I know it’s mostly ship, but there is an airwing! This was a seven year project that started with the hull of a training aid for Sea Cadets. The hull was brought to the home of Larry Todd, who then essentially scratchbuilt every detail you see. The superstructure was scratchbuilt by Ted Noldy. My measly contribution was the airwing. There are 47 aircraft on the deck and in the hangar bay, which is fully lit. The A-4’s and F-8’s are 1/100 scale, the A-1’s are die cast 1/100 scale with added landing gear and wheels, while the KA-3B is the Revell box scale. I converted one of the F-8’s into an RF-8A. Decals were from Starfighter, who enlarged a set of CVW-16 decals for us. One picture shows a sailor “towing” his pants in the water. A story was told to us by a sailor that newbies were given brand new denim pants. They were very blue, and very uncomfortable. The newbies would tie a rope to their denims and let the ocean “wash” them for a bit. They would then send them the laundry. When they came back, they would be much more comfortable to wear. In September, the Oriskany Association is having their reunion in Topeka, and one night will be spent at the museum where the finished model, which is around 9 feet long, will be unveiled. 
Wow!
Highly impressive! Exceedingly well done! A pleasure to view. Thanks for posting the project!
Oops, I forgot to include the picture of the guy washing his denims. Here it is.
Most impressive and the air-wing looks great Darren! Was the Oriskany an Essex-class carrier?
Wow, that is a beautiful ship!
Great job Darren, you and your group should be proud. In addition to all the aircraft being some of my favorite types, I really like that so large a ship model in built underway instead of “museum style” on posts.
That is going to be one stand out exhibit from the time it is unveiled onward.
Give a special separate shout-out to whoever built Tilly, I am sure there is no kit in any scale close to 1/96-1/100,and that is a fantastic build all by itself.
Rex
Wow!!!
Mike
Holly Batmobile! That’s incredible! Thank you for sharing that with us, Raymond
My eyes nearly shot out of my head when I saw that.
[snWow] [t$t] [B]
Very impressive.
I would have liked it even more if the wings were folded on the Spads and Crusaders.
Mark
True Mark,but, look at the bright side.
It is possible for Spads and Crusaders to sit on the deck with the wings spread. Can you imagine how long it would take to find decent folded wings Skyhawk drawings in Kansas??
ducks for cover, laughing maniacally
Rex
I thought about folding the wings. However, the A-1’s were metal, and to try and cut through the metal and still make sure it looked good was too much of a risk. The F–8’s had a very jagged wing fold. To cut them straight across would be extremely time consuming. Also, all the markings on top of the wings would be hard to see. I had a hard time not folding the wings, but in the end, we went with the safer route. The deciding factor was we wanted to make sure the deck looked full. With wings down, we were assured of making that happen.