by apfelzra69 » Mon May 19, 2025 8:07 pm
After receiving my 1/350 Trumpeter USS Midway I purchased the 3D-Wild upgrade set of 1946-48 3D-printed bridge, inner propeller shafts, forward and central (tripod) mast, crane, fire control directors and all eighteen 5-in. guns (equally divided between port and starboard versions). No instructions came with them, so I assumed a simple replacement of the Trumpeter plastic parts. However, I also purchased the Eduard parts 2 and 3 photoectch set, which is designed for replacing parts on the Trumpeter as-built version. I had wanted to build the 1947 upgrade version, but by this time, according to photos of the ship taken that year, the four starboard side mesh antennas had been removed and there were over a dozen whip antennas attached below both sides of the flight deck. Neither the 3D-Wild upgrade set nor Trumpeter's or Eduard's upgrades include these whip antennas. Furthermore, the 3D-Wild set does not include the (apparent) fire control device that replaced the original (MK 37) fire control director in front of the bridge that was moved in the 1947 upgrade to the top front of the bridge. This lack of certainty as to how to fully "upgrade" the Trumpeter kit may lead me to build it in the original "as completed" version, for which the Trumpeter and Eduard sets should be adequate and accurate. Unfortunately, I spent the extra money for the upgraded 1947 bridge that I now cannot use and for which 3D-Wild provided insufficient information on how to adapt the various Trumpeter parts that were still in use, as well as which radars to now use (the SK2 atop the forward mast was replaced with a different type).
Followup: By scrutinizing several high-def photos of the Midway from mid-1947 I can safely deduce that the heretofore unknown fire control device immediately in front of the 1947 rebuilt bridge is the original (more or less) one that was in place from the Trumpeter set -- but the original cylindrical base that held the Bk 37 fire control director has been absorbed into the newly lengthened bridge. That issue aside, I still can't find a reliable source for the exact radars and their location on the tripod mast, or how to scratch-build the numerous antennas along the edge of the flight deck, so I will just build the full Trumpeter version with Eduard photoetch sets-- the USS Midway as commissioned.
After receiving my 1/350 Trumpeter USS Midway I purchased the 3D-Wild upgrade set of 1946-48 3D-printed bridge, inner propeller shafts, forward and central (tripod) mast, crane, fire control directors and all eighteen 5-in. guns (equally divided between port and starboard versions). No instructions came with them, so I assumed a simple replacement of the Trumpeter plastic parts. However, I also purchased the Eduard parts 2 and 3 photoectch set, which is designed for replacing parts on the Trumpeter as-built version. I had wanted to build the 1947 upgrade version, but by this time, according to photos of the ship taken that year, the four starboard side mesh antennas had been removed and there were over a dozen whip antennas attached below both sides of the flight deck. Neither the 3D-Wild upgrade set nor Trumpeter's or Eduard's upgrades include these whip antennas. Furthermore, the 3D-Wild set does not include the (apparent) fire control device that replaced the original (MK 37) fire control director in front of the bridge that was moved in the 1947 upgrade to the top front of the bridge. This lack of certainty as to how to fully "upgrade" the Trumpeter kit may lead me to build it in the original "as completed" version, for which the Trumpeter and Eduard sets should be adequate and accurate. Unfortunately, I spent the extra money for the upgraded 1947 bridge that I now cannot use and for which 3D-Wild provided insufficient information on how to adapt the various Trumpeter parts that were still in use, as well as which radars to now use (the SK2 atop the forward mast was replaced with a different type).
Followup: By scrutinizing several high-def photos of the Midway from mid-1947 I can safely deduce that the heretofore unknown fire control device immediately in front of the 1947 rebuilt bridge is the original (more or less) one that was in place from the Trumpeter set -- but the original cylindrical base that held the Bk 37 fire control director has been absorbed into the newly lengthened bridge. That issue aside, I still can't find a reliable source for the exact radars and their location on the tripod mast, or how to scratch-build the numerous antennas along the edge of the flight deck, so I will just build the full Trumpeter version with Eduard photoetch sets-- the USS Midway as commissioned.