The Ship Model Forum

Hope resurrecting an old thread is ok.

I have a great deal of interest in the USS Ranger (CV-4) as she took part in Operation Leader, which included the attack of German shipping in my former neck of the woods. In fact I believe 2 Dauntless' were shot down with the loss of one crew, and one where the crew survived but ended up POW...

In October 1993 a group of Ranger veterans came to Bodoe for a memorial for 2 of the crew who had been found and Identified around 1990. I was all but 18 and a member of the Home Guard, as well as a guide at the aviation museum (Bodoe Aviation Historic Society), and I got to meet those guys.

In the years since I have been building models on and off, mostly airplanes and helicopters, and now also fly helicopters for an air ambulance operation in Canada. But I've never forgotten about the Ranger, "First from the keel up", and have decided to tackle this kit.

I'll build the Trumpeter 1/350th kit mostly OOB, with a corrected air wing to better reflect the actual air wing with Wildcat, Avenger and Dauntless. I'll paint it in Measure 22 as best as I can, without any major modfications.

Thanks to this grounp I've come across some very wonderful pictures of the ship, including one from Operation Leader, so that is quite fitting!

Tailwinds and following seas folks!
Harald
Former sailor and current aviatior!

Few ships have so excellent a biography.

https://www.amazon.com/USS-Ranger-Navys ... 1574885197

I'm not disagreeing with you, but she only received two battle stars for her service in the war. It's easy to see why other ships get more attention.

Thank you DavidP, that's a shame; CV-4 is fascinating and deserves such publication treatment.

Terry (Caravellarella)

Dear Boys & Girls, did Classic Warships Publishing ever release a "Warship Pictorial" title on USS Ranger CV-4? I just bought "Warship Pictorial" N°. 44 on USS Yorktown CV-5 so I was wondering...

Terry (Caravellarella)

I didn't know that a change was made. Do you have any images that show vertical rolling doors on Ranger? In the builder's plans from 1944, they are labeled as "rolling steel doors". In Yorktown and Wasp plans, they are labeled as "roller curtains".

Gang,

Anyone know when, which re-fit, Ranger went from the sideways sliding doors opening out of the hangar deck, to the vertical rolling doors?

curious,
Aggie

1. USS Ranger (CV-4) in Jan 06, 1943 leaving Norfolk Navy Shipyard. During a yard period in Norfolk over Christmas 42/43, Ranger was repainted from Measure 12 Modified to Measure 22: (5-N), Navy Blue to the main deck, Haze Gray (5-H) above. Flight deck - 250N Blue Flight Deck stain with Grey stained deck stripes called 251N.

2. This is a screen capture from a color film from the US National Archives (428-npc-461) during February 1943. RANGER is transporting a cargo of P-40s to North Africa.

3. This shot, (labeled as Oct 1943, Operation Leader) appears to show the Navy extended up the island structure. The mast has been wiped by the censor.

4. This shot from the IWM, during Leader, also seems to show the same scheme.

Another view of the pre war secondary conn. Photo shows Admiral Joseph M Reeves and other admirals on Ranger's Focsle Deck. Not sure of the year or place. Photo from San Diego Air and Space Museum via Flickr.

Ranger, allegedly in April 1938. Photo from the Nation Archives, NARA II 80G74553

Allegedly a 1942 version is in the works, so you may want to save yourself the trouble of backdating and wait for that version.

If you plan on doing a 1942 version, here is what her deck looked like.

I haven’t seen a detail kit yet, I just ordered my 1/350 Trumpeter USS Ranger kit, been doing some basic research on her, not quite sure if I want to back date her or do her as she is in 1942, I did notice that the air group is wrong, well one of them is wrong for that time, they have F6F Hellcats when she actually had F4F Wildcats, so still need to decide which way I’m going to go.

Have any of the usual suspects released any detail sets for this kit yet?

Greetings fans USS Ranger. I have such a request for photo documentation.
I'm going to build a ship from the end of service in 1946.I found only three photos from this period, which is not much. Could someone find an interesting photo?

I stumbled across some plans for doors, consoles, light fixtures, etc. in some post-war records turned over by Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, but I've never seen a "door plan" or guide before. I know that an awful lot of the plans generated for ships were never turned over to archives, so we just have to do the best with what we have.

Thanks, Tracy. I was hoping that there was some mid-30s USN spec that would tell me what all the doors should look like
given their application, but, in lieu of that, I'll just go with the appearance of the doors on the builder's model at the Navy Yard
Museum in D.C.... sort of horizontally faceted doors, with no portholes.

It depends on how much time and effort you want to put into it. You can work off her Booklet of General plans available here which will at least show you which are doors and which are open air arch ways. Otherwise, you're going to have to go to NARA and look through the microfilm plans to see if any show the type of door used.

I'm trying to replace Trumpeter's doors on Ranger, which are all just sort of formless raised areas in the plastic. Is there any way to know what doors would have been used where, i.e. by USN specifications? It's very difficult to tell from photos what types of doors to use where... the superstructure is least problematic in this regard. I could fudge it, I suppose, but thought I'd ask the brain trust for guidance first