They say a man needs a hobby! Firearms & model-making have been my hobbies since childhood. Well, here is my 3rd and LAST Nimitz-class carrier. My previous build was the Carl Vinson.....built for a retired Navy man. This one is for me. One day I'll get it done. Coffee cup is for sense of scale....

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A few more......Not nearly finished. Lots of details to ad on yet.....Island is not finished.....not to mention the entire airwing. each aircraft is a mini-kit in itself.....and I've got 60/70 of them to assemble!

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Here is the un-finished Nimitz next to my Enterprise (CVN-65). This Enterprise I finished about 25 years ago and the model is rather dusty despite being kept in a glass case for years.

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F4 Phantoms.....

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A Tomcat in progress...

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close up.....


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Looks like a challenging but fun project!

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So, these are just models....Salute to all you guys out there having actually served on the real thing!

Russ

Amazing work with very impressive detail. Nothing like the models I built 40+ years ago.

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Now That's Bullet Maintenance!

Very nice Russ!!

I used to build 1/48 scale WWII era aircraft and I was pretty anal about the detail. I would detail them after specific historical aircraft that I'd seen pictured in books. For example, I did a redentation of the F4F Wildcat that Joe Foss flew with the Cactus Air Force off Guadalcanal, Pappy Boyington's F4U Corsair from VMF 214 (though they weren't assigned specific aircraft), David McCambell's F6F Hellcat Mitzi II, and Ensign George Gay's TBD Devastator from the Battle of Midway.

The most challenging I did was a B-25b that was detailed like Captain Ted Lawson's 'Ruptured Duck' from the Doolittle Raid. In 1/48 scale, a B-25 is a pretty good size.

I ended up selling them to help pay for college tuition and I was very surprised at what people will pay for quality finished models.

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Impressive work.

Here's another example of dedicated model making....

The Matchstick Ships of Phillip Warren | Oddity Central - Collecting Oddities

Very impressive.

Takes more patience and better eyesight than what i have sir.
Those are wonderful looking pieces of Americas Military Might.
You do good work.


chuck

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They hold no Quarter

Wow, that matchstick fleet is very impressive.

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Beautiful work! Thanks for sharing.

Needless to say I am very impressed. Don

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"Don't worry be happy"

Now you need to do a submarine to sneak up and sink them all! YNC(SS), USN (Ret)

Russ ... That is some exceptional work. Thanks for sharing your modeling skills.

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I'm with the banned ...

Beautiful work! One of my daughters served on the Vinson on a round the globe tour. The tour included three Months in the Persian Gulf launching aircraft over Iraq. She was a Hazmat storekeeper and worked on the hangar deck during launch ops....got a little hot!!

Do you have any pics of your Vinson model?

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Bob.
SWCA 1821

Very, very nice.

Uh, are you married, Russ? Were you married at one time?

"Ladies and gentlemen, man your ship and bring her to life!"

Russ (the other one)

Sweet. Still need tiny little deckhands for the ultimate reality.

I was....about 13 years ago!

Actually, she was very supportive of my model-making.....our "breakup" was a peaceful one. We are friends to this day.

.....nice thing now, is that I can clean my guns at the dining room table......I would've NEVER got away with that back then.

Russ

Believe it or not, there ARE little crew members available made just for these kits. Hundreds of them. I'm not gonna put crew on this one however.
The model hobby is not what it was when I was a kid.......the after market today supplies just about anything you'd need to "super-detail" any model.
I bought quite a few photo-etched brass parts sets to finish this model with. If you look closely here you can see tiny little bicycles!...... As found today in real life for guys to get around on such a big ship.

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Thanks for the kind words......I appreciate it.....here's a big one....this is not Navy....but it is big. This model is 7 feet long.

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yes.......my home looks like santas workshop!

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Wow.... i mean...... WOW!!

Impressive work sir.
I to have done some model building,
but nothing even close to your work.

rdcl

That is pretty cool, very good work.

When I was a kid I built model planes and later model cars. I really enjoyed it, then I discovered guns, and my Hobby went in that direction.

I think it is very important for someone to have a hobby or hobbies they enjoy.

If you ever get a chance you should go to the Admiral Nimitz Museum in Fredricksburg Texas. They have a pretty good model of an Aircraft carrier. It is about 8 or more feet long.

