Easy Carrier upgrade with stickers…

@the-captain they are water slide decals.

Hello everyone. I wanted to share my latest Essex class carrier customization.

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There is a famous picture of an Essex class carrier where the hull camouflage is prominently displayed. I wanted to reproduce this late war hull pattern for piece and give it a deck a similar style as my other US carriers.

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I used this image as my source for port and starboard hull camouflage patterns and color scheme.

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This game piece is from HBG and it is sold in 5 packs, so I gave them deck numbers 9-13.

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I’ve added two magnets so they hold 2 aircraft each. You can find these on my site here.

@CWO-Marc said in HISTORICAL DECALS for American Carriers.:

{snip}
CV-4, Ranger, was America’s first purpose-built carrier, and was twice as fast as Langley, but was about 10,000 tons smaller than the Yorktown class, and as I recall most or all of her WWII service was in the Atlantic/Mediterranean theatre, against two countries (Germany and Italy) with no operational fleet carriers in their navies.

Admiral King, the chief of the US Navy during World War II, wanted to refit the Ranger and send her to the Pacific. When his staff told him that the refit would cost just as much as a new-build Essex-class carrier, he changed his mind. The Ranger would be the only US carrier that was in commission on December 7th, 1941, to not face the Japanese Navy in World War II. Of course, not facing the Japanese Navy in no way prevented the Ranger from seeing action in World War II, just in the North African and European theaters.

-Midnight_Reaper

Per @Midnight_Reaper’s request, I’m working on a USS Atlanta and an IJN Agano for Light Cruisers. The Atlanta has existing open-source examples; the Agano I’ll have to rebuild from bits and photos (all current models are pay-only).

I plan on printing some out from Siredblood’s link.  I watched his video and you can certainly do it that way.  My only concern with adhesive backed “stickers” is that with all the handling of game pieces, I can imagine that the stickers begin to peel up after a while. If you’re going to use the adhesive backed stickers, might I recommend to apply thin CA glue around the outside edge of the sticker after you’ve burnished it down on the carrier deck.  You can get some thin CA at your local hobby shop where they sell RC planes, or just order it online.  Because it is literally as thin as water, you’ll need to apply it with some sort of makeshift precision applicator.  But after that, you won’t have to deal with annoying stickers that don’t want to stay down tight.

Also, if you use a glossy type sticker paper, after you’ve applied it and the carrier is “all done”, spray the entire piece with a light coat of Testor’s Dullcote spray laquer.  You’ll get rid of the sheen both on the plastic and from the glossy paper. All the colors will “blend” together and the piece will look much better.  :wink:

Thank you for the positive feedback! I forgot to say that in the previous post, and it’s very important that I do. It’s very encouraging and motivating to get good feedback, and we certainly appreciate it. The above mentioned four Essex class carriers are complete, a long with several other ships of the US Navy, so its time to update the thread. Just ships by FOlewnik in this post. More aircraft are almost done but I haven’t put magnets in them yet (so not really done), so no aircraft pictures this post.

We’ll start with the two “odd men out” of the HBG sculpt Baltimore Class Heavy Cruisers. Why “odd men out”? Because in the below picture we have on the left, the USS Unnamed Baltimore Class Cruiser Wearing Measure 31a, Design 9C, and on the right is the USS Columbus (CA 74), which wasn’t commissioned until June 8, 1945. The cruiser with the long name is wearing a design that was never used, but was taken from a period design found at https://www.wikiwand.com/en/World_War_II_US_Navy_dazzle_camouflage_measures_31,_32_and_33:_cruisers. The USS Columbus is wearing a Measure 12 Modified designed by FOlewnik to match the pieces we’ll be using for the US Atlantic fleet. These will get aircraft added, but at the time of the photographs the decals on the wings of the aircraft were drying.
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Next up are some metal destroyers from GHQ. Below on the left, the very brave USS Johnston (DD-557) painted in MS-3_/6D as it looked when it was “Sunk by Japanese Warships off Samar October 25 1944,” and next to it is USS Van Valkenburgh (DD-656) painted in camouflage Measure 31, Design 9d. All Wartime photos taken from Navsource.org, a great resource for US Navy history buffs.
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Below, the real USS Johnston shortly before her final battle, and the official design sheet:
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A great wartime picture of the USS Van Valkenburgh, which is the same on both sides:
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Now on to these two. From GHQ, USS The Sullivans (DD-537) painted in Measure 1, and the HBG sculpt light cruiser USS Marblehead (CL-12) who always wore Measure 2 throughout the war. If I can get FOlewnik to put the Shamrock on the first stack of The Sullivans when he puts the scout aircraft on the Marblehead, as seen in the below wartime photograph, I’ll come back and edit the post.
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The post previous to this post showed four Essex Class sculpts from HBG getting prepped and started with a base coat. Those are now completed and I had too much fun playing with them and the aircraft (that are complete so far) while I was taking photographs. I’m pretty sure I didn’t make any wooshing sea or aircraft noises or FOlewnik would have laughed at me. I was tempted though, and here’s why:
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Above we have the first of the Long Hull Essex Class, USS Ticonderoga (CV-14) on the left looking as she did after her April 1945 refit from suffering a Kamikaze Attack on January 21, 1945, and USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) on the right. The Bunker Hill is wearing Measure 33, Design 6A, of which Navsource says, “Her port side camouflage pattern was the most intricate design applied to any carrier.” One glance can confirm that!
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The final two Essex Class carriers are the USS Essex (CV-9) herself, and the USS Bennington (CV-20). The Essex is wearing a unique pattern, Measure 32v6, Design 10D, adapted from a destroyer pattern specifically for the long hulled Essex. The Bennington is painted in Measure 32, Design 17A.
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Finally, some group pictures just for fun:
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Thank you for checking out the post! If you liked it, please click the little heart. I’m trying to figure out why our post is only rated with a 2 when it seems it should be a bit higher if the other likes are any indication.

Hey guys, for those of you interested in stickers, rather than decals, Ray is trying to make as many World war 1 and 2 stickers from all different countries.

Keep telling him what you want, and he will try to make it.

He has told me some of you have been requesting many different things, so all your ideas are being heard.

Just wanted update this info to you, because it is working. :-)

John

Hey Everyone,

Just joined the forum because I was looking for ideas on customizing my new G40.  It’s awesome to see all the information that you guys are posting.  I’m just learning how to navigate through this forum and I’m looking forward to be a part of the community. Sorry if this is the wrong section to say hello.