One of the reasons I was so enchanted with the SF was the pair of big cranes and the twin catapults. Don’t have the catapults done yet, but have the crane mounted, so I thought I would show how they look. This is using the White Ensign PE set. It is a beautiful set. The cranes not only look nice, but they were easy to fold up and mount! I have one catapult done and I was dreading the folding, but it turned out to be easy- very nice layout and instructions.
The base is a workbench base for building only, the model will be transferred to an oak base when it is finished.
She’s looking great Don! I have the 1942 in my stash with all the the goodies except the PE. I was planning on using the GMM set; however, how was the WEM set?
Nope, I misspoke! How in the world did I ever type white ensign! I have the GMM set and meant to type Gold Metal. Typos, forgotten words, and other senior moments happen more frequently as I get set to enter the fourth quarter century of my existance
Have a new question, guys. The float planes are supposed to fit precariously on a shuttle that mounts on top of the catapult. I assume there were some tie-down lines to steady the plane tied to either that shuttle or the catapult itself. With the PE set the only glue joint will be a small spot joining the main float to the shuttle. I am afraid the tie-downs will have to be functional! Anyway, I have no references on these tie-downs. I assume they were only removed when the plane was ready for launch, with engine running and pilot set. Anyone have any references on these tie-downs for catapult planes on cruisers and battleships?
The pictures I have seen shows the main float sitting in a cradle formed to hold the float/plane upright. When the cradle stops at the end of the ramp upon launch the float of the plane shoots straight out of the cradle. It also seems that the float may have some connectors that maybe used to lock the float to the cradle and the cradle is locked in place on launch ramp when sitting idle.
I found this video on YouTube showing a how a catapult works on the USS Oklahoma. It does show a cable attached to the cradle running over the float on to the other side. This the link www.youtube.com/watch. I hope this helps, the video cover launch, recovery, storage.
Thanks, Marcus. Great video, though I still did not see what restrains the plane- where those cables terminate. I am not worried about during launch. I am worried about while it is sitting in shuttle before ready to launch. If it is sitting in shuttle and the ship rolls even a little, what holds it from rolling of catapult to side. I don’t believe forward motion of ship would be enough to make ailerons effective. And I assume pilot gets into plane while on catapult, so it must be stable while he does that. One photo I have shows a cable running from somewhere on catapult to wing float area, but doesn’t show the inner end- where on catapult or shuttle does it fasten?
Ah, that is what I needed, Marcus! Thanks. That shows it mounted to the shuttle. I had kind of assumed it would be, but this confirms it- thanks again.
Don have you ever posted a WIP ? I can’t recall unless I’m looking in the wrong sections,but I look forward to following along on this one.Looks good so far.
