Mini Hobby 80502 1/350 Scale USS Enterprise CVN-65 Early

[Bryian]

Wow, this is a very comprehensive build log. Well done so far.

 

[Mikey25252]

Wow, this is a very comprehensive build log. Well done so far.

Thanks its a labor of love for me

 

[Mikey25252]

Part 7 Deck Edge Aircraft Elevators

It has been some 42 days since my last post and I know that I didn’t work every day so say 38 days at around 3 hours per day would mean I spent around 114 hours making the 4 elevators. Because of the number of photos that I want to attach I may have to break this into 2 posts.

On the ship each elevator is approximately 4000 square feet. They are capable of lifting two aircraft weighing up to 100,000 pounds each. The elevators are vital to operations on any aircraft carrier. The Enterprise, Forrestal, Kitty Hawk and Nimitz Classes all have 4 elevators but the Gerald R Ford Class has only 3 so any one going out of operation would seriously hamper the ships ability to function. I saw Elevator 2 jam a couple of times during the 1978 deployment. They had to rock the controls from up to down repeatedly to un-stick it. This is one reason why it was partially plated over during the major refit that followed that deployment. The plating was to keep the giant platform from flexing and locking up in the guides. They plated over the drain holes under the deck by 2012 which is an indicator that the deck was solid by that time too. I am sure that all 4 elevators were completely plated over sometime during the final 12 years of service. I believe the Enterprise was unique in having grated elevators. I never served on another carrier with them nor heard of one. I imagine it was tried for its ability to shed water quickly, weight and/or cost reduction.



In this photo from the decommissioning in 2012 you can see that the drain holes are plated over. Compare that side view to the one below.



The drain holes are open in this photo of Elevator 2 in the 80’s. Coupled with the grated deck the elevators could shed water quickly. Note the cable attachment points.

The actual elevators have a 5 sided exterior frame. It slopes up at the outboard edge and on the outboard plate. There are 4 inner transverse beams. Two of these have a support truss attached on the bottom while the two center beams have a curved cut out center section. I am not sure but I think the ends of these are part of the locking device. On the side of the elevator with the angled extension there is a frame that goes from that side straight forward to the outside wall bisecting the extension. There is a cross brace to strengthen the framework and a number of struts to brace everything else. There are drain holes just under the deck and lightening holes along each side. The sides on the inboard edge have a piston that rides in the elevator guide track.



This photo of Elevator 1 from the same time as the one above shows the construction of the support system very well. The white arrows are pointing to the bisecting frame.

I have a couple of stories that involve the elevators. The first involves my wildest elevator ride. It was not unusual to ride an elevator up or down if you were moving heavy equipment and you were riding with it. If you were riding brakes in a plane going up or down you stayed in the cockpit while they ran the elevator. The ride I’m thinking about occurred on the morning of 2 October, 1976 at Latitude 000 degrees, 00 minutes and East Longitude 141 degrees 15 minutes. On this day I was inducted into the hallowed ranks of Trusty Shellbacks.

We rode up to the flight deck on Elevator 2 but in order to get there we had many hurdles to cross. We were rousted out in the dark. I worked nights so I was already up but it was dark when the festivities began. The Trusty Shellbacks who took us in charge saw to it that we were properly attired. Dungaree pants inside out and backwards. A ”T” shirt inside out and backwards with a 12 inch P stenciled on the front and back and a set of underwear also inside out and backwards, stenciled with a P, worn over the dungarees. To promote good order and discipline wherever we travelled we did so on our hands and knees probably so we could be swatted more easily with all those shillelaghs (worn out canvas fire hose jackets). We got to experience all the culinary delights of Pollywog Breakfast. After that we waited in the shop and had many fine adventures courtesy of the illustrious Shellbacks in our squadron. When our division was finally called away we crawled to the hanger and then to Elevator 2.

We were placed face down on the elevator. I have no idea how many of us but at least a couple hundred. The Shellbacks kept popping their shillelaghs but left us alone on the elevator (I wonder why). Whenever the elevators travel, they sound a klaxon horn (it makes that ah-ooga, ah-ooga sound) a warning to anybody nearby. Up we went only to be hit with several streams from salt water fire hoses as we rode up. I remember grabbing that grated deck and hanging on for dear life because it felt like I was going to be flushed overboard. There was a ring of Shellbacks screaming and waving shillelaghs at the top of the elevator opening. I actually felt a glimmer of fear.



