USS FLAGG 2.0

The GI JOE USS FLAGG is the largest playset known to all toys.  Its simplicity and excessive 1980s style all in one fell swoop.  If you had one of these as a child, you were the envy of the neighborhood and very popular with your friends.  I never had a USS FLAGG, but I have one now and I'm impressed but also underwhelmed.  I had heard for years how incredible it was....and it was an incredibly large pieces of plastic that held together by clips on a somewhat sturdy frame, not a hull, a frame ...like for a house.  Looking at large aircraft carrier models via many a trip to our nation's museums, I wanted to one day see something grand, something that said..THIS IS NAVAL POWER, albeit  GI JOE NAVAL POWER.


What I do like about it--
It's an aircraft carrier, its huge and it ignites imagination like a match to gasoline spilled in the driveway.  It is a huge diorama-ish playset.  Being there with Ace and landing on the flight deck after a grueling but successful dogfight with Rattlers, You and Ace make the most impossible landing with one engine flameout and losing fuel fast, you have one chance ....and b/c you are Joe enough...you make it.  You live to fight another day and your aircraft is repaired by best that GI JOE has to offer.



What I dont like it--
It is basically a 6 inch elevated coffee table--which what it was called at Hasbro "the coffee table"

Its static, it wont and cant be moved unless you placed it on a very large table with wheels. 
You cannot really store underneath it, unless it hits the 6 inch tall criteria, granted storing a KILLER WHALE hovercraft would be awesome but that just will not happen, the waterline for this beast is very low.
Flight deck can only fit TWO skystrikers at a time, 3 if you really want to push it....wtf...its gotta carry more than that.

Because of these very reasons, I started to make my own.  I actually made quite a few, but there are two versions that are my biggest focus, a DIY FLAGG that would require just the decals and the Superstructure, b/c the FLIGHT DECK and the Hull will be made by me from everyday items found at HOME DEPOT/LOWES type stores.

 
Flight deck is cut out from a 4ft x 8 ft wood plank-1/4 inch to 1/2 inch---your call, then painted black or dark grey, lines and numbers stenciled in.  Obtain a rubbermaid diy shelving system, I chose the 2ft by 3 ft base, two tops, two bottoms, 8 pillars--set them end to end and you now have your hull frame.  These shelves can be secured to wood 2x4s , with rollers inserted into the 2x4s on the bottom side and the shelves secured to the topside.  Then apply the flight deck.and secure with plastic ties or bolts of your choosing or even glue.










The Second FLAGG aka as MUSEUM FLAGG is huge.  Its 16 feet long and 4 foot wide. 

Granted, its still a work in progress, but I think she is coming along just fine.