Calling all Essex-class (Cold War configuration) fans

[task force 58]

Thanks I'm looking at building Wasp and Yorktown first then Hornet.

[Paper Lab]

I'm about to start working on LPH-4 Boxer but the only set of plans I got is BOGP for LPH-5 Princeton. Since I'm not very familiar with this time period I was wondering if you guys could help out some by pointing out any major differences between these two. I'm collecting all the photos I can find and I'll be looking for those differences myself but good pointers would be greatly appreciated...

Darius

[Paper Lab]

Thanks David, I've already plow through those. One immediate observations is that BOXER was the last still in service with all of her 5" twin mounts in place while LPH-8 (Valley Forge) and LPH-5 (Princeton) landed half of theirs. I think unmodified Layte, Tarawa and Philippine Sea which also retain all of their 5" mounts were all decommissioned by that time.

Darius

[Dick J]

Boxer retained all four twin mounts, but lost all of the singles. Princeton and Valley Forge lost half of each, retaining two twins and two singles.

[Paper Lab]

I spend some time starring at few grainy photos of her trying to figure out single 5" locations and couldn't find any. Thanks for your confirmation...

Darius

[Paper Lab]

Continuing with LPH-4, based on my grainy pictures I'm trying to identify Boxer radar antennas in the early 1960. Pretty confident on two lower ones ( blue pointers ) but less so with the upper two ( red pointers ). I hope somebody based on this or any other photo would be able to confirm or correct my findings. Cheers.

Darius

[Paper Lab]

Design based on somewhat limited resources but I can finally present my 1250 scale USS Boxer LPH-4. Model, when released by Spider Navy, is in waterline only. I omitted all the underwater details to save myself on few extra working hours...

[ZALADIS]

Hi, I wonder if anyone could please help me, I am building a 1/1250 scale model of USS Oriskany circa Korean war , I was wondering if anyone would be so kind to know of any online links that show how she was painted during that period? Deck markings also , a nice colour profile or images of a model build would be greatly appreciated...Thank you in advance....

[Paper Lab]

After ANTIETAM received her angle deck, for the first several months she had an open girder support structure later replaced with a solid sponson. I'm wondering if any photos of this initial configuration could be found...?
Solid sponson is pretty obvious but how the open girder support looked like is a total mystery to me.
Not expecting but thanks anyway...

Darius

[Mark McKinnis]

Hi, I wonder if anyone could please help me, I am building a 1/1250 scale model of USS Oriskany circa Korean war , I was wondering if anyone would be so kind to know of any online links that show how she was painted during that period? Deck markings also , a nice colour profile or images of a model build would be greatly appreciated...Thank you in advance....

Hello,

The movie "The Bridges at Toko Ri" was filmed on the Oriskany shortly after the Korean Conflict. Play the movie on youtube and pause it when they show the ship. Take a screen shot and save it to a folder on your computer. Then you will have a nice library of color pics from the era your are looking for. For my post WWII ships, I use light ghost gray for all vertical surfaces and gunship gray for the decks not the flight deck. The flight deck is wood stained with Flight Deck Stain 21.


Hope that helps.

Good luck,

Mark

[rocketmannw]

Hello all... I am working on a Revell reissue of the USS Hornet in the Apollo 11 recovery. What would be the best way to cut the hull to create a waterline model for this diorama ? I have not done this previously and don't want to mess up those parts.

Thanks,

Bob

[Jon C Ryckert]

Have a couple of questions regarding the 1/350 Intrepid kit.

First, it appears from some photos of the ship in the late 1960's (and the ships current state)that the flight deck on the starboard side of the island is wrong. What I am seeing that the deck is higher than the flight deck and has ramps on both ends. Would anyone have a starboard elevation drawing or head on picture of the area? All pictures I have been able to gather online are from an angle.