The moment I met the Royal Baby, there were so many Pollywogs we had 3 Royal Babies. I gave my camera to one of the Shellbacks and he caught this for me. In the background to the right is the Royal Court.

The rest of the morning was spent crawling around the flight deck making manners with Neptune’s Royal Court, the Royal Baby, the Royal Dentist, the Royal Barber and the Royal Devil. Then there were pleasant interludes in the chute, the stocks and finally the tank. I thought I would never be clean again. I am glad that I went through it though. It wasn’t mandatory just a bit of fun at the Pollywogs expense. They ran the elevator repeatedly to cycle all the Pollywogs through initiation. They went by division and there were 61 divisions if I counted right. I later heard that over 60% or around 3500 of the crew were Pollywogs.



My Shellback Certificate from 1976.

We were in the infancy of the Naval Aviation Tool Control Program in 1976. Tool control is being able to account for your tools 100% of the time. It was a spin-off of the FOD ( Foreign Object Damage specifically damage to engines,)reduction program. It was drummed into us that a lost tool could potentially destroy an aircraft engine or become a missile when blown by aircraft exhausts. Heaven forbid you lose a tool in the cockpit. When I reported to the squadron in June of 1975 there really wasn’t much of a program compared to what it became later. It was just assumed that you would take care of your tools because you were told to. One of the first things that happened after checking in was to go to the tool room and get issued tools. The tool room was simply a room with a lot of tools in it. Nobody worked in the tool room that I knew of and anybody could go in and get anything they needed within limits. I’m sure someone was in charge but it wasn’t obvious. The only restriction was that you had to go to Maintenance Control and check out the key and they did not just hand it out. There had to be a valid reason. The checkout/in was logged but records of what you took were on you.

Three of us IWT technicians reported aboard at the same time and one of the Second Class Petty officers in the shop took us around the squadron. One stop was the tool storage room. We were directed to take one of the tool boxes, a box much like my father’s fishing tackle box. The lid opened in the center and as it opened 2 levels of trays opened with it. It was well used but sound. It was painted Royal Mace Green, the squadron color, and stenciled with yellow shop and squadron markings. Primary storage was a large space in the bottom of the box. The petty officer with us went through the bins and selected what tools we would need. But when we were done he entertained requests for other items like hacksaws and hand drills (the old fashioned hand cranked kind, In Naval slang a Hurdy Gurdy).

Back in the shop we used a paper form to record all of the tools in our new boxes. If you weren’t honest you could get away with some swag here. Nobody checked my inventory when I was done. This went in a document protector and was kept in the box. A copy went to the shop supervisor to be filed away. We were told to inventory the boxes contents once a quarter. We were also told that all of these tools were our responsibility and when we left the squadron they would all be inventoried and returned to the tool room. Any discrepancies would be deducted from our pay. I didn’t make much back then so the thought of losing any of my pay did not sit well with me. It made more sense to me to inventory my tools every day.

All of the tools were placed in the box as we liked but there was no organization other than the trays were convenient for small tools like pin extractors and socket wrenches everything else went in the bottom. I probably had 50 tools and consumables in my box. I also had a lock and key to keep it secure, a carpenter’s leather tool pouch with a web belt and nylon bag/cover to keep everything in the pouch, two kinds of safety wire, two kinds of electricians tape, a TL-29 Electricians knife with a belt pouch and a Navy flashlight also with a belt holder. That was in 1975. Despite the lack of organization I never lost a tool.

By 1976 things were changing. The shop received a wall tool box and 4 aluminum attaché cases. We also received layered foam sheets to organize the tools in the cases. Every shop in the squadron was doing this locally but it was a navy wide change. Each tool would have a cut out where only it could go. Ideally the cut out was colored to highlight a missing tool (shadowed). At a glance you could tell if everything was where it was supposed to be. The tools we had in the boxes were reduced to the minimum as determined by us. Any tools that didn’t make the cut for the attaché cases and couldn’t be stored in the wall box were turned in. I said goodbye to my green tackle box. These new boxes were inventoried at every shift change and after every job you went out on. Nobody had their own set of tools any more.

