Seeing yours raise even more questions, did Shangri La actually have the extra searchlight platforms at the base of the funnel ?, I've seen pictures in late 44 with out, pictures in 47 with out, yet none inbetween that conclusively show them there ?, the same goes for that tall mast aft of the funnel with the large pot on, I can only find one photo of that and it wasnt fitted in 47 or 44 so it came and went rather quickly.
Great to see someone else showing interest in the greatest of the carriers, Shangri-la too. I did post a few pictures early in this post that my Dad took in the Sept-Oct '45 era of the ship. From the pictures I see the spotlight blisters on both sides of the funnel base. I also have a 8'' x 10" picture that my father, a plankholder, has hanging on his wall that is titled 'Navy Day 1945' that shows both the spotlight platform (port side) and the mast antenna mounted port-side rear along side the funnel. My Dad's picture is slightly different from the one posted at NavSource, showing more of the side of the ship. I do not know what kind of antenna is on top of that mast, I think Franklin and Lexington had similar masts but different antennas. My pictures shows that mast from three perspectives, photographer standing on front port corner of FD, from airplane off port quarter, and from shore looking directly port at mid-ships. I don't see that antenna mentioned in any of the reference books I own. (On the other ships the antenna looks like a SG type above a crow's nest sort of circular structure). I don't see anything but a 'post', unless each picture happened to show a SG only from the side (plus add in a good dose of blurriness) And my scale may be off on that bit of scratch-build.
I am building my ship in the Oct '45 era. The pictures taken in '47 at Puget Sound Naval Yard show the spotlight platforms and mast antenna gone.
Michael, if you have any pictures of the Shang, or if you would like any snapshots that I have, please PM...
Capt652
Relooking at my 44 pictures I think you may be right and search light platforms were added when built, which is a bit of a pain as I'd hoped to make one model to do a WWII Essex and a Korea Essex un modified, so I've had to opt to plan B a bit sooner than I thought and use the current superstructure for USS Boxer in Korea 51 and then I'll have to modifiy this one to suit Shangri La in 44, l'll also have to modify the incinerator stack as seems to go straight during her war period but is bent as I've modeled in 47.
The only images I have of shangri La are post war and from the war in 44 out of the ships in camoflauge 2 book, there not very clear really and l'm working on the principle that Shangri La was built almost the same as Ticonderoga or so l'm told, I've also spotted that I'm missing the director tub between the flag bridge and B 5" turret, I didnt think Shangri La had this but one of your images clearly shows it fitted.
What is a source for plane 'tugs' and wheeled lifting cranes in 1:350 scale, WW II era? I see 'em in the Gallery but no comment as to where to buy them.
Thanks,
Capt652
Timm Smith Learn something new about the ship or your job every day. Ignorance is not bliss aboard a warship in wartime. Ignorance could cost the life of yourself, a shipmate, or the loss of the ship.
- Personal Information Booklet CV- 38
Posting for another Shang fan. He's building her in 1:96 scale, 1944 with the camo scheme.
Any info you guys on this ship can get would greatly help his build.
Also, if you want to add interest to a model of the Shag, she carrier qualified the P51 and the B25 before she went to the war zone.
There are pictures of them in the cruise book.
She also tested the Grumman F7F TigerCat, although problems were discovered with strength of the fuselage (cracks) from the stresses of hard carrier landings.
The Mustang was converted to include a tail hook and was called 'Seahorse' by the Navy. They were concerned with the inline engine and the salt water conditions. I bet the sound of that engine was quite a change from all the radials! The picture shows the Seahorse on #1 elevator with the wings (non-folding) clearing by just a couple of feet on either side.
The Navy version of the B-25 had the PBJ-1H designation. The first one received landing gear damage on the first cat launch and had to be brought back under emergency landing conditions.
I thought about including a Seahorse and PBJ on my flightdeck, but I couldn't find a 1:350 scale Seahorse and I didn't want to by a set of B-25s to get just one.
Capt652
Timm Smith Learn something new about the ship or your job every day. Ignorance is not bliss aboard a warship in wartime. Ignorance could cost the life of yourself, a shipmate, or the loss of the ship.
- Personal Information Booklet CV- 38
Would anyone venture a guess as to the structure that is broke away and hanging from the rear along side the port side of the bow, is the surface toward the camera the inside of the deck edge gallery openings? The hatches are in the open position. I am wondering if those openings all had hatches always as original design or updates to newer ships.
Capt652
(I couldn't post this picture using the img tags)
Timm Smith Learn something new about the ship or your job every day. Ignorance is not bliss aboard a warship in wartime. Ignorance could cost the life of yourself, a shipmate, or the loss of the ship.
- Personal Information Booklet CV- 38
Would anyone venture a guess as to the structure that is broke away and hanging from the rear along side the port side of the bow, is the surface toward the camera the inside of the deck edge gallery openings? The hatches are in the open position. I am wondering if those openings all had hatches always as original design or updates to newer ships.
