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

[Dan K]

This is some really great work.

[lvsquarerigger]

This is an insane amount of detail! You are really doing the ole' girl proud. Keep up the good work and thanks for the pics, never seen a couple of them before.

Matt

My wife says I'm anal but I learned young to give my best in anything and if you're going to do it, do it right but thanks for the compliment.

James

[lvsquarerigger]

This is some really great work.

Thank you

[MartinJQuinn]

Great attention to detail!

[lvsquarerigger]

Great attention to detail!

Drives me nuts at times but thank you

James

[lvsquarerigger]

Got several little tidbits to cover but most of the past few days has been trying to get a definitive answer on the structure of the 8" director platform supports, mainly were the braces girder style or the solid piece with holes cut for weight reduction. Nothing firm came to light but in looking closely at the pic I posted of the bridge structure from WP33 I more or less came to the conclusion that it is the cutout style but not absolutely sure, just going with my best guess so I can at least proceed. Meanwhile I wasn't happy with the hole for the downladder on the Nav level after I extended the deck as it was now offcenter, very close to the mast support, so I added a piece next to the support and then filed out the outer section to center it. Not a lot but just one less thing to get right.

Then I noticed in a picture of the supports for the flag level that they were of the cut out variety so got out the drills and made a couple of holes for them.

Then it was painting and touch up before I start putting it all back together. The pic of the director level is just stuck on the post so I can get a pic of it. You can see the little platform I put there for the FC radar.

Also while looking very closely at the director I noticed some supports under the Nav deck that will now have to be done. It seems as I get one thing done something else pops up to add.

[lvsquarerigger]

After all the consternation the answer to my question was right in front of me all along but I just couldn't see it because I was focused on other things in the pic. The one I scanned from The Lexington Class Carriers had what I wanted but I was focused on the nav deck cabin and how the masts all came together at the fighting top. If you look under the 8" director platform you can see that it is indeed solid bracing with cutouts. Mystery solved. Then it was just the execution.

[lvsquarerigger]

Now came the execution. I cut some .015 styrene strip to length to match the square mast to platform edge. Then cut each piece to the width to match the height ot the bracing. Then cut each piece diagonally and now I have matching pieces for each side. Then it was the drilling. I started with the largest drill that would fit comfortably in the rearmost and biggest brace and then just continue down in size for each piece. I ran into a slight problem with clutter on my bench as I drilled out the piece to go between the fore and aft braces only to find it was the wrong piece as I started to glue it in place. So I found the correct piece and put it in without holes, let it set, and then drilled it in place. Then it was touch up time with the paint for all the different sections I had worked on.

[lvsquarerigger]

Just a couple of little notes. First showing the difference in the kit mast height and the correct height. I had saved the pice of tubing that was the well for the mast between the fighting top and the director deck below. I had just stuck all the pieces back together and wanted to see how far off the kit was so I placed the tube in position and it was off about 1/8th of an inch. I had to hold it upside down to get a clear pic otherwise the gap was inside the fighting top bracing.

The other deals with the bracing under the nav deck. While looking at pics searching for details on the 8" director bracing I noticed some discrepancies on the nav deck bracing. There's another pic in WP33 that shows the other side but I haven't scanned that one yet so it will have to wait. Suffice to say the kit has too many and not enough. The pic is a bit grainy but that's the price for getting it light enough to see the details. That's my next step for the bridge assembly and laying in the woods is a scratchbuilt mast. No real reason for it other than I saw some work done on a different build log and liked the results and want to see if I can replicate that for my build.

