I saw on Scalemates today that there is a 1/350 scale kit of the USS John F. Kennedy coming out from I Love Kit. Now I suspect that this the old Trumpeter kit but my question is can the Kennedy be made into the USS America easily? They were sister ships that were built around the same time. My oldest brother served on the America in the early 1970s and I have the feeling that no manufacturer is ever going to come out with a kit of the America. I’d really like to build a kit to honor him and his service.
“You ll need some scratchbuilding to do it and the U.S.S. America kit would be a better candidate for conversion into a JFK than a Connie one. The Nimitz platforms are somewhat different compared to the JFK ones.”
Following along through the thread it sounds like the Kitty Hawk kit will be best now.
8 pages on the CVN-67
Thanks everyone! You all gave me some ideas and places to start. You just know that when I start this scratchbuilding project, some manufacturer will come out with the kit.
Even though often lumped together with USS Kitty Hawk and Constellation as “Kitty Hawk” class carriers, in fact, both USS America and USS JFK are quite different from the first 2 ships. Among the most obvious, the varous sponsons and supporting structures under the flight deck of USS America has rounded edges to reduce resistance and potential damage in high seas. It also has a very unique smoke stack configuration that is different from all other non-nuclear carriers. Interestingly enough, Italeri is the only manufacture that correctly captures the unique shapes of USS America, but it’s 1/720 scale. Then of course, it uses the same mold (with a different island, though) for its Kitty Hawk and Constellation.
I have that Italeri kit in 1/720 scale and I’m glad to know now that its layout is pretty accurate. I was just hoping to be able to model it in 1/350 scale because my eyes are older now and my dexterity in the fingers isn’t as good as it once was.