Rich in Name Only wrote:
To ESzczesniak, photos.
Haven't been on this site in a while.
Coincidentally last Friday (1/16) I was looking for the same Casablanca class fore/aft flight deck support photos.
I went through Navsource, each ship, every picture (I'm retired, I can do that!).
I found enough good photos of the forward supports to go ahead with the drill bits. Make note that "good enough" was for illustration---some of the photos aren't really so good.
Be sure to look at all of them!
There are holes not included in the kit and the kit has the wrong size for the big uns!
Also note the holes in the fore/aft members.
Some show holes in the front of the forward most gun tubs at the corners of the flight deck.
I'm not sure about the rear. There are a lot of holes there but it doesn't look like each ship had them or that they went all the way through the plate. However, that means the kit part could be used, without drilling, and painted (what color??) like in the photos. Not a full solution but helps.
I have the Gambier Bay AOTS but it has nothing in the drawings. Great source but disappointing for key features. However, it's photos, combined with Navsource were helpful.
The Navsource photos were for:
Forward: Bismark Sea, Corregidor, Petrof Bay, Rudyard Bay, Shamrock Bay, Shiloh Bay, St. Lo, and Takanis Bay.
Aft: Anzio, Sitkoh Bay.
A sidenote is that the aft photos, including others that weren't at an angle to show the brace, made a good comparison with Thetis Bay as CVHA (a separate entry in Navsource from Thetis Bay as CVE),
Thanks for the reply. After reviewing photos I made the same call, but was happy to accept the kit's arrangement as "close enough". I'm on to painting the hull. A bit more work on the flight deck before painting. And then a whole lot of photo-etch and aircraft.