New tool pouches were designed by our supervisor. He did a pretty fair job with the pouches and we all collaborated on what was essential to put in them. He did the lay out and worked with the squadron PR (Parachute Rigger) who would sew the pouches up for us. Now every shop in the squadron was doing this too so the Rigger was pretty busy, he still had his regular work to keep up with too. The boss designed a pouch of heavy canvas, double stitched with nylon covered hems. It had 2 rows of slots separated by a central space and covered by a Velcro closed flap. There was a secure pocket to hold the speed wrench located on the outer panel and a built in flash light holder.

The central space could hold the inventory form and consumables for whatever job you were going out on. The inner side was conventional but (here’s that fatal but) the outer panel was held closed by more Velcro down the sides. He had it made this way so at the end of the job you could open the whole thing up and clean any bits of safety wire, hardware and other debris, leaving the pouch clean for the next job. But when opened, the outer row of tools was now pointing down if you were wearing it! This was okay in the shop but not so much if you were wearing the pouch on deck. When the pouches were new the tool slots were tight but they soon loosened up with use.

Velcro is pretty good stuff but after it is used extensively it gets weak and can disconnect pretty easily. We were quick to point out that while the ease which the pouch could be cleaned was nice, the fact that the thing could pop open on deck and drop tools everywhere might be asking for trouble. We wanted the pouch sides sewed up but the PR was buried in work and would not be able to do this job for a while. The boss did not believe it would ever pop open. We had to use those pouches for almost a month and don’t get me wrong they were miles better than the carpenter’s pouches. You could run down the flight deck and things stayed where they were supposed to. Unfortunately the flight deck is a very dirty place and constantly exposed to the weather so the pouches were soon dirty, oily and damp and this adversely affected the Velcro holding the outer panel closed. The closure for the cover flap held up pretty well but when you opened the flap the outer panel tended to drop open under the weight of the tools on it (remember that speed handle). You had to hold it closed until the flap was secured again.

One fine day I was sent up on deck to work on the RADAR on one of our planes. We were shorthanded and I had to work on the gripe by myself. I took a ladder, a pouch, my flight deck gear and headed up. I found the plane on elevator 1. Usually our aircraft were parked along the bow or in an area called the 6 pack but it was not unheard of to put one on an elevator. I got set up, carefully positioned the ladder, got the radome opened up, located a power cord and got the aircraft powered up with some help from our roving CDI (Collateral Duty Inspector, it takes two people minimum to apply 400hz aircraft power). It was fairly easy to verify the gripe and determine a faulty box and I climbed up on the ladder to remove the defective item. The thing about using a step ladder on the elevators was those grates were just the right size to swallow one of the legs. The legs had rubber blocks to keep them from moving around but shifting your weight could cause one to jerk and slip into a hole.

Plate 07J Flight Deck Terms

I will probably refer to various parts on the flight deck from time to time so this should help. The Six Pack is just across from the angle forward of the island to the starboard of the foul line. It was called that since you could park six smaller aircraft there say A-4’s or in my case A-7E’s.

I was removing the power supply on the forward RADAR package which required swinging it out to starboard from the nose to access all the plugs and hardware. Disconnecting the cables went well but when I went to the pouch to get a ratchet and socket for the bolts I had one hand on the flap and one hand for the ladder. Out of hands, I was using my body to hold the RADAR package open. The weight shift caused the ladder to shift just as I pulled open the flap on the pouch and the outer panel promptly fell down. All the tools fell out of the slots except the speed wrench, (it was held in its pocket by more Velcro). Tools were hitting the ladder and then the deck with a nice ping pinging sound. Every tool on the outside panel fell through the grates and went to Davy Jones Locker. I sure hope none of the Royal Court got boinked on the head with a tool!

I cursed profoundly but it was done. Everything we complained about had come to pass with a vengeance. I now had to go below and report the loss of all those tools. It was not good. The red tape went on for what seemed like hours. I must have explained what happened 20 times. When it was all said and done new tools got ordered for the pouch and all the tool pouch inner and outer flaps were sewed together pretty quickly but my boss was not happy because I had made him look bad (a major faux pas, the Maintenance Chief did chew on him a bit). I did seem to get a lot of Shore Patrols and late watches in port after that.

