I thought I’d build an Aircraft Carrier

USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) an Academy Model Kit, 1/800 Scale and 18” Long. Tamiya Extra Thin Cement is Your Friend. Also, that hull was for me, one of the most difficult I have ever done in regards to taping off for painting due to it’s configuration and different moulds on it. Therefore, my waterline is lower than it should be. That is a shadow at the bow above the waterline.

 

Last I read they have some funds, but still trying to preserve her.

 

That’s about it

 

I'm afraid she disappeared from my view when I drive through Gorst past the reserve fleet last year. She's at Brownsville, Texas for breaking up,

 

Ok, then scrapping is going to happen anyway.

 

I read she was also called by “Battle Cat”

 

One of my brother rats from VMI, Tom Parker, was captain of the Kitty Hawk 2003-2005; not bad for a guy out of a mid '70's class before the days of Navy ROTC at the Institute.

Tom on the job [Kitty Hawk] Bridge Announcements | C-SPAN.org

 

I have a question. I have tried to Google a schematic for her deck and I cannot find anything big enough to see. What is that large tower behind the island with the big radar screen on top? Simply her main radar? I think there is another one on the front top of the island also, but not as big of a screen. And the instructions do not break down each part by name, only the number which corresponds to the number for each part on the sprue/tree. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Thank you much. And I really didn’t check out any other carriers either.

 

The radar on the tower is an SPS-48 three-dimensional air search radar, meaning that it can detect a target's altitude/elevation in addition to bearing and range. Kitty Hawk as built had two Terrier missile launchers, one on each quarter. I can't make out if your model has them, although the item on the sponson below the flight deck on the port quarter looks like an SPG-55 radar director used with Terrier. SPS-48 and SPG-55 were the standard outfit for Terrier ships, mainly cruisers and DLGs.

Kitty Hawk and her sisters Constellation and America eventually had the Terrier launchers replaced by the NATO Seasparrow, a shorter ranged missile optimized for self-defense. They and other carriers retained the SPS-48 for its value in air control/airspace management; it's also on LCCs and LHA/LHDs for the same reason.

The item above the bridge appears to an SPS-43 long range air search radar. This is two-dimensional, though estimates of altitude can be made by observing how a target fades in and out at different ranges. Both it and the -48 revolve - clockwise IIRC - but the 3D radar has the additional feature that its beam scans up and down electronically to determine elevation. This is done by a "stack" of radiating elements, which why the 3D antenna is higher in proportion to its width.

 

Thank you very much for all that valuable information. I believe those two missile launchers are glued in place on the starboard side (which you can’t see here) because it looked like that’s what you are describing. They are just under the overhang of the deck but as I stated before, with these instructions, there was no part description, just reference numbers. To be knowledgeable like yourself is helpful when assembling a model like this.

 

Two launchers on the starboard side - would one of them be forward of the elevators? That was a common arrangement when carriers were fitted with the NATO Seasparrow (NSSM). There would also be one on the port quarter, for a total of three. None on the port bow because it could obstruct aircraft launching off the catapults on the angled deck. Each NSSM launcher had two small directors somewhere near it. As @OpanaPointer mentioned, there were also Phalanx CIWS gun mounts; on that class they were close to the NSSMs.

Just to keep it confusing, some of the NSSMs and CIWS were later replaced by Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) launchers.

 

Ok, thanks. Yes. I guess that is what I am looking at with a magnifying glass sometimes. I didn’t spend much of my four years on ships. And now I see that one on the port quarter just aft of a searchlight. Per their instruction sheet. Modeling with a tweezers is much fun. Not! But it shows that I still have dexterity at almost 78.