Carrier deck help needed!

[Jeeves]

Ok...so I just picked up Verlinden's 120mm USN Pilot and I have the bright idea of putting him on a small base of a section of carrier deck...only problem is there is nothing in 1/16 scale...I can try to scratch build something, but need the actual width of the real planks on the deck to recreate it...and then there is the tie down strips which don't exist in the scale...any ideas?

 

[moon puppy]

Use really thin stock to create the planks. Leave a bit of a space between them. I believe the standard stock used was 6 inch. Yes there were tiedowns, from what I read their were 5 or 6 wood planks then a tiedown row. You can see a good layout of the deck on my Corsair build.

 

[Jeeves]

Thanks Bob...I wonder if I could pull off making the tie down strips out of foil? Would need to devise a stamp of some sort for the cut outs...wish there was a pounce wheel for something like this...

 

[moon puppy]

How wide a base will you make?
why not use the edge of the flight deck with a short drop?

 

[Jeeves]

Was going to use those smaller circular bases with the cork top from Lowes unless its too big....otherwise I'll pick up a small wood base from AC Moore....either way it'll be small...just want to give the illusion of it being a carrier deck...

 

[moon puppy]

Well unless you want to do a lot of carving, think the wood deck with some faded lines would work well.

 

[Jeeves]

Oh...I wasn't thinking of carving...maybe cutting basswood strips and gluing them to the top of the base...

 

[Cheyenne]

Hey Mike hope these help in your scratch project , ........ and you're right definitely use bass wood .

USS Lexington CV-16 1943

 

[Jeeves]

Those are great Glenn...thanks brother! Man...those tie downs are intricate...would be hard to do convincingly in such a large scale...carving them would be impossible to do so uniformly...even with some sort of stamp...

 

[moon puppy]

Hey Mike hope these help in your scratch project , ........ and you're right definitely use bass wood .

USS Lexington CV-16 1943

Outstanding Glenn!

Mike you see here it's more than the 5-6 planks I talked about earlier. Looks to be 12 planks between tiedowns.

 

[Jeeves]

Yeah...I looked at my Just Plane Stuff base and there were 11 or 12 there too...I haven't laid it out yet as I haven't settled on a base...but I might be able to get away with just wood on the base...although you have to admit that having at least one metal stip in the mix would be more interesting!

 

[moon puppy]

you said it's round right? make one of the last planks the tiedown where we only see maybe 5 or 6 inches (scaled). Then you only have to cut out maybe 1 or 2 tiedown holes.

 

[Jeeves]

That might work....would be cool to find a U-shaped punch-- from Glenn's pics- it wouldn't be that hard to create uniformly if I mark the spots...wonder who might make different types of punches?

 

[Jeeves]

Have to love math when it works . 6" planks scale down to .375 or 3/8" which is perfect...the tie down strips seems a bit more narrow...strip styrene would probably work best...going to look through chisels and router bits at Home Depot to see if they might have U shaped bits...

 

[chukw]

You could build it up out of plastic stock- just break the shapes down into rectangles and space them out with the proper-sized stock. Easy!

 

[moon puppy]

Have to love math when it works . 6" planks scale down to .375 or 3/8" which is perfect...the tie down strips seems a bit more narrow...strip styrene would probably work best...going to look through chisels and router bits at Home Depot to see if they might have U shaped bits...

The tiedown runs and planks were the same width.

You got that Just Plane Stuff carrier deck, didn't it come with the print out about carrier deck colors and markings? That's what I'm basing what I'm talking about on.

 

[Jeeves]

It mentioned that the beams were 6" but didn't say much about the metal strips...from Glenn's pics they seem narrower, but it might be the angle it was taken. Someone on one of the ship builders forums backs up what you said about them being the same, so it sure makes it easier...

Chuk...thanks for the reply...that might work too...I am heading to town to see what size bases I have to work with...everything hinges on that...so any and all suggestions might be used

 

[Prop Duster]

Here's an idea and USA made too wood carving tools

Or
you could drill small holes at the corners of each tie down and use a fine saw to cut the shape out and....and ....never mind :gogo

 

[moon puppy]

Glad to know about the backup, that means the stuff Just Plane Stuff sent was correct. I would make it one on the edge of the base so you wouldn't have to do that much carving.