Calling all Essex-class (WWII configuration) fans

[Tracy White]

Ross; I don't think there is one. The only differences in the kit are the decals, a radar, and some missing platforms on the CV-10 kit that they fixed with the CV-13. I *think* the airplanes are the same.

Martin: I'll reserve final judgement until I see one. I looked over the pictures they have online and the errors that are there on the CV-10/CV-13 kits appear to be present in the smaller kits. Detail may be more crisp though and the weapons might be better looking, so it may depend on what you value

[Timmy C]

Kekeke, Tracy got a wrong! The Franklin kit has four Corsairs, while the Yorkkie doesn't.

[Tracy White]

Well, there you go!

[Tracy White]

Ok, as promised, some interior shots. These are from the film "The Fighting Lady" which centered on the Yorktown, but some footage was shot on Ticonderoga and either Lexington or Hornet; I think the later. So these shots may be of Yorktown, they may not be.

All of these shots are of the hangar deck, looking to starboard. First picture is aft of the #3 elevator, looking aft towards the roller doors that were forward of the aft crane (is that enough aft and forward for you? ). Note the propellors hanging from the bulkheads in the center of the picture.



Second picture is forward of the first, showing the elevator pit. Note that there is a large buklhead halfway encapsuling the rear area of the elevator; this is missing from the interior of ever kit. Not the open door about a quart of the image frm the left side; this connects the deck to starboard of the elevator itself to the rest of the hangar when the elevator is up. Note as well there are two supports on the port edge of the elevator pit when the elevator is in the up position.



Further forward still, still looking aft and to starboard. One of the elevator support posts is still visible on the right side of the picture. Crappy phots, and I'm sorry that I can't play with them too much digitally to help make it more clear. Note the open hatch about a third of the way from the left side.



We're now looking Starboard and FORWARD from the elevator pit area. Note that there is a light band around the edge; I can't tell if this was yellow or white but the verticale surfaces below are white. The bulkhead with the slop up top beyond it is one of the exhaust trunks, note that stiffeners that are missing from all of the kits. Really easy to add with .010" strip. Beyond that is another uptake and the conflagration station, which we'll see more in the last picture



This uptake area is opposite of the opening for the deck side elevator. Note the "Beware of Propellers" painted in red. Just forward of that at the same level is the conflagration station, which was used to control fire-fighting. The ones in the Trumpeter and Dragon kits are too narrow for most of the ships I've seen but seems to be on for Intrepid. I don't know if my Intrpeid plans are wrong or if she just had a really narrow one in comparison to the others. Note how busy the bulkheads on that aft uptake trunk are with supports.

[Tracy White]

Two more, these of Essex. These pictures were taken by a crew member and donated to the Museum of Flight in Seattle. Their relatively new "Personal Courage Wing" has some good Naval aviation exhitbits, including a 1/192 model of CV-11 Intrepid by Fine Art Models. These photos were part of a large collage on the wall in the Naval Aviation section and I was able to shoot them with my camera. Not the clearest reproduction but it should be of some help to y'all.

First shot is looking down the #3 elevator in 1945; Corsair in view below with spare wings leaning up against the bulkheads. Note the bit outboard of the corsair's left wheel.



Next shot was probably taken the same day. Same general area but looking foward with the elevator partially up. Note drop tanks in the overheads and lots of empty holders for them.



OK, I'm done for a couple of days

[Guest]

I think those are prop blades in the overhead rack, not drop tanks...

[Tracy White]

How do you explain the white blades then?

[MartinJQuinn]

How do you explain the white blades then?

Could they be silver? Maybe unpainted?

[Mac]

I'm no expert at photo analysis, but the objects in the overhead look significant broader than the visible prop blades on the aircraft in the photo. They look way too broad to be props for single engined carrier aircraft. Didn't the Corsair have one of the largest props around at the time? Look at the F4U blades and compare them to the overhead items.

Look at the yellow (or maybe white) tipped blades on the aircraft in the foreground. If the item in the overhead is a prop blade, shouldn't the pointed end be painted yellow (or white) in a corresponding manner?

In my non-expert opinion, I think they are droptanks. Just my 2 cents...

Mac

[ArizonaBB39]

Tracy, I'll have to take some pics of my hangar deck so far for you to look at. I'm having trouble deciding how to do the top(ceiling) of the hangar deck (bottom of the flight deck). Where could I find girders and things, or will I need to scratchbuild all of them? Looking at the pics, if I put wings propped up on the bulkheads and hanging from the roof that'd be ok? One more question, where were the fire curtains we've talked about located? I for the life of me can't find the e-mails! Thanks a bunch!

[ddp]

i think those are replacement single blades because 1 or more is double stacked & the ceiling from top to bottom of girders are not tall enough for drop tanks.

[Mike C]

I think they're drop tanks, judging from the size and shape. Some are white for the -3 Hellcats, and others are blue for the -5's. Propellers were stored on bulkheads as assemblies with the hubs. That way they would already have the balance tested and are ready to use after barrier encounters and the like.

ArizonaBB39- There's a display at the Naval Aviation Museum at Pensacola that depicts storage for wing sections. They stretched nets between the girders and lay the wings on those. Spare aircraft, without outer wing panels, were also hoisted up and suspended between the girders. BTW, it's not the "ceiling," it's the "overhead."

