1/350 USS Ranger CV-4 1936

[Aggie]

I'm backdating Trumpeter's 1/350 USS Ranger CV-4 to 1935, as she appeared in Fleet Problem XVI, her first. I thought having a build log would be a great way to seek info on Ranger, as well as on method and technique, as I am a novice shipbuilder (though not a novice modeler). As sources, I have Robert Cressman's excellent book,



as well as every period pic I could pull from Navsource, US Naval History & Heritage Command, and pics of the large Ranger model in the National Museum of the United States Navy at the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C. There are plans for Ranger (https://www.hnsa.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/cv4.pdf) available online, however these plans reflect changes to the ship through 1944. There are parts of the plan that are still quite helpful, however, as the draftsmen did not erase all of the original plan, which was dated 1934.

I decided to start with the island superstructure...



... by opening up the bridge windows. A combination of X-Acto saw, X-Acto and Olfa knives, a pin vise, and a square file were used to do this. I then went on to the six archways (they were not doors) on the port/flightdeck side of the island:



I began by drilling relief holes in each door, and, working first with a knife, then later with both round and square files, slowly opened up each aperture. I also removed the gun tub on the aft end of the island, filled the slot with Evergreen plastic, and replaced it with the period-correct walkway, which I scaled off the plan. The plugged quarter-round opening was a recess for
an additional barrier added in a later refit, so I plugged it with Evergreen, hit with a little Squadron putty, and sanded it smooth.
I then penciled in the location of the archway than had been there, using the plans and photos as a guide.



An hour's worth of work, mostly with the round and square files, and the as-built archways are starting to take shape!

Please feel free to comment, critique, ask questions, and/or contribute info, know-how, etc.

[taskforce48]

WOW! Very nice and clean work, will be following. Love the Dazzle of 44', but a 42' with MS12 might be the fate of my Ranger.

Keep up the good work

Matt

[Aggie]

Can anyone tell me what the box-shaped object in the picture is? And, would this object be open to the top, or closed?

[taskforce48]

Looks like the flag locker, so open on the top.


Matt

[Devin]

Agreed, those are "flag bags", open from top. Photo below.

[taskforce48]

Here is a close up of it,

She also had one on the Starboard side, later date but can be made out in earlier distant shots.

HTH
Matt

[Aggie]

Matt and Devin, thanks, super helpful. It looks like it has a canvas cover in one of the pictures, so
I may try to model it that way, if I cannot find suitable photo etch to model it with.

[Aggie]

Something interesting about Ranger in the time period I'm looking at her... her hanger doors did not roll up like garage doors, they slid along a track side-to-side:




That'll be interesting to try to model, huh? It looks like as-built, the doors had very hangar-y windows at the top, which were then painted over (like the windows on the secondary conn under the forward flight deck) at some later date.

[Surfsup63]

I like the work you are doing so far.....Cheers Mark

[Aggie]

I modified the island's splinter railing to look like it did in 1936; I was able to carefully cut away the existing railing and re-use sections of it, which maintained the 'lip' on the railing:



It's going to need some more careful puttying/priming/sanding, but it's most of the way there. I'm approaching having the 'archway' doors to their proper size and shape, too.

[Aggie]

Continuing to work on Ranger by removing objects on the flight deck that weren't there in 1936, which includes arresting/barrier locations, and the mounts for the clipping rooms that were added (I think in '42) which then had AA mounts placed on top.

Aft of the island, by using a sharp chisel blade, and working slowly, I was able to lift the housing mount as one piece, almost flush with the deck. One nice thing is that, inside that housing, as you can see, is wooden flight deck and tie-down strip still molded in. So, all you have to do is re-scribe over the blank area left by the mount. Using a small metal straightedge is really helpful to keep the scribe lines straight. The Tru-Color Mahogany should help to hide any goofs.

Forward of the island, same thing, except in this case I think I need to move the barrier location back out to the edge of the flight deck... I suspect it was moved in when the housing was added. You can also see where I modded the mounting area for the island, so that when one looks in the archways, you won't see that thick curb of plastic.

Another weird thing for people building Ranger in any time period: Trumpeter located the bomb elevators on the hangar level, but left them off the flight deck... here's where they should be, forward and aft of the forward elevator:

The thing to do would be to tape the bomb elevators off, and use Squadron white putty to add them in. Or, use some rectangles fabricated from leftover photo-etch? Hmmm...

[Surfsup63]

That is some very clean and very nice work so far.....Cheers Mark

[Aggie]

That is some very clean and very nice work so far.....Cheers Mark

Thanks!

Hopefully, this weekend I can get to the bomb elevators, and finish re-working barrier locations... I'm on the lookout for
photo etch for the barrier supports, as I'm going to have to re-locate several of them.

[Aggie]

Progress! I ground off the bow gun tub, at first using a Dremel with a sanding wheel, then file, and lastly garnet paper; I also fashioned a new bulkhead, and took off the extensions that were added in '42, so the forward bulkhead sits further back, now, allowing room for the as-built secondary conn:


I also cut off the stern gun tubs, again with Dremel and files, but left a 'shelf' for the as-built fantail extension:


Fan-tail extension in place on the model:


Prototype pic of the fantail extension:

[ModelMonkey]

Following with great interest! Love carriers in their pre-war configurations.

[Dan K]

This is really nice work.

[Guest]

Thanks, fellas! I've been working on getting aircraft to look less 'toylike', and I'm finding that photo etch and
Starfighter Decals go a long way (not an aircraft for Ranger, specifically, of course!):



I have found the Trumpeter aircraft really need 'remanufacturing', involving plugging existing holes with Evergreen
plastic rod, then re-drilling mounting holes to get wings to rest at the correct angles and levels:

[Aggie]

Worked on several aspects of my 1936 Ranger this weekend; first up was spending some time working on a new stern round-down. I cut off the existing, shortened one with a razor saw, again leaving a little 'shelf' to attach the new section of flight deck to:


Sticking with the flight deck work theme, I also trimmed the deck back to its 1936 appearance:


Up underneath the forward flight deck, I started re-working the girders to look more like the prototype; I also shaped the face for the as-built secondary conn:

You can see the underside of the forward flight deck pretty clearly in this pic:


Lastly, did some work on some aircraft for Ranger, specifically 3D-printed F4B-4s. I cut out the outside struts, and the
struts between the wheels, replacing them with photoetch and wire:




It's coming along slowly, but it's mostly just a weekend thing...

[taskforce48]

Very nice!!

Matt

[harristotle]

Looking good!