The Ship Model Forum

I emailed Mark from Starfighter a couple of weeks back about Ranger decals, which he didn't have, but in conversation it turned out he does have 1/350 decals for pre-war Yorktown, though they are not listed on his site:

On the 1940 plans for Yorktown it gives the frame links as 4 feet apart I believe. After that count the frames at the bottom of the profile plan. That should be all that's needed. Also in Yorktown's general comments up top of plan it gives the measurements of the ship from place to place like the keel up to the top points of the ship and gives waterline length as well as lengths of parts of the ship that extend like the aft flight deck.

When I read this report criticizing the effectiveness of the Measure 22 scheme, I noticed the following statement:

"At the time of her sinking, the USS YORKTOWN was painted Measure 22 with a Navy Blue band about thirty feet high above the water line."

What do you think about this? Is it just a mistake? Or does it mean the original 5-S blue band of the CV-5's Measure 12 scheme has been replaced with the 5-N and making it de-facto a Measure 22 scheme? (despite the Measure 22 itself has been officially introduced only in the in SHIPS-2 Rev. 2 dated June 1942)

_________________
- David
------------
Almost completed: USS Maryland (BB-46, 1945), USS California (BB-44, 1945)
Just building: USS Washington (BB-56, 1942)

The text was written by Everett Warner, one of the main camoufleurs of the USN in both WWI and WWII. As one of the main designers of camouflage he had advance knowledge of upcoming directives, but he was also based in the East Coast (the Camouflage section was in DC but I'm not sure that he was there every day of the week.... operational documentation for the section isn't at Archives that anyone's found yet) and not out in Hawaii where Yorktown was operating from when lost. It's very likely that since Sea Blue was ordered replaced in November/December that he just made an assumption.

I have no proof either way.

_________________
Tracy White -Researcher@Large

"Let the evidence guide the research. Do not have a preconceived agenda which will only distort the result."
-Barbara Tuchman

Hi folks,

I have been trolling the internet for information on the 'new' 1/200 scale Trumpeter Yorktown to find out if they did the proud old girl right and have not been able to find any out of box reviews or builds. Do any of you know if the new-ish kit is something resembling accurate? I would assume the CV-6 would have the same hull and many of the same parts but have not been able to find anything on her either.

I would appreciate any information you can give,

Chris

Chris,

I've inspected the kit, loaned to me by Martin Quinn, and taken many photos and plan on doing a review, but I've yet to have time to write it all down.

Long story short: This is a modified re-boxing of the 1/200 scale USS Hornet kit. The hull is much better than the old square-hull Yorktown and Hornet kits of various scales in resin and styrene, but it's not to the level of the recent 1/700 scale Trumpeter Yorktown and Enterprise, or the Merit 1/350th scale kits. A lot of the issues with it, which really aren't that egregious, would be hidden by doing a waterline build.

Other than the hull, the kit looks quite nice. The detail is decent, but certain areas will definitely benefit from aftermarket PE and resin additions.

Hope that helps.

-Devin

_________________
We like our history sanitized and theme-parked and self-congratulatory, not bloody and angry and unflattering. - Jonathan Yardley

Thanks Devin. I look forward to your complete review.

I have been thinking of getting this kit for a while now but have been holding off because of lack of information. I was actually thinking of doing a somewhat rough seascape so that might work well.

I actually just found your photos under the Review topic. I guess I missed that posting. Sorry for repeating the question here.

Take care,

Chris

Thanks, Tracy.

I assume the (theoretical) repaint would be done only during a refit / repairs. If my information are correct, Yorktown was present at Pearl Harbor only after the Marshalls-Gilberts raids. However, I did not find any info whether she was drydocked but I assume not as she undertook no refit there.

After that, she returned to Pearl only after the Coral Sea. Despite she was drydocked, I doubt they focused on repaint during the famous three-day-rush.

So, my assumption is she was still wearing the 5-S band at the time of her sinking.

_________________
- David
------------
Almost completed: USS Maryland (BB-46, 1945), USS California (BB-44, 1945)
Just building: USS Washington (BB-56, 1942)