Capt652
I'll defer to Tracy for confirmation but it looks to me like it is the indeed the gallery deck edge bulkhead. AOTS drawing A6/2 indicates that on Essex the two open hatches would lead from the exterior 20mm gallery to the 20mm ready ammunition room. That compartment was likely used for a different purpose on Valley Forge in 1959 when the photo was taken.
wow this has got to be the largest thread i have ever seen!let me start off by saying i'm new here. i'm used to doing star trek models(not to much fine details on those)and i'm needing help on my next adventure! i was told that you guys would be the best help in my will to do the best model of the USS Intrepid CV11 from the WW-II era. let me catch you up to speed on what i'm doing. first off i've baught a dragon 1/700th scale essex cv9 model off of ebay ,i haven't even recieved it yet, and need to turn her into the Intrepid. my inspiration for this is the fact that my dad gets depressed around chrismas, my grand father passed away in dec. ten years ago,and he pulls out the flag that was drapped over my grandpas coffin(in the navy during WW-II) and just stares at it. it hides in a file cabinet the rest of the year. what i want to for him for next chrismas is to get one of those displays for the flag that has the area for the medals, and using his discharge papers rebuild his awards display. then below that i wanted to have a display of the Intrepid modeled up the way it was when he served on her, includding the funky cammo job. now the fun part, i know nothing about ships, directions on them,abbreviations,nada, nothing, ziltch.i'm working oon finding what years he served on her so i can get the details like guns and radar stuff right, since i read in post earlier that this is inportant. i have limited pictures for reference(google sear essex, google search intrepid) and I NEED YOUR HELP PLEASE!! i just want to her justice, that is why i alloted a whole year to doing this project. so i apologise about the long post as i wanted to give you as much info on this and me so you could better help me. and i promice that my post in the future will bee much smaller.
thanks,
roger
i love it when a plan comes together
it's better to be loved for what you are then to be hated for what you're not
"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." John Wayne
Well you have come to exactly the right place, Tracy will be the leading expert and probably answer all your questions with finite detail, however I seriously suggest investing a small sum on this book http://www.amazon.com/Aircraft-Carrier- ... 0851779662 it has detailed plans and photographs of the Intrepid and probably forms the back bone of all Essex model builders libraries, a seriously good book with every detail that you need to make an accurate model of the Essex in WWII.
Definitely buy that book that Michael linked to. More detail than you'll ever want to put into your model, but it's great to have for the things you will need. I use it constantly.
-Devin
We like our history sanitized and theme-parked and self-congratulatory, not bloody and angry and unflattering. - Jonathan Yardley
hey gus i got his discharge papers!!! from what i see he enlisted in feb. '45 through feb. '48. so i kind of need the details of the Intrepid during this time period. as in guns, radars, and any thing that may have changed during this time. please remember that i have no experiance with these ships and need as many details to get caught up,pictures would help greatly as i kind of,semi know wher the basics go and can kinda keep up visually-i think.also i was wondeing on the dragon 1/700 essex is there any photo-etch products that would help bring this baby to life? i've heard that this model is pretty comprehensive as is and just wanted to pic your brains on what you tought about it in terms of accuracy/detail/adaptability,so what do you think of this model?
i love it when a plan comes together
it's better to be loved for what you are then to be hated for what you're not
Weeeeeeeelllllll if his service was that late you'd be better off starting with Dragon's CV-16 kit; the Essex kit represents enough of a different ship that it would be a lot of work to update the kit. You're going to need three more quad 40mm AA guns on the starboard side under the island, what I call the "double butt" set of two quad 40s on the stern, and two more quad 40s port side. Those are the biggest external differences, but there are others.
Have any records that show when he joined the ship?
hey tracy,
the only records i have are the copies of his discharge papers. all of his other records parished when the records warehouse went ablaze just after the war, at least thats what the VA told my grandmother for decades. all his discharge papers say is time enlisted,time discharged, type of discharge, and awards at end of service. i do however know that he actually ended his tour on the Intrepid as the last transfer order has him going from the Intepid to the release point, so i don't know if there was a specific amount of time that a sailor served on a ship at that time or not. i'll try to get a scan of it tomarrow and put it up here so mabey you guys can hlp me decifer some of it. as to the model do they sell the parts i need to update the essex model to the right time period in aftermarket parts or would i have to schratch them if i didn't buy the other model. i'm not afraid to build things up if i have to.
i love it when a plan comes together
it's better to be loved for what you are then to be hated for what you're not
Chasing a 7 year old and a 19 month old around!! Ya know, after I posted it I said to myself..."It does look familiar!". I'll go back into my corner now...
Martin
"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." John Wayne
raser13 wrote:hey tracy i couldn't find any of the dragon cv-16's all i could fnd were the lexington c2 1/350 scale. what about the revel 1/720? is it any better?
They should be all over... the Dragon page for the kit is here if you want to see the box art. I don't know that they sell extra parts; I've never tried to buy them. Go ahead and scratchbuild all the extra mounts if you prefer, I just think that for the price it's a lot easier to just buy the Lexington kit. If you've got a local hobby shop they might even be willing to do a trade of sorts.
I've never seen any Revell Lexington and couldn't find anything about it on the web, so I can't comment.
Free Time Hobbies shows one available here. Pacific Front did not show it in their catalog.
Martin
"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." John Wayne
from what i see he enlisted in feb. '45 through feb. '48. so i kind of need the details of the Intrepid during this time period. as in guns, radars, and any thing that may have changed during this time. please remember that i have no experiance with these ships and need as many details to get caught up,pictures would help greatly as i kind of,semi know wher the basics go and can kinda keep up visually-i think.also i was wondeing on the dragon 1/700 essex is there any photo-etch products that would help bring this baby to life? i've heard that this model is pretty comprehensive as is and just wanted to pic your brains on what you tought about it in terms of accuracy/detail/adaptability,so what do you think of this model?