The Navy continued to evolve its tool control program. It seemed like there was a change every few months. When I retired, I was in an F/A-18C squadron. The tool boxes and pouches were all specified for each shop. They were laid out identically throughout the Navy. You could go to any other F/A-18 squadron and easily inventory their tools because they were the same as yours. All the tools for all the different aircraft were managed the same way. You checked all tools out from a tool room where someone was in charge. Tools were used for one job then you returned them. The only exceptions were Plane Captains and Troubleshooters who checked out their pouches for the shift. Each tool was etched with the squadron and shop.

You inventoried the box or pouch at check out from the tool room, with your supervisor and a CDI before you went on the job, and reverse the process when you were done. If you should lose a tool on the ship the CAG Maintenance Chief, the squadron Maintenance Chief, your supervisor and Quality Assurance all had to be notified immediately. If the ship was flying, flight ops were suspended until the missing item was found. Ashore, thankfully only your squadron was involved. All hands would search and the person who lost the tool would face disciplinary action. I remember all hands staying late one night at the home station because of a missing tool which was found in a manual marking a page! Missing tools became very rare.

This escalation of rules and regulations was a direct result of the end of the Viet Nam War. During the war you worked hard and on liberty you played hard. Nobody was concerned with much but the mission. Admiral Zumwalt the CNO had relaxed rules regarding civilian clothes, haircut regulations and even beards were permitted. Things were pretty easy as long as you did your job. But the end of the war saw major budget cuts along with a reduction in force. There was more legislative oversight and the draft ended. It was only a matter of time till things tightened up across the board. We saw changes and new regulations frequently during that time period.

Sprue C

The upper side of the kit elevators, the arrows point to the 2 kit parts for Elevator 1. These are the parts you will work with.



The underside of the 4 elevators. The arrows point to the 8 openings in the sides.

On the model I intend to have the starboard elevators all up and number 4 on the port side down. Each elevator will be as accurate as I can make it. The elevators in the kit have an approximation of the support structure but if you want to accurize them a good bit of work will be required. The grated deck plates that I purchased from Gold Medal Models are very nicely done. They fit very well. But all of the existing deck on the plastic parts must be removed to use them. The fore and aft beams in the under structure match up with the plating on the Photoetched deck and should be retained but they were on the thin side. The other braces were just not correct.

I determined that the best way to proceed was to use a razor saw, drill and burrs to remove the material and then sand or replace the beams. In the end I only retained one beam out of the 4 elevators. If you just try to thin the deck by sanding it, you will lose some of the vertical height of the elevator, (around .060”) and this will have to be replaced. I did have to sand the molded grating off the elevators. As a result they were not thick enough for the 2 support trusses to fit in the under deck area and I used a .040” X .040” strip between the elevator and the truss to get the spacing right.



This photo shows Elevator 1 opened up between all the beams and they all have been replaced along with the back wall. The side gaps are also filled. It is dry fitted to the opening. So far, so good.

The elevators all need to have the inside or rear wall added except Elevator 1. It is a separate “L” shaped part for 2 thru 4, but is part of the insert for Elevator 1. For the other 3 it adds more material just under the deck that must be removed. It is also too wide because of the kits mounting system. There is a portion of the outer fore and aft wall (side wall) that is cut away on both sides of each elevator between the rear wall and the last beam on the kit parts. I could not find any photographic evidence of this gap. My research shows this to be solid like the rest of the outer frame. I used scrap plastic to fill this on all the elevators. 8 patches total. On Elevator 1 the under structure is a separate part. I was going to glue this in place and then treat it like the other three elevators but the 4 beams don’t fit tightly. They didn’t touch the side walls. I ended up cutting the deck away and replacing all the beams. I used the photoetched deck to get them located right.



Here I have checked the fit of the deck plate to the opening.

The Tamiya kit has elevator 1 molded in place with the flight deck. In this case I was glad that I had the MHM kit vice the Tamiya. All of the Tamiya elevators have a separate structural part that is glued to the underside of each elevator. I just had to deal with it on Elevator 1. The separate structure is molded on a flat plate that would make twice the thickness of deck to remove. I read an article and saw some in progress photos where a modeler drilled out, filed and sanded to remove all the plate material just leaving the structural parts. It is a lot of additional work and most of the structure isn’t correct anyway. He also used the photo etched deck. He had to remove the entire deck surface of the elevator too. It would be difficult to use the photoetch grates on elevator 1 of the Tamiya kit without removing it from the flight deck. If you leave it in place you will have to remove material from the deck side to compensate for the thickness of the photoetch. It doesn’t make much sense for Tamiya to have just one elevator molded in place with the flight deck.