[lvsquarerigger]

Been busy and pulling my hair out some too. It all started with the pic from my previous post where I saw the bracing under the nav deck. I got to looking at another one from WP33 and was looking at the bracing from the other side. The kit braces were .030 or about a foot thick if scaled so I cut them all out. I was looking at the first photo in this post and noticed one more brace than had been in the kit part and was looking at where to place it when I noticed that the pic showed the shielding going back at an angle while the kit was square. Uh oh! As I looked more and compared with my prints I found the nav deck from the kit was too wide, too short, wrong shape, and the more I looked the more I decided it all had to go and I would just go from scratch. Sound familar? So I did. What ensued was a long journey into destruction. After I had the deck redone and was looking at how everything fit and aligned I found that the conning station, the rounded front of the bridge, was also off, too big and protruding too far forward so it was more destruction and rebuild. Not thinking clearly I figured I would cut out the kit part, make a new section, insert it and be done. Wrong!!!!! When will I learn to look at all of the details before I get into it. Not only was it wrong it had also been too tall so when I put the new part in the space above the station didn't match the prints. So now it was remove what I just put in, raise the cabin, reinstall what I had made, and for good measure I noticed in the pics that that small piece above the conning station was rounded not square as in the kit. So I got it all done and now it's time to start putting it all back together. Did I mention that in the wreckage I also broke both little platforms on the port side of the bridge? No? Well I did so they have to be redone but the good side of that is now it will be the correct shape and size not just really close as it had been. So this post will show the pics and the destruction and then however many more it takes to get all the pics in.

[lvsquarerigger]

The first step was to make the nav deck. I copied the section of the plans that was relevant and built to that. The hole for the mast is in place according to the plans and I hope that holds up through reassembly but who knows. I then put on the splinter shielding or matts, whatever. The little ribs will come later. The good thing of the photo from WP33 is it clearly shows the profile of the railing around the front. I started with some .015 styrene strip. Then I took a piece of square stryene strip, took one corner off and flattened it so it was triangular in shape and glued it flush with the bottom of the strip. Then a piece of .015 strip to level the top that was now low. Then use a round file to round of the top of the bottom piece and also make a groove above that. Then it was another piece of flat strip and I had my front rails. Now it was cut and fit them in place. Deck done. Well still have the little ribs but that will come later.

[lvsquarerigger]

This post will be about the different comparisons to the plans and then I'll post the destruction and rebuild and destruction and rebuild. Sounds redudndant but as I said earlier I rushed ahead and then found out I hadn't looked at everything and had to change again. The first pic shows how the conning tower projects too far forward and would have been in the turret of the 8" guns. Those of you who look sharply may have also noticed how the gun level is just slightly longer than the plans but this is one I decided I could live with.

The next one shows a comparison to the deck level plan and the obvious difference in the kit and the plan.

The next one shows how the conning tower would have been in the turret or the turret would not fit, either way it's off.

The last one shows the destruction. At this point I should have compared to the plans and I would have noticed the discrepancy in height and saved myself some work later but I didn't.

[lvsquarerigger]

I began reconstruction by first building the conning tower. Then I cut the main cabin back slightly. Now the conning tower sat just over in the front and the corners of the lower cabin stuck out slightly. Then I glued the conning tower in place and fashioned the top piece out of some .015 strip. I then compared the completed assembly to the plans and found out the conning tower was not only smaller than the kit part but also not as tall. Now it sat too low and the round part above was too tall. So it was pull it back off, raise the cabin walls, reinstall the conning tower, and then the round part on the top. Next up are the supports under the nav deck.

[lvsquarerigger]

Now with the bridge structure and nav deck complete it was time for the bracing under the nav deck and then install the completed deck on the bridge. Then it was time to place the nav deck cabin in place and then the two small platforms on the port side I had broken during demolition. I've spent some time working on getting the holes for the mast supports and not doing very well. I finally just cut the back side of the 8" director platform off and made a new piece directly form the plans. I copied the appropiate plan, cut it out, used some white glue to hold it in place on sheet styrene, cut that whole thing out of .030 stock, sanded it to the line, and then installed it. So now I have all the deck levels without holes and will start from scratch.

