I recieved a Christmas present that brought this model to my attention . A freind and I gave each other the same gift .A visit to the NIMITZ museum and the Museum Of the Pacific War which is ADM . Chester Nimitiz’s legacy .
Ship model like you wouldn’t believe .How about the MISSOURI in 1/160 scale with all the soldiers, sailors ,marines and aaf guys too .Yup all thirty five hundred of them ! Not to forget the Japanese delegation too !
Models of ships many of us never have seen . Models of ships that live on in model form for posterity WW1 and TWO are represented here and real naval and shore guns used in that conflict .Granted the BOFORS 40 mm AA was represented only by twin and single mounts ,this applies to a 5"38 single too .
If any of you come to TEXAS and want to hit a Museum far from the salt water this conflict was fought on , you need to stop here .It’s in FREDRICKSBURG , TEXAS and also gives the history of the man that signed those documents in Tokyo Bay that day .ADM Chester W. Nimitz sign for the United States !
Now , while there you will see those models in the comtext of the display and the presentation thereof .Granted ,there were some shortcomings , but , they were miniscule and they in the reality of the setting let you know just how big a WW - 2 fighter aircraft And torpedo bombers really were !
Back to the title though .Near the end of the tour there is a model in 1/72 scale of the U.S.S. NIMITZ ! Wow , that thing is big ! The Jolly Roger’s are represented quite well and the planes were well marked even including planes from different squadrons that were on the ship at the time of the build .there is one A-6-E-1 that stood out .It was by some fate the exact plane my child flew off this ship’s deck when she was in service . That said , there was oustanding hangar deck work in that model too .The builder also used mirrors to full advantage there ! You gotta go see these models and when you do , the U.S.S. NIMITZ model will float in your thoughts for some time to come , believe me ! Tanker - Builder P.S. She was built in three very large sections too !
Years ago we went to the Air and Space Museum in DC and they had a HUGE flattop under glass, maybe the Enterprise? This thing must have been at least 10-12 ft. long. I took some pictures of it but can’t quite locate them. It was probably 1/72 scale?
Somebody in the 80’s used to sell a 1/72 fiber glass kit of the Nimitz,came in 3 pieces along with the deck and island,it use to advertise in FSM all the time
Not sure if it’s the same kit that was advertised as mentioned, but it was described as a fiberglass hull in three sections, and IIRC, weighed some 200+ pounds.
Smart person would probably buy a Dilly boat trailer sized for a 17’ boat before getting that 1/72 Nimitz.
Applying my calculator, the WL length at 1/72 is 14.4’, beam 1.86’, draft 0.51’
Multiplying that out, and using a body quotient of 0.65 gives an underwater volume of 8.88 cubic feet, which, using a 63# c.f. is 560 pounds of displacement. (Sorry to international readers, my remembered constants for buoyancy are all in imperial units.)
So, if the hull was about 200#, you’d need another 300# of superstructure, a/c, running gear, batteries, etc., just to get a 1/72 hull to navigational waterline.
(Anyone want to hazard a guess how much a 1/72 Tomcat weighs? 90-95 a/c might be lot to balance up on that flight deck.)
I found the aforementioned issue and you’re pretty close on those numbers. It says the empty weight is 200 pounds and the finished model (presumably including motors, batteries, R/C equipment etc) required 285 pounds of ballast to get it to the waterline for an all-up weight of 585 pounds. [:)] EDIT: Oops, it says total displacement of 585 pounds, so total actual weight should be even more.
It’s pretty much a lifetime project,somebody would be able to tinker with that for decades.If I had the money,I would still lack the attention span necessary to finish it.
I was using round numbers to keep it simple. Plenty to “rivet count” about, since free-flowing fresh water is considered to displace 63.3 to 63.2 #/cf; filters & purified water (think pools) can go as low as 62.9#/cf. (Oceanic salt water may be safely averaged at 65#/cf.)
In this case, the all-up weight and the displacement weight will be close enough be of little difference.
Did have a wacky thought between dreams last night, of collecting up some submarine ballast tank servos, and “flood” her down to LWL. Which would save on having to tote a couple hundred pounds of ballast around.
Was over in Planes, where there is a post about a flying A380 about 1/48 using miniature gas turbine engines. While marveling at 2 meters of RC airliner, I started servo counting in my head, and settled on needing a 10 channel RC set. Which made me think of this post over here, that you could “get away” with only a 3-channel radio for 5 meters of CVN. (Yeah, right, need sound effects and other cool stuff for a beastie of that size )
Been half-noodling if the trailer would have room for a Spru-can, and a Knox or twain to properly deploy . . .
I did a 1/72 model of the SHELL ORION to operate in real water conditions . This model was 17.45 ft long and had a beam of 6 feet . I used my Bass boat trailer to launch it when I ran it . I had to outfit my radio with six more channels to do this . The ship itself was plywood with fiberglas overlay . I used four trolling motors so it would behave like the real girl which had the Azipod type propulsion system .
Worked great too . Problem .The batteries .I had to use four 12 volt auto batteries to run this thing just for the motors , a fifth covered the other operating features .I don’t know the total weight but it felt as heavy as my RANGER bass boat.
I promise you ,I will NEVER do that again ! But , it sure was fun seeing this model surging down the channel in front of my motorwhaleboat . Well ,I had to operate it from asea . You know , there were to many houses in the way on shore and I didn’t want to tresspass on folks . Besides my lady friend was a good boat operator anyway . Tanker - Builder I used the " ballast tank " method to sink her to loaded depth in scale and also I could adjust that for fully loaded and everything in between .
x2. The NASM model is 1/100 scale. It used to be in a fairly prominent position at the entrance to the naval aviation display area. I was there this past June and it’s been moved to another location more out of the traffic flow. It’s been there a long time and could stand some “freshening up”.
Hello, My farther in-law Richard Quinlan was the builder of this model. It was on the cover of Fine Scale Modeler back in 1986,I believe. He took it to events around the Central Illinois area for a few years before donating it to Nimitz museum. Thanks for writing this post. Im glad to hear it is still being appreciated after all these years.
Fredricksberg reamins a beatiful place to go visit, and with a delightful selection of wineries, too. The Nimitz museum wants a whole day to see, at least for ethousiasts like our crowd.
I remember seeing Richard Quinlan’s NIMITZ at an early Chicago RC Hobby & Trade Association show, maybe 1985 or 86. The following year he brought it to the Wisconsin Scale Boating Association regatta in Milwaukee. IIRC, it was in a small covered cargo trailer, in sections. The model wasbol ted together at lakeside and ballast in the form of wtaer filled gallon milk jugs was added. The fiberglass semi kit was made by a company called Super Ships in Louisiana. Loyalhanna Dockyard now has the hull molds, and the model is still available.
There are a couple of guys I know that have built or are building 1/96 scale carriers. One of them is working on a model of the GEORGE H. W. BUSH (CVN 77). There’s a group of r/c modelers who get together annually to run 1/96 th and 1/100 th scale ship models. The event usually takes place in October in Rocky Mount,NC. This years event has been cancelled. Here’s a video of the 2018 Fleet Run.
One thing to consider when building a carrier is the air wing. If I had to scratchbuild a carrier, I’d build the ship, and look to the market for the planes. Way easier to build the ship than it is to turn out a dozen or so identical models of 7-8 different plane types. I suspect 1/100 was chosen for two reasons - it kept the size down. And some of the planes were available as 1/100 kits from Tamiya and others, which were not tough to come by in the 70s and 80s.
)