1/700 USS Lexington 1941

[ArizonaBB39]

Well here's another build log from me. I'm not finished with Pennsylvania yet, but am at a stand still until some parts come in for it. I figured while I was waiting I might as well begin my next build.

Below is the photo I am using to model Lexington in 1941. This is the only picture I can find of the ship during this time period. I'm probably not going to be able to replicate the amount of weathering as seen in this photo, but I'll give it a shot.



For this build I am using:

Trumpeter 1/700 USS Lexington
3DModelParts 5"/25, .50 cals, and 1.1" AA weapons
ModelMonkey 1936 Lexington Bridge and 8"/55 Lexington/Saratoga turrets
Artwox USS Lexington wood deck
Trumpeter 1/700 Aircraft sets
Gold Medal Models 1/700 USS Saratoga photo etch

I am also using the WWII Airgroup list from Tracy's Researcher @ Large website as a reference.

To start I test fit the waterline plate to see how I would need to adjust it, if necessary. Luckily it didn't need any work other than holding it in the correct place long enough for the glue to hold it. I then installed all of the boat pockets and the aft deck and bulkheads. This was followed by the bow weapons platforms and sponsoons.







Then I built the elevator wells and test fit the flight deck



I started installing the weapons along the Starboard side of the ship











Since I wanted to depict Lexington during the later part of 1941 I needed to get more of the correct aircraft. The kit comes with a couple F4F, SBD, and TBDs. For my airwing I needed F2A, SBD, and TBDs. I bought enough boxes of each to allow me to build the full airwing if I desired. I also bought a box of SB2Us to depict VMSB-231. I went ahead and built the 18 SB2Us required for VMSB-231. What is a good color to use to match their paint scheme?

[ArizonaBB39]

I then started building the funnel



The ModelMonkey parts are excellent and I highly recommend them. A vast improvement over the kit parts.

















The bridge superstructure also comes with the aft fighting top.





To accurately depict this area I added a shim of sheet plastic under the fighting top so it would be at the correct height.



The 8"/55 turrets are also excellent and ready for any brass barrels you desire.









Now for a question: Should the structure on the forward part of the funnel look like it does in the kit, or should it look more like what is seen on Saratoga?
(a sub-question too, how should the area on the starboard side of the funnel look? I know it wasn't a 20mm gallery yet, but instead was where more ships boats were. How many? When was the 1.1" AA gun installed between the funnel and bridge?)

Kit:


USS Saratoga:


Looking at the reference picture of Lexington I'm using, the kit part looks to be closer to the correct shape, as seen if you blow up that area in the picture:


And lastly some progress shots of all the progress to date:




Oh and one last question: What is the best way to paint these clear aircraft? I'd like to leave the canopies clear, but they are so small and it is hard to tell where the detail is!

[Rick E Davis]

Here is an overhead view of USS LEXINGTON tied up to Ford Island (opposite Battleship Row) in a cropped view of Ford Island dated 10 November 1941.

This photo isn't going to provide a lot of details, this is a very SMALL cropped view from a much larger image, but I thought that the "LEX" letters still being displayed on 10 November 1941 and general layout may be helpful for your build.

[ArizonaBB39]

Thanks Rick! That picture is very interesting, what color do you suppose the stripes and the LEX are? I didn't know she kept LEX on the flight deck after she was painted into Ms1. From the picture it looks like the two gun platforms at the stern weren't there either, that was hard to tell in the picture I have.

[ModelMonkey]

[taskforce48]

Abram,

Off to a great start. I am at work and can't post a direct link with my phone, but HNSA has a set of plans dated 5/41 for the Lexington. I can't remember when the 1.1's were installed but the plans show 3 inch guns in the 5 tubs. It also shows the boat arrangement alongside the stack prior to the 20mm gallery. There are also some pics on the ship camouflage site that look pretty definitive that the markings were either 5-O Ocean Gray or maybe 5-H Haze Gray. Definitely no longer yellow or white.

HTH
Matt

[ArizonaBB39]

Abram,

Off to a great start. I am at work and can't post a direct link with my phone, but HNSA has a set of plans dated 5/41 for the Lexington. I can't remember when the 1.1's were installed but the plans show 3 inch guns in the 5 tubs. It also shows the boat arrangement alongside the stack prior to the 20mm gallery. There are also some pics on the ship camouflage site that look pretty definitive that the markings were either 5-O Ocean Gray or maybe 5-H Haze Gray. Definitely no longer yellow or white.

HTH
Matt

Matt, the plans on HNSA were exactly what I was looking for. Now it looks like I need to decide what to do about the 1.1" guns I've already installed. I'm still curious to know if anyone has a date when those were installed. I'll forgo adding either (1.1" or 3"/50) to the rest of the ship until a little later.

