Revell to release Graf Zepellin

[nev]

linky

[anthonyp]

Alright!  I missed my 1st chance to get one of these the first time the kit was around.  Not missing it this time.

On a related note, I picked up a Graf Spee yesterday that I was going to modernize, ala the Iowas...  mayhaps a Graf Zepplin modified with an angled deck for it to escort?

[GTX]

I picked up a Graf Spee yesterday that I was going to modernize, ala the Iowas...

Not a lot to play with there - exactly how are you proposing to modernise it???

BTW, love the idea of an angled deck Graf Zepplin.  Maybe you could place them in a diorama together.

Regards,

Greg

[anthonyp]

I picked up a Graf Spee yesterday that I was going to modernize, ala the Iowas...

Not a lot to play with there - exactly how are you proposing to modernise it???

Well, there's always redoing the masts to modern ones, squeezing some SSM launchers on it, removing all AA guns, putting on some CIWS of some sort, etc.  Nothing like the Phase II Iowa mods, just turning it into a more modern surface combatant.

[Joe C-P]

Remove the big gouges forward that are supposed to be catapults.
Dump all the guns, surface and AAW, and replace with CIWS or Goalkeeper, RAM, maybe a NATO Sea Sparrow and/or a couple OTO Melara 75mm.
Move the elevators to the edges.
Modern radars and antennae, life rafts and small boats.
A small angled deck, like the RN conversions, would be easier and more likely than an all-out rebuild like the Midways.

Will this be a German vessel or a Soviet/Russian one?

JoeP

[Archibald]

I know, this is 1/720 scale but what air group ?
SR-177 seem obvious... Sea Tornado... Seaphoon later...  

[anthonyp]

A small angled deck, like the RN conversions, would be easier and more likely than an all-out rebuild like the Midways.

Will this be a German vessel or a Soviet/Russian one?

JoeP

HA!  I haven't got that far in the planning yet.  I want to get my hands on one first, then start mucking around with ideas.  

Good suggestion for the angled deck.  I was actually thinking an angled deck similar to the prototype one on the Antietam, but the slightly modified version ala the RN might look better.

Not sure on the navy it's going to yet, but Soviet was not one I'd considered (even though they took the hull as a war prize).

[JC Carbonel]

For a real original -looking German fifties or so aircraft carrier take one of their big cruisers, remove the main turrets and replace with Coleopter launch pads !!!

JCC

[Joe C-P]

Or...

Don't angle the Graf's deck: make it a V/STOL carrier, with a ski-jump forward for Harriers (they were part of the Tripartite trials) and some of the German VTOL and STOL concepts.
The story could be they kept her as a helo/ASW/transport, and over the years she became a test/operations platform for all their VTOL concepts when not patroling the Baltic and North Sea looking for Soviet subs.

Alternately, the Soviets might have done the same, keeping her as a helo/assault vesels (specifically not a carrier so as not to upset party leaders who thought carriers were decadent Western trash) and eventually adding a "ski-jump-ski" for the YaK V/STOLs. Oo, wait, I have a RevGZ in the closet, and Skywave just came out with Mils in 1/700...  

JoeP