Calling all Essex-class (WWII configuration) fans

[AndrexP]

[Tracy White]

First time linked to anywhere! I've mentioned this before but just finished up the report and image processing.

Damage to CV-12 Hornet by Typhoon, June 1945.

I have to do the final proof reading and 3-4 more captions but it's done otherwise...oh, after I get the log book entry I forgot to scan in apparently

[Tony Bunch]

Hi Guys,
Mark, Martin and Tracy,
Thanks for the comments.
Ron,
I think I will sand the, "ridges", with a much finer grade than 2000. Thanks for the input.
"Painting away from the masking tape edges", is something truly remarkable to master. Simple in lack of complexity, but darn difficult when holding the airbrush in one hand and the model in the other. While holding at just the right angle under a light source to see the paint being applied, and not, "shooting into a taped corner",...has just been a secondary consideration when in the process of painting with the airbrush. Sometimes I have presence of mind, but most of the time........eluded me.
I thinned the 5-D quite a bit and applied it sparingly, (at first), and then got a little more liberal.
When the first attack with 5-D was over, there were no ridges to speak of, but there are plenty of ridges elsewhere still left to deal with.
Still at it!
Tony Bunch

[AndrexP]

...just finished up the report and image processing.

Tracy: Thanks for the very interesting pictures! I recently went aboard Yorktown (CV-10) and was able to go behind the scenes to the fo'c'sle. I was surprised to see that a great deal of the original (pre-hurricane bow) structure was retained after they enclosed the pointy end, including the original curved weather bulkhead, flight deck catwalk structure, and the massive verticals. I took some pictures that I'll try to post.

[Timmy C]

My 1/350th Franklin also had mismatching lower hulls. All that needs to be done, really, is fit the rear first, then sand the bow till it's flush with the upper hull, because in my version, the guides fit inside the upper hull.

[Tracy White]

Hey everyone, special surprise tonight (even for me!)

Found an interesting booklet today at NARA and scanned in an article on CV-11 Intrepid. It OCR'd really nicely and I was able to get it posted here. It's regarding the temprary repairs following her torpedo hit in February, 1944.

[Tracy White]

It's just a weekend of new material!
This one took me a while, about two months to type, proofread, and caption.

CV-14 Ticonderoga page with a report concerning the January 21, 1945 action where she was hit by two Kamikazes. This report has TONS of photos in the appendix (appendix A in the report), linked to when referenced, and comments that you can turn on and off. Hope y'all enjoy!

[MartinJQuinn]

It's just a weekend of new material!
This one took me a while, about two months to type, proofread, and caption.

CV-14 Ticonderoga page with a report concerning the January 21, 1945 action where she was hit by two Kamikazes. This report has TONS of photos in the appendix (appendix A in the report), linked to when referenced, and comments that you can turn on and off. Hope y'all enjoy!

Excellent stuff, Tracy. The photos really bring home the reality of how badly damaged these ships were after these attacks. The gun director looks like it's about to fall off the island!

[Tracy White]

Yeah, and did you notice that for that damage there was just one wounded sailor?

I think that had she not lost all of her radars they may have tried to keep her in service longer. That seems to be the main reason for her retirement and overhaul before redeployment.

[Tracy White]

OK, Since Tony's mostly done with his CV-17 I'll step up with my CV-9.

Building the Dragon CV-9 as it was the first of the 700th kits I had and it seemed fairly straight forward. Not that far off in retrospect but there are some things Dragon got wrong. First shot is the basic kit; the deck and island aren't glued down but are being worked on. The close up on the island shows the platform changes I'm doing to the kit to correct it for the time period she's supposed to represent.



The second shot is a close up of why I'm not farther along than I am. Like Tony I had some issues with the two hull pieces not quite lining up. What you see here is a lot of filing and filling to even things out. I started off using Mr. Dissolved putty and it's been a learning experience for me. Devin mentioned having problems with pits in his CV-2 deck... same result here. My suscpicion is that in cracks where there is flexing, I.E. compression and expansion loads on the Mr. Disolved putty, it will fail and start to push out, forming small pocked pits in the surface.

I would sand, see a puka (hawaiian for hole), fill it with more, sand more, and find another one elsewhere. Finally I took to scribing the joint to dig it all out and filling it with slow, thick CA glue. That's working a lot better.



The globs of CA glue you see here should be the last of them (I hope!)
I also though tof using thin sheet plastic over this joint to both save me time and represent the armor belt but I couldn't cut it in a way that looked right... so if I do this I'll just mask it and shoot some Mr. Surfacer over it to build it up.

For those of you looking for a quick list of changes for the Essex kit:
* Delete both Hangar deck catapults as Essex never had them.
* Turn the port sponson for said cat into a mount for two quad 40s. I don't have a good drawing for this handy but the design is similar to the platforms that the other ships (except CV-13 Franklin and maybe CV-12 Hornet) had.
* Flight Deck has the correct number of catapults but it's too long... shorten it down to the first "box" on the track
* Bridge level platform is the wrong shape... compare it to photos for the right one (or buy the book when I get it finished )

Probably a couple more but I can't remember them right now.

