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USS BATAAN (LHD
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THE IDEA
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The Bataan will be built from Revell's USS Boxer
kit. Decals are taken from DML's USS Peleliu kit and other sources.
The ship will be the flagship of an amphibious strike force that I am hoping
to one day build. |
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THE KIT
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Model Kit:
Revell USS Boxer (LHD 4)
Accessories:
GMM 700-29 Modern USN LHD Wasp/Essex Set JAG 704
CIWS (2)
WEM AS 7005 BAe AV-8A Sea Harriers (5)
705 Sea Ram (2)
AS
7043 Bell Cobra (5)
710 SATCOMM Domes
AS 7077
Bell V-22 Osyprey (6)
801 LVTs
AS 7078
Sea Stallion (3)
803 Humvees
AS 7120
Sea Knight (6)
Starfighter Decals
700-14 LHD-7 USS Iwo Jima
Colors:
WEM M03 US Navy haze grey | M04 US Navy deck grey | M05
US Navy Flight deck grey
Various acrylic paints for smaller details and waterscape
Others:
Various copper wires, different gauges
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PROGRESS
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The finished model: 
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A: The hull
[Completed] |
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First step in the building process: work on
the outer hull surface due to inaccuracies of the kit. Aft starboard the
Bataan has a little 'hut' that is missing in the original kit. Furthermore,
I decided to open the starboard cargo doors. Luckily the GMM set comes with
four PE doors which can then be glued in the new 'open' position.
Unfortunately before all the details can be added, I had to open the hull
and build the 'interior' of the cargo ramp, then the doors could be dry
fitted. Revell got the boat platform/crane wrong. The plastic support
beams were replaced with copper ones and the rest was scratchbuilt. Since
only one hangar door will remain open, the other one was shut. The elevators
were also worked on, adding more scratchbuilding. |
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Detailing of the hull is slowly starting
to reach its end. Details added to the bow as well as to both port and
starboard sides. Railings were attached as well as some of the flight deck
safety nets. |
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A small preview of the now finished hull with
all decals. |
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B: The well deck / stern
[Completed] |
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The well deck could not be
properly built because of a design flaw in the Revell kit: the hangar floor
makes up the well deck ceiling which is almost 1cm too low. My first idea
was to cut
away a part of the hangar and build a slanted surface giving the impression
that the well deck ceiling is higher than it is. After reconsidering I chose
to just build one half of the hangar to be able to build a proper well deck.
The ramp also needed to be rebuilt. The walls of the well deck were
scratchbuilt as well as the entire ceiling. The welldeck is still 1/3 too
short, but this will have to do otherwise nothing of the helo hangar could
be shown. The ship's stern also needed to be rebuilt. First details were
attached. "Dry run" for the well deck lighting. |
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The detailing of the stern section of the
hull is now completed. The well deck upper gate was attached as well as
various pipes and additional platforms of all sorts. After the paint dried,
it was time to add a few crew members and adding the water effect to the
well deck.
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C: The island [Completed] |
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The island of all LHDs starting from LHD 5 on
had significant differences from that of LHD 1-4. The first picture shows
the island in its original form. Modifications included extending the
exterior wall and adding a new platform for the radome. The layout of the
windows also differs from that of previous LHDs. The "angled" windows were
filed off and rebuild from scratch. The same goes for the bridge windows in
front. Quite a few hours were spent on this, but after clear plastic sheets are
inserted in the end, I'm hoping that it will have been worth it. Furthermore
the structures on the roof of the island had to be scratchbuilt completely.
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Same goes for the aft control deck where once
again all window frames have been modeled with styrene. I had originally
planned to keep the roof but ended up scratchbuilding it as well because the
old one just was not large enough area wise to depict the angled windows.
The next step was to add the support bars for various platforms and add
further details to the aft and midsection of the island.
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The island with all its details prior to
painting. Some details on the mast are still missing. |
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After painting the island, I began adding the
major radomes and weapons. Furthermore, I started fitting the windows. The
idea was to depict windows that actually looks like windows. I used clear
plastic sheet, painted one side and individually cut every single window out
and attached it to the frame with the painted backside inward to give. This
leaves the clear reflecting surface outside and gives the impression of
actual tinted windows. |
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D: The masts [Completed] |
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Also both of Bataan's masts differ significantly
from its four predecessors. Since even the GMM Wasp Class photoetch set does
not come with the mast enhancements, I decided to scratchbuild the mast
completely instead of using one of the other masts from other sets which
would have worked, but would not have come close to the original mast.
Scratchbuilding this costs me not just a lot of time but also nerves but so
far I am happy with the outcome, even if there is still a lot more to do.
Also modified the AN/SPS-48 main radar. Picture No.7 shows the modified
parts of the aft mast. Following pictures show the progress made on the
construction of the main mast. More details will be added later on. |
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The finished masts with all details. |
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Part
E: The hangar [Completed] |
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I started working on the hangar which as a
result of the well deck ceiling problem described earlier, has been cut down
into a little less than half of its original size. Not too many details were
added, since the hangar will only be visible from one side. For size
comparison, I took a F/A 18 from another kit. The actual planes and the helo
was taken from the actual Revell kit, hand painted and placed inside the
hangar. A few crew members were added to show a fairly busy deck. |
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Part
F: Airwing / Deck vehicles |
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