Second, I had previously painted the wood section of the flight deck of my Gallery Intrepid Flight Deck Stain 21 as referred by someone. Being that the kit depicts the ship in the late 1960's would that be right? Wouldn't the U.S. Navy have started to use the Federal Standard paint codes by then instead of the WW2 colors of paints and stains? If I hadn't of done a bad job of taping off lines on the deck resulting in paint bleed, I would leave it alone. The reason I am asking is because I feel it would be best to start over and if I do, I would like to use the correct color of wood stain if it is something other than what I had used. Thanks for all replies.

[Timmy C]

Regarding the outboard section of the deck next to the island, here are some pics I took during my Fall 2017 trip there showing the raised characteristic - notice how the ladder aft of the island terminates at flight deck level, and how the railings and deck leading to the raised section clearly angle upward. Can't guarantee that this will be the case for the '60s though.

[Jon C Ryckert]

Thank you Timmy C. That does help out. I have a picture that I found on the internet from 67-69 that shows the forward ramp at the island.

[Mark McKinnis]

I have one of Ray's pics of Intrepid in 1968 and the wood flight deck is done in Flight Deck Stain 21. The metal deck is done in the non-skid paint which I use gunship gray to do.

Hope that helps.


Good Luck,

Mark

[Jon C Ryckert]

Thank you for the reply. I went back a few pages and found that it was you who had replied to my earlier post about the wood deck color. Sorry to have to bother you with it again but I have a hard time staying on one subject. Guess I should take notes and put them in the kit in case they get shelved again. Thanks again.

[Mark McKinnis]

No worries.

My current builds are:


1/350 Intrepid SCB-1251958 era
1/350 Kearsarge SCB-27A Korea
1/350 Kennedy
1/350 Nimitz

2 1/72 F-4J Phantoms and at least one 1/144 airliner at all times. So I am familiar with too many projects.


Good luck.

Mark

[Paper Lab]

Hi guys,�
my earlier inquiries about ANTIETAM initial configuration did not generated any comments so had to proceed based on my own findings. That's always very risky... Big thank you for great support I received from Dave Baker.�Still I had to figure out a lot of confusing data on my own. What I came up with I'm happy to show for all of you to judge. This is 1250 scale future release from Spider Navy, since this is going to be waterline model only, to save on time I didn't bother with underwater detail.�

�Two ANTIETAMS, or, to be more precise, ANTIETAM in two configurations: 1953 and 1961. Deck markings are pretty close to what you see on the real thing but don't use my colors as your painting guides....�

Just one comment regarding those open girder supports like on ANTIETAM model from Dragon. This is like portraying ship still in the shipyard undergoing reconstruction. Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't believe she was ever commissioned in this configuration which lasted few weeks the most before enclosed sponson was installed.�

Anyways back to post SCB-27A ESSEX now...

Darius

�

[Dick J]

Just a quick comment on the "as first modified" drawings. The port quarter sponson for the 5" guns may have been largely covered over, but it did not actually get removed until later. The small extensions outboard of each gun had been cut off and the guns themselves removed, but the main sponson remained. It was definitely gone by the time the pole mast was installed, though.

[Paper Lab]

Hi Dick, I see your point.
I modeled based on my imperfect research findings. And what I found out, whether this is all correct or not, is that by�the end of 1952 she got her angle deck installed and soon after went for test runs, possibly with those open girder supports under new deck, for couple of months, than returned to the navy yard and girders were replaced with solid sponson support, after which she sailed again ( May - June 1953 )to experiment with takeoffs and landings. Photos from those trials show what you mentioned, port quarter 5 In gun sponson still there but without extensions. Later that year she went back to shipyard finally completing her reconstruction process sometime in the second half of 1953. And I suspect that's when quarter 5 In gun sponson was removed as well as the original WWII gallery decks with widened sections where 20 mm guns used to be. Those were cut to same width all around. And since my model represents the end of 1953 early 1954 I'm okay with no quarter sponson.�
I am first to admit is a theory build on sandy beaches but with limited resources it's the best I could come up with...

Darius