Here we are at week 24 – This week I have all the catwalks installed and all the railings installed. Before I get into the details of the hull I need to make a correction from last week. The AA guns are not .50 cal. The reference book, as well as some online sources, states they used .50 cal for AA on the Hornet. As it turns out the US Navy found the .50 cal was not very effective. So in February before the Hornet sailed out of the shipyard they removed the .50 cal AA guns and replaced them with Oerlikon 20 mm cannons. The photo etch gun I previously built was the ones that came with the detail set and they are the 20mm.

Getting back to the build, while installing the railing on the bow I noticed there is a flag pole on the bow where the Union Jack flag is typically flown. Using some photo etch scraps I made the flag pole. Next I then painted the hull with the Ocean Gray base coat of paint. I then started detailing the bow. In the reference photos they had coils of mooring lines on the bow. I wanted to replicate these. I tried a few different things like regular string and wire. Neither of these looked like coils of rope. I then found a spool of 50lbs braided fishing line that I previously used as aircraft tie down rope for the 1/48 B-25B “Ruptured Duck” Doolittle raider aircraft I built previously. So I tried to coil it up but it was difficult keeping the coil. I then came up with a jig and made the mooring rope coils.

You can see the detailed process I used in my Tips and Tricks section at: https://davidsscalemodels.com/tips-and-tricks/how-to-make-mooring-ropes/

With the mooring ropes installed I then added the anchor chains. There are two launches on each side of the ship. These are the boats used as life boats and captains launch. The kit has the basics for each one but the photo etch set has details like rudders, rails, flooring, and life preservers. Once the boats were painted I looked at the placement. The kit does not provide the cradle used to store the boats on deck. I took some square stock styrene and scratch built the cradles. I then cleaned up the boat cranes on each side and installed them. I am working on the other twenty three 20mm AA guns and then need to add crew members to the bow.

See all the photos and details from the start in my build log at https://davidsscalemodels.com/build-log/1-350-uss-hornet-cv-8-doolittle-raid/

6 attached images. Click to enlarge.

The 25th week covers assembling and installing all the anti-aircraft and 5” guns. The Oerlikon 20 mm cannons took some time to assemble. There are only 4 photo etch parts as well as the kit part modified for the mount. Assembling all 28 of them took three evenings but they are all built, painted and mounted. I then painted the 5” guns and mounted them.

I then added the few remaining ladders for the catwalks. For the one ladder that goes up to the catwalk on the port side I added one of the 3-D printed crew members that are positioned walking up a ladder. Right now I am painting many of the crew that will be positioned around the hull and bow. Once the crew has been placed the hull will be complete and the flight deck assembly can be detailed and installed.

See all the photos and details from the start in my build log at https://davidsscalemodels.com/build-log/1-350-uss-hornet-cv-8-doolittle-raid/

7 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Great work, David @davids_models
Each week you keep on surprising us with even more detail on this beautiful ship.

Again, amazing progress and unbelievable details, David!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

For the first update of 2022 and week 27 of the Hornet Project the ship itself is now complete! I started the week off by adding the guns and final items to the flight deck. On the starboard side where the 20mm’s are next to the island I noticed there is a shield in front of them. I used a strip of styrene to replicate this. I then added the LSO platforms. There are two of them one at the bow and one at the stern. I then used the kit main crane tower and added the photo etch accessories. Using the reference photos I used some EZ-Line fine to rig up the crane cables. The crane was then mounted in the correct location. The kit is slightly off of the actual position.

With the flight deck detailed I then added the remaining details to the hull like the anchors and life rafts. The life rafts have a photo etch webbing as well as the oars and mounting straps. I then added the port loop antenna to the bow and the two starboard antenna mounts. I then added the LSO folding walls in the down position. The two gang planks were added to each side in the folded position. At this point the ship itself is now complete. I then started on the sixteen B-25B Doolittle Raiders. The photo etch set comes with a cockpit. The cockpit consists of the cockpit bucket with two seats, two control sticks, the instrument panel and the bulkhead for nose. The fuselage of the B-25B needs to have the two locating pins and sockets removed in order to accommodate the cockpit. As for the B-25B kit, there are a couple of things that I do not like. First, they have a belly gun turret which needs to be removed as these were not on the Doolittle Raider aircraft. Second, they include the canopy and nose in clear but have the upper turret and tail molded in the gray. These are large enough that they could have included clear parts. Actually, if the upper fuselage was molded in clear it would also help with the tail as well. I ended up painting the turret and tail canopy light blue and then the turret frame in the green drab.

Once the fuselage was assembled and wings added I then used the photo etch for the landing gear and landing gear doors. The instructions have you cut off the kit struts and use the wheels for the photo etch landing gear. I used the same method as I did with the other aircraft for the propellers using 0.5mm fiber optic for the propeller shaft and hub. The kit only comes with some of the tail numbers (not all are the correct numbers) and the insignias. I made my own set of decals for them. These include the correct tail numbers, the prop warning stripe, the U.S. ARMY under the wings and the correct nose art for the few aircraft that had them. The first one painted is Col. Doolittle’s lead aircraft. I have eleven more to build and then paint and place the 3-D printed crew members. Next week I should be starting the “at sea” base. Need to figure out the exact size then contact Grandpa’s Cabinets and order the case.

You can see the numerous photos and details from the start of the huge project in my build log at https://davidsscalemodels.com/build-log/1-350-uss-hornet-cv-8-doolittle-raid/

15 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Happy New Year to you as well, David @davids_models
Even the Mitchells look perfect.

Your production line is producing great looking Mitchells, David @davids_models
Really looking forward to that base.