The Ship Model Forum

DavidP wrote:Mike, if the parts have not broken off, do you have a heat gun or a hand held hair dryer?

Tracy White wrote:OK, I thought I had copies of the "as launched" CVL-24 in high resolution but I had miss remembered. I do have a "good enough" shot from Rick Davis dated December of 1943. Early 1944 should be the same as the 1/350th CVL-23 Princeton, so you can use the instructions on this review of it as a bit of inspiration (this page). One difference is the small platform midway up the mast that has the searchlights and reproducers (speakers). Belleau Wood had the two reproducers that were on the port side overlooking the flight deck whereas the Princeton kit has a smaller platform with a single reproducer

Tracy White wrote:Independence and Princeton had a different arrangement than the others where one radar was on what looked like a saw horse platform versus a pole mast with a circular platform on the other ships - at least as launched. I'll be able to look over the differences more when I get home and have access to my high-resolution photos.

Tracy White wrote:According to Alan Raven:

... there was the introduction of a new flight deck stain for carriers called #21 Flight Deck stain which began to be employed on the ESSEX class as they came into service in 1943. This color when newly applied exactly matched that of 5-0 Ocean Gray. This new stain was also used on the flight decks of INDEPENDENCE class CVLs and CVE classes in 1943 and into 1944. About mid 1944 there was the introduction of #21 Flight Deck stain (revised). This revised stain was (when newly applied) identical to 20B deck Blue (revised) and was a near match in service with the introduction in March 1944 of glossy Sea Blue, a new camouflage color for use on carrier aircraft.

I'm on my laptop and am limited to Navsource's CVL-24 page for now. There was a fairly systemic evolution to the mast that might enable you to use other ships photos to fill in the blanks. In early 1944 she would have had what I call the "Early" mast, which featured only a single yardarm to starboard and an angled/wedge truss structure forward, sort f like a stubby construction crane. This was cut off later and a more squared off appearance left. The earlier mast is shown in this photo of CVL-25 Cowpens (larger black & white copy available here). The later mast with a double yardarm and squared off front (as well as what the covered bridge actually looked like during war time) on the same ship is available here for comparison.

... there was the introduction of a new flight deck stain for carriers called #21 Flight Deck stain which began to be employed on the ESSEX class as they came into service in 1943. This color when newly applied exactly matched that of 5-0 Ocean Gray. This new stain was also used on the flight decks of INDEPENDENCE class CVLs and CVE classes in 1943 and into 1944. About mid 1944 there was the introduction of #21 Flight Deck stain (revised). This revised stain was (when newly applied) identical to 20B deck Blue (revised) and was a near match in service with the introduction in March 1944 of glossy Sea Blue, a new camouflage color for use on carrier aircraft.

Tracy White wrote:I only worked with Dragon on their 1/350th kits, so I'm not as familiar with the 1/700 offerings. If you mean this kit the enclosed bridge is wrong and looks more like what was installed during her later French Service (That said, I don't know if it's accurate even for that). Most looks mostly right, so it would mainly be a fairly simple rebuild of the enclosed bridge area - all flat shapes.