CVE-73 Gambier Bay--a 1/48-scale escort carrier

Radio Control Boat Modeler, Oct 2001 by Boyd, Matt

FINAL MOORINGS

"That thing is huge!" That was the first reaction of a lot of people--including us--on seeing Ed Balling's magnificent 1/48-scale Casablancaclass escort carrier at the 2001 Westchester Radio Aero Modelers show [White Plains, NY]. Nothing makes an impression like sheer size, and at 10 feet, 6 inches long with a 32-inch beam, this massive boat is hard to miss. But as any modeling enthusiast will tell you, it's the details that make a scale model truly exceptional. As striking as its size is from a distance, Ed's carrier is even more impressive up close where you can see those details.

Ed tells us he spent two years researching this project and another four years building it, and his level of commitment is evident right away. The basic structure comprises 62 1/4-inch-thick plywood frames, and a 1-inch-square keel makes the model rigid. The sheeting is 1/32-inch ply covered with two coats of fiberglass cloth and polyester resin. The Measure 32-15A camouflage paint scheme is sprayed on as a flat-finish enamel and is the same as the original carrier wore when it was lost in 1944.

Stability is a priority for any model boat but is particularly important for a vessel of this size. Ed incorporated six waterballast tanks in its bowels to keep it level when the water gets rough. Each tank is made of 6-inch-diameter plastic pipe and is 7 feet long. Four 12V pumps can fill the tanks with up to 100 pounds of water for ballast. Add that weight to the carrier's already substantial 140-pound dry weight, and you have some serious scale tonnage trolling around the pond! Getting all of that hardware under way are two Pittman 12V motors geared 2:1, and two 3-inch-diameter, 3-blade, custom props. For power, Ed relies on two 26A wheelchair batteries.

The carrier is outfitted with 10 Grumman F4F Wildcats; six are from folded-wing Monogram kits, and the others are unfoldedwing models from Tamiya. The four TBM Avengers are from Exact Miniatures. The 20 20mm guns are Sirmir kits, and the eight 40mm guns are Quartermaster fittings. Using homemade rubber molds, Ed made the crew figures--115 in all!--that occupy the deck and duty stations all over the ship. He also created the molds for the scale deck fittings, rafts, gun tubs, hoses and tiedowns on the flight deck. Ed made more than 100 molds. The flight deck contains more than 1,200 planks, and Ed scratch-built the spring-loaded arrester cables.

What's most impressive about Ed's boat is how many of the scale details are functional. As you might expect, the carrier has working landing lights, navigation lights and fighting lights, but he took the details a step further and included functional spotlights, strobe lights on the mast, a revolving radar dish, smoke generators for each stack and a sound-effects generator to call for battle stations. After building all those airplane kits for the deck, Ed figured it would be a shame to leave them in the dark, so he installed working lights on the aircraft, too. And since he was wiring the planes anyway, why not rig them to spin the props as well?

The real highlight of this ship is the elevator at the rear of the deck. Of course, it travels up and down, carrying the TBM Avenger on the platform from the flight deck to the lower level. But the twist is that when the elevator rises back to the deck, that TBM Avenger is nowhere to be seen! A series of trip-switches activates the actuator arms, which then pick up the TBM Avenger and clear it off the platform before the elevator rises back to the deck. Then, when the elevator is lowered, the actuator arms place the plane back on the platform, and the elevator returns the aircraft to the flight deck. This is a truly exceptional engineering feat.

It's inevitable that most people first notice this spectacular model's size. But the real treat is in taking a close look at its fine details. The large scale afforded Ed the extra room to include the components that make this escort carrier a one-of-a-kind model, and he made the most of it. Nice job, Ed!