Calling all Essex-class (WWII configuration) fans

[Tracy White]

That is indeed Enterprise; returning to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard following a kamikaze hit in May, 1945.

[ranchojoe]

I have a question regarding painting of the Yorktown. What brand and color name are other using to recreate the various USN colors? For example, 5-N would be Testors X Blue or whatever. Or would I need to mix, for example Testors X Blue and White in a certain percentage to duplicate 5-N. I havent been able to find a conversion chart anywhere that would show this. Id like to get this as right as possible, but I dont have the eye for it, so any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance for any that can be provided.

Joe Dunlap

[Poppop]

White Ensign Models have the exact colors you are looking for. Great paint IMHO.

I order from them directly and their service to the USA is prompt and economical.

http://www.whiteensignmodels.com/acatal ... atalogBody

Charlie

[hellcat]

Tracy

I am enjoying Steve Larson's Yorktown build. Question: did all of the Essex class carriers have the hull plating butt straps? I am doing the Franklin and my research does not show this. I have the drawings from Floating drydock and the hull plating butt straps do not show.

Also, are the longer reinforcing plates that extend up the starboard side of the hull near the island also refered to as hull plating butt straps? They seem to be larger than the ones lower on the hull.

Thanks

Brian

[Tracy White]

Yes, they did as launched. I have no idea about the post-war mods as I don't have a shell plating diagram for the post war SCBs. The straps above the main (hangar) deck were actually the side strips of the girders that served as the foundation for the flight deck and island structure.

Now, nothing against Steve, he's a great builder, but there's something you should keep in mind about these straps. They were 3/4" to 7/8" of an inch thick, which in 1/350th scale is something like .00214" to .0025" if my math is correct (multiple them by 0.002857143). I would have done the butt straps the same way he did the plating, with paint. The thinnest plastic that Evergreen does is .005, which is at least twice as thick as it should be "in scale." That's even if you go for the plated look; personally I prefer to represent it slightly through weathering because you can't really make it out anyway on a ship unless you get up close. To my eye, that much plating makes the ship look busier than it does in real life.

[hellcat]

Tracy

Thanks for the help.

Brian

[jgrease]

A couple of questions as I work on final details on my '43 Essex:

- Using Tom's Modelworks PE, what color would the arrestor gear covers be? I am guessing they are painted the deck stain color, which would wear quickly. If there would be visible wear, would it be a steel color or more of an aluminum color? What about the cables themselves? I was thinking of using metal guitar strings for the cables - what color would they be?
-In the same line of questions, I am assuming the same rules apply to the crash barriers. What do the crash barriers look like when raised? I am considering displaying aircraft on the flight deck moved to the forward end and having a crash barrier raised.
-Another color question. In regards to parts numbered G16 - what are they and what color should they be? Your help is greatly appreciated. I look forward to posting pics soon.

[Tracy White]

Metal surfaces are deck blue paint. Ship construction at the time was all steel.

[Hippy Ed]

Metal surfaces are deck blue paint. Ship construction at the time was all steel.

Ahh good to know!!

[KEITH HUFNAGEL]

To Joe Dunlap, check out my build this site for 'paint mix instructions' to match "Floating Drydock" paint chips. USS Yorktown 33-10a, Oct. 1944. I hope this helps!

Edit by moderator: You can find that gorgeous build here.

[joedunlap]

To Joe Dunlap, check out my build this site for 'paint mix instructions' to match "Floating Drydock" paint chips. USS Yorktown 33-10a, Oct. 1944. I hope this helps!

Edit by moderator: You can find that gorgeous build here.

Keith,
Thanks so much for the reply. I found your details with the moderators help. I hope mine comes out looking half as good as your fantastic build! Sorry for taking so long to get back to you, been in the hospital for the past week and a half.

Joe Dunlap

[drdoom1337]

I have a quick question. I just picked up Trumpeters 1/350 USS Essex 1943. I looked through the gallery and noticed absolutely no Wasp in MS33. I was wondering if this kit closely represents Wasp in terms of superstructure, etc?

[Adaks]

I have a quick question. I just picked up Trumpeters 1/350 USS Essex 1943. I looked through the gallery and noticed absolutely no Wasp in MS33. I was wondering if this kit closely represents Wasp in terms of superstructure, etc?

The '44 Wasp (when she was in camo) is close to Trumpeter Essex (05602) config. CV-18 had got early bridge, hangar catapult and only one flightdeck cat (starboard). The major differences are number of radio masts ( Wasp had 4) and radar fit. It should be easy to fix.

[kidcurrie42]

Ok Guys,
From the list of 1/700 Essex kits below(all Dragon) what ships can be built from them at what date, what faults are there ie Flightdeck too long/short ect

USS Essex CV-9

USS Randolph CV-15

USS Lexington CV-16

USS Hancock CV-19

USS Boxer LPH-4, Flightdeck too short, LPH-5, LPH-8 possible from this kit

USS Bon Homme Richard CV-31

USS Antietam CV-36,

USS Princeton CVS-37 Post war unmodded Essexes

Happy Modeling

John

[Mark McKinnis]

Ok Guys,
From the list of 1/700 Essex kits below(all Dragon) what ships can be built from them at what date, what faults are there ie Flightdeck too long/short ect

USS Essex CV-9

USS Randolph CV-15

USS Lexington CV-16

USS Hancock CV-19

USS Boxer LPH-4, Flightdeck too short, LPH-5, LPH-8 possible from this kit

USS Bon Homme Richard CV-31

USS Antietam CV-36,

USS Princeton CVS-37 Post war unmodded Essexes

Happy Modeling

John

Wow, that is not a simple answer!

I will give it a shot from what I plan to do with my collection.

