USS Tarawa LHA1 1/200

barry

Active Member
Thanks for the kind words

Jaffro it's all pretty simple starts off with an bent oval of wire with 2 lengthwise and 4 vertical wires on a cardboard former soldered together to form the basic dish. Then cut a hole in a pice of cardboard and wrap cotton thread around it to form the mesh paint it with slightly diluted pva glue very carefully the first time to keep the mesh straight use the brush like a stipler to clear the holes tht have clogged up at the end. Give it another couple of coats it dries very quickly. I use car spray undercoat and give the basic frame a couple of coats light ones. Stick the square of cotton mesh to it cut to shape and use a big wooden knitting needle to form the shapes. The horn is bent to shape coated in ppva glue and thread is wrapped around to act as the cross pieces a couple of coats of spray and your done. It took me about 2 hours to get it together. You do have to thin the glue for the mesh otherwise it just does not seem to work, took me a long time to work that out.
 

barry

Active Member
Bits and pieces

Ladders, rafts,radar arrays and still the end seems a long way off but I have nothing better to do and this way I don't have to cut formers out for a while longer.
 

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Fast approaching museum quality here Barry. I remember when you started this ambitious project. It has turned out great.

This is a master project.
 

barry

Active Member
ladders and pipes

Thanks for the kind words Elb

Nightmare should have done this a while back
 

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barry

Active Member
Boats

Boats and falls
 

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barry

Active Member
side lift

It's a side lift with a chopper on it to prove it fits !:mrgreen:

thanks Elb
 

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barry

Active Member
Side lift and bilge keels

These are the bits I dread knocking off when I have to move the model Have to go on sooner or later though.
 

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Looks great Barry. Yes, these are fragile assemblies, and you can't wait late enough to put them on. One false move, and they're waste basket material.

It's hard to believe that chopper fits on that elevator, but it does... Just barely!
 

barry

Active Member
Propellors

Finally all the life rafts are in place and the props are on the shafts. Finishing the last bits is going to be the hard part. Biggest problem tomorrow is getting her back on the shelf in one piece.
 

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Ronson2k3

Member
Extremely COOL...

Great piece of work you have on your hands. I watched with great interest but couldn't post right away.. Newbe.. Anyway looks awesome. The Assault Carriers have always been my favourite. Compact and fully loaded.

Your model is the best one I've scene. You may want to look into outfitting yours with the V-22 Osprey as they are set to replace the Sea Knights at some point. The Osprey is one aircraft I've not scene modelled in paper as of yet perhaps someone can correct me on that. I don't know if the footprint of the Osprey is small enough to make it on and off the lift of the LHA's though?

Keep up the fantastic work.. I look forward to every update.
 

barry

Active Member
Back on the shelf

Thanks for the kind words

Ronson NOBI has a nice model of the Osprey.

Tarawa has one of the experimental ones sitting at the aft end.
 

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jaffro

Long term member
Outstanding stuff barry... all that seems to be missing now is the flight crews and deck dudes. She's looking spectacular.
 

NULLMOON

Member
this is why i hesitate going into ship models because im faced with pictures of masterpices like this:p are the aircraft attached? one sneeze and an unplanned airborn attack takes off :mrgreen:
 

airbob

Member
Barry,
Your completion of this massive work is Legendary!
and you need to be given a big hurrah! for this awesome piece of work!
:excited1::excited1::excited1::excited1::excited1::excited1::excited1::excited1:
 
Barry, I don't know what you're going to tackle next that is going to top the Tarawa. This is magnificent. You've got a very handsome model on your hands there.

I may have to use my powers of persuasion to convince you to design an old LSM (pacific cammo) :)

Look into the monitor Barry, your eyes are getting very heavy, you're very sleepy. :)
 

barry

Active Member
crew and marine vehicles

Thanks for the kind words

Not really finished lacks a lot of ladders, anchors and ancilliary vehicles LCAC etc

Jaffro this is the Mk1 crew and an AA7V (60mm long)

Elb could not find any plans on the net
 

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