1/508 USS Long Beach as a proposed strike cruiser CSGN

[wacek85]

Hello,

After USS Tucumcari its time for another bad kit.
This time I'd like to start USS Long Beach. As you may know, this is kit based on very first specs of this cruiser.
So I don't even think about making it accurate.
Instead I'll change main superstructure, make it less box-like. Regulus 2 is interesting so it'll stay too. I'll add two cannon turrets. Finally PE railings will be used.

First things first...
You know bridge shape on Long Beach - like Walmart on sea.
So...because I'm a fan of Hobart-class destroyers so I went that way...

[seadude]

This should be interesting.  *grabs popcorn and watches*
The Long Beach is one of my favorite cruisers. I just wish there was a newer 1/350 scale plastic model kit of it as I'd probably buy several to make into a few what if versions.
I did some what if dabbling with a 1/700 scale Long Beach long ago. But never got around to finishing it and gave up as the scale was too small. Pic below.

[Captain Canada]

Looks good. For sure that was a cool ship.

[Joe CalPo]

Get it back out and build it!
Not certain about the amidships VLS, but the forward would have had room from the twin arm launchers.
And the Talos hangar could have worked, though in the real world they put Tomahawk there.

[seadude]

Get it back out and build it!
Not certain about the amidships VLS, but the forward would have had room from the twin arm launchers.
And the Talos hangar could have worked, though in the real world they put Tomahawk there.

I can't finish building it. I chucked it in the garbage bin long ago. The only way I'll do a proper Long Beach is if it's in 1/350 scale..........which doesn't seem likely.
As for VLS on the Long Beach, I can't remember where I found the below diagram, but I'm pretty sure this was a proposal for the forward area of the Long Beach. A 8"/55 cal. Mk.71 gun was proposed for the very forward bow area of the ship. 

[wacek85]

Sooo...I'd decided that I'll go easy way...and use an existing kit to modify Long Beach...Most modern and detailed and in close scale is...Atago in 1/450 by Hasegawa

After quick and brutal surgery Long Beach looks like on photo. Now it needs some putty and styrene to make seams invisible.

[kerick]

Interesting ideas!
Looks like it should be a little wider. More room for wiz's bangs.

[Spino]

Always did love the strike cruiser concept.  USN really should have built them, one of the big reasons they didn't was because someone managed to shoehorn Aegis and 4x SPY-1 radar arrays onto the Spruance hull, resulting in the Ticonderoga class DDGs/CGs.