Dave DeBack's

USS Ticonderoga in 1/350 Scale

My name is David DeBack. I’m a 69 yr. old retired Millwright/Ind. Mechanic. I’ve been building models about 45 yrs. now. The first 20 yrs. or so I built military a/c. Have switched to 1/350 scale ships now for the last 25 yrs. with the odd departure ( 3 ½ yrs. on a Pocher Alfa Spyder and about a yr. on a 1/8 Triumph motorcycle ) The history of each subject appeals to me and my personal joke is I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up but it has to be something that involves my hands!

USS Ticonderoga is #32 in my collection of 1/350 ships. I bought her during lock down when the internet went dark and finding the extra Trumpeter a/c became a huge problem. My goal was to build a late WWII carrier loaded for bear with as many a/c on deck as possible. Went with a review from ModelWarships.com on Tico and bought extra Corsairs as the review said the kit supplied SBD’s weren’t carried on Tico. No mention she never carried Corsairs either. Only after I purchased extra Corsairs did I realize that. Was lucky to find a photo of Tico leaving San Diego on Sept. 14 1944 headed to combat in the south Pacific with a load of a/c to be dropped off in Hawaii. Upon closer examination it appears she was carrying Corsairs. So did my best with Squadron markings for Tico’s airwing in tri-colour camouflage with the limitations of the decals available and put no squadron markings on the Corsairs as they would be painted on after delivery. The fun for me with this build was putting as much detail as I could into the a/c. While there are a ton of “scale” issues I think the a/c look so much better than straight out of the box. My goal is always to make something “representative”. I think I’ve captured that. Spend some time looking into the interior of the a/c. All the p/e canopy work has been modified form pieces for other a/c. Am truly surprised with the popularity of WWII USN subjects that the proper p/c for each of the USN a/c used in WWII isn’t available. Enjoy! Dave