"1/300 Scale Aircraft carrier Scratch Built" Topic

Here are some shots of our 1/300 scratchbuilt Aircraft Carrier the USS Princeton CVL-23 I am going to also build up the IJN Carrier Ryujo, these two carriers will be for a game I will run at a Fall convention. Carrier VS Carrier I will then extend it next year with DD's from both sides all in a 1/300 scale
Here are the first images this is WIP:

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Let me know what you think

Thanks

Jeff

I think you might be insane to do this much work, but those are going to look GREAT!

Jeff

Very nice work indeed, its amazing what people can do with foam board (currently our club is building St Nazaire in 10mm – Yes we are mad as hatters!!!!)

I look forward to the finished game as I want to do some carrier battles using Raidens 1/285th scale carrier range

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MH
:-)

Great fun.

But, in the words of Mrs Confused, "Where are you going to put it?"

She is 2 foot long, 4 inches wide and 2 1/2 inches tall not very big. The Jap carrier will be about 19 to 20 inches long and about 3 inches wide. They will not take up very much space at all. We will play the battle out on 3 4 by 8 tables carriers on their own tables and the dog fight on a seperate tabe then wh ever makes it to the other carrier will battle out over that carrier. Simple enough now all I need to do is get me a nice fast paced and simple set of rules.

Later

Jeff

Cool, and tempting, it'd be easyier to store than my last project.

Robert

Sounds like a great idea, and a lot of fun.

I've been considering doing something like that myself, e.g. carrier attacks, not the scratchbuilding.

I imagine the scenarios you could do with them would be superb.

Good luck on your project!

Jeff,

You might try Red Sun, Blue Sky as the rules. And odd level of play (each player flies a lot of planes) but it works well as as a convention game.

Nice job, by the way.

Bob

Bob,

Thanks for the info, is this still in print? The players will ahve about 25 fighters each and 9 to 10 torpedo bombers for the game.

Thanks

Jeff

That is a good question. There is a yahoo group (blue skies or something like that). The author has had a rough time over the past few years so reprints have been delayed.

But you can usually find copies by googling. It should allow the plane density you are talking about.

Bob

Here is an update on the USS Princeton.

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These three photo's plus the three from the first post where all done today. It is now time to let the Dry dock works rest more to follow during the rest of the week.

Hope to put a basic paint job on it Friday night.

Thanks

Jeff

Check Your 6 would also be a good choice. It is simple and fun.

I agree with Check Your 6. I think it is far better set of rules than any other air combat system I have used.

You can also make up your own for speed of play.

The rules need to be able to cover air to air combat/ air to ship/and shp to air. Plus be able to cover about 70+ aircraft during the battle and not bog down. It needs to be simple but still hard enough to keep the players intrest.

Give me some games guys….

Thanks

Jeff

As Bob mentioned, Red Sun/Blue Sky was designed for mass air combat in the PTO c. 1942-3, especially for airstrikes vs. carriers.

Check Your 6 is popular, but I don't know whether it would handle a mass game of 70 planes.

Bag The Hun from Two Hour Wargames might be worth a look. Airplanes operate in flights of four, a player commonly runs a squadron and multi-squadron games are not unusual. Much of the supporting material is oriented to the RAF, but PTO planes are rated for the system, and rules for planes vs. ships are well developed, including flak, level-, dive- and torpedo-bombing.

Many years ago (mid 80s?) a 'cardboard miniatures' boardgame called Kamikaze was published in Fire & Movement magazine. I think Dana Lombardy was the author. The subject was the mass Kamikaze strikes against the USN in 1944-5, but I have long thought of adapting the system to 3-D miniatures and to conventional anti-shipping strikes. It was a simple, elegant, robust rule set, but lacking in tactical detail for the air-to-air combat. I doubt you could find a copy today…email me off-list if you'd like a look-in. I'm zippy-at-fuse-dot-net.

Sorry, Bag The Hun is from Too Fat Lardies.

Thanks for all the help so far guys, here is this mornings update on the USS Princeton

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How much detail should I put on the ship, this is a game piece and to much detail will just get broken…..

Hope you enjoy the pic's

Jeff

Excellent!! Are you building any escorts to go with it at all?? I think for a model this big as much detail as possible would be the only way to do it justice---but maybe add it on after you've played with it at the show( or just have a bouncer watching every move with a baseball bat??? :) )

Here she was as of last night Hull camo on herand the flight deck painted.

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I need to detail out the hull and the superstructuer and install a crain infront of the island. Then wa-la the USS Princenton I now need to start on the IJN Ryujo hull.

Escorts will be done next. The Carrier seemed to build pretty fast.

Thanks

Jeff

Check Your Six, IMO could handle that many planes, but honestly haven't tried that many planes… yet. :)

I will try both sets of rules..

Thanks

Jeff

You might also consider "Scramble" from A and A Game Engineering… aandagames.co.uk/. My system of choice (at the moment) is Scramble with a bit of Red Sun / Blue Sky influenced house rules.

Good luck with your project! Take pics… lots of 'em… especially if you get three tables up and running…

- Charlie