Dazzled's Forrestal Tribute

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Dazzled
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Dazzled's Forrestal Tribute

Post by Dazzled »

Some of you may have read this in my workbench thread but here's the gist of this. I'm a bit ticked off at the US navy for scrapping probably the most important warship of the Cold War and, indeed, the 20th Century (Yes, even more important than HMS Dreadnought!,) even though there existed a well-funded and organised association that were ready to put her into preservation as a museum ship. To add insult to injury this magnificent vessel was sold to the scrapyard for one cent! :shock: :evil: Not having a pop at Americans in general, so those of you on this esteemed forum please don't take offence (I'm sure you guys would have put her in your back yards given half a chance ;-) ), but imho it doesn't do much for the view that our American cousins don't much care about heritage.

So, what's the idea?

It's just my own little tribute to the Forrestal. I'm going to try and build as many of the ship's aircraft as I can and display them on the Cold War SIG table at shows in their own section with a ship's badge and, in due course, a carrier deck section carrying the ship's number. As a part of the project I've been creating a database in the form of an Excel spreadsheet that details aircraft types, squadrons, wings and years of service. It has around 160 entries and it's still growing. This research has helped me track down kits and decals and also helped spot errors by manufacturers of both.

Over the last three months or so on the building front, despite a huge mojo crisis, I've got this far.


First up is based on the new tool Airfix A-4B Skyhawk. It represents an aircraft from VA-83 "Rampagers" embarked on Forrestal from 1960 to 1961. The aircraft is armed with two Bullpup missiles as this was the time that this weapon entered service so is representative of the era. Decals are from Xtradecal and the kit decals.

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Next is another Airfix A-4B, this time representing an aircraft from VA-152 "The Friendlies" embarked for a short period in 1968. This aircraft is armed with a pair of LAU-10 launchers each carrying four Zuni rockets, a typical load for a Vietnam era A-4B. VA-152 were the last squadron to operate the B variant and their departure from Forrestal marked the end of this sub-types' service. Decals are again from Xtradecal but the decal manufactuurer mistakenly denotes the squadron as "The Fighting Aces" and gives the year of service as 1960 (Could do better!!)

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Third and final Skyhawk is an A-4C, based on the Fujimi kit and representing an aircraft from VA-15 "Valions" embarked form 1968 to 1969. The aircraft is armed as a "Bomb-truck", again typical of the Vietnam era and illustrating the extra pylons of the C variant as well as the MER, which was developed with the Skyhawk specifically in mind. Decals are a combination of Fujimi and a/m. The Fujimi decals are pretty bad and they incorrectly denote the squadron name as "Gulf of Tonkin Yacht Club". At least they got the year right!

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Last in the Forrestal foursome (but not the last in the project by a long way) is one of the nicest kits I've ever built; Academy's Vought F-8E Crusader. Built straight from the box and using the kit decals as an aircraft from VF-103 "Sluggers" in 1964, Academy have got everything spot on. I have to say that the decals were utterly superb, as you'd expect from Cartograph, and they covered everything, even the black cockpit surround with yellow sealant lines is a decal. Just superb. I kept the armament "fighter-simple" and left off the MERs and bombs as I didn't want to spoil the lines of the finished model.

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And finally, a couple of gratuitous shots of all four together.

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Four finishes in a week isn't bad but I don't think I'll hurry to build in such a multiple again. Parts control was a nightmare :roll:
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FAAMAN
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Re: Dazzled's Forrestal Tribute

Post by FAAMAN »

I concur with your thoughts at the scrapping of CVA-59, "close to vandalism" was a quote I heard from more than a few who also thought she was significant and should be saved for posterity.
Great idea for a thread, maybe even an ongoing (open ended?) group build to get the Forrestals' birds built could be arranged.
Pity the Airfix A-4B is so bad for awful shapes (the nose especially) and details, your build quality and finish is great, well done on making "silk purses" out of sow's ears.
The Crusader is superb, can't agree more at keeping the "gunfighter" clean.
Can't wait to see more '72nd builds, you're gonna have fun getting a Grumman E-1 Tracer and a C-1A Trader.
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Re: Dazzled's Forrestal Tribute

Post by shangos70 »

A great collection Dazzled, looking forward to seeing the rest. I have that decal sheet and I was aware of some of the errors, not "the Fighting Aces" one though.Thanks for the heads up.
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Re: Dazzled's Forrestal Tribute

Post by Stuart »

A great idea for a project and a superb selection of builds - Nice work!
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Re: Dazzled's Forrestal Tribute

Post by VMA131Marine »

