CV-61 USS Ranger WestPac Cruise

[tcoat]

This build will be a mantel piece to add to my buddy's collection. He was crew on the last Pacific carrier born EA-3 Skywarrior in 1987.












The Hasegawa 1/72 kit is of the same aircraft but when land based later in it's life.



As kits of the Ranger have been out of production for a while they are rare and rather costly so as suggested by John I grabbed a Saratoga. A bit of research shows that just some very minor alterations will be needed to make it Ranger.

The box is a bit worse for wear and obviously has kicked around the shelf for a while but the price was right and it was actually attainable.







This is a very basic kit which is perfect since I am not going into super detailing but more of a "5 foot" display with less chance of damage.

The hull looks fine although I have not yet decided how to deal with the hanger doors. I may open them up but will probably just paint the inside black and call it a day.






The raised detail on the flight deck is a bit heavy but should be fine under a couple of coats of paint and decals. No, I am NOT going to paint all those lines!







There are just enough small parts OOB to give the level of detail I am after without being too fragile.





Since the provided airwing is a mix of old and new(ish) the deck may end up with a very eclectic mix unless I can lay my hands on a pile of Intruders, folded wing Tomcats and Prowlers. At least they have some Seakings nd Hawkeyes! I have pretty much resigned myself to scratch building the Skywarrior since I am on a budget. 







As I do want to display this underway I will be waterlining it. This is made simple by a heavy scribed line inside and a flat plate provided for the purpose. 






Soooo...

[kyledehart5]

Well, I will stop in here to watch. Pretty cool project and a nice mantel piece for your friend.

[handiabled]

Bookmarked! This will be great to see come together

[ogrejohn]

I'll definitely be watching this one!

[tcoat]

Oct 14, 2023 12:31:05 GMT -5 ogrejohn said:

I'll definitely be watching this one!

Well the ship itself is pretty basic and will not be exciting I am sure. Trying to do the proper airwing will be the challenge. Especially if I have to try to scratch together a Skywarrior.

I may even resort to casting my own Intruders from the couple included in the kit but that will be a last resort as I have never cast before.

The good part is that at the point in time that I am depicting there were not a pile of different aircraft aboard. 

1987 Ranger Airwing

[armornutii]

   H-3 helos, Sea Kings
   E-2C Hawkeyes
   A-6 Intruders
   A-7 Corsairs
   A-3 Skywarriors...which seems odd as I was working on EA-6Bs which took over the A-3s job in 1988.

     S-3 Vikings
     F-14 Tomcats.
   
    If ya depict most of the wing out on mission you don't need much maybe one or two of each. If ya want the deck loaded oh boy you gots some work to do.

[tcoat]

Oct 16, 2023 11:25:09 GMT -5 armornutii said:

   H-3 helos, Sea Kings
   E-2C Hawkeyes
   A-6 Intruders
   A-7 Corsairs
   A-3 Skywarriors...which seems odd as I was working on EA-6Bs which took over the A-3s job in 1988.

     S-3 Vikings
     F-14 Tomcats.
   
    If ya depict most of the wing out on mission you don't need much maybe one or two of each. If ya want the deck loaded oh boy you gots some work to do.

My buddy always comments on how crowded the deck was and that is what the couple of pictures he has show so that is what I am aiming at. Not sure I can pull it off but I am going to try. 

This is what I am going for:



There was just the one EA-3 onboard. It was the last carrier born one in the Pacific and my buddy was crew on it when it made the last flight.
You can see it just forward of the island in this picture.

[armornutii]

   Those are somme cool pix tcoat, memories...all alone in the moonlight...

[deafpanzer]

WOW! You definitely have my attention too. Good luck!

[tcoat]

The island looks clunky in the pictures but is actually pretty decent considering the kit was designed in the mid 80's. It is busy enough that some creative painting should bring it around to a level suitable for the purpose.










Both the deck and hull halves are seriously wrapped resulting in a huge gap no matter how hard I tried to center it.  

If one side fits.







The other most certainly does not.






With some help from some sprue braces, a little warmth, creative clamping, and about a quart of extra thin cement I eventually won!

[buddho]

Excellent start... watching this one.

[Medicman71]

It looks like a beast of a kit. I'm sure you'll do great with it.

[tcoat]

Oct 17, 2023 10:57:44 GMT -5 Medicman71 said:

It looks like a beast of a kit. I'm sure you'll do great with it.

Well let me tell you...
What you see in these pics is about 95% of the hull and island completed. Other than almost individual life raft canisters to go around the edge that is about it for detail. There are a couple of molded on anchors and mystery features but then there is zero detail from the flight deck down. Overall it is a vaguely Forestal class carrier shaped blob where they threw in different decals for each separate name and sold them as each ship kit. There are big gaps in the sprues that may have held the guns for the original versions but you don't even get them anymore.  In fact the old Aurora carriers probably had more detail. If this wasn't intended to be a very basic depiction I would either have spent 2 years picking away at some detailing or it would sit on the shelf of doom for eternity. Luckily though it is just fine for the scope of this project. Bare, flat platforms and all. 

[tcoat]

So... As said the kit was actually molded basically as the Forrestal and this means it has the original open fantail. 






One of the upgrades that the Ranger had was a closed in fantail.







The real thing looks like they just sort of welded in some big flat sheets so that is exactly what I did. Of course it is just basic as I kept it simple so it at least sort of matches the plainness of the rest of the kit.

Does turn it more into the Ranger though.

[tcoat]

Assembly complete.

