CV-6 USS Enterprise 1/350 - Build Log

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May 16, 2021
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278
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Location
Newcastle, Australia
After spending the last few months working my 1/200 USS Arizona, a late night visit by our cat to the hobby room has placed that ship back in dry dock for now to repair some minor battle damage. Big breath in, open a new model for distraction.

I picked up the Merit 1/350 scale USS Enterprise CV-6 some time back. I did a little tinkering, got some after market PE, but never really made a solid start on her. So now she's unboxed and about to occupy my non-Christmas related spare time. :)

CV-6 Box Art.jpeg

Straight up, the kit appears quite well detailed for the scale and contains a number of PE sheets already, including things such as the degaussing cables. There's a full set of period aircraft and sufficient interior parts to work up a nice hangar deck. My only initial 'complaint' after trawling through the box contents is the quality of the instructions booklet. For a larger kit such as this it's not all that comprehensive, so will need to pay close attention to parts, PE placement and reference materials in a few areas.

I'll try and take regular pictures as the build progresses, although that's never been one of my strong points. ;)
 
Pulling up a chair, grabbing a bag of popcorn and waiting with anticipation. Also sorry to hear about the Arizona. And of course Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
 
Pulling up a chair, grabbing a bag of popcorn and waiting with anticipation. Also sorry to hear about the Arizona. And of course Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Thanks JL. Getting ready for our Christmas Day lunch down here in Oz. :) I hope CA is escaping the worst of the cold currently hitting the US.

I've made a good start on the Big E. Have noticed a few fit issues, dry fitting sub assemblies and the hangar deck, and have sanded back the over emphasised hull plating. Going to try and get the hull painted later today, if I don't succumb to the post XMas lunch food coma.

Port Stern.jpeg
 
Fit issues, yup I have those when I put on my pants, the day after Christmas Dinner. OH... you meant the model, I guess the fog of eating is starting early, think I'll pass out now.
 
I've been working the hull and hangar deck sections of the model. As mentioned, there are a number of PE sheets included and the PE quality is generally quite good. However, I did find one glaring error with the etch. Sheet B contains the degaussing cables, which I was quite pleased about; however, on moving to install same I found both forward sections of the cable to be identical.

In reference to the picture, Part 3 (the starboard cable) is exactly the same as Part 23, which should be a mirror part to reflect the port cable. This is very disappointing and hopefully Trumpeter will rectify the error in later releases of the model. Guess I'll be building the cables after all.

PE Sheet B.jpeg:(
 
This kit, for the scale, actually provides quite a bit of detail to the hangar decks and the provided PE enables quite a bit of detail out of the box. For now, I've decided to pause this build and source some quality reference materials to enable me to detail the internal hangar deck as best as possible, and to support adding additional details where possible.

I've ordered two books; one of David Doyles publications, and another on the Yorktown class of carrier, with specific references to models of the class. Once received, I'll post a review of both books in the relevant SoS Forum and continue with the build.

CV-6 Legends of WarfareYorktown Carriers

I had started to work the Island sub-assembly, which also carries quite a bit of detail for the scale. Another reason for wanting the reference material. Below are snapshots of the island with main kit provided plastic additions, along with some of the kit provided PE added to the port side and aft sections.

CV-6 Island - STBC sideCV-6 Island - Port SidePort side Island - Some Kit PE

The books are coming from the US, so may take a while to reach our shores down here, so in the interim I going to do some more work on my 1/200 Titanic. Hope to update that forum again soon. :)
 
Greetings from Tas, looking forward to your next update.
btw has the kit provide some good qauality fighters/bombers?
 
Greetings from Tas, looking forward to your next update.
btw has the kit provide some good qauality fighters/bombers?
Hey Nathan,
You get an assortment of fighters and torpedo bombers of the Midway era. They are provided in a clear plastic and, for the scale, are not too bad, although I shudder at attempting to do the small roundel transfers when I get to them. :)
 
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