When you're doing the area under the flight deck, remember that there is a whole deck under the flight deck with compartments for ready rooms, clipping rooms, storage rooms and other compartments for repair parties (BYO Jungle Juice!) and flight deck equipment. There were also open areas with just catwalks or ventillation ducts and hoist tracks ran everywhere. The girders were below those things and also extended out from the interior bulkheads. Most of the models that I've seen have far too much head room above the planes.

HTH,
Mike

[Tracy White]

I wanted to let our guest defend his position before really responding but I'll weight in now.

Those aren't prop blades. They're drop tanks. As Mike said, the whole propeller assembly was hung off of bulkheads. Hanging indivudual blades from the ceiling makes no sense; they're heavy and you do not want them knicked. I'm a licensed aircraft mechanic, and while I'm not practicing righ tnow, I have worked on and around props. If they were storing individual blades they'd have been in boxes to keep them protected. You just do not want a knicked blade edge.

In response to Martin's guess; with that marine air they wouldn't store them natural (corrosion), and blades weren't ever natural metal in combat theaters.

Back to Mike's post for a second. Wings were stored in between girders but not always on nets' some carriers had thick bands or straps of cloth that was used. Can't tell you which had what. I've also seen wings hanging from bulkheads from straps, so they weren't exclusively hanging from the overheads.

Abe, in response to your question, best I can do right now is suggest the AOTS Intrepid book. We just got one in the shop and when I looked at Abe Books to see the going rate there were a couple for under $30. The overheads were a hodge-podge of girders, catwalks, and structure hanging underneath the flight deck (such as ready rooms, etc. Some areas had higher clearances than others but it's too complex to attempt a verbal description.

[Phil73805]

Hi all, well my USS Franklin (Trumpeter 1:700) is proceeding apace, slowed only by the glacially slow drying time of enamels

I've been desperately searching for a PE set to enhance the kit but no one has released one yet, however, I found that Eduard produced one in 1:700 for the Hasegawa Essex and figuring that they're the same class I'd at least be able to replace the chunky plastic radio masts, can this work?

Tracy you mentioned that before going into battle Franklin received some updates, I couldn't find any coherent pictures of the changes, could you post a few that highlight these changes as well as spelling them out for this Noobie?

Has anyone else built the Trumpeter USS Franklin in this scale? If so are you familiar with the Eduard set I've mentioned and, apart from the railings, could you recommend any other parts that could be replaced from this set?

I don't ask much do I.....?

Thanks all for your help and expertise

Phil

[Tracy White]

Hi Phil. I have to be careful about what I post as I don't want to give away the farm.

I can tell you though that if you follow the instructions for the kit you'll be mostly correct. The kit is the 1945 fit but they insist on slapping the 1944 paint scheme on it. I haven't had a chance to sit down with one live so I can't say exactly what they got wrong with it; only that it appears to have the same problems that the 1/350th ship does.

I haven't seen the Eduard PE set. If the set is designed with pre-fit parts it may or may not work for you as the dimensions will be slightly different. If it includes generic railings that must be cut to length then it might work better.

[Phil73805]

Hi Phil. I have to be careful about what I post as I don't want to give away the farm.

What do you mean by that? As for the parts change, yes some of them are designed for a different parts breakdown but the radio masts should be fine and the railings should be perfect. My only concern is for the radar masts on the island, which ones are different from the Essex?

Phil

[ARH]

Phil, He,s writting a book about IT or THEM, does not want to give to much away, ARH

[Tracy White]

Hi Phil. Just to clarify.... I have a set of photos I uncovered documenting changes made to Franklin during overhaul and repair after the kamikaze attack. Some of them have been seen before, some of them have not. I'd like to use them in a book I'm working on about building WWII Essex kits, but if the pictures and information are out on the internet beforehand there will be less need for the book and less chance that a publisher will want the project.

Once the book is out and the main sales are done I'll release the photos to sites such as Navsource.

The reason I'm doing it this way is that websites can fail, and no site is permanent. I want this information "backed up" so to speak with paper copies that can't crash, get hacked, or run out of money to pay for hosting bills.

The basic premise of the book is going to be "If you want to build AA ship in BB year in CC scale, start with DD model, and make EE changes."

[metalnpolymer]

Hi everyone,

I have one/two questions regarding the Lexington CV-16.

Does it have perforated catwalks?

If so, can you comment on your experience with the available perforated catwalk PE set in terms of fit and ease-of-use (for the 1/350 Trumpeter kit)?

Thanks and happy holiday season to all!

[Tracy White]

I missed this earlier, sorry.

Does it have perforated catwalks?

If so, can you comment on your experience with the available perforated catwalk PE set in terms of fit and ease-of-use (for the 1/350 Trumpeter kit)?

All of the ships had the perforated catwalks.
But all of the PE sets represent these catwalks wrong as well. I know why; Trumpeter simplified this area and it would be a lot easier to go with the flow than to introduce a whole new level of complexity that most modelers won't even notice.

The catwalks on the Yorktown and Essex class were raised maybe 1/4-1/3 up from what was termed the gallery level deck. This was the deck immediately underneath the flight deck. There were openings from this level out to the catwalks; open archways, as they were called. Depending on the height of the catwalk at that point there were steps up from those openings to the catwalkproper, so there were in effect little wells in the catwalks around these openings. And there were quite a few of these openings.

The PE catwalks lack the wells because Trumpter didn't include the archways. To do it "properly" one has to contract a health dose of AMS and chop off the bulkheads underneath the flight deck, make new ones with the archways, and chop up the PE to make the wells and steps down. I haven't figured out an easy way to do this yet. It may be that the best solution is to use black paint to represent the archways.