alleycat wrote:
I discovered on my own that the Dragon (Essex?) kit has the following errors:
1) Missing two quad Bofors on the port side hanger deck sponson - where the catapult was never installed.
These were not at first installed on the Essex. When she commissioned, it was still intended that she would add both catapults at some point, so no 40MM were installed there. In fact, using that extension for 40MM had not yet been thought of. The long-hulls were the first to complete with 40MM there. Franklin had her hangar cat deleted before leaving for the war zone, but did not initially have 40MM installed on the sponson. Ships already in the Pacific were modified with 40MM on that sponson when receiving refits or repairs. Essex had the track for a flightdeck catapult, but did not actually have it installed until later, when she received the shorter H-2 type.
alleycat wrote:
2) Missing two starboard aft quad Bofors near crane.
Essex, Yorktown, and Lexington all commissioned without those hangar-level 40MM mounts. They were added to Yorktown and Lexington before they entered combat, but not on Essex. On the ships that received the "outboard" 40MM (the three on the side below the island and the two at flightdeck catwalk level portside-aft) the two hangar level 40MM were moved outboard as well. (Uniquely, Intrepid had one done on one refit, and the other done later. Go figure??) When Essex finally had them added, they were in the
inboard position!!
alleycat wrote:
3) Two forward island decks are the wrong shape for post '44 refit (flag bridge extended and forward quad Bofors removed.
4) Missing enlarged radar platform on tripod mast (I bought a nice PE WWII US Navy radar set so any configuration should be covered).
For 1944, you have a point. But I believe that the kit was released for the "as commissioned" period.
alleycat wrote:
5) Deck catapult too long (before reading this thread I thought there were 2) It would really be nice to build something with the cat as depicted.
You are correct, but to be fair to Dragon, Essex was the only ship of her class to have the shorter cat. They would have had to produce a "one-off" deck for their first kit of the class. Once it was proven they could make the money at it, they
did produce a one-off deck for the Antietam. (Which would have been a lot nicer had they done the correct length for the forward end of the deck!)
alleycat wrote:
So question #1 - Did Yorktown have these 40mm gun tubs (two starboard aft quad bofors near the crane) at this time?
She had the hangar level quads added in the original inboard position shortly after commissioning. They were moved outboard when the other outboards were added during her Sep '44 Puget sound refit.. Yorktown had the hangar cat removed and the second flightdeck unit installed in the same refit.