WIP - 1/350 USS Lexington (CV-2)

[lvsquarerigger]

I was cruising the web looking for photos that would clear up any details on where I am currently. Voila! A close up of the railing I need to make for the bridge and I assume the others I need to do will also match this. At least I hope. It seems the reinforcements are taller and narrower than what I've seen modeled so far although it may just be Too hard to duplicate. Guess I'll find out.

[Tracy White]

That is not the bridge but the splinter shields around the forward 1.1" mounts on the island where the twin 8" turrets were mounted previously.

[lvsquarerigger]

That is not the bridge but the splinter shields around the forward 1.1" mounts on the island where the twin 8" turrets were mounted previously.

Exactly! Just the part that got cut off, or rather pulled off after I found out it was wrong. So I have the new deck there to fit the changed bottom but no rails yet. And I did try for the thinner braces and boy what a PITA. Might have to rethink how to do that.

Jim

[Tracy White]

Two other things; do you have the Classic Warships Lexington Class Carriers book? It's a good source of information if not.

One thing Trumpeter did that I think is wrong is the small platform just under the top platform on the stack for the light AA guns; what they show as a doorway I think was a water tank for the water-cooled guns above.

[lvsquarerigger]

Two other things; do you have the Classic Warships Lexington Class Carriers book? It's a good source of information if not.

One thing Trumpeter did that I think is wrong is the small platform just under the top platform on the stack for the light AA guns; what they show as a doorway I think was a water tank for the water-cooled guns above.

No I don't have that book or any other at this time. My main source so far is the net. Being on a fixed income limits what I can spend each month and the kit was a big shot. I've gotten some stuff necessary for working in plastic, I usually work in wood, and plan to get the PE set from GMM this month and probably the paint also. Next month will be the plans, and then any books I can get.

Is that the one on the port or starboard side or both? Looking at the pic titled "Possibly the last photo taken beffore she was damaged and sank" which was taken after the fist bomb damage had been controlled and shows no smoke, that area is shadowed and does not show clearly. Perhaps it is something that can be cleared up when I get a plan set from Floating Drydock.

[lvsquarerigger]

Two other things; do you have the Classic Warships Lexington Class Carriers book? It's a good source of information if not.

One thing Trumpeter did that I think is wrong is the small platform just under the top platform on the stack for the light AA guns; what they show as a doorway I think was a water tank for the water-cooled guns above.

No I don't have that book or any other at this time. My main source so far is the net. Being on a fixed income limits what I can spend each month and the kit was a big shot. I've gotten some stuff necessary for working in plastic, I usually work in wood, and plan to get the PE set from GMM this month and probably the paint also. Next month will be the plans, and then any books I can get.

Is that the one on the port or starboard side or both? Looking at the pic titled "Possibly the last photo taken beffore she was damaged and sank" which was taken after the fist bomb damage had been controlled and shows no smoke, that area is shadowed and does not show clearly. Perhaps it is something that can be cleared up when I get a plan set from Floating Drydock.

Being the resourceful person I am I tried our local library, which is quite good btw, and got one coming from some library somewhere in the country, so when it does get here I can scan and save anything relevant. The downside is it can take up to 6 weeks to get here. Oh well for free I'll take what I can get.

Jim

[Tracy White]

I know this book has a photo of Devastators on the flight deck shot from an angle where at least part of that small platform is visible, but I can't find my copy right now. If I can I'll see how helpful it may be.

[lvsquarerigger]

I know this book has a photo of Devastators on the flight deck shot from an angle where at least part of that small platform is visible, but I can't find my copy right now. If I can I'll see how helpful it may be.

Thanks, I appreciate any help.

Jim

[lvsquarerigger]

I;ve been debating whether to install the boat pockets or wait for plans to do any modifications before they were on the ship. Time won out as the plans are still at least a month away so I went for it. There were the typical problems with the thin piece across the top ot the opening being stretched. ONe was close enough to just glue, the starboard one. The rest I cut in the middle and will sand down to size and glue once I have the upper hull fitted to the lower to take out the sag previously mentioned. I also installed the forward aa platforms.

While doing this I was trying a dry fit of the flight deck and think I might have a simple solution to the front sponsons for the widened flight deck not fitting. At least it looks feaseable but will have to wait till I install the flight deck as it involves putting them on after the flight deck.

[lvsquarerigger]

How to model the splinter shields was a perplexing problem. If it's this tough working in 350 I have immense admiration for those who work in 700.

Anyway, the problem:

Make a bunch of tiny little parts. Then install same.

What I came up with was a little jig. I cut a pice of 1MM styrene making sure one corner was accurately square. I then glued three strips of .25 stripping, the same stuff I was making the pieces out of on one side. The first was flush with one side. The next spaced exactly one strip away (I clamped the three pieces on, glued the outside edge of the outer one, pulled out the one that was a spacer, and let it dry), and lastly one more further out to balance it while in use.

Now to make the angled side. I took a piece of strip and cut the needed angle on it. I clamped this on along the bottom edge of the jig, clamped a small steel rule to the face of the jig along the angle, marked this line with a pencil, and then cut the jig to form.

