• Home Page
  
• Mostre e concorsi
  
• Galleria Fotografica
• Riconoscimenti
  
• Links
• WebMaster
  

    USS Ticonderoga (CV-14) was an Essex-class aircraft carrier. She commissioned on 8 May, 1944 and was transferred to Reserve Fleet on 9 January, 1947. Se was again commissioned on 11 September, 1954, serving mainly in the Pacific until being finally decommissioned on 1 September, 1973.

    She was the first vessel of the second batch of the class, the „long-hulled“ Essex carriers which is oftentimes referred to as a class of its own, the Ticonderoga class. The main difference was a slightly longer hull with the extended bow characterizing U.S. Carriers to this day. The enlarged bow was designed to improve air defence ahead, housing two quad 40 mm AA guns.

    USS Ticonderoga served in the Pacific Theatre from September, 1944 until August, 1945. She was hit by a kamikaze in January, 1945. The ship had to return to the U.S. for repairs that lasted until May, 1945.

    Uss Ticonderoga was modernized under scheme SCB-27C from 1952-54 (SCB = Ship Construction Board). She was reclassified from CV-14 to CVA-14 (A = Assault). Her sisters modified likewise became the Ticonderoga class. Their main difference to SCB-27A ­ ships was the addition of steam catapults enabling the launching of heavier aircraft. Moreover, amongst other modifications, a new island was installed and deck guns removed. In a further reconstruction, Ticonderoga received an angled flight deck from 1956-7 under scheme SCB-125.

    During the Vietnam war she was equipped with lighter aircraft types such as A-4 Skyhawk and F-8 Crusader, she was unable to operate the F-4 Phantom II. On her last cruise, A-7 Corsair II replaced the Skyhawks. Between 20 October, 1969 and 28 May, 1970 Ticonderoga was converted an ASW carrier, she was reclassified to CVS-14. She served in this role for two years until returnign from her last cruise on 29 Juli, 1972.
    She recovered the command module of Apollo 17 lunar mission in November, 1972, as she had already done with Apollo 16 in April of that year. She was decommissioned on 1 September, 1973. Two months later she was stricken from the Navy list and sold for scrap on 1 September, 1975.

    On opening the box a hull with a separate bow greets the modeler. After all it is a long hull Essex. Hence, putty is needed; but the joint can be hidden if addressed with some patience. As in all other Trumpeter carrier kits, there is a waterline option with a hull base plate. Those intending to open the hangar and add lighting will have to bring out more putty, as many ejector pin marks litter the inside ­ a time-consuming task. Apart from that, there are fit issues only at the bow which are manageable.

    All parts are nicely molded and the deck is beautifully engraved. Numerous aircraft (Avengers, Helldivers, Dauntlesses and Hellcats) are provided to bring life to the flight deck with many nice models of the planes. The instructions are very concise as usual, no problems with that.
    The kit also contains a decal sheet of high quality, yet as the aircraft markings are historically incorrect, a replacement sheet from GMM should be used. Colour callouts in the instructions are for Gunze Sangyo paint. I used White Ensign Colourcoats provided in the correct shades, so mixing as necessary with Tamiya paints can be avoided. Building the carrier OOB is a pretty straightforward affair. Using PE complicates the build a lot and increases the demands on the modeler's skills.

    I would like to thank Caroline and John Snyder of White Ensign Models for providing the necessary PE and paints. I also thank Nadja and Norbert Thiel from NNT Modell und Buch. Anything I needed, be it paint, thinners, decals, figures ­ NNT always reliably mailed it. Jim Baumann was also always willing to give advice. Things just don't always work without problems.

    WEM's PE set for the Essex class is simply excellent, with a wealth of detail second to none. Railings, catwalks, radars, AAA, additional parts for the kits 5 inch and quad 20 mm and much more ­ listing it all would exceed the space for this review. Building the kit using the PE implies replacing or refining kit parts as you go along. Adding the PE is costly but the result is worth it.

    I decided from the outset to present Ticonderoga in camo, using WEM Colourcoats as described above sprayed diluted with Model Master Airbrush Thinner. In a first step, the model was sprayed light grey ( 5-L ). The two shades ( WEMCC ASUS 07 Sea Blue ) and (WEMCC US07 5-S Sea Blue ) were applied using masks. The flight deck was sprayed Deck Blue (20-B). All in all this was a pretty straightforward procedure.

    I applied washes as in my other projects using thinned down oil paint ­ caution is required as the Colourcoats do not stand this treatment as other enamels. The hull was weathered using pastel chalks.

    All rigging was made from stretched sprue, tightened using an electric waxing instrument. This worked very well, I could tighten the upper rigging lines without damaging the lower ones.

    I chose not to depict a scene during take off or landing, but plane handling and arming with bombs and torpedoes. I used many parts from the PE set.

    As usual with me, the water base consists of a Styrofoam plate painted with water soluble oil paints. The water is sculpted from clear silicone caulking, using a dental spatula. After curing the wavetops were highlighted using Schminkes titanium white oil paint.

    Building this model takes its time, I worked on it for nine months. Without lighting and PE the project will surely take much less time. Apart from the few shortcomings of the kit, it builds into a very nice model ­ a lot of modelling fun for a mean price of 80 EURO.