Mark McKinnis wrote: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.
The Essex kit instructions tells you to leave off the foreward 40mm mount and just leave the tub empty for the camoflaged fit, but this is incorrect - her bridge was lengthened into the space occupied by the quad and the walkway re-shaped. This kit does not come with lengthened bridge parts. However, the Hancock and Princeton kits come with 4 extended bridge parts (variations in the shape of the deck above) and will only use one each, leaving plenty of extras.
Nice as it would be to just start with the late-war Lex kits and just have the right bridge parts from the get-go, the Essex kit is the only one with the single catapult, and I do not want to try filling in the second one and re-scribing the deck for those early vessels.
Something that's been perplexing me, as these various errors get discussed and we see Dragon correct some and not others - I have yet to see anyon emention the incorrect shape of the bow gun tubs on the long hulls. Dragon has them rectangular, but they're round in every picture I've ever seen. (Heck, look at Dragon's own box art on the Princeton, for crying out loud!) Why such an error, and why haven't they fixed it?
Thanks to Dick J and everyone else for the ESSEX class info. I started a Hasegawa 1/700 ESSEX kit without doing my research, intending it to be "as commissioned" Dec 1942. Turns out that's the wrong kit for that. I have spent nearly a year now working and reworking this thing and doing lots of research and collecting every dated picture I can find. Had to cut most of the port side off from the hangar deck to the flight deck because most of it was wrong - way wrong, among other things. I kinda lost interest for a while. This was my first plastic kit in nearly 50 years and I got kinda discouraged. If I'd had the knowledge I've gotten on this site and help from Tracy White, I'd be done long ago. I want to get this thing done so I can bring it to the 40th annual USS ESSEX reunion in Branson Mo. this coming Sept.
Thanks again guys.
EJ
" 1/700Hasegawa 45
" 1/700Dragon 44
" 1/700Trumpeter 43
" 1/540Revell vintage 62
" 1/350Trumpeter 42
Fair Winds and Following Seas
Nektarios wrote:
Really nice. Which one is the next to be built???
Nektarios - I have decided to finish already started projects, so the next ship is actually USS Buchanan in a dazzle camoflage. Just waiting for the paints to arrive. And thanks for the kind words.
Hippy Ed wrote:he just jgreased it!!
joedunlap wrote:Absolutely beautiful weathered flight deck jgrease! Can you give us some details on how you achieved the effect?
Thanks Joe. I took some pointers from a couple of great builders on this site - Gordon B. (don't want to destroy the name - sorry) chief among them. You first paint the flight deck wood, then paint it the appropriate blue (I used Weathered Deck Blue). Lightly sand the deck until the wood shows thru as you see fit. Next I masked off the deck, exposing the metal sections of the flight deck. I repainted the blue onto those areas, then drybrushed steel onto them to line up with the wear on the wood parts of the deck. A little black wash, some decals, and Bob's your uncle. Although if you can, I would recommend painting the markings on the deck so you can wear them evenly with the rest of the deck for a consistent look. That is the main problem I have with mine - the dashes and numbers aren't weathered evenly with the deck.
Hi all...
well as MOST of you know I am a carrier nut, and over the years have collected hundreds of books many out of print, and drawings and reference pics of Post War Navy ships. I think WWII is really heavily covered, and there are some really good photo sources already in print out there and I have left those well enough alone. I never claimed to be any kind of expert on the ESSEX ships, and never will be,and there are folks out there far more knowledgable on this than I, but I love neat pictures, and this new DVD will have over 300 images of aircraft and the ships, all variants---MORE PICTURES ON ONE DVD THAN FOUND IN ANY ONE BOOK...
It will be IDEAL if anyone is planning on conversion of their WWII kits, and most of these are dated, where known. And lots of labelling as to what radars and sensors you are looking at.
Plus some profile line drawings from old out of print publications. Probably available in another month....
For all you long hull fans, and in the 1945 time frame, over at Navsource there are seven great pictures pictures posted of CV-15 Randolph. Clear and sharp - good for all those little details!
