USS John C. Stennis CVN-74 by Lester Hunt | |
Brand: | Trumpeter |
Scale: | 1/500 |
Modeler: | Lester Hunt |
AddOns: | Revell Aircrafts, PE Parts from the GMM Saratoga Set, Scratch |
The kit is
the Trumpeter 1/500 scale with lots of scratch build to make it 10 times
the model it was out of the box. VF-211 Fighting
Checkmates All the aircraft came from three Revell 1/542 Saratoga kits since the ones in the Trumpeter kit were totally worthless. If you look closely you will see that the intakes and exhaust have been drilled out for detail looks. The landing gear on the planes was all scratch built. The COD is scratch built along with the Tilley, tugs, and fork lifts. There is a lot of added detail to the island and the scratch built radar tower. Some is not to scale, but this is my first ship model I have ever built. I tried to capture as much detail as I could to replicate the Stennis in the years 2000-2001. Only so much you can do with such a poorly manufactured kit though LOL . The ship itself had
all the walkways removed and scratch built with home made hose reels, I should
have found some good PE ones though. The elevators are made from scratch to look
more authentic to the real ones. The fantail has the added detail of the
centerline alignment lights lots, the boarding platform, and lots of added
features and PE. The PE set that I used was from GMM for the Saratoga kit. The
JBD's were scratch built from extra PE for detail. All the starboard side
antennas were add ons along with the custom Fresnel Landing Light System. All
the deck netting is made from scratch, but the life raft containers came from
the Saratoga kits because the Trumpeter kit was short on them. Plus as
everything else in the Trumpeter kit WAY OUT OF SCALE. Also from the Saratoga
kit was the on board defensive armament with 4 CIWS (Phalanx) and 3 MK-29 (Sea
sparrow) Launchers.
Photos and text © 2005 by Lester Hunt May 12, 2005 |