The Ship Model Forum

Dragon 1/700th CV-16 Lexington kit was kitted to summer of 1945 fit (April/May through August) so no worries there. I don't have the same familiarity with the Trumpeter Yorktown and will have to look over the weekend.

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Tracy White -Researcher@Large

"Let the evidence guide the research. Do not have a preconceived agenda which will only distort the result."
-Barbara Tuchman

Awesome thanks Tracy that makes the dragon kit a whole lot easier by that point Lexington was in MS-12 correct?

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Planned projects
1/700 USS Macon CA-132
1/350 USS Wasp CV-18
1/350 USS Alabama BB-60

Yes.

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Tracy White -Researcher@Large

"Let the evidence guide the research. Do not have a preconceived agenda which will only distort the result."
-Barbara Tuchman

After digging through everything I could find on her I think the trumpeter kit is a late 1944 early 1945 version of Yorktown after her overhaul in mid 44 but before her repaint was ordered in February of 45 based on that document you linked Tracy. Does that sound right and if it is what major differences in 1/700 scale would she have had by August/September 45?

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Planned projects
1/700 USS Macon CA-132
1/350 USS Wasp CV-18
1/350 USS Alabama BB-60

Relating to a thought I'd just had over on the "Calling all Iowa Class Fans" thread...

I'm pretty sure that when Essex was contracted, they'd intended her to have 1.1" quads and .50 cal machine guns, probably a decent allotment of ships' boats and related handling cranes, and other features such as we see on CV-8 when first commissioned. Does anyone know a source for the contract drawings prior to the war-experience modifications she completed with? (Maybe even with the planned deck markings? ESSX or maybe just SX at each end? Just thinking of doing a "Wait, that's not right..." could-have-been build.)

- Sean F.

I'm a newbie to the forum and amazed by the knowledge that is represented on this site! Hopefully someone can lend me a hand....

I discovered this site while doing research to build a scale model of the USS Bunker Hill CV-17 on which my father served during WW2. He was wounded during the kamikaze attacks on May 11, '45, but thankfully not critically. Sadly Dad passed away in 2008 before I had a chance to fulfill my promise to build him an accurate model of the Bunker Hill as she was the day they were hit.

I recently picked up a Trumpeter 1/350 scale USS Franklin to serve as the basis for my build. A while back I stumbled across a thread on a military memorabilia site where the gentleman was offering up a set of plans for the Bunker Hill that were marked up denoting the damage she incurred when the two kamikaze's hit, but sadly the prints had already been sold. Fortunately he had posted images of plan sheets as well as closeups of some of the pages so I downloaded them for reference for my project. This lead to my web search for a set of Bunker Hill plans and recently I finally discovered a scanned set on the web which I immediately downloaded for reference.

As I searched for additional details on the Bunker Hill and her Essex class sisters, I came across ModelMonkey's site that showed he offered several different 1/350 scale islands for the Essex class carriers. I contacted Steve and he was very helpful in my quest for an accurate '45 Bunker Hill island. I sent him the sheet from the downloaded plants covering the island levels and he pointed out to me that set of plans DID NOT reflect the Bunker Hill as she was on May 11th. I checked the cover page of both sets and discovered the scanned set that I had downloaded had been revised two additional times since her January '45 refit.... once in September '45 repairing her damage and then again in September '46 while she was mothballed. Steve also suggested I join this site as there are very knowledgeable members who could assist me in my endeavour.

First, by chance did anyone on this site purchase the set of battle damaged plans or know who did? If so, please get in touch with me to discuss the Jan '45 changes. Steve said that it appears that the Bunker Hill had a very unique island following her refit that was different from her Essex class siblings. Any information or leads on the island particulars would be greatly appreciated!

In closing, I look forward to "meeting" all of you and your help honoring my Father and his service with this model.

My sincere thanks!!

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Joe Klein

I'm sharing this awesome footage I found on YouTube called The Return of the Fighting Lady. The film about VF-88 statoned on USS YORKTOWN CV-10 in June 1945. Photo's of CV-10 late war seem quite thin on the ground so I was astonished to see this color footage.

https://youtu.be/PcrbEchf_DU

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USS WASP CV-7 VIDEO SERIES

Episode 05: Builder's Trials
Guided Tour1: Hangar Deck

ESSEX CLASS TIMELINE
USS Ticonderoga CV-14 Operational History
USS Shangri La, 1945 in Color

Charybdis,

Thanks for posting that outstanding video. The amount of detail was amazing and the fact it was in color made it that much more enjoyable. I was pleased to see a few seconds of SHANGRI-LA cruising beside YORKTOWN.