The procedure was to square one end of a styrene strip and then turn the jig around. I used a 1/4 inch chisel to cut the pieces and would let more of the strip extend than I needed, set the chisel at the spot I wanted, slide the jig up to it, and then cut through. Of course the first one took off into space like a rocket and I quickly changed to getting the chisel set, sliding the jig back, placing two fingers on each side of the chisel, and then cutting thus trapping that pesky little critter. Then it was time to install all those teeny tiny things. As I suspected earlier they had to be bigger than the actual supports because it would be next to impossible to make the things as thin as necessary and still be able to handle them, for me at least.

Now the fun part, there are at least two more areas that need this treatment!

[lvsquarerigger]

Here you can see the modified radar room installed. You can also see the area at the back that Chris had added the same splinter shields as I put on the island structure.

There are a lot of questions here. The top AA platform has shielding modeled on three sides but not the fourth. In the photo I found of Lex just before she was sunk it seems the same type shielding was also along the bottom rail which was modeled smooth. Will I find more evidence to help either way? Does the back area I have cleared have the same?

More research required. Inquiring minds want to know.

[Elvis965]

Coming along nicely, Jim.

Great idea with that homemade jig!

Bob

[lvsquarerigger]

Coming along nicely, Jim.

Great idea with that homemade jig!

Bob

Thanks.

The jig comes from my woodworking background. If you're making more than one of something or it is difficult to make on your tools make something to hold or guide them so you can.

Jim

[lvsquarerigger]

This is the part that seems to gather the most attention gaging by the hits on the pics. How to fix the deck widening sponsons so they fit. Since I had seen the problems others had and their solutions I did not glue mine on first as the directions show. Due to the problems with the upper and lower hulls waring and flexing I had to wait till they were joined and flat to dry fit the flight deck. I waited till I could dry fit the deck and view the problem from a different perspective, namely making a piece fit rather than adjusting one already glued on.

The problem seems to be the front edge of the sponson. If you fit the sponson to the front of the deck it hangs over the edge. If you fit the edge it leaves a big gap at the front.

My solution was to mark where the front edge of the sponson needed to fit at the flight deck itself. I then sanded this part to fit. Now the guides originally on the hull were holding it out so I cut and sanded them back as needed. Now they fit. It does move the edge very close to the hawse holes but still clears them so I thought this was acceptable. As you can see there is still a little sanding and filling to be done but not much at all.

For some reason my pics are in a very high state of resolution and this causes problems with the image capacity of the website. The settings on my camera do not seem to be adjustable but then again I'm not that much into that stuff so who knows? The image limit is about 150 and almost all of mine exceed this in their original state. I reduce them to 640 x480 and this works for most of them. There are still a few that exceed the 150 limit and these I had to reduce to web size or 320x240. I only have a basic photo program and this is all it allows. I wish it were different but it's the best I can do with what I have.
Enjoy

Jim

The beginning

The results

The results

The port side

[Elvis965]

Nicely done, Jim. Excellent solution.

I was one of the folks who followed the instructions and glued the flight deck pieces to the hull, which led to the requisite "SON OF A #$@%&!" when I dry fitted the flight deck.

Tracy's solution worked quite nicely as well, fo those of us who dove right in!

Bob

[MartinJQuinn]

Great stuff, Jim. Looking forward to more updates.

[lvsquarerigger]

Nicely done, Jim. Excellent solution.

I was one of the folks who followed the instructions and glued the flight deck pieces to the hull, which led to the requisite "SON OF A #$@%&!" when I dry fitted the flight deck.

Tracy's solution worked quite nicely as well, fo those of us who dove right in!

Bob

Were it not for all the builld logs I found I also would have been one of those. Fortunately I had the problems of others to help steer me in the right direction.

Jim

[lvsquarerigger]

Coming along nicely, Jim.

Great idea with that homemade jig!

Bob

Thanks.

The jig comes from my woodworking background. If you're making more than one of something or it is difficult to make on your tools make something to hold or guide them so you can.

Jim

As a folowup to this I was looking at it later and pondering (is anything ever acceptable or is there some way to make it better) I still didn't like the way the individual pieces had to be so wide at the bottom just to make them possible to handle. Then the lightbulb went off, better late than never, why not use my handy chisel to pare them down, so I did. With that I had a thought to make the next batch, if it proves there are more, even wider and sticking way out so they could be installed easier but only glueing the side and not the bottom. Then when it is well set come back and pare them down getting the desired look. Hmmmmmm.

Jim

[Tony Bunch]

Hi Guys,
Jim,
That is some serious top notch work you're doing.
I have found that extra effort really makes the project more worthwhile and fulfilling when finished!
I have a corrected rudder for your Sara/Lex. Keith Bender made it and copied his master.
If you're looking to correct this area of deficiency, I'll send it to you.
I'll send a picture of it to you if you'd like. PM me for a picture.
Tony

[lvsquarerigger]

I found this photo of the Sara but it clearly shows the stack vent that Chris had used on his Lex and I was duplicating to the best of my ability. I wonder why it wasn't incorporated on any of the models?