Scratch 'Kit' 1/144 USS Gerald Ford CVN 78

Scratch 'Kit' 1/144 USS Gerald Ford CVN 78 The journey to create a scratch-build kit of the island structure of the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier U.S.S. Gerald Ford in 1/144 scale.

The _almost_ final part layout in Lightburn for cutting. I'm now at well over 300 pieces for the entire kit. My to-do li...
02/10/2024

The _almost_ final part layout in Lightburn for cutting. I'm now at well over 300 pieces for the entire kit.

My to-do list before starting the next (complete and final, hopefully) test assembly is down to 3 items!

Placing all of the handrail stanchions and test cutting. I'm making a small laser mark for placement and then using that...
02/07/2024

Placing all of the handrail stanchions and test cutting. I'm making a small laser mark for placement and then using that as a starter hole to finish with a .5mm pin vise. This is one of the small platforms on the main mast.

First test 3D print sitting on one of my test builds. I'm pretty happy with the results but more refinement is possible.
01/28/2024

First test 3D print sitting on one of my test builds. I'm pretty happy with the results but more refinement is possible.

This will be my introduction to 3D printing as well. Exporting profiles from VCarve into FreeCAD to extrude and then int...
01/24/2024

This will be my introduction to 3D printing as well. Exporting profiles from VCarve into FreeCAD to extrude and then into Cura for printing. The learning curve for the software is moderate. It took me a few days to stumble through the process.

I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of an Ender 3 KE to start printing these bad boys.

I've been working on the design for well over a year now. It's a lot of research and design hours and trying to fit that...
01/24/2024

I've been working on the design for well over a year now. It's a lot of research and design hours and trying to fit that into normal life.

The design is created in VCarve and laser cut into .020 - .060 sheet styrene using a Shapeoko with the JTech laser attachment. Being able to refine the design, re-cut and rebuild quickly to test fit parts has led to some rather impressive results.

Test build photos to follow.

01/19/2024

Welcome to the beginning of our page! Here I plan to chronicle the development and creation of a scratch-build 'kit' of the island structure of the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier U.S.S. Gerald Ford in 1/144 scale.

Once complete, I hope to offer this kit for sale to anyone who has a love of scratch-building and the desire to model this carrier or any of the following Ford-Class carriers.

Pictures will begin to flow shortly!

Address

Baltimore, MD

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Scratch 'Kit' 1/144 USS Gerald Ford CVN 78 posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category