U.S.S. Ronald Reagan

This model of the latest Nimitz Class aircraft carrier is in 1/720th scale and measures less than 18-1/2 inches long.  It was built from the "Italeri" kit "box stock". The only modification I made was to correctly balance the ship with ballast and add (hidden by the nameplate on the display stand) a receptacle on the bottom so that a small self-contained torpedo-style motor can push it through the water! It's rather difficult to get these top-heavy and asymmetrical aircraft carrier models, especially those as small as this one, to float properly on the waterline without tipping over! I also had to "sweep" the wings back on a couple of the F-14 Tomcat fighter jets because all of them came molded with the wings open, and they usually fold the wings back when parked on the deck except when landing or taking off.

 

 
 


The tiny aircraft  populating the deck are less than an inch long.

The kit was obviously designed to replicate more than one type of Nimitz class carrier as it comes with extra parts to build the different configurations, but in some cases the instructions were rather vague as to exactly how some parts were to be installed. Therefore a little bit of research was necessary, locating pictures of the real ship to make sure that the parts were more accurately placed. However, some of the decals are not quite accurate from what I've been able to tell.

 
 


The kit is actually quite reasonably detailed for it's diminutive size, although the large flat deck of the ship doesn't lend itself to much extra detailing other than paint work. I'm hoping that  the "Trumpeter" model company makes a "Reagan" version of their current Nimitz carrier kit, as they are the only ones I know of who make a detailed kit of such carrier models in larger scale (1/350th, which would make the model about three feet long... a good size for radio control!).

  


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