With Elevator 1’s deck removed and new transverse beams in place I checked the fit to the flight deck and the fit of the photoetched deck to the elevator which was pretty good. A small strip must be added to the angled section and another to the inside edge of the elevator opening for a perfect fit. I wanted to add the X shaped cross brace that I could see in photos and then the Eduard photoetch trusses. Two of the beams have trusses attached which extend past the edges of the elevator frame. These are the supports and connections for the Elevator cables. They are not provided in the kit but the Eduard Set Part 4 has them for all 4 elevators. The cross brace runs between the two beams with the trusses corner to corner. It is a T Beam structural part. It is welded at each corner and where it crosses the two center beams it appears to be cut and welded to each.



This is the scanned image of Elevator 1 and the drawing of the cross brace I made.

I scanned the underside of the 4 elevators and then drew the cross brace on the scan in Corel. I only kept the drawn part discarding the scan. I printed the drawing on card stock. The Elevators are almost the same except Elevator 4 which is a mirror image of the other 3. Elevator 2 and 3 are virtually identical on the model. In real life none of the elevators is the same, they are distinctly different. My drawing worked for all 4. I put wax paper over this and taped it down. I could lay the plastic strip on the wax paper, tape the pieces over the diagram and glue the individual parts together. On the longest section I used a full length of .015” plastic strip. The remaining legs were two separate pieces. On the upper side (the visible side is the lower or under side) I added a rectangular brace at the cross point. Then on the underside I glued a thin strip to the center of the pieces to represent the T Beam. This time I used a full length piece over the leg with multiple parts and short pieces for the other two. It gave the assembly some strength. I let them dry overnight and I lifted them from the wax paper as an assembly. I made each leg longer than needed to make sure I got a good fit. I even remembered to make the Elevator 4 brace as a mirror image of the other 3.



This is the beginning of the assembly.



I have added the thinner strip and assembled one of the cross braces.

I removed the first 2 Eduard parts from the fret to make the outer truss on Elevator 1. This will be glued to the bottom of the elevator at the first transverse beam inboard of the outer plate. Assembly was extremely fiddly and using CA would get it together only to have it break at the slightest twinge. I decided to remove all the CA and solder it together. It took a very frustrating hour to do this. I would have gotten better with the soldering but when I put it in position on the elevator, it didn’t extend past the edges like it should! I rechecked that I used the right parts and followed the instructions correctly but Eduard made it wrong.



The assembled truss isn’t wide enough.

Well that is to say they made it to fit on the Tamiya model with the sides of the under deck up against the elevator on a part molded with the flight deck. I had cut the under deck area back to be more accurate on my model and my elevator was already a separate part. I only wish I had known about the Eduard parts before I put the truss together. If they had made the parts true to real life they wouldn’t have fit on 1 without some serious modifications (which I had already made). They made a call to make the parts fit the model with no modifications. Yet on Elevator 4 Eduard has you cut back the under deck structure and the beams are the correct width. The remaining trusses are correct but I was a bit disgruntled over Elevator 1 and did not use the Eduard parts except as templates. If I had used the photoetch for the other elevators it would look too different from Elevator 1. The Eduard photoetch is designed to have elevators 2 and 3 down and 1 and 4 up. They provide side skirts with up locks for Elevator 2 and 3 but none for the others.

On Elevator 1 I made these trusses out of plastic strip. I fit the elevator to the flight deck attached to the hull to get the width right. Rather than mess with the photoetch for the two inner trusses, (which fit poorly anyways). The kit parts have a cut out on the underside which the Eduard parts are supposed to follow. I just went ahead and made these from plastic as well. This turned out to be a good decision since I had to modify both of these to fit over the cross brace. It was markedly easier to assemble too.



The trusses have been cut out and glued in place. Note the inner center truss has the .010” X .060” strip and the outer hasn’t been fitted yet.

