USS Marcus Island
The photos below are of a 1/16" scale model of the USS Marcus Island
(CVE-77).
She was a WWII escort carrier. Escort carriers were built in great
numbers
during the war and were initially created in response to the German
U-boats
that were preying on the Atlantic convoys supplying England. The escort
carrier
was able to provide air cover to the convoy all the way across the
Atlantic
and the U-boat threat was dramatically reduced. The USS Guadacanal
(CVE-60)
helped capture U-505 with its code book intact, earning it a
Presidential Unit Citation.
The escort carrier was also used extensively in the Pacific,
ferrying
planes, providing air support for landing forces and refueling
operations.
Several escort carrier groups, including the USS Marcus Island, were
the
primary US naval forces engaged in the Battle of Samar, Philippines in
October
1944. The USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73) was sunk from heavy bombardment from
the
Japanese fleet.
The model represents the USS Marcus Island painted in Measure 32/15a
camouflage. This paint scheme was used in 1944, when Michael
Bereznai, father of Patricia Jean Bereznai Thompson, served on her.
Some details are not finished, the most noticeable being the radar
tower and aircraft. A table with class case is planned for display.
I'll retake some pictures at that point.
A few months later... Note the aircraft on the deck. The one
nearest the bow is on the catapult and ready to go. On this one I
replaced the
prop with a disk of clear styrene, giving the illusion that the prop is
spinning.
For something completely
different...
About a hundred years before the USS Marcus Island was launched, the
Flying
Fish sailed from Boston, around the southern tip of South American to
the
west coast. At the time her and other clipper ships were the fastest
means
of transport on the seas. The 1/8" scale model of this beautiful craft
has
been in the works for 20 years! Ok, no I've not been working on it for
the
whole time. It comes out every couple of years and I make some
progress.
I think I need one last spurt to finish it.
This project introduced me to the term "shipwrights disease". What it
means is that once you start a project, you find things to "improve"
that
will create more work and boy has that happened with this thing. Most
of
the parts for a model like this can be bought as crude metal
castings...
but nooo.... things look so much better scratch built. (Actually, they
do,
but 20 years!?) The platforms on each mast are good examples (close-up
of
the one on the main mast below). Nothing like being able to look
through
the slats and see the frame underneath and the ship's deck below!
The bow...
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