USS Bon Homme Richard (CV/CVA-31) Double Build

Day 1 - 68 gets hangar and hull blisters.

Day 2 - 45 gets hull & hangar paint; 68 gets hull blisters worked on.

One of the features on this build is that the #1 elevator on both will be in the down position, with the elevator well detailed. Here, 45 gets the #1 elevator detailed. The Dragon kit already has accurate elevator walls - they just need detail.

The transverse piece represents the gallery deck, which is visible when the elevator is in the down position.

BHR '45 #1 elevator finished (I did go back later with a grayer shade of black for scale effect).

Because I built the hull blister slightly too high on 68 I decided it would be easier to just cut the kit off at the hangar deck, which would also let me control the hangar wall detailing. I built the hangar deck far forward enough to accommodate the #1 elevator well.

Because the Hasegawa kit now had no landmarks for construction above the main deck at all, I transferred a set of frame marks to graph paper and glued that to the build dock, then made a guide that could be placed over the model to mark the centerline and frame locations as needed.

After studying the photos of CV-16's SCB-27C modernization, which involved cutting the forward part of the bow off, I decided to do the same, and cut the kit bow off at frame 5.

I then used reduced copies of tracings of the plans to add main, 2nd, and forecastle decks up to the frame 1 (FP).

The hangar decks walls were a sheet of .040, with an outer skin of .020 so the openings would not be overly thick. I decided to include a "lip" at the top to serve as a guide for aligning the kit flight deck and eventually the .020 sheet final flight deck.

I reused the kit's forward "wall" as a guide to align the flight deck.

The bow was made up of multiple sheets of .040 with .020 spacers at the FP and A-F points, which are marked on the graph paper. This is probably the second one, A.

Here the forward 5" gallery has been framed up, the escalator from Model Mopnkey added, and the opening for elevator #3 made.

This shows the tracing of the plans to provide the necessary templates for construction. The tracings were copied to provide a draker reproduction, then reduced to 27%.

The #1 elevator well is roughed in.

The elevator well is complete (except detailing) and the flight deck cut to accommodate it. This photo shows what isn't apparent in photos - that the enlarged elevator was also extended aft.

A feature of the SCB-27C modernizations is the complete deletion of the "boat deck" on the starboard side aft in favor of a larger hangar deck. This photo shows the -27A Oriskany, the 1945 CV-31, and the -27C CV-31. It's not immediately apparent, but only the blister top is outside the hangar.

The elevator opening is perfect - except that it's several times too thick, especially with another layer on plastic yet to come on top of it. Time for a new plan.

These are the Model Monkey islands for both ships.

I chopped a large rectangular hole to allow the elevator to rise up to the existing flight deck level.

Here it's apparent entire elevator well has been trimmed up .060.

The bow has been built up in layers and the backing for the putty on the sides. The other pieces are the gallery deck undersides, which will be somewhat visible through the elevator openings and door.

The SCB-27C/SCB-125 ships had vertical sides forward and I "plated" those in. The hull curved up smoothly from the waterline and there is no "knuckle" at the forecastle deck as there is in the -27A and -27C ships, so I expected a lot of sanding, so the sides also have wire glued at the knuckle.

One very good thing about the Hasegawa kit is that the flight deck has transverse supports underneath, and the catwalks serve as very effective supporting shelves, and I used those as guides to build up the angled deck. From back to front there are .040 supports, with a .020 layer on top to match the catwalks, with another layer of .040 on top to bring it to existing flight deck level. The pencil lines are expansion joints, which I discovered also happen to be where the angles on the added flight deck change.

BHR '45 has to be backdated from the kit, which represents it in 1951-52. Once thing I noticed was that the foremost gun tub - which was added after completion in 1944, was lower. This shows the original tubs and catwalk. The flight deck round-down has already been trimmed back.

Here the kit catwalks are replaced with thinner .020 strip, the forward tub is lower, and the walkways are in place under the round-down, using Tom's PE.

68 has the angled deck complete.

The modernized Essexes appear to have had their wartime elevators shirted outwards 4-6" to accommodate the blistered hull, hence the white strip. What I was not aware was that the elevators didn't change in dimensions when the ships received angled decks, with the exception of a small round down at the forward end. So I just used the kit elevator.

The sponsons are in place, and the gallery deck enclosed.

This shows the gallery deck being thickened.

This underside view shows the construction of the sponsons and gallery deck undersides.

Started down the port side gallery decks now - note the cutout for the never-mounted gun director has to be filled in.

Final 45 port gallery decks - top. Note that the 40mm mounts are all lower than the kit calls for. Many late war Essexes had their mounts lower, likely for weight and stability reasons.

Final 45 stbd gallery decks - top.

Final 45 stbd gallery decks - bottom.

Final 45 port gallery decks - bottom. Note how many places the gallery decks must be built up so that they run into the side of the ship at full thickness.

The final flight deck pieces start to go on. This is the section from the first expansion joint to the second. Note the "lip" is still present to use as a guide.

I put tubes inside my islands so they can be mounted on a stand and worked on separately from the ship. I also add alignment posts so they can be placed and removed easily until final attachment.

The final flight deck went on way faster than I had thought.

The bow ended up needing some additional sanding to get the proper concave shape at the sides, and in the process I discovered the vertical side forward was too low, so I extracted the wire and carefully sanded the knuckle up. I wire cutwater is visible.

I scratchbuilt the stern deck structure, but the kit supports were invaluable.

To my surprise, the structure slid in and out, so I could leave it out until the stern was painted.

Just a reminder the 68 in the middle is actually the same kit as 9 in the back.

#1 elevator detailed.

Finish trimwork for the elevator ended up being a lot simpler than I had expected, and left me with a flight deck opening that, if not exactly as thin as the actual flight deck plating, was think enough that it looked good.

Again, the enlarged elevator is substantially longer than it at first appeared.

Starting on the pole mast and tractor parking platform.

An interesting shot of a -27A, a -27A & -125, and a -27C/125 under construction.

Flight deck marked for detailing.

I decided to add .05" sheet for the steel landing deck, bomb elevators, and catapults.

I tried Gunship Gray FS36118 for the flight deck but it seemed too light, so I switched to a Panzer Grey.

3D printed F6Fs and TBMs are in, and look pretty good after multiple thin coats of glossy Sea Blue.

First batch of hull detailing.

Second batch of hull detailing.

3D printed anchors in. The box contains six, so I have enough to replace the ones on '68 as well.

The striping is a little wide, so I narrowed it with a brush - here the narrowing is up to the #3 elevator. Note that the centerline of the elevator and the striping is not the same.

The bow on '68 has the accurate portholes and round-down (give or take). '45 has white deck striping from the Dragon Princeton kit and GMM flight deck numbers that are almost 30 years old.

45 has striping narrowed. 68 has GMM numerals - fortunately for me she changed from shadowed numbers sometime in '67, so just white in '68. I have started applying other flight deck decals using Starfighter's Nimitz-class carrier set, since they are sold out of the postwar Essex set. The good side of this is that there's twice as much of everything.