USS America Aircraft Carrier CVA/CV66

[Whiterook]

This is a Micro Ace (ARRI, No. A131) 1/800 scale kit I built pro bono for a work mate about eight years ago, whose boyfriend served on the American carrier. It's the USS America Aircraft Carrier, CV-66. It's about 16-1/2" long.



It was the first naval vessel I'd built since the 1970's, and the biggest. I don't know how old the kit was, but it was definitely several years old....I've thrown away the box long ago. She's a beautiful carrier, and I wanted to do it justice by mounting it on brass finials (on a temporary wood base).



It was a challenging one, in that it was an older kit and the large pieces were a tad warped. But still, It was a fun build and nostalgic in many ways.

The decals for the flight deck were lacking in a big way, so I ended up hand-painting the majority of what you see here....







I wanted to make the flight deck look wet, so I used FolkArt acrylic paint, hand mixed, which had a gloss included in it. The thought was a wet deck at sea. This was in the beginning days of my recently into model bipuilding, and I’d not yet bought an airbrush, nor experienced any real success with brush painting Tamiya Acrylics; these craft acrylics paints were more along the lines of the medium I used in college art school, with mixing and textures. I liked the results.

[Whiterook]

A few build pics.

Of note was, the main body paint was done with a 'rattlecan' (spray can) or Tamiya grey and red. Brushing acrylics craft paint would have left too many brush marks, and hence making the paint job look unrealistic…



The flight deck was pretty tough, as the decals were ooooooooold and brittle, coming apart coming out of the water! Pretty much everything lined was brushed by hand.

I knew I wanted to mount the carrier on a temporary board (hence it being so plain), on agreement with the person I was making it for...her son is a professional architectural millworker and could make something much better than I had time to do. (Of note...this was a gift, done pro-bono).

So, I researched the methods used and the brass fixtures in model company catalogs were rediculously expensive so, I bought some brass lamp finials from Texas Lamp Company. I mounted them by attaching them with nuts inside the hull before attaching the deck....here's a picture with the hull upside-down...



…and right side up...



It was a fun build, done many years ago. I probably would have gone more into detail with the aircraft but, I basically ran out of time to deliver, so they had the minimal done. The kit tested my patience with the tiny bits. Overall though, the biggest thing brought out of the build was the first use of brass finials...bought online from Texas. Highly recommended for any ship model!

Thanks for checking her out!

[Leon]

Very nicely done!

[mustang1989]

I'm going to a Valentine's event with my wife tonight so right now I don't have a spare minute....BUT....I'm coming back to this one and looking it over like I want to and make my comments a little later or first thing in the morning. I will say though....1/800 scale??!! You sir.....are da man!!

[chromdome35]

1:800??? Dang, I need your optometrist's number!

Excellent work!

[mustang1989]

I did in fact get back to this after a couple of days Emery. For one of your first efforts, this turned out pretty dang good bud. Hand painting all of those stripes and other things on the deck in place of the decals had to be "fun". lol. I'm very sure your co-worker was happy to receive this gift. 

[Joe Rix]

That is really amazing. You've got some top notch hand painting skills my friend. Some choice detail you brought out given the odd 1/800 scale.
Very impressive.

[Whiterook]

Thanks guys! Much appreciated!!! The thing I remember most was, though the carrier itself was big, all those little bits drove me a bit batty. As CD mentions, my eyesight was much better back then, and I wonder how I’d have done a decade or so later… I do a lot of wargaming miniatures so, I know I still have the chops, but it’s more of a struggle than it once was!

On the decking stripes, in the end, it was easier to hand paint than wrestle with decals. The deck was one of t(e earliest examples of trying to figure out weathering.

…it was a fun build!

[Steve Zuleski]

Sweet, super tiny for a carrier.

[Whiterook]

Feb 17, 2023 11:48:07 GMT -5 Steve Zuleski said:

Sweet, super tiny for a carrier.

The aircraft and deck vehicles were super tiny! Only so much detail you can get with those. Haven’t had the model in ages obviously, since it was gifted, but it was somewhere between 18-20+ inches long, but with tins of itty-bitties 

[Leon]

This is 1/72 scale and took 16 months to build

[Whiterook]

Feb 17, 2023 16:44:51 GMT -5 Leon said:

This is 1/72 scale and took 16 months to build

WOW, love this! I’ve had a hankerin’ for a loooooong time to do a big galleon or other. I’m rewatching the reimagined Battlestar Galactica…again…and one of the episodes shows Adama working on a sailing ship in his quarters, which I think is sooooo cool!

On it being 1/72, this is another great example of how scale hard to judge in some pics…how long is she?

[Leon]

Shes 20" long and 18" tall at center mast

[Leon]

I built the USS COLE in 1/350 scale so i know all about tiny parts!

[mustang1989]

Feb 19, 2023 8:07:21 GMT -5 Leon said:

Shes 20" long and 18" tall at center mast

Leon that looks just great man! I built the USS Constitution when I was in my teens and MAN!! I didn't know what I was in for but DANG there was a ton of rigging. Great job on that old ship buddy!!

[Leon]

Thanks Joe!
The rigging was a task and took the longest to do.

[chromdome35]

Leon, is that a plastic kit or a wood kit? Looks great! I can barely tie my shoes some days, not sure how I would ever get all that rigging done. Do they have a Velcro shoe laces version?

[mustang1989]

Feb 19, 2023 9:37:23 GMT -5 chromdome35 said:

Leon, is that a plastic kit or a wood kit? Looks great! I can barely tie my shoes some days, not sure how I would ever get all that rigging done. Do they have a Velcro shoe laces version?

I dang near spit my coffee out on that one Brian!!