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The big flight deck of the Dayan class carrier cries out to have fighters and other details stuck all over it ... so I did. I took a number of photos, so many that they deserve a page to themselves. Being true to my original word (unusually), all of these pictures are new ones, replacing the rather murky original set. The model is painted in Humbrol enamel paints - Panzer Grey for the base coat drybrushed heavily with Slate Grey topped off with a lighter drybrushing of light grey. The red and yellow detail areas stand out well, although red was a bad choice photographically speaking - the red areas haven't come out at all well. I have suffered from the curse of Humbrol glossy 'Matt' black - all of the black areas will need repainting or varnishing. |
 The Carrier Minas Ithil in all its glory. My fleet, which is based in our own universe rather than any 'official' one, has its ships named after people and places in Tolkein's Middle-Earth. The detailing effort concentrated on the weapon emplacements and putting some detail on the enormous, open deck area.
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 Close-ups of the rear of the deck. I've fitted two cranes from Revell Shinano 1/1200th aircraft carrier kits, one of which is lifting a Lavi fighter (background). The lettering for the ship's name and pennant number were done with very small (4pt) rub-down lettering which I ordered from an art supplies shop.
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 A close up of the control tower. You can see where I've replaced the cast on main gun turrets with those from a warship kit (the same Shinano that supplied the cranes, in fact). Two lengths of brass wire have been added to the tower to represent sensor probes. Behind the end of each 'catapult' I've glued some pieces of plastic card painted with a red-and-yellow hazard stripe. The fighter waiting for clearance to launch is a Nesher. There is also another Lavi under the tower on the lift (just visible).
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 This front-on photo of the tower shows the Lavi on the lift more clearly. I've remodelled its wings to a folded-up position like an aircraft on a modern carrier.
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 The front of the flight deck, showing a second Nesher about to take off. The PDS batteries at each corner of the flight deck have been removed and replaced by anti-aircraft guns from Japanese 1/700th warships by Fujimi and Aoshima. I was lucky enough to pick up several of these in a sale recently. The ship's two-letter ID code is rub-down lettering again, white over black slightly offset to give a 'shadow' effect.
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 A view along the deck from the front, show the three fighters on the forward deck. The folded wing Lavi on the lift shows up well here.
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 A front profile of the Minas Ithil. The model was finished in a bit of a rush ready for a big game, so one or two jobs remain to be completed on this model. The sensor probes need a better paint job than plain black, and I'm not 100% happy with the hazard ramps at the ends of the catapults, so they may be redone. The painting on the cranes isn't all it could be either. I plan to make a second carrier, the Minas Tirith, with different superdetailing. My plan is to open up one of the lifts on the flight deck and model it in a lowered position, showing some internal detail. That model will be showcased here if (when) I get around to it !
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