When you get a chance could you direct me to the pictures on the ship camouflage website you are talking about? Thanks!

Looks like I'm on hold until I can print these plans off, hopefully I can do that Monday at work.

That being said I'd like an opinion on color choice. I know that the flight deck was stained a blue color, but at this point in time 250/N Norfolk Flight deck stain wasn't being used by the Pacific Fleet, that I know of. So I tried mixing a color to use to "stain" the Artwox deck with. It is a mix of 5D and Insignia Blue

First picture is not directly under the light source on a white background:



Second picture is directly under the light source laid on top of the boat deck of my Pennsylvania to show contrast between natural Artwox deck color:



It looked good in the first picture, but I think it might be a little too blue based on the second picture. What do you folks think?

[gscott]

Great start, Abram! Lex was a beautiful ship (and a monster)!

[ArizonaBB39]

Great start, Abram! Lex was a beautiful ship (and a monster)!

Thanks Greg, and I know what you mean about her being a monster, she looks huge even compared to my battleships!

[taskforce48]

Flight Deck painting and color image of Lex's flight deck on 10/41
As for the 1.1's, Wiper's book lists them as being added at Puget Sound in late August. There is a nice image of her in her MS-12 and the gun in the Starboard forward tub to my eye looks to be a 1.1 which would have been late November of 41 through March of 42.

HTH,

Matt

[ArizonaBB39]

Hmm, I might change to painting the ship into Ms12 instead of Ms1, just to break up the monotony of all the Ms1 ships and to save myself from having to do so much weathering. That being said, where is the hangar deck to bring the 5S up to?

[mister me]

I would like to see how you will work with 3d printed parts : wanna see the result once sanded and painted, because of the surface layers of 3d print process.

[robertmelvin]

A great fighting lady. I'm sure you will do her justice and I look forward to following your build, though I'm a 1/350 man myself. Like mister me I am anxious to see how your experience with the Model Monkey parts goes. I have some of their parts for my U.S.S. Indianapolis as well as my Yorktown and Enterprise kits from Merit but haven't gotten around to working with any of them yet. If they fulfil their promise, they will be the greatest advance in our hobby since the advent of photoetch.

Bob M.

[marijn van gils]

Very very interesting project!!! And a great start!

I would highly recommend getting the Warship Pictorial 33 on her by Steve Wiper. It has the best selection of wartime Lex pics.
The Squadron at sea by David Doyle is also great, but covers this period a bit less.

The back page of the Wiper pic has the color film still which Matt linked to, and a couple of other ones. They show the flight deck color and the markings indeed. The 'LEX' is visible. The color is described by Wiper as Insignia Yellow, but I would agree with the interpretation by Vorassi on the ship camouflage page that it is light grey. To me, it certainly looks light grey in these images� Of course, it could be a very dirty white or a washed out yellow, but the result is something light grey looking, so maybe it is best to paint it like that.

Maybe it is my personal opinion, but I would strongly advise against using the Artwox deck. The front and rear (rounded down) edges of the real deck were steel, but are included integrally in the wood deck. If you use the wooden deck for these, they will have an unrealistic wood grain for steel decking, and if you cut them of (which is easy) you would have to find a way to set the rest of the deck a bit deeper to avoid a raised edge along them (which would be very hard).
Besides, the wooden deck doesn't offer any extra detail or doesn't correct anything (i.e. doesn't provide the water evacuation gutters in the real deck). The Trumpeter plastic deck is very finely engraved, and in my opinion looks more realistic than wooden deck whose texture is coarser and would look more out of scale (but this can be personal preference of course).
It also doesn't save any work, as you will have to install the plastic deck anyway before attaching the wood deck on top. Lexingtons' side plating went all the way up to the edge of the deck, while the kits' deck fits flush on top of the hull sides. For the best effect, you need to glue the plastic deck on top of the hull and then remove the seam completely (filling and sanding). The wooden deck would only give you another seam to fill� And finally, Lex's deck was painted, which is the same amount of work for wooden or plastic decks.

Steve's bridge is a huge improvement indeed though!

