Skunkmodels 1/48 Modern USN Carrier Deck Display Base Review

By Michael Benolkin

Review

Skunkmodels has been busy. With its sister brand, Kinetic, turning out a variety of very nice 1/48th scale carrier aircraft such as the EA-6B Prowler, E-2C Hawkeye, and C-2 Greyhound, Skunkmodels have been releasing a variety of vehicles and accessories found on the flight decks around these aircraft. Here we have a pleasant addition to that line-up: the flight deck itself!

In this release, Skunkmodels has produced a modular kit that literally snaps together to create a base out of six black plastic squares. The kit provides these squares along with a complete supply of deck edges, corners, and inter-square connectors. Within just a few minutes, this box of parts became a display base.

Also included in the box are three color-printed cardboard sections representing different sections of a typical modern aircraft carrier deck. Each of these drops into the recess atop the display base and allows you to swap out the sections at will. The color-printed sections are sized to 1/48 scale so you can pose any of your modern fixed-wing or rotary-wing subjects on this base.

Since this base is literally a snap-together system, you could transport it in smaller pieces and assemble it at contests, though I'd be inclined to use the snaps to get the base completely squared-up, then add some liquid cement to the various edges to make that display more permanent.

Here is a nice and inexpensive display for your modern US Navy carrier aircraft. While I like many of the pre-printed displays that have been produced by a variety of manufacturers, it still requires me to find some suitable medium to mount the cardboard/cardstock. With this release, Skunkmodels has solved that problem by providing a complete base and three alternative display options for your next project.

My sincere thanks to Lucky Model for this review sample!