Academy Warspite with Pontos set - I´ll see ot it that this model will be completed in the near future.

Once I make progress, I´ll post it there.

Kind regards

Frank

Pedro Almeida
Looking very good!

Peter Segers
Wow, what a joy to watch this diorama of yours of the HMS Illustrious!!!! Excellent job ! Must have taken a while to complete it.

Stefan Schneider
Looks great! How long did it take you to finish it?

Frank Spahr
Thanks for the kind words!
I started this kit in November, 2011, and had it mostly completed by April, 2012. I had to wait a while for the brass droptanks, so it was September, 2012 until I could install those and mount the aircraft, vehicles, equipment and personnel on deck.

Duncan Cook

Duncan Cook I need to build on my Illustrious again, but it's a real putty queen.

Frank Spahr
I heard that quite often, but I didn´t perceive it as such. I always need putty, am never able to do without, and had quite some work in mating lower and upper hull, but not much more than with, say, the Trumpeter HMS Hood. Two modeling pals of mine regarded the fit of their kits as pretty nigh on atrocious, I seem to have been lucky with a better fitting kit ...