Now armament:
- The 20mm platforms at the stern corners were only added in april '42. You can see their absence on photo's on pages 23 (dated 5/12/41), 24 (dated early 42) and 38 (dated april 42) of the Wiper book.
- Probably you already know this, but the 20mm AA platforms in the hull side openings were added only in april '42. Earlier, all of them were boat wells, without any armament.
- The 1.1 inch guns are visible on the forward and rear platforms on photo's on pages 24 (dated early '42) and 38 (dated april '42) of the Wiper book. Earlier photo's don't show these area's clearly enough, but the Wiper book states that 'it is believed that at some time during late august '41 (during a refit at Puget) her 3 inch guns were replaced by 1.1 inch guns'. It is hard to be sure from photo's, but the 1.1 inch gun tub at the forward end of the funnel seems to be present from this time on also.
The plans mentioned by Matt are printed in the Wiper book also, but their date of 7/5/41 doesn't contradict 1.1 inch guns being present from august onwards.
- Probably you know this (as it is visible on your inspiration photo), but the 8 inch turrets had .50 AA guns on top of them (two per turret). They had railing around them, with splinter matting on that. There were plenty of splinter mats on the bridge and funnel top too.

The structure at the forward end of the funnel was the radar control room, which was installed together with the CXAM-1 radar in june or juli '42 (again according to Wiper). It's shape was very different from the conning and flight control station, and is a bit different from the kit part too. Most importantly: it didn't have any openings like the kit part does, so you need to get rid of those! This item is shown clear enough on pages 21 (your inspiration photo), 24 and 26 (the best) of the Wiper book, as well as page 98 of the Doyle book (the famous NARA pic).

The 20mm AA platform on the starboard side of the funnel was only installed in april '42. Photos on page 23 (5/12/'41) and 24 (early '42) of the Wiper book show the previous boat platform (which is shaped vary differently) to be present still.

Some more details:
- The 'wings' on the funnel top are really too wide in the kit, and are best sanded or cut much more narrow.
- The kit only provides '24 inch searchlights, while the ones on the funnel top corners were '36 inch. Anything more beefy than the kit items you can put there will look better.
- The port side of the funnel didn't have the group of vertical pipes (only Sara), so better to sand them of.
- The starboard side of the funnel didn't have the ladder near the front like the kit, but ammo lift rails near the front and rear and only a ladder near the rear.

Looking forward to the next steps! And that weathering�

Cheers!

Marijn

[ArizonaBB39]

I would like to see how you will work with 3d printed parts : wanna see the result once sanded and painted, because of the surface layers of 3d print process.

If you take a look at my Pennsylvania build (linked in my first post) you can see the ModelMonkey parts I used for it (superstructure, funnel, and gun turrets) after a coat of paint the marks left by the printing process are not really noticeable.

Marijn,
Thank you for all of that information! I just ordered the Classic Warships book and it should be here late next week. As far as using the wood deck, once I come up with a color I'm satisfied with for the flight deck I'm going to "stain" a small portion of it to see if the details are still visible. If they are I'll go ahead and use it, if not I'll just paint the plastic deck. I was planning on cutting the parts that are supposed to be steel off. To kind of hide the height difference I was probably going to attach railing at the bow and stern as this was commonly done in Port or while not conducting flight operations.

And thanks everyone else for the kind words and encouragement so far!

[marijn van gils]

To kind of hide the height difference I was probably going to attach railing at the bow and stern as this was commonly done in Port or while not conducting flight operations.

And you found the perfect solution!
Clever! That makes it much easier indeed.

Cheers,

Marijn

[ModelMonkey]

...where is the hangar deck to bring the 5S up to?

The hangar deck, buried deep in the hull, is two and one-half decks tall. The deck itself is one and one-half decks lower than the level of the boat bays making it tricky to see where the hangar deck would be when viewing the outside of the hull. And the whole hull above the waterline is one deck lower when compared to Yorktowns or Essexes. In other words, the flight deck is one deck closer to the water than CV-5 or CV-9.

Lexington and Saratoga had very small hangars compared to later ships, necessary because of the fineness of the battlecruiser-design hull and numerous uptakes and vents. Lex and Sara had great speed, the fastest ships in the world for a time, and could easily walk away from their escorts if not careful, especially in heavier seas.

But their small hangar decks seriously limited their aviation capabilities, as did their under-sized elevators. These features will become ever more noticeable as you build the model.

[ArizonaBB39]

Thank you Steve. I need to take more time to look over those plans. I find it interesting it looks like they had a sub hangar deck noted as 'reserve plane storage' below the main hangar deck.

[Jeff Sharp]

Abram, you're really making me jealous with all these 1941 builds you're pumping out! I've been dying to do a '41 Lex for years in 1/350. I know there is still a debate about what color the deck markings were. To me they look like the faded yellow. Others believe they were light gray.

[taskforce48]

Abram,

I find it interesting it looks like they had a sub hangar deck noted as 'reserve plane storage' below the main hangar deck.

This was probably the same concept as the overhead dismantled storage of later classes, the Lex and Sara just had shorter hangars and not the room overhead.

Forgive my crude drawing skills, but this is how I interpret the MS 12 Lex wore



Matt