Last edited by Capt652 on Tue May 05, 2009 8:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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
Does anyone know if the Floating Drydock GQ plans for CV-13 Franklin are accurate for how she looked after her late 1944 early '45 refit. The plans for the Franklin are shown as representing Jan 1945. How detailed are these GQ plans? Do they just show general arrangement or are they detailed enough to show bulkhead detail, piping, etc?
Erik W wrote:Does anyone know if the Floating Drydock GQ plans for CV-13 Franklin are accurate for how she looked after her late 1944 early '45 refit. The plans for the Franklin are shown as representing Jan 1945. How detailed are these GQ plans? Do they just show general arrangement or are they detailed enough to show bulkhead detail, piping, etc?
The 1/384 version I have shows only general arrangement. No external pipeline and expansion joint details. I had to rely on photos to add those to my Trumpeter hull. Not much bulkhead details either. It does provide accurate outlines for various platforms, decks, superstructure, etc. I havne't seen the 1/96 nor 1/192 versions. They should have more details than 1/384 plans I guess.
UN-altered REPRODUCTION and DISSEMINATION of this IMPORTANT Information is ENCOURAGED, ESPECIALLY to COMPUTER BULLETIN BOARDS.
Details for the 1/192 plans I have are accurate; whether or not the lines are entirely accurate is another matter; I don't feel like pulling hundreds of dollars of plans from NARA to find out, but they certainly look accurate to my eye.
Thanks for the info. I think I'll wind up ordering the 1/192 plans. Do you guys have any sources of info you'd recommend for the Franklin in early '45 besides http://www.navsource.org/ and these:
Squadron - Essex Class Carriers in Action
Floating Drydock � Camouflage 2 Fleet Carriers
Warship Perspectives - Essex Class Carriers of WWII
Classic Warship Books - Essex Class Aircraft Carriers of the 2nd WW
Hanchang,
Your Franklin build is simply outstanding. Truly amazing work (as is all your stuff). I noticed in searching your earlier posts in this thread that you were having a hard time figuring out what 40mm quads to use. What did you wind up using?
It's Hanchang's Franklin build, this book and a lifelong interest in the story of the Franklin that have inspired me to model CV-13 as she appeared during this period.
Your Franklin build is simply outstanding. Truly amazing work (as is all your stuff). I noticed in searching your earlier posts in this thread that you were having a hard time figuring out what 40mm quads to use. What did you wind up using?
Erik,
I ended up using kit parts with Tom's 40mm shields. Tom's shield doesn't fit so I had to trim the frontal shield pannel in order for the gun tubes to pass through. This is not the best solution I must say. Since then Lion Roar and Flyhawk have come up with inexpensive 40mm quad sets. You may consider using those. WEM's 40mm quad PE is overscale which won't fit the kit tubs. Admiral and Niko also have some really nice resin 40mm quads. They are not cheap though.
UN-altered REPRODUCTION and DISSEMINATION of this IMPORTANT Information is ENCOURAGED, ESPECIALLY to COMPUTER BULLETIN BOARDS.
I ended up using kit parts with Tom's 40mm shields. Tom's shield doesn't fit so I had to trim the frontal shield pannel in order for the gun tubes to pass through. This is not the best solution I must say. Since then Lion Roar and Flyhawk have come up with inexpensive 40mm quad sets. You may consider using those. WEM's 40mm quad PE is overscale which won't fit the kit tubs. Admiral and Niko also have some really nice resin 40mm quads. They are not cheap though.
Hanchang,
In looking for an ideal 40mm Quad mount I noticed L'Arsenal is coming out with some in resin/PE as well.
I haven't seen any photos yet, but I imagine they'll be high quality. I have their 1/350 scale 40mm quad and double mounts for my current project. They are very well done.
One more question for either you or Tracy. I noticed your Franklin is modeled with a natural wood deck rather than being stained the standard deck blue. I assume this is accurate for the time period. Is this non stained flight deck typical of USN carriers late in the war or is this just specific to the Franklin after her last refit?