WELL DONE,
Bob

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USS SHANGRI-LA Association
http://www.USS-SHANGRI-LA.com
http://www.VBF-85.com

Hey Joe - welcome to the forum! Sorry for responding a couple of weeks late - somehow I missed the notification email that this thread had been updated.

Bunker Hill and Franklin came out of overhaul at Puget Sound about the same time so any of the modifications that were done to the island should be the same, but they were built at different shipyards so there were minor differences that they left alone (for example the ladder between the flag bridge and navigation bridge). Saying Bunker Hill had an island like no other sister ship is unfortunately something you can say for each of the other sisters - they were all alike and no two were the same other than when initially launched, and even then....

I've been working on a book on the class and have a lot of photos and textual records from the US National Archives. I'm not going to post what I have here 'cause I actually still hope to have there be a desire for the book once it's done, but I will help. PM inbound.

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Tracy White -Researcher@Large

"Let the evidence guide the research. Do not have a preconceived agenda which will only distort the result."
-Barbara Tuchman

Tracy -

Though I have already completed my build of the entire class, I will most certainly purchase your book if it comes to fruition! (And then read it, and agonize over whether to pull my fleet into refit to fix all the errors I no doubt made! )

- Sean F.

Hey Sean - my book is going to have errors and omissions but hopefully a whole heck of a lot more information than has ever been presented before - just need to find the right publisher.

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Tracy White -Researcher@Large

"Let the evidence guide the research. Do not have a preconceived agenda which will only distort the result."
-Barbara Tuchman

Tracy,

Thanks for the welcome aboard and the info on the BH island and I got your PM and will be in touch.

Starting Monday, I'll be working from home due to the pandemic so it should be interesting to see what my new "normal" will be like for a while...

Stay safe everyone!!

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Joe Klein

... oh and reserve me a copy of your book as well!!

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Joe Klein

Hi all, is the trumpeter kit still the best 1/350 plastic kit available?

Trumpeter remains the only maker of WWII Essexes in plastic, so yes.

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De quoi s'agit-il?

It's possible that this question has already been answered somewhere in the preceding 120 pages of replies, in which case I apologize for duplicating previous efforts.

Anyway, I'm looking to build USS Intrepid in one of her wartime guises, using one of the DML/Dragon 1/700-scale kits as my starting point. I know she was a short-hull Essex, so that narrows down my range of choices to Essex, Lexington, and Hornet. Are all three kits equally suitable, depending on which period in the ship's career I ultimately settle on, or are there factors that either rule out or decisively favor one over the others? The Essex kit is intended to represent the ship in late '43 to early '44; the Lexington kit depicts a late configuration, including twin Oerlikons and quadruple Browning MGs; the Hornet kit seems to show a relatively early setup similar to that of the Essex, and I've been unable to pin down the differences between them. Then of course all three kits follow the usual DML/Dragon practice of including parts that aren't needed for the intended configuration, allowing for considerable built-in leeway for conversion. So do any of you have an opinion on which one would make the best Intrepid?

The CV-16 kit is your best starting point to do a mid-to-later ship as it has the most parts for early and late configurations. You get lots of parts to mix and match, which is useful for Intrepid as she had some slightly different configurations. If you post the preferred month and year I can give you more definitive information.

Despite being labelled "1945" the CV-12 kit is essentially her "as launched" configuration as Hornet didn't leave the front line from her entry in the Pacific Fleet in March of 1944 to the point that Typhoon damage forced her to the states in June of 1945. It's the best kit to do an early Essex.

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Tracy White -Researcher@Large

"Let the evidence guide the research. Do not have a preconceived agenda which will only distort the result."
-Barbara Tuchman

Poking around a bit online and in my books, I think I favor the summer of '44. As usual, there are some discrepancies over the details among the sources I consulted, but I'm looking for the combination of Ms 32/3a camouflage and the bulkier island with only one forward-facing 40mm mounting.

Quick and dirty is that you're going to do most of the CV-16 parts for the 40mms but use the single quad 40mm on the stern instead to the two-quad sponson. 20mm galleries would be the "earlier" parts with the single 20mms and no quad .50mms. Probably some radar differences as well. I don't have my kit nearby to look at the parts and instructions, but I'll see if I can unbury it in the next couple of weeks.

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Tracy White -Researcher@Large

"Let the evidence guide the research. Do not have a preconceived agenda which will only distort the result."
-Barbara Tuchman

Oh, thanks very much, but I'm in no hurry whatsoever here. This is more an "updating my want-list" thing than a "planning my next build" thing. I'll need to scrape a lot more of the rust off of my long-dormant model-building skills before I'm ready to tackle a Dragon kit of an aircraft carrier.