HMS Queen Elizabeth - Aircraft Carrier - Part 5: deck vehicles and CIWS

I wanted to represent the crane, aircraft tow trucks and loader that can be seen in photos of HMS Queen Elizabeth on Westlant 18 and 20 but, whilst they are very visible in pictures of the ships, I needed better references for the vehicles. Happily davecov on Britmodeller kindly told me exactly what the vehicles were, based on information he'd gathered for his 1/350 build.

4 x Schopf F59 Tow Tractors
2 x JCB 541-70 Telescopic Handler
1 x Terex AC35 Crane

From this I found plenty of reference photos and even plans for the crane and tractors that I could simplify and scale down.


The JCBs looked a bit complicated with their curved cabs, compounded by not finding any plans - so I took the coward's way out and decided they were both busy in the hanger - but the other vehicles are quite simple, if a bit small and fiddly.



The other details I needed were the Phalanx CIWS. Again I found some reference photos and basic  dimensions and used these to make some simplified plans. The Phalanx are painted a slightly different grey to the ship - to represent USN Haze Gray rather than RN Light Weatherwork Grey.


The last missing weapons are the DS30M Mk.2 30 mm guns. I'm struggling to find good enough references for these and, as they are not yet fitted and I've used deck markings from 2019, I've left them off.





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