You could buy a 3-D printed set to avoid all this. 3D Wild makes one for $75.00. They have separate sets for the Tamiya and MHM kits. Both include the elevators, accurate closed doors, elevator door wells, elevator guides and 2 sets of side skirts for lowered elevators. There is no deck plating so you would also need a set of the Gold Medal photoetch or make your own somehow. The parts are not 100% accurate as far as the bracing goes and Elevator 1 has the same problem with the two trusses not being wide enough as the Eduard photoetch set. I did not find another supplier. Below is a link to the page if you would like to see it.

Big E Elevator Set Tam

1:350 Scale for the 1:350 CVN-65 Enterprise Aircraft Carrier model kit. This model kit is designed by Small Designer (Belgium) and manufactured/distributed by 3D-WILD (USA).

3d-wild.com

I made the trusses for the two support beams just like the Eduard parts using them as templates to get the sizes right. A .040”X.080” beam was wrapped with .010” X .060” strip on the bottom, ends and then HO Scale 1X6 strip on top. This is heavier than the Eduard parts but it matches the elevator beams I made. These were glued to the bottom of the elevator with the smaller strip up. Various sized strip was used to detail the parts. The two inner beams were done in a similar way using the Eduard parts with the curved outer edge for a template. These only received the .010” X .060” strip on the bottom. They were glued to the center beams. When I added center beams I made them straight across, when I added the curved portions it was easier to mate them up. The 2 center beams are a solid part on the real elevators. Notches were cut for the cross brace and then the 2 parts were glued together. Some filling and sanding was required on the beam faces around the cross brace.

I used the Eduard parts meant to detail Elevator 2’s forward and aft frames as a drilling template for the lightening holes on the sides of all the elevators. This worked well but you need to make sure you drill inboard and outboard of the beams. Don’t just place the template and start drilling. There is also a row of openings just under the top edge of the deck. They are represented on the Eduard piece but aren’t open. I cut down the plastic between the transverse beams on the side walls. I used some vertical ladder material from Tom’s Modelworks to frame the openings. Then I added a piece of strip to reinforce the photoetch at the top. You can see these drains looking up at the model with the elevator raised.



I am ready to drill out the first set of lightening holes using my makeshift guide.



This is the result.



Here all the drain openings are framed with the photoetched ladder material.



Now I have capped the openings with strip to give the ladder more support.

The bisecting frame I made in 3 parts rather than trying to notch the beam that was already in position. This angles up like the sides and has the lightening holes also. I made it only as high as the upper “window” drain holes. Then I made all the bracing between the beams. This is very time consuming because in just the first space there are 46 pieces making up the frames and only 9 are longer than a ¼ inch. The first beam on elevator 1 forms a trapezoid with the front plate so each frame part is a different size. The end result looks good though. I moved on to the next row verifying with reference photos before I made a part. The second row is slightly complicated by the x brace. The third row has only two braces and the fourth is a repeat of the second minus 2 struts. As you add all these struts the elevator frame becomes a nice firm piece.



This is what I originally drew for elevator 4. Looking at the framework you will find several things where I diverged from this drawing especially in the guide rollers.

The final space is completely different to account for the part that slides in the guide rails. There is a relatively involved structure to duplicate. I have a few photos of the real elevators but only one which shows this area. The photo turned out to be from the Nimitz or at least a Nimitz class ship. Many of the details are different from Enterprise. The support trusses are a giveaway because they have the cut out like the two inner trusses on the Enterprise elevators. So in this area I used calibrated eyeballs, imagination and guess work. The version in my drawings is close but I drew them with 2 guide rollers on each side which is wrong there should only be the lower one. I didn’t have any interior bracing like on the Nimitz. So I co-opted details from the photo. There is an angled plate that is about ¼ of the width of the beam. It starts below the height of the elevator frame and matches up to the rear truss which supports the guide rollers. This is held off of the truss beam by a vertical metal plate and a strut. On the inner side there is a curved fillet plate that fairs the assembly to the back wall. There are 4 additional struts to support the inside wall.



This shows the inboard edge of an elevator showing the supports for the roller guides. It is actually a Nimitz class ship but it gives you an idea of the structure.



This is Elevator 1 with all frames finished.

