USS ENTERPRISE DIORAMA - BUILT BY IAN RUSCOE

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USS Enterprise (CVN-65) was considered to be the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and the largest active warship in the world when commissioned by the US Navy in November 1961.  Nicknamed "The Big E", the aircraft was built by Newport News Shipbuilding (acquired by the Northrop Grumman Corporation in 2001).  CVN-65 was originally designed for a service life of 25 years but ultimately served on past its 50th anniversary in November 2011.  The ship’s hull design is a modification of the Forestall-Class carriers. The ship initially featured a typical square island that was used to support phased-array radars and electronic warfare systems. These were replaced in a major refit between 1980 and 1982.  (The Tamiya kit represents the ship after this work was completed.)

With a length of 1,123ft, USS Enterprise was considered to be the longest carrier in the US Navy. Its waterline beam was 132.8ft, the draught was 39ft and displacement was 94,781t. The flight deck area was 4.47 acres and its width was 252ft. The area of the hangar bay was five acres. The maiden voyage was undertaken in January 1962 and the speed exceeded 40 miles an hour during initial sea trials.  The ship was fitted out with four aircraft elevators, four steam-powered catapults and four arresting wires. It had the ability to launch and recover aircraft simultaneously.  Depending on mission demands, the ship was capable of embarking more than 90 aircraft.  She housed a crew of 4,600 - 4,800.

USS Enterprise was armed with three Mk 29 Nato Sea Sparrow guided missile launch systems and three 20mm Phalanx close-in weapon systems (CIWS). The ship was also armed with two Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) systems.  The ship was equipped with an SPS-49(v)5 C/D band long-range air search radar, SPS-64(v)9 I-band navigation radar and SPS-48E 3D C/D band air search radar.  Other radars onboard included a Mk 23 target acquisition system (TAS), D band system and an SPQ-9B surface search and tracking radar with sea-skimmer capability. An SPN-46 precision approach landing system, SPN-41 electronic carrier landing system and SPN-43A air traffic control and marshalling radar made up the ship’s aircraft management radars. 

The propulsion power for the ship was generated by eight Westinghouse second-generation A2W nuclear reactors. The four Westinghouse steam turbines produced 280,000HP.  The propulsion was provided by four propellers, each containing five blades. There were four rudders, each of 35 tonnes, and two anchors, each of 32 tonnes.

The diorama depicts CVN-65 with her support frigate as she might have appeared between 1983 and 1997.  

Acknowledgements; Naval-technology.com, Wikipedia, US Navy

Originally released in 1984, Tamiya have re-issued the kit several times and it seems that it remains one of the most popular large-scale maritime models ever released - second only in popularity to the Titanic.  The box measures: 760x270x150 mm (29.9x10.6x5.9 inch) and the unstarted package weighs 2702 g (5.96 lbs)!!

The following year, Tamiya issued a separate set of 1/350 aircraft to augment the aviation wing contained within the kit.  A glance at the Instruction Manual below hints at the complexity of the kit.  However Ian Ruscoe was able to use the kit simply as the start of an even more complex project.

His build was chronicled over two consecutive issues of Tamiya Model Magazine in 2006 (Issues 127 and 128).  The completed diorama won the Gold Medal at the International Plastic Modellers Society Show at Telford that year.  

I was lucky enough to meet Ian at that stage and I asked him if he would ever consider parting with it.  After some thought, he allowed me to make an offer for it and I was delighted when he accepted this and delivered the diorama to me (with great care!) in 2007.