Aircraft carriers......(model making)

Very, very nice.

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

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.:D

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

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

Impressive work sir.
I to have done some model building,
but nothing even close to your work. :o
 
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???
 
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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.
 
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!
 
WOW!

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

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.
 
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