skrakow wrote:
For those on the port side, on the hangar deck level, and under the port rear 5" positions I just take your word for it, as for the life of me I can't make out any details on the various photographs of this section. I do see the lighter mats (?) just forward the crane (under the crane beam), and the light speck under the 5" position (I have a 10 MB copy of the photo showing Yorktown's entry into Pearl after Coral Sea, but even there I can't make out any .50 guns on the port hangar deck level. Mats are not applied under the crane either).
Unfortunately, none of the "in port" shots will show any of the .50 cal weapons. Yorktown was in port (I believe at Norfolk) to install the 20MM when Pearl Harbor was attacked. Her installation was rushed and in the confusion, none of her .50's were turned back in to the yard. Yorktown's gunnery officer wasn't sure whether or not he would be forced to return them if discovered, so when the ship was in port, the .50's were carefully stowed out of sight.
skrakow wrote:
As for the 20 mms on the fantail, those would just have a splinter mat on the railing in front of them, AND their usual splinter shields - right?
Would the 2x .50s be inboard or outboard of the 2x 20 mms? (Sorry for my lack of Navy and nautical English, by the way - I have no maritime background whatsoever)
I am not sure about what you mean about "inboard or outboard" in this question. There were no .50's on the fantail. The two at the aft "corners" of the flightdeck were in the flightdeck catwalks immediately forward of the rounddown. The ones beside the bow bandstand were right at the forward rail, as seen in this photo:
http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/imag ... 312016.jpg The bandstand is to the right, just out of the picture. As for what I was saying about splinter screens vs. splinter mats, all of the Yorktown's 20MM had the two on-mount panels. When I mentioned the splinter screens, I was referring to the tubs and other fixed structures that surrounded the 20MM mountings. The above photo will give you some idea about how the splinter mats were mounted.
skrakow wrote:
I will add the extension to the bandstand, those parts are small enough to not care too much about the last mm of accuracy as long as it looks the part. None of the 1/700 kits I checked (Trumpeter Hornet, Tamiya Hornet) had the bandstand in any other shape than some sort of oblong tub. The extension with ladder makes sense.
I will look for the Ballard book, I have found some isolated pictures on the net (the stern view with fantail and 2x 20 mms and degaussing cable going around the stern among them - just google for Yorktown pictures and eventually they will show up).
Is it safe to say that the degaussing cable run was pretty much the same as on Enterprise CV-6? If so, there is enough photographs for getting a close enough representation in 1/700 or 1/480 scale (...and "That Gallant Ship" has a nice drawing on the front cover with a clear indication of the cable run on the bow section).
Ballard's book has a photo of the bow bandstand (one of the underwater shots) that hints at the aft extension. It also shows the utility crane. As Mike Vorrasi indicated, the degausing cable is clearly visible in the famous drydock photo of the ship when she was at Pearl being repaired after the Coral Sea battle.
skrakow wrote:
And the final, still open question for now: How about the top structures on the tripod mast being painted in 5-H? I still think it is all 5-O above hangar deck level.
In the book "That Gallant Ship", there is an overhead shot of Yorktown in camouflage at Norfolk pier. In that photo the foretop is clearly lighter than the upper part of the hull or the rest of the superstructure. However, photos taken in the Pacific do not appear to show the color demarcation. In the stills taken from the movie footage showing Yorktown entering Pearl, with Enterprise in the foreground, in the shot of Yorktown rounding Ford Island just before Midway, and the Pearl drydock photo, the foretop platforms seem to be the same color as the rest of the superstructure. If so, her top was repainted at some point. But when, exactly, is an open question.
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