[deafpanzer]

Looking real good!

[stikpusher]

Looks good. Did you leave the island separate to ease the process of painting and masking?

[handiabled]

Nice progress on this!

[tcoat]

Oct 22, 2023 22:25:20 GMT -5 stikpusher said:

Looks good. Did you leave the island separate to ease the process of painting and masking?

Yep. It is just sitting there for the pics.
The flight deck is of course going to be the focus so there will be several levels of paint and weathering going onto it and a fixed island would be a pain in the butt. 

[tcoat]

Anybody know the proper colour for the life raft cannisters in the mid 80's?

Looks like they could be 
Off white:



Lighter gray:


Or 

Hull colour:


I am thinking white for the time period but the research is conflicted. Since they are one of the few obvious details of this kit I want to get it right.

[Medicman71]

Oct 23, 2023 9:02:43 GMT -5 tcoat said:

Anybody know the proper colour for the life raft cannisters in the mid 80's?

Looks like they could be 
Off white:



Lighter gray:


Or 

Hull colour:


I am thinking white for the time period but the research is conflicted. Since they are one of the few obvious details of this kit I want to get it right.

They're the same grey as the ship always.

[tcoat]

Oct 23, 2023 12:00:52 GMT -5 Medicman71 said:

Oct 23, 2023 9:02:43 GMT -5 tcoat said:

Anybody know the proper colour for the life raft cannisters in the mid 80's?

Looks like they could be 
Off white:



Lighter gray:


Or 

Hull colour:


I am thinking white for the time period but the research is conflicted. Since they are one of the few obvious details of this kit I want to get it right.

They're the same grey as the ship always.

Thanks. This was very confusing since there was absolutely no consistency with the pictures. I was sort of hoping for white for some contrast but same as hull is easier I  guess. 

[Medicman71]

I think being on the sides and exposed like they are lightens them to where they look white.

[stikpusher]

Oct 25, 2023 10:38:04 GMT -5 Medicman71 said:

I think being on the sides and exposed like they are lightens them to where they look white.

I wonder if perhaps those raft containers are made of a gray fiberglass or other synthetic material instead of being a painted metal? That would account for different fading.

edit- I just looked them up. They are a fiberglass reinforced plastic container, so they are likely molded in Haze Gray. They are removed for inspection and certification every five years.

[Medicman71]

Oct 25, 2023 11:49:20 GMT -5 stikpusher said:

Oct 25, 2023 10:38:04 GMT -5 Medicman71 said:

I think being on the sides and exposed like they are lightens them to where they look white.

I wonder if perhaps those raft containers are made of a gray fiberglass or other synthetic material instead of being a painted metal? That would account for different fading.

edit- I just looked them up. They are a fiberglass reinforced plastic container, so they are likely molded in Haze Gray. They are removed for inspection and certification every five years.

Well there you go. Stik to the rescue.

[tcoat]

Oct 25, 2023 11:49:20 GMT -5 stikpusher said:

Oct 25, 2023 10:38:04 GMT -5 Medicman71 said:

I think being on the sides and exposed like they are lightens them to where they look white.

I wonder if perhaps those raft containers are made of a gray fiberglass or other synthetic material instead of being a painted metal? That would account for different fading.

edit- I just looked them up. They are a fiberglass reinforced plastic container, so they are likely molded in Haze Gray. They are removed for inspection and certification every five years.

The older ones were fiberglass but the newer ones look to be some sort of plastic and yes they were not painted but molded in colour.  I actually trained with these as a cadet back in the 70's but they were all "expired" civilian ones so were always white.
The variation in colour of all the pictures are probably more lighting than anything but I think I am going to settle on a slightly lighter grey than the paint since that seems to be the most common. 

[406 Silverado]

I've definitely been missing out on this thread Tony. Getting ready to hit the hay soon but I'll be back tomorrow to finish commenting on this gem in progress.......

[tcoat]

Oct 25, 2023 20:32:37 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

I've definitely been missing out on this thread Tony. Getting ready to hit the hay soon but I'll be back tomorrow to finish commenting on this gem in progress.......

LOL not sure it will end up any sort of gem. Not the goal for this build really. Durability and dust resistance take precedence over detail and fiddly bits this time around. 
It is a really odd kit. It was originally molded back in 1988 as the Forestal but has been used for the Saratoga and Ranger many times since then. This boxing is supposed to represent the Saratoga during the Gulf War which means they threw in a small sprue with different aircraft. The ship itself remains the Forestal in the 1955 configuration. All they did was pull the guns off the sprue and add two boxes on a peg as "missile launchers". There are whole sections of the updated ships that are just missing.

And I don't mean little details!

The Forestal didn't have the very large sponson just forward of the angled deck




The box shows it.




It very clearing is not there on the kit!



Now... normally this would be an issue for me and the sheets of plastic would come out but not this time. 

The guy I am building this for was Navy but as aircrew not a sailor. The carrier was just a big floating barracks to sleep on between missions and he likely has zero idea what the whole thing looked like (other than from above of course) so as long as it has a big 61 on it I doubt he will even know things are way off. 

[kyledehart5]

Ah yes, the old model company tactic of rename, add new decals, rebox and sell again. It never fails them does it.

[406 Silverado]

I hear what you're saying about the dust and carriers......or on any ship model for that matter. I've built a few when I was younger and fighting dust was always an issue. If I were to build a ship these days it would either go in a case or I would build a small Lexan enclosure for it.

I also hear you on the missing details. That would be a definite NO-GO for modern day kit manufacturers.