[lvsquarerigger]

I haven't posted because I have been chasing my tail and pulling my hair out trying to get the mast supports to fit as they should. This first led me to totally rebuild the lower bridge structure up through the nav level. I couldn't get the supports to both line up and show in the flag level cabin as depicted in many pictures. I became very adept at drilling, filling the hole, and drilling again. Not necessarilly a skill you would hone. Anyway, I finally looked at the flag level plans in detail and found the problem. the whole flag level is wrong!!!!!!! Here I go again. I copied the flag level overhead plans and compared them to what I had already built. It looked like I might be able to save the railings, with all those little ribs, but when I laid the plan under the deck the outline was all wrong. I had straight lines from the front to the back while in actuallity they both change from straight fore and aft to an angle but not the same on each side. Also the flag cabin is narrower than nav level so that's why I couldn't get the supports to fit in the cabin walls correctly. So it was blow it up, find out nothing was salvageable, and start over again. Here are the plans and the first step.

[lvsquarerigger]

Now it was start with the new deck. I used white glue to hold the plan in place on .030 stock and cut it out. Then with the plan still in place cut the holes for the mast and the stairway down. Then I started on the cabin. I made it to the narrower width and extended it as shown in the newest pic of the Lex at Pearl during her last refit. What I intend is to make the cabin just short of the front of the deck and build the canopy and supports as seen in the same picture. To me it's the most correct way that I have seen so far. This picture also shows the supports and how they fit in the cabin walls the best of any pic I've seen so far. Right now I have the bones of the cabin but I still have to put in the lower support to keep the walls square and then a support to brace the lower window level and then the individual pieces to depict the supports between the different panes. At least now it should all fit and I can get on with a different part of the model.

[lvsquarerigger]

Success!!!! After all the tries it finally came out right! I built the narrower cabin. After I did I realized I had intended to incorporate the wings as one piece of the roof so they would not keep breaking off during the drilling. So it was cut off the roof and install one piece across the rear and round them off. I first drilled through the deck, without the cabin in place to locate the holes and see how I would have to open the sides of the cabin. I tried holding the cabin in place but the drill wanted to move it so I glued it in place but not before using a round file to start a groove so the drill would walk less. It worked out pretty good. So now I have the struts the way I want but still have to drill the 8" director platform and do a little fine tuning with a file on the starboard side but all in all I'm finally content with the struts. You'll notice in the pictures what I had in place for the starboard side of the nav level is gone. Victim of some excess finger pressure trying to hold everything while drilling but it's a small price for finally getting what I want and is very easily replaced. Now it's fix that, put the rails on the flag level and roof, install rails and splinter mattresses, paint, and there will be something else too like the two supports under the 8" platform that mount to the mast so will have to be done at the end but all in all I feel so much more relaxed and not frustrated. Enjoy the pics.

James

[JTninja]

Wow, great job on the scratch building for accuracy.

[lvsquarerigger]

Wow, great job on the scratch building for accuracy.

Thanks

[lvsquarerigger]

OK! Let's try this again. I had quite a bit of what I will now retype done when I hit a wrong button, probably control instead of shift, and it all went away. I have really been trying to get the flag bridge done as correctly as possible. I even went and got an HDMI cable and hooked my laptop up to the big screen so I could get a better view of certain pics, namely the one from the Battle of the Coral Sea and the NARA one from Pearl. The trouble is they are shadowed or just not clear where I want to see the most! I had thought the front of the cabin had windows but looking at the Coral Sea pic I could see that was the screen in front of the cabin. From the NARA pic it looked like the front was the same as it had been but moved forward. Again the area I most wanted to see was not really clear.

I was looking through Robert Stearns book again and got to looking at a pic of Sara after her bridge remodel. It looks as if the cabin is three sided with portholes and you can clearly see the square shape of the window openings on the screen. Thinking of what would have been done at Pearl it seemed as if they would just cut off the front, move it forward, and then fill in the gaps. With this in mind it was back to work dismantling and rebuilding. I removed the front of the cabin and closed it in. Then it was drill the porthole in each face. Now I could finish the shielding, which I had left open at the front. While I was doing all those tedious little strips I also did the section of nav level that had fallen prey to my fingers while working on different parts of it. So that's where I am now and it's on to the top of flag level and the front screen.