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John Healy
151 articles

1/720 USS Ronald Reagan

August 12, 2017 · in Ships · · 22 · 4K

This is the Italeri kit in scale. I haven't had much time to model this summer, but did manage to build this over the last two months. My local hobby shop owner asked me to build it for a customer whose son is currently serving on the ship. I was glad to! Pretty basic old Italeri Nimitz class model with upgrades included to build Reagan. The kit contains everything you need to model any ship from an early Nimitz up to the USS GHW Bush, the last of the class, if you know what you're doing. I added a few extra Hornets from my spares box and finished it with Humbrol enamels. Gotta love a carrier model!

Reader reactions:
9Β  Awesome

10 additional images. Click to enlarge.


22 responses

  1. Beautifully done, John! I really like the F-18s with the coloured spines just aft of the cockpit & the vertical stabilisers.

  2. Ronald Reagan? The ACTOR?! What's the Guided Missile Cruiser, the Jerry Lewis? I suppose the Jane Wyman is the anti-submarine destroyer! Sorry, had to do it! Did you paint all the deck striping or use the kit decals? I built one of these back in the 80's for my uncle who served on the Ike. It did not turn out as well as yours. (But it did have Tomcats. Something sadly lacking from today's carriers.)

  3. ...and a nice job it is, John. The owner should be proud (as well as the builder). πŸ™‚

  4. Love it! I have spent time on the real thing and you ahve done her proud. I do wish Italeri had re-tooled the island to match the differences between Reagan and the previous Nimitz class carriers, but oh well. Anyway a simply stunning job! Go NAVY!

    • Thanks Rob. They did re-tool the island. In fact the Reagan boxing includes both the earlier Nimitz island and the one you see. Its not perfect, but is closer then the original. The kit includes parts to build a basic version of just about any Nimitz class ship over the last 40 years. What's really weird is that it includes updated parts such as the port rear CIWS sponson, but doesn't mention them in the instructions. I had to modify that piece and a few others to get to a 2017 (sorta) Reagan.

  5. John, an excellent build of a spectacular ship. It should be in a nice glass case. Nicely done !

  6. very nice work John ,do you get the option to have the hull complete ?
    N.

  7. Nice work John! Hope you can get back to regular modeling soon, your work is an inspiration to me!

  8. Who doesn't love a carrier? Terrific work, John!

  9. Cool job! Got one of the Italeri's Nimitz class kit in stash.

  10. Haze gray and underway! Looks great.

  11. πŸ™‚ ... Greetings ... πŸ™‚ :
    Nice work John, you should display her in a U.S. NAVY RECRUITMENT CENTER ... ( in a display case of course ).

  12. Nice OOB and nice depiction of CVW-5.

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