The kit elevator guides are incorrect because the slot the elevator slides in is on the side of the guides instead of the outboard face. Some carriers do have a side slot but not Enterprise. This is primarily for an operating feature on the model that lets you position the elevators as you wish. There is a tab that sticks out of the back wall on each side. Once the kit guides are in place on the model and before the flight deck is glued on you slide the tabs for elevators 1 thru 4 (2 thru 4 on the Tamiya kit) into the guides, and cement the flight deck in place trapping them in the guides. I replaced the guides with an aftermarket set and removed the tabs on the back plates of each elevator. Both kits have this feature.



These are the guides for Elevator 1.

Years ago when I was shopping for detail parts I found a Shapeways product that replaced the kit elevator guides. They were made of a hard clear resin like the mooring bits. The nice thing about this resin is it reacts to Micro Weld brand glue so you don’t need CA. I do not remember which seller made these but they don’t seem to be available anymore. You can buy the 3D Wild set of Elevator guides separately for $15.00. Those sets are different for the Tamiya or the MHM kits because the mounting pins are not the same. Make sure you buy the right one if you get these. Since my resin set was for the Tamiya kit the mounting posts wouldn’t work except on the part for elevator 4. I removed all the pins on the starboard guides and filled all the mounting holes on the hull. Then the guides were glued in position on all four elevators. I needed these located to make sure that the guides lined up with the guide rollers on the elevators.

Hull 044.jpg

View of Elevator 2 in 1978.



View of Elevator 2 in 2012. This is the version represented by Eduard. But it isn’t correct for the 1980’s or prior.

Sorry I ran out of space for photos so I will continue this in a second post.

 

[Mikey25252]

Continued from previous post. I wanted to use the Eduard photoetch for the outside face. They have some nice parts for this area. There is a coaming at the deck edge which has a lot of nice vertical detail. Unfortunately this detail wasn’t there in my time frame in fact it wasn’t there till the 2000’s. So that part wasn’t used. I made coamings out of plastic strip and detailed it with bits of .010” x .020” strip. Their safety nets are pretty nice but they split them to install bomb disposal ramps. In 1978 there were 5 bomb ramps located at various points over the catwalks. They were only rigged if we were actually carrying ordnance because you had to stoop down and duck under them. When they weren’t deployed they were stored in the catwalks. I first built up Elevator 1 using Eduard’s photoetch but it didn’t look right. More research revealed that it wasn’t right for 1978.



This is my take on the safety nets and coaming on Elevator 1.



This coaming is assembled and ready to install.

That is probably why they were moved to the elevators at some point. There were two others, one located over the safety nets on the port side round down and another over the nets on the port side angle but none on the elevators. If you were to use the Eduard nets for the elevators there will be a gap in the middle. I had two other sets of photoetch and since the White Ensign nets were closer to the width of the elevators I used theirs. I did mount it like the Eduard nets at an angle and then add braces from the Eduard set. The actual elevator nets were individual nets in series and Eduard is correct in in having pairs of braces together. Since the coaming in 1978 was smooth I made my own using more strip. I had a heck of a time mounting the nets and getting them relatively straight. I tried several ways and I settled on gluing a strip just below where the net will go and using that to locate it. The Eduard set also has 2 small rectangular pieces that are mounted below the nets, but above the angled face and extend past the elevator edges which I did use. I don’t know what these did or what they were called but they were there in the 70’s.

Flight

This photo from the 80’s shows the ordnance disposal ramp on the angle. Notice how the nets are rigged.

The nets on the elevators were individual assemblies because sometimes conveyors or brows were rigged to the elevators in port. The nets would interfere with this. You could pull the pins securing the braces and let select nets hang down so they wouldn’t be in the way. The usual manner of mounting the nets horizontally doesn’t look quite right to me. The nets were really steel cable woven into a net and secured at the intersections with swedges, they were laced to the frames with more cable. They sagged in the frames they were not tight. Assembling something to replicate that would be fiddley squared plus.



Here is the strip under the net once it is painted it won’t be that visible.

On the trusses for the elevator cables there appear to be 5 cables which are routed through a block of some sort and then are secured to the truss with nuts and washers. I had thought this originally was some kind of multiple pulley block and tackle arrangement but that would mean that each set of elevator cables would have been just one wire. There are 3 cables attached to each outboard edge and 2 inboard. I used a piece of .040” X .060” strip to represent the block. Bits of lead wire are for the 3 cables on the outboard face. I didn’t do the inboard because on the elevators that are up you won’t be able to see them. Then I used punched discs to represent the nuts and washers.

