Wiring Woes & Anchor Improvments

After the difficulties that I experienced getting the wiring thought the hull, I realized that the wires would not pass behind the wall of the hangar. I tried shaving the inside of the hull but it was pretty evident that this was not going to work. So I snuck the wires back underneath the hangar deck and with some tweezers managed to pull it out from underneath.

I also read an article in FineScale Modeller where a division was added in the hull so that light would not pass through where the anchor chains would pass. Found it was a good idea so I glued a small piece of styrene and gave it a quick coat of grey paint (just good enough so that it would look dark inside.

Wiring the Midway

Started wiring the ship in preparation of lighting the hangar deck. Unfortunately I underestimated the width of the two wires and did not drill a large enough hole underneath the hull. Lets just say it was a very tight fit but after a lot of fiddling around (and a bit of cursing) I managed to pull the wires through... I then injected hot glue underneath the base so that the everything would stay in place.

Tamiya WWII Germain BMW R75 Motorcycle with Sidecar Unboxing

Tamiya 1/35 scale BMW R75 German Motorcycle with Side Car purchased and unboxing filmed on March 21st 2016.

Sailors

Assigned some sailors to the hangar deck and boy does it sure assist in creating scale in relation to the aircraft. I was actually surprised of the effect that the sailors gave, helped show depth and made the ship feel more alive. I have read in a lot of magazine articles about adding people to a scene to help provide a reference of scale and this was definitely proof.

Propellors

Glued the four custom propellors on the Midway tonight. Placed them the same way as seen in a reference photo that I found while the carrier was in dry-dock (March 1980, Yokosuka Japan).

Placing the Aircraft in the Hangar

Today I glued the aircraft that are to be in the hangar section while placing the potential positions of the aircraft on the main deck for future reference. The bulk of the aircraft in the hangar are six A-7 Corsairs II which are accompanied by three A-6 Intruders and a Marine Corps EA-6 Prowler.

Ship on the Base

Tonight I finally go to install the Midway on its base, a major milestone for this project! Used a plastic level to ensure that everything is straight and tightened a nut to secure the custom L bracket in place from underneath from the brass posts in the stern section. The bow brass post will be glued in place as a hole needs to remain for the lighting wiring. 

Securing the Base

To help secure the ship to the base I decided to created an L bracket out of a piece of coat hanger and I attached a threaded rod using some super glue. Since I was not sure how the ship was to be attached to the base several years ago I had glued two straws for to guide the lighting wiring but now one of them needs to be removed. Using tweezers, a small screw driver and a lot of patience I was able to free the small straw from the glue to make space for the L bracket.

Ship Stern

Tonight I installed that decking of the stern section now referred to as the "Fantail Cafe" at the USS Midway Museum located in San Diego California.

What do you do after drilling, painting of course!

A few days ago I realized that the elevator that is not attached to the deck had not been drilled with holes. Well while drilling I also realized that this needs to be painted with the same spray can that was used for the deck. So I went in my garage during my lunch break two days ago as I was working from home and gave it a few coats. I then painted by hand the light grey on the sides and underneath.