FAAMAN wrote:I concur with your thoughts at the scrapping of CVA-59, "close to vandalism" was a quote I heard from more than a few who also thought she was significant and should be saved for posterity.
Great idea for a thread, maybe even an ongoing (open ended?) group build to get the Forrestals' birds built could be arranged.
Pity the Airfix A-4B is so bad for awful shapes (the nose especially) and details, your build quality and finish is great, well done on making "silk purses" out of sow's ears.
The Crusader is superb, can't agree more at keeping the "gunfighter" clean.
Can't wait to see more '72nd builds, you're gonna have fun getting a Grumman E-1 Tracer and a C-1A Trader.
I saw Forrestal regularly in her berth at the former Philadelphia Navy Yard right up to the time she was towed away to Texas for scrapping. Truth be told, by then she was in really rough shape. I believe she had been extensively cannibalised for parts over the years as well. I can't imagine how much it might have cost to get her into the kind of condition required for a museum ship. This leaves USS John F Kennedy CV-67 as the last conventionally powered aircraft carrier available to become a museum ship. Apparently there are plans for her to go to Newport, Rhode Island. No nuclear powered carriers will ever become museums because they have to extensively dismantled to remove the reactor cores.
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59North
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Re: Dazzled's Forrestal Tribute

Post by 59North »

The Forrestal project is really a great idea coupled here with an outstanding modelling effort. Well done, indeed! I do like the looks of your finished models so far.
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Re: Dazzled's Forrestal Tribute

Post by Clashcityrocker »

Lovely builds. I look forward to seeing the whole complement.

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Re: Dazzled's Forrestal Tribute

Post by K5083 »

Wonderful project! Those models are terrific.

As significant as the ship was, given the struggles many entities have experienced with preserving far small ships, I couldn't see a realist future for her as a museum.

I have a number of original negatives taken aboard the Forrestal in 1967. I haven't scanned as many of them as I should have. However, here are some A-5s,

http://aircraft-in-focus.com/north-amer ... vigilante/;

and about 3/4 of the way down this page, some F-4Gs and early "lead nose" F-4Js.

http://aircraft-in-focus.com/mcdonnell- ... hantom-ii/;

I have other types too, including an unusual A-4B 145031 from the NATC, if you are not done with A-4s yet. Let me know what you are building next! If it was on deck in 1967 I might have it.

Here's an atmospheric shot from the flight deck.

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And here's a Forrestal S-3A onshore in the 1970s.

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skypirate
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Re: Dazzled's Forrestal Tribute

Post by skypirate »

Wonderful tribute, Dazzled!
Beautifully models with interesting differences!

Cheers,

David
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Re: Dazzled's Forrestal Tribute

Post by chrism »

Nice to see what your upto with this. Looks good.. There was an article in the news recently about a man who in 70s or 80s built a 1/72:scale plane that had flown on a carrier and then built another .... and then over the next 20 year or so built a scale model of the ship (in his garage) to display them ... and then he also built a full air set of planes and vehicles think It was the ark in the ups style
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Re: Dazzled's Forrestal Tribute

Post by iggie »

Excellent work and this will become a worthy tribute to such an important ship
Best wishes

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Re: Dazzled's Forrestal Tribute

Post by ShaunW »

A superb set of builds, Daz and a great tribute to the famous Forrestal. Governments aren't noted for their sentimentality though and it seems few things are forgotten by them quicker than a hero, whether animate or not. I always thought the Cold War era Ark Royal should've been preserved for the nation (the T.V. series Sailor is a fond memory of my youth in the 70's), or Warspite with her lengthy service. No doubt there are other vessels, aircraft and armoured vehicles equally venerated, especially by those "who were there", but that ended up victims of the breaker's torch.
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Re: Dazzled's Forrestal Tribute

Post by MarkyM607 »

Same thing happened to the Wartime Enterprise CV-6. I did hear she was considered TOO famous to preserve, whatever that means. Anyway, excellent group of models, always have time for a Skyhawk, however the Crusader looks amazing.
As far as 'Sailor' goes, the DVD does have a bit at the end where one of the senior crew is taken to the yard where Ark Royal is being scrapped. Emotional for him to see the ship as it is in the series and then as a box shaped hulk. The nuclear carriers thing is the reason Enterprise CVN-65 isn't preserved, they had to cut the deck open several times to get the cores out (Or something along those lines).
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Re: Dazzled's Forrestal Tribute

Post by Navy one »

Those are excellent builds dazzled.
The scooter is always a fun and fast build.
Looking forward to the rest of the airwing.
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Re: Dazzled's Forrestal Tribute

Post by celt »

:wanw :wanw
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