This completed Elevator 1 except for the deck but I did not want to glue it in place till the elevators are painted. Because of all the structural elements it will be easier to paint the elevator from the top and bottom. I’ll paint the underside of the deck with the hull color, allow that to dry and flip it over and paint the deck colors. At this point I am not sure if I will paint the red and yellow warning stripes or use the decals. But doing either will be simplified by keeping the parts separate. Now I just have to repeat this 3 more times.



I think this captures the look of the real one.

Elevator 01.jpg

The real one in the 80’s.

From Elevator 1 I moved on to 4. It is best to work on one space between frames at a time rather than drilling the entire deck area. This gives the part a bit more rigidity as you begin the filing and sanding process. As I opened up more deck I used wood shims to help support the elevator frame. I used a razor saw to cut through the deck between each beam. Then I drilled the holes at each end joining up the cuts. I used a cutting plier to cut the braces in each section. I could break the piece free opening up the space. I used a drum burr to remove most of the remaining plastic. I looked over the beam and if I damaged it or it appeared too thin I cut it away and glued a .040” strip of the correct height in its place. As I said I only kept one of the original beams.



When I was still trying to save the transverse beams this is how I supported them.

Since Elevator 4 will be in the lowered position I wanted to come up with a positive locating feature before I went too far in the construction. I placed it in position and realized that the lip at the hanger deck opening would require some spacers to hold the elevator at the right distance. The Elevator 4 door well has the widest lip of all the elevators. I added blocks of plastic scrap on the backside of the inner wall of the elevator until it was positioned in the right spot. I drilled two .10” holes below the lip through the hull spaced about ¾“ apart. I taped the deck plate in place and then taped the elevator in the down position making sure that the deck was lined up and level with the lip. I used the .10” drill bit to just make an impression of the correct location on the rear wall by twirling it by hand through one of the holes. I removed the elevator and drilled the hole. I then fit a .10” rod onto the elevator. This was glued from the inside. The elevator was placed back on the hull now using the single rod to position it. I taped it again to hold it there and marked the second hole. This was drilled and pinned in the same way. I can place Elevator 4 in position and it matches up perfectly every time.



Here I have drilled the mounting holes under the lip.



This shows the spacers and pins on the back wall of Elevator 4.



This is Elevator 4 with the deck taped in place and mounted in the lowered position.

Detailing the remaining three elevators was an assembly line process from then on. When I got to a point where one elevator needed glue to set up I simply moved on to the next and brought it up to my latest stopping point. I was able to use a Chopper cutting tool to make several pieces of the same size. It sped things up considerably. I could use the prototype Elevator 1 whenever I had a question about materials or construction. On Elevator 4 when I made up the trusses I had to detail the inner sides since you can see them from above on the starboard side. I also drilled out the cable blocks to accept five wires. On Elevator 2’s deck I decided to use my second set of plates to come up with a fully plated piece for it. Elevator 3 comes closest and it matches up to the padeyes on the flight deck. It took several weeks to put the finishing touches to all the elevators. The results are pretty good in my opinion and it felt like a major item was completed. In order to complete the various sponsons I will need the elevators to determine the location for the slot that the inner truss passes through. When I construct items in the under deck area the elevators will help locate things like the cable reels.



The progress on elevators 2 thru 4.



All the framework and bracing is completed on Elevators 2 thru 4.



When you have to duplicate several hundred parts this tool is invaluable.

Elevator 4 needed one last detail. If you look at the 80’s side view phot o there is some detail on the ends of the beams that I just didn’t know how to replicate. Nothing I could think of would be fine enough to make raised detail on the ends. I was looking for something else and sumbled on the solution. I found some 1/400 scale railing in my stash. I could cut it up at the posts and…



Looking at the ends of the beams on Elevator 4 you can see the result of trimming railing and gluing it on the end plate.



The other side.



The 4 elevators finished.



The 4 elevators from above I like the see through effect.

Well that is all for this post I I hope it will be useful for some of you. In the next part I want to work on the hanger deck. I want to get the supports for the hanger in place and then cut out and fit the hanger deck. Until the next time enjoy your modeling.