Last of the wooden deck carriers

Radio Control Boat Modeler, Feb 2003 by Guyette, Raymond F

The USS Cabot CVL-28 was the last of the original nine Independence Class cruise carriers of WW II. These ships had cruiser hulls and wooden flight decks, and they were instrumental in turning the tide of the War in the Pacific. This series not only had fewer ships than any other series built in the history of the U.S. Navy, it was also the only series that had among its crews two future presidents: Gerald Ford was a gunnery officer aboard the USS Monterey CVL-26 and George Bush Sr. was a pilot on the USS San Jacinto CVL-30. My dad, Leo L. Guyette, served on the Cabot, and we often talked about building a model of this great ship but could never find enough documentation. Shortly after my dad died, I learned that the USS Cabot was in New Orleans on the Mississippi River waiting to be scrapped. I just had to visit it. There it was, "the iron woman"-600 feet of a gray ghost, and all I could think of were the battle stories my dad had told me. I knew I had to build a model of this great, battle-scarred ship.

I spent about four and a half years drawing plans for and then building this 1/72-scale RC model, which is almost 9 feet long and contains more than 5,000 parts. I drew all of the designs for the parts in SolidWorks, a 3D CAD program. I made the notched and locked keel and supports out of plywood, and the frame contains 64 steel brackets. After I had covered the hull with 1/8-inch balsa, I added two layers of fiberglass cloth and resin. I then made the hangar-deck uprights and the support frames for the flight deck. The flight deck is made of basswood frames that were sheeted with balsa and then covered with basswood strips; it even contains wood from the USS Cabot that Rusty Reustle, director of operations at the USS Lexington Museum, sent me. I made all of the catwalks and gun mounts out of basswood, and HR Products cast all of the metal guns, watertight doors, hatches, searchlights and ladders. The aircraft on deck are 1/72-scale Airfix models.

As far as I know, this is the only 1/72-scale model of a CVL, and it is the only CVL model in the world with a president's signature: former President Gerald R. Ford signed the flight deck. Although none of the full-size CVLs were preserved to tell their history, this CVL will go to the USS Lexington Museum in Corpus Christi, TX, where, according to Mr. Reustle, it will be the centerpiece of the new CVL center. I could not be more proud to display it there.