The DML Essex Kit has the single CAT and early radars and AA set up.

If you are doing Essex, Yorktown, Intrepid , Hornet, Wasp or Bunker Hill, before the late war AA upgrades and radar mods, this model will get you there. The AA set ups are a little different on both the Hornet and Wasp. They got some extra 40mm upon commisioning, but not the whole mod that late war Essex Class Carriers got. I am doing them last to get some extra 40MM parts from the post war kits. This kit can do both the 3 40MM and 4 40MM island arrangement.


The Randolph is good for any long hull that did not get the 40mm gun tubs on the starboard side under the island.

The Hancock is good for Late war Ticonderoga and Hanncock. If you want to do an early war Tico or Hancock you have to carve out a notch on the flight deck forward of the Port elevator where a gun director was planned but not installed. Hancock is also good for any other long hull Essex prior to the end of the war.

DML's Lexington is good for any late war, short hull Essex after the AA Mods and bridge they got in late 44 early 45. This kit also comes with the duel 20mm's that got installed late in the war.

I have not researched the Boxer kit at all. I plan to do the one as an LPH.

The Bon Homme Richard is good for any post war short hull Essex Class without SCB Mods. The kit has the SK Radar that they all got after the war, which I perfer to not scratch build if I can.

Princeton is my pick for all post war long hull ships without SCB mods. The kit has the SK radar and both masts for any ship from 1945 to the mid 60's.

Antietam is by herself out of the box. It looks to me to be a great start on a scratch build SCB-125 carrier if you want to take that project on.


I know that John is attemptiong to build one of each Carrier so I would recomend to him to build some of the post war carriers first. They generally do not use the AA armament and that provides a nice inventory of extra parts to mod other kits. I am using the Trumpeter Yorktown and Franklin for those ships and dipping into the stash of extra AA from the DML kits to upgrade the Trumpeter kits a bit.

One thing I really like about the DML kits, is that they leave all of the parts in the kit from the previous kits. IE... the post war Princeton comes with everything you need to build late war Ticonderoga. It allows you to do some interesting projects without scratch building if you know which kits do what.

Hope this helps.

Mark

[kidcurrie42]

Hiya Mark,
Thanks for that comprehensive answer, i wasnt expecting one guy to answer all of the list, but we are both going towards the same goal of CV-1 - 77+ so i should maybe have guessed you had all this researched, you gave me more in your answers than i had hoped for, so thanks for that.

It was mainly reassurance about the Flightdecks found in the kits, as i have found that Boxers Flightdeck is too short and requires one that can be found in the Princeton kit, i know Tracy has been working with Dragon on Essex class and that kits will be released minus some faults found in earlier versions, if i read the reports correctly.

Happy Modeling

John

[Dick J]

Three of the available kits have flightdecks that are short at the bow: Randolph, Boxer, and Antietam. DML did not understand that the short deck was a very limited phenomenon, and no ships operated with decks only short at the bow. Hancock and Ticonderoga completed with the short decks, but they were 11' short at the front and 7' short at the back. Hanna operated that way for the duration of the war (and kept the port-side flightdeck cutout for the third MK-37 director that was never fitted). Tico had the forward end (and the MK-37 cutout) restored before she went into combat, and the after end restored in her last wartime refit. Randolph may or may not have had the short deck. The jury is still out on that one because the earliest photo that has surfaced is from a month after commissioning, and she had the full-length deck by then.

The good news, as far as making a Boxer goes, is that the Princeton kit has everything that is in the Boxer kit, except perhaps the correct decals, and has the full-length deck. So that kit can be used for an accurate Boxer, AND you get a few spare S-2's in the bargain!

[Adaks]

The DML Essex Kit has the single CAT and early radars and AA set up.

If you are doing Essex, Yorktown, Intrepid , Hornet, Wasp or Bunker Hill, before the late war AA upgrades and radar mods, this model will get you there. The AA set ups are a little different on both the Hornet and Wasp. They got some extra 40mm upon commisioning, but not the whole mod that late war Essex Class Carriers got. I am doing them last to get some extra 40MM parts from the post war kits. This kit can do both the 3 40MM and 4 40MM island arrangement.

I don�t generally build in 1/700 but could you tell me if kit DML7049 (Essex) has two types of islands (early and late) ? Based on review on steelnavy.com and this picture it seems that it has only early island with 4 quads. So if one can do accurate CV-9 in dazzle some extra work is needed in island area.

[drdoom1337]

The DML Essex Kit has the single CAT and early radars and AA set up.

If you are doing Essex, Yorktown, Intrepid , Hornet, Wasp or Bunker Hill, before the late war AA upgrades and radar mods, this model will get you there. The AA set ups are a little different on both the Hornet and Wasp. They got some extra 40mm upon commisioning, but not the whole mod that late war Essex Class Carriers got. I am doing them last to get some extra 40MM parts from the post war kits. This kit can do both the 3 40MM and 4 40MM island arrangement.

I don�t generally build in 1/700 but could you tell me if kit DML7049 (Essex) has two types of islands (early and late) ? Based on review on steelnavy.com and this picture it seems that it has only early island with 4 quads. So if one can do accurate CV-9 in dazzle some extra work is needed in island area.

The kit comes with 1 island, but 2 different sets of parts for the island. I've built it in dazzle and it's pretty accurate for the time period.

[Mark McKinnis]

I am on the road this week,so I am doing this from memory, but if I were doing a late war Essex or any other of the short hull ships, I would go for the DML Lexington kit. I remember that the Essex kit could be built with 3 or 4 of the 40mm but I do not remember the bridge layout. I do not think that that kit does the later bridge.

The Lexington kit gives you everything to do the late war bridge, all of the various AA layouts and the two catapult deck.