[Tracy White]

That is one reason I am leary of commission work!
OK, I went through all of my Essex class photos this AM; I'd meant to look over some of them yesterday but was a goombah and forgot the disc of stuff I had Ron Smith scan for me. So apologies for the delay.

Flagstaff placement may vary by ship and by year; I see it at the location in question on some ships (CV-10, CV-16, CV-18 ), not in others (CV-12, CV-19). CV-13 doesn't have one in her first war cruise but upon her return to New york following the bombing she has one so it may have been added at Puget Sound during overhaul.

It's mounted to the rear of the Mk 51 director tub when present. The one shot I can share is a CV-16 Lexington photo:

[Gordon Bjorklund]

1/700 Dragon USS Lexington

Flight deck cut out to hangar deck side fit problem. Anyone else have this problem? Looks like I'll have to do a little R&R on that section. Should the sides conform to the flight deck cutout?



TIA

Gordon

[Tracy White]

Yeah, same problem here Gordon. I haven't totally made up my mind yet but it also looked like the deck overhung the midships section on the starboard side (it should be flush) so I was going to just whack off some of the alignment lines and push the deck over to port so that some of that problem on the cut out went away. It doesn't help that the deck edge immediately aft of the cut out is too far inboard.... it should stick out as far as the area just forward of the cut out.

I haven't made much progress on my Essex tough as my bottle of CA glue went south and I'm trying to wait out the last bead which is taking FOREVER to cure.

[Gordon Bjorklund]

Dragon # 7051 1/700 USS Lexington CV-16

Tracy and fellow Essex class modelers,

A couple of weeks ago Tracy and I were talking about this kit. I told Tracy
I was interested in building this kit as a 1944 version. (all those guns all
all over the ship) It has the right flight deck (cut outs), the right island,the right 40mm mounts and enough 20mm mounts to do the job.

At first glance this kit seemed to have everything you needed to build either 1944/45 Lexington. You get a lot of weapon options with this kit.
All the weapons are there.
four 5" twin mounts (with two different turrets-one plain, one w/detail.
four 5"/38 cal open mounts.
twenty 40mm quad mounts.
forty 20mm dual mounts.
sixty four 20mm single mounts.
ten .50 cal quad mounts.

Early and late war Island parts.

single and dual stern 40mm quad mounts.

The flight deck has the usual cut outs in it.

The 20mm galleries are only for the 1945 version. The gun mounts match up with the illustration in Squadron/Signal's Essex Class Carriers in Action.
Warships #10 Page 11. Lexington 1945

In order to do a 1944 version of Lexington with this kit, we will have to scratch build the correct size 20mm galleries. This seems to be a simple job. Just time consuming.

I do like this kit.

Gordon

[Tracy White]

Welcome to the club Steve!
Question; early 1944 or late? She went in for overhaul in September of 1944 and came out with changes but kept the dazzle for a couple of months into 1945. Depending on the kit you start with it's probably easier to do post September/October 1944.

[ModelMonkey]

Thanks!

I'll be starting with the Trumpy Yorktown kit and would like to keep major surgeries to a minimum but not at the expense of accuracy. Late 1944 then??

[Tracy White]

Late 1944 would be best; otherwise you have to scratchbuild a new quad 40mm "fairing" for the stern, port side hangar cat platform and "flipper" and forward island quad 40 mm mount. Trumpeter isn't nice enough to give you those parts.

[Adaks]

Tony, nice bulid. Bunker Hill in her MS32/6a camo is one of the best looking Essex class carriers for me.

Steve, I also want to build USS Yorktown in her late 1944 fit (but I haven�t started, yet )

If you have Trumpeter 5603 kit, it�s a good starting point.
Some inaccuracies:
- port side 40mm quads mounts should be level with the 5" open gun platforms (not raised as in the kit).
- small notches in flight deck above these quads should be filled.
- Yorktown after her 1944 refit had only 2 radio masts (forward), not 5 like in kit.

[Poppop]

Reference the deletion of the three aft radio masts on the Yorktown: I understand they were replaced with "whip antenna's"

Does anyone have info on the number, placement, and length of antenna?

Regards and thanks in advance.

Charlie

[Adaks]

Reference the deletion of the three aft radio masts on the Yorktown: I understand they were replaced with "whip antenna's"

Does anyone have info on the number, placement, and length of antenna?

You are right - they were replaced. I�m afraid that there aren�t any shots of USS Yorktown from that period online, but you can see it in some books (Warship Data, Friedman). If you want to see right configuration of radio masts, look at the photos of Keith Hufnagel�s CV-10 Yorktown.