Topic: HMS Illustrious.

[paul swainson]

Well I have done some sections of the mastand have put them together to see how they look on the top of D deck.   The bottom section of the main mast still has to be cut down by a few inches as she will sit low inside and rest on B deck to give support to the structure.   The main cross section which carries the signaling flags has still to be made with runners to be soldered to allow the flags to run up and down.  But on the whole I am very please with the result.  All the sections still have to be bonded and checked to ensure they are straight and perpendicular to the deck.

[paul swainson]

On each of the landing of the mast I have used the two hole single stanchions from Deans range of etch parts.   They are very fine and required a lot of time to mount and then lace with wire to achieve the end result.   I still have the ladders and foot rungs to install.

[ship's doctor]

Hi Paul,

Looks really good- great fine detail on the mast. The radar looks very similar to the one on Suffolk (Type 279), there is a drawing here: http://www.hmshood.com/ship/radar.htm which I found useful... 

Hope this is helpful,

James

[paul swainson]

Hi James you are correct, I do have the top sections to put onto the mast but they are so fine from an etch kit that I will not put them on till the end of the build as I am sure they will get damaged when painting or when the island is being removed and refitted to the main deck during build.  so will put them on them and will use a thinner mast stem for that fit.   The drawings will help as I was not sure how they would look when installed, and the plan I had was only giving me a side and straight on view.  Paul

[paul swainson]

Well a futher update on my build.   Have now combined all four decks and have installed the main mast after some more work.   The main pillar of the mast is made from 3mm brass rod cut to length and then as there are ladders to be mounted I then in cased the rod with a 4mm plastic tube so that all will mount OK.  The two support legs remain in 3mm brass.   The main mast runs through the decks to get it support.   All the winglets have now been added and the the wind deflectors fitted to each,  that took awhile as the deflectors at the start off WW2 where sheets of metal extended out from the up wright so had to use 0.3mm sheet cut and trimmed to give a 1.5mm edge to all the area requiring air deflectors.  The only one of the bridge winglets was the main Captains bridge which had the wind deflects we see later in other builds.   I still have to fit some stanchion post (2hole) in the area of the funnel and the conning bridge.  I have maid up one of the 8 barrel Pom Pom and they look the part, also kitted out D deck with some of the items which will fill out the empty space.  I know have to order some more brass square rods from Ron to make up the deck which holds the landing lights and all the rafts.  So this will test my soldering.  Hope you like the photos, if you want to see them in grater detail you can go to my link for the flickr page to see.  Paul

[paul swainson]

and some more.

And the link to my Flickr page if you want it.     https://www.flickr.com/photos/92998762@N02/sets/72157640833731444/

[radio joe]

Very nice Paul, I can see you have been busy, I do like the pom-pom wouldn't fancy being an enemy pilot with that thing spitting at you. Joe

[Fighting Sailor]

Looking fantastic so far Paul !   can't wait to see more...  I have a hull for an Independence class light carrier (I modified a Scale Shipyard cruiser hull)  which has been sitting empty for years.  You have inspired me to dust it off!  I plan to make USS San Jacinto CVL 31 which was the ship George Bush flew from.  But first I must build my Dean's Corvette... LOL   Keep up the great work!

[paul swainson]

Thanks very much for the kind words and I am please you have given some thought to building USS San Jacinto.   I like the idea of you modifying a hull, what work did you have to do as I have to do some work on the spooners on Illustrious.   Paul

[Fighting Sailor]

Starting from a Light Cruiser hull, I had to build blisters on either side which essentially encreased the width.  I had good drawings but not much info below the waterline.  I suplimented the missing views with drydock photos of USS Independence.  I roughed out the basic shape in Balsa wood and laid fiberglass over. once the glass had cured the balsa was dug out and the void filled with resin and glass matt. 1/4 inch holes were drilled in the hull to allow me to pull a bit of the matt and resin into the hull and therefore form a good mechanical bond.  I have used this technique in the past for constructing sponsons etc...  I will try to post pics later.

[paul swainson]

I am hoping that someone may be able to help me in my scratch build of HMS Illustrious 87 from the period 1939 to 1942.   I have the full Naval plans of the ship and I am in the build of the Island A to D decks. 
The problem I have at the moment is the mounting of the Carley floats on the side of the island from B deck down to the flight deck.
I have the sections plans for section 92 through to 69 which covers the area of the Carley floats, also the side profile.   I am not able to see clearly how they were mounted as there are two platforms shown but one is not on the section 69 and not on 92.  There is also a walk way above the mounting platform which has a grating and stanchions to give access to the flight signal lamps positioned along this walk way which is above the Carley mounts.   There is also retaining reels for each float position below the mounting deck on all the decks shown, but not sure how they are reached and how they retain the floats.
My question is can any one help with old photos of the area of the ship as all the photos I have are distance shots which are too grainy to blow up to see detail.  Or has any one seen or served on this ship during the period I am building (a long shot I know) or any other ship which had this type of launch system for high up Carley floats. 

As the plans hare too high to be posted here if you go to my build link view the plan layout of the Carley floats from the cut sections and then from the side on and the over view please give me my your view.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/92998762@N02/sets/72157640833731444/
For the attention of Ron on the first and second plans view you will see the the dotted area I was talking about.  DO you think this is a shadow view of the support arms that are in the last drawing of the over head view.

Thanks for any help in this matter.  Paul

[paul swainson]

Well Guys I have found out how the Carley floats are mounted and launched.   The small deck that juts out from B deck has 7 rods protruding out which holds the main cable which holds the Carley floats in place.  As you will see from the small attachment this cable make a upside down Y which hold and runs to the back of the Carley floats and is retained under the small deck in reels, which must be braked.   The next deck down is were the crew go to release the floats.   As they are lowered the upside down Y hold the Carly float in position until they reach the sea and are then released.

[paul swainson]

So have made and drawn the layout of the top deck and its walk way and taken the measurements from the plans.  Will now cut out this deck and trim to install to the side of the Island, also install the signal lights and two post stanchions with copper line for the hand holds.

[ship's doctor]

Looking very good Paul- glad you got the Carley Float problem solved.

I found this collection of images of Illustrious if you've not seen them...

http://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/great_britain/pages/aircraft_carriers/hms_illustrious_87.htm

There are a few others with pages on the site (Formidable, Victorious)

James

[paul swainson]

Yes James,  I have that link saved to help in the build, but what I really needed was a close up of the Island to see how the 3d vision I had drawn would work.  Once I have received the reels from Deans and have fitted them in place the next deck will be completed and then the Carley floats the whole thing will look as it should.

There is so much in extras for this model that makes it fun but expensive to build.