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)

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

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.

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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

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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.

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

On page 49 of David Doyle's new book on The Hornet (CV-8), there is a picture of an BI radar antenna that was installed on the lower level of the fire control platform on the the tripod mast. Is it possible that this is the same type of mystery antenna that was installed on the forward part of Yorktown's funnel as shown in Steve Wipers Yorktown pictorial?

Absolutely. Tracy White sent me some of Yorktown's documentation and one of the notations on page three of the departure report when Yorktown left Norfolk in December of '41 is "BI RADAR - completed".

Thanks for the confirmation Dick. Not having my magnifying glass, it appeared they could be alike. I wonder if Tracy could pass that info along or is he using it for an upcoming project?

USS Yorktown at Norfolk Navy Yard, November 1938. Note Enterprise in the foreground. Photo from National Archives NARA II, RG 71-CA (Yards and Docks), courtesy of Roger Torgeson.

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Martin

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." John Wayne

Ship Model Gallery

What a great find! Thanks for sharing.

Is that a huge flag pole on the aft flight deck of Enterprise?

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USS WASP CV-7 VIDEO SERIES

Episode 03: Construction Part 2
Episode 04: Launch
Episode 05: Builder's Trials
Episode 06: Meet the Captain
Episode 07: Commission

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that is a temporary radio mast. You can see one on Yorktown, as well, in the famous drydock photo of her at Pearl before Midway.

And thanks to Roger for sharing the photo, and Martin for posting it.

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

I've just checked the builder's plans and it's there labeled as a mast for an anchor light.

It's an unusual aspect of the ship. I'd love to have a larger resolution of this photo.

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USS WASP CV-7 VIDEO SERIES

Episode 03: Construction Part 2
Episode 04: Launch
Episode 05: Builder's Trials
Episode 06: Meet the Captain
Episode 07: Commission

Charybdis PM just sent on getting a larger copy

Charybdis wrote:
This is not an unusual detail. I've noticed on quite a few Booklet of General Plans of battleships (especially) that there is shown a mast with usually 3 lights that is added somewhere on the bridge of the ship which, in reality, is never actually constructed as shown or in the very least, is the builder's way of adding the usual navigation lights on a temporary basis (say thru acceptance trials) and then struck when the lamps are permanently placed in their normal positions on yardarms and pole mast extensions, etc.

Obviously in the late '30s and way before RADAR masts came into being, this temporary anchor light mast was erected to serve that purpose on carriers coming out of yard maintenance when extensive work or modernization occurred.

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HMS III
Mocksville, NC
BB62 vet 68-69

Builder's yard:
USS PENNSYLVANIA (BB-38) Late '40 1:200
USS STODDARD (DD-566) 66-68 1:144
Finished:
USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) 67-69 1:200
USN Sloop/Ship PEACOCK (1813) 1:48
ROYAL CAROLINE (1748) 1:47
AVS (1768) 1:48

The temporary mast was a permanent feature used by the ships at times when transiting without aircraft operations or in port. You can see photos of this on other ships such as
CV-1 Langley or this on of CV-4 Ranger. It was retractable in most ships.

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Tracy White -Researcher@Large

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

Added a list of available kits and gallery entries to the first page

_________________
Martin

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." John Wayne

Ship Model Gallery