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A ROYAL Navy veteran has gone overboard with his model aircraft carrier. It’s more than 12ft long and took 25 years to complete.
Dave Fortey, 51, has painstakingly made a replica of HMS Ark Royal, the iconic former warship.
He started in 1992 and used the original Ministry of Defence builders’ plans scaled down to create the 1:72 model.
Dave, of Falmouth, Cornwall, also carried out research to make sure every inch was accurate. His finished ship, which weighs 85kg, contains mini-planes, helicopters, towing vehicles and fire extinguishers. It even has scorch marks on the flight decks and smudges on the aircraft to be authentic.
The model replicates the fourth HMS Ark Royal (1955-1978), as she was in 1976, when she was the flagship of the Royal Navy.
Dave was too young to serve on her but was an aircraft engineer on board HMS Illustrious and HMS Invincible.
He said: “It will never be truly finished as she requires maintenance and care just like the real thing. It’s worth all the stress, sweat and toil.
“I would never do something this big again it takes up the whole of my workshop.”
The model has working parts like the hangar lift, powered by a 12v car battery.
It also has 14 smaller power sources which drive eight water ballast pumps, anchor winches, mooring winches and five rotating radars.
Dave’s work will be on display at the London Model Engineering Exhibition at Alexandra Palace next month.