They have a lot of other great stuff as well.

That is a great looking Edmund Fitzgerald.

Where is your Titanic???

I have an older gentleman friend, retired Marine WWII vet who likes to build models. So, when I go 'junking' at the local Goodwill Outlet store, I'll will buy kits for him as they are available. At one point, I was picking up 3-4 kits a week for several months straight which he finally said, "Its real nice of you but please no more." His model room is stuffed with un-built kits.

That's some serious modeling.

I, too, build scale models as a hobby; even belong to a club! Sir, You do fabulous work!!! I only wish my wife and girls would let me have time to build those big ones. I build a little of everything though and have over 800 unbuilt kits in my stash. It can be addictive. Again, excellent job, sir!

Thanks for posting those. That is some beautiful work.
I thought I was bad with my model railroads but I think that you have me beat.

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Truly beautiful work. I've built a few that pertain to my time in the Navy, but I ain't showing it to you! Is the Edmund Fitzgerald a Kit model??

rdcl

Awsome. Well Done.

Back in the '70's I built around fifty of the 1/48 WWII planes like are pictured here. I enjoyed this scale so much, Monogram did such a good job on detail in this size. My wife and I moved some distance away and instead of trying to transport them without breakage, we gave the collection away. My eyes don't make it very easy to do this type of work anymore, and the price of models has went out the roof since then. I spend my money on guns and ammo now. These are great builds here in this post, I admire everyone's work. I once built a three mast sailing ship. Following the last bit of rigging, I picked it up to transfer it to a display case and it slipped from my hands, turned upside down and lit on the masts. Needless to say they were toast. Never got around to building another ship. Thanks for all the great photos and memories.

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Endeavor to persevere. <><

Russ, very impressive work!

In your first post you mentioned that you have been doing this sort of thing since
childhood. It shows! If I built one of those Aircraft Carriers I would have been working
on it since childhood, and still would'nt have finished it yet, which brings me to a question.

Roughly speaking, about how many hours does it take you, with the skill-set
you have of course, to build one? I know the time frame could vary, for many
reasons, that's why I asked how long it takes at your skill level.

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Ogy

That is excellent work.

Oh man! That is hard to say because I never keep track of how many hours spent on any particular project these days, and I usually have several builds going on at the same time.



If I had to estimate on the carrier you see in the first pic it's difficult because it has been on & off again for the past few years.....and it is not what one would call a "straight-from-the-box" kit. I've added a lot of after-market things that don't come with the basic kit. There is a LOT of brass on that model.Then too, don't forget the entire airwing has to be built...each individual aircraft...must be assembled/painted/decaled. Yeah. Carrier models take time. I hope to have it done within a year.





Now, If I were to begin it today and work on it every single weekend until complete......about 5/6 months.

FWIW these 1/48 TBM kits are not Monogram.....they are from "Accurate Miniatures".

Thanks, sir. That Titanic model is OLD! I built that 30 years ago and it's age is showing......of course, it looks to be in MUCH better shape than the real one

No sir, it's not a kit. I built that from blueprints. It is constructed of brass/wood/plastic. Currently being re-furbished as I discovered some mistakes of mine in accuracy!

Some of the fittings I did purchase.....anchors/liferings/bollards.etc....

I appreciate all the kind words and praise on my work......makes a fella feel good!

......But, believe me there are model makers out there that make my stuff look amature-hour.

There is a guy out there whom shall remain nameless to respect his privacy......looking a pics of HIS work is what keeps inspiring me......and I've been doing this for over 40 years.

Russ

NOT A KIT!!!!

I was Impressed before, Now I am truely AWED.

That is truely AWSOME...

jesus makes the stuff I've made look like small fry, wow.

You need a VMFA-542 F-4B and a VMCJ-1 RF-4B-----I flew in both in 68-69 at Da Nang.

You flew in Phantoms.....I salute you sir!

My dad was stationed at Da Nang during that period. Dad was a career Marine. He worked in Avionics.....A-6 Intruders. His Squadron was VMAT AW-202.

Spent my entire childhood until age 15 living on Marine air stations. Mostly at MCAS Cherry Point, NC.

.....It was dad that got me into model making....

Russ