The Ship Model Forum

I'm planning to build Lexington as she appeared towards the end of her active career in the late 80s/early 90s. I'm nowhere close to being an expert on Essex class carriers, but I've enjoyed 2 visits to the Lexington since her retirement, with the second one being about 5 years ago. I picked up the Gallery Intrepid last weekend, and I think the conversion work will be fairly straightforward, thanks in part to Gallery's parts breakdown. I have the Detail & Scale book, as well as Carrier Lexington by Hugh Powers.

I've been reading up on the SCB-27C/SCB-125 conversions, and from what I see the biggest modifications to the kit will involve moving the starboard elevator forward, but need to do a little more research to determine the exact placement. I've read that the shape of the bow area is a bit different as well, so I'll need to find some drawings to see what I can do with that.

For the island, the biggest difference that jumps out at me is the protruding structure around the forward part of the funnel, just aft of the mount for the forward gun director. I think removing that will get me close to what I'm looking for. Otherwise, the rest of the kit superstructure seems to line up with the photos I've looked at.

I'm planning full hull and with elevators up, so won't do a whole lot on the hangar bay. I do plan to fill the molded plank detail on the flight deck, since it looks like Lexington didn't have any exposed timbers from the photos I've seen during the time period I'm looking at.

I think I'll be able to get most of the markings using decals from the kit & GMM, but finding the right size & style of hull number for the island may be the biggest challenge. Everything in the spares box looks to be too small, too large, or not shaded.

The Tetra PE set is on my shopping list, as well as some T-2s I found on Shapeways. I haven't run across any 2-seat A-4s yet.

Thanks for looking, I'll get some photos up soon. Any and all input is welcome!

Jonah

Starting point:

As a native Texan, I have visited Lady Lex numerous times. I will bookmark this thread. Really looking forward to seeing your progress!

Brad

I was able to grab an hour at the workbench this evening; so after unboxing the main components I did some dry fitting and assessing some of the conversion work to be done.

I believe I've found a set of Floating Drydock plans for Bon Homme Richard that will illustrate the major changes I need to make. As I understand it, Lexington, BHR, & Shangri-La are fairly similar to one another with respect to the SCB changes.

Dry fitting reveals excellent fit so far, and the detail is fantastic! I did some minor cleanup work on the hull, and removed the subtle locating marks for the dual gun tubs on the fantail, as well as the raised outlines for the Intrepid's hull number on the superstructure.

I don't anticipate doing too much more until I get the plans & PE sets.

Thanks for looking-
Jonah

Nice project! Looking forward to more!!

Aop.

_________________
On the way:
--1/350 Tamiya DKM Tirpitz Nov 1944

--1/350 scratch-build HMS Lion never built battleship (1938)

And our artworks!

Look on Shapeways under Model Monkey for a Lexington Island from 1991, and under 1/350 products for TA-4s. They also have a ton of other extras for the hanger & flight deck

Found this short video that illustrates the differences on the superstructure forward of the funnel between what the kit provides and the Lexington's configuration, between 3:55 - 4:00:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDgH67nazj8

After looking through the kit again and at some more photos, I'll need to find an 80s era Tilly crane and some life raft canisters. Any suggestions?

Jonah

If my memory serves me, I believe one of the 3D printing guys who post on this site makes some or possible may know who does.