CV-67

Modeling Subjects Ships
1

I’m not really a ship modeler, but I was pretty inspired by the recent visit to Boston of the USS JFK. I thought it would be great to build a model of one, but I can’t seem to find one. Is there a styrene model available of this ship? If not, does anyone know what I would need to convert an existing model kit into the CV-67?

Thanks for any advice!

Steven

2

Hi!

I believe there is a 1/700 JFK out there, thinking it’s made by Italiari?? Might try searching on Great Models or Squadron.

Scott

3

Monogram released several kits in the 70’s & 80’s in roughly 1/800 scale boxed as every carrier in the Kittyhawk/America/Kennedy class. All were the same mold based on JFK, with her unique canted funnel island. Im pretty sure you can find any 1 of them fairly inexpensively on eBay or in a deep dark corner of your LHS.

4

With the proper reference material a reasonable JFK could be made from a converted Nimitz. Flightdecks are similar as well as the sponsons. You might be able to use the forward section of the island scratching the after. Italieri’s 1/720 Nimitz would make a good starting point.

5

Okay. Start with a Nimitz. Thanks for the advice!

6

Hi, served in JFK from 1989-91 when I retired. The Nimitz might be a good start but since JFK was the last fossil fueled CV to be built I think the general layout of the hull, sponsons, and flight deck look a lot more like the America, Kitty Hawk etc. The island structure would take a combination of scratchbuilding and modifying of the kit supplied structure. With some decent photos its probably really do-able. When I was aboard I neglected to take any pics but there’s got to be plenty of references around. “Rick the ancient mariner”

7

Rick’s quite a bit right. The JFK was a “transition” ship, kind of a one off. The stern looks like a Kitty Hawk class, up to about mid-ships, but from there forward, the resemblence is more Nimitz class, especially at the forward end of the angled deck.

Kitty Hawk has a rather square-cut look to the leading end of the angled deck overhang, where Nimitz has a much smoother, more angled end, in fact JFK’s is more angled than Nimitz.

So my idea would be to take the stern of a Kitty hawk, and join it to the bow of a Nimitz and you’ll have it made.

8

Basically, get an Italeri USS Nimitz, an Italeri USS America, and as many references as you can find, and start kitbashin’…

A couple of good sources for photos (search for “cv-67”): http://www.navy.mil/index.asp and http://www.dodmedia.osd.mil/ .