M o d e l W a r s h i p s . c o m USS HORNET CVS 12+3

The model came from a very old Revell Kit and a lot of scratchbuilding and major restructuring was involved to achieve the required result.

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First job was to align, reform and straighten the warped hull with aluminium flat bars.

The hull was then sanded clean.

The bow and the stern had to be gutted and had to be altered completely and details added which included piping and trunking using...telephone wire and soldering piping of different gauges.

The hangar interior was totally scratchbuilt with a lighting system added. One can clearly see the isolation chamber and aircraft. Both elevators were scratchbuilt.

The top sides of the hull were extensively detailed and reshaped and bulkheads added to accommodate a good fit for the top deck The top deck was stripped of all catwalks and new correct scratchbuilt ones were added .

The island was incorrect and so basic and rudimentary so a totally scratchbuilt island was built which included the main mast with it’s array of antennas and radars the main scratchbuilt Radar on the port side was also added. Refuelling hosing was also added. A lighting system was also added to show through the Forward and aft bridge observation windows. This was connected to the wiring system in the hangars . Clear green acetate plastic sheeting was used to simulate the green texture on carrier windows.

The kit’s offerings for it’s airwing were hopeless. So Extensive workings had to be done on all the airwing. This included new undercarriage details as the kits aircraft had only stubs...lengthening and thickening of the fuselages...new scratchbuilt domes for the E1-B aircraft... as well as more detail to the already altered Seakings.

The Media communication systems on the Starboard side were all scratchbuilt using bits and pieces from the scrap box. The capsule was also modified and a cradle fashioned out of an unused plastic Radar unit.

I used The Gold Medal Photo Etch detail set which is very good . This also included people and the only thing was that there weren’t enough to go round. Some items from Starfighter decals were used . But an excellent decal sheet from Jodie Peeler was excellent. I must thank Jodie for the all the help and assistance to make this build possible.