Calling all Essex-class (WWII configuration) fans

[Dave C.]

I appreciate the insight Tracy but I'm ahead of you on the aircraft. I have been building a few here and there to avoid that overwhelming task for last, as you said. While we are on the subject of aircraft - how do you paint them? I've seen some airbrush and some hand painted.

[Navy2000]

Hey Guys

I need to know what the deck color would be on the bow/ focsle and at the stern/ areas under the flight deck. I am working on a 1/96 scale of the USS Ticonderoga CV 14 as she appeared in 1944 in Measure 33 Design 10A. She had the following colors: Light Gray 5-L, Ocean Gray 5-O, Navy Blue 5-N, and Deck Blue 20-B. What I want to know did they use the Deck Blue in the areas mentioned above or did they use the standard deck gray?

I am doing a rebuild/ overhual from the prior owners work.
Thanks
Duane

[Tracy White]

Duane - Deck Blue

Dave - sorry, I meant to answer your question earlier and lost a half-typed out response. Hand painted doesn't look right to me (I have higher standards of what looks right to me than I can often achieve) due to the sharp demarcation but no one can freehand good enough in 1/350th. I was experimenting with printing and cutting out paper masks that would have a small stand-off from the fuselage but never quite got that to look right either.

1945 Glossy Sea Blue is very attractive to me for some reason.

[Dave C.]

I have tried brush painting and I'm not satisfied with the results - particularly painting the undersides white. I assembled a lot of aircraft with the idea of air brushing but, I'm not to sure this ain't the way to go either. I guess the best way would be to airbrush them while they are still on the sprue and then assemble them. Am I on the right track?

Dave

[Navy2000]

Ok so the exposed decks are Deck Blue on the stern and the focsle, so what was the deck color in the hanger area? Was this also in Deck Blue?

Duane

[Tracy White]

Deck Gray as per June 1943 edition of the Painting and Cementing guide, Chapter 5

SECTION 5-A.
Finish of Compartments.
The kind of paint for the finish of interior compartments shall be in accordance with the subjoining table.

Compartment | Vertical Sides and Overhead | Decks
Crew's quarters | 1 coat of inside white formula 27 | 1 coat gray deck formula 20-L
Hangers | 1 coat of inside white formula 27 | 1 coat gray deck formula 20-L

[brianksnavy]

Hello i'm new to this forum but I have read all 124 pages. I want to build a 44 Hornet and there is a lot of talk on here about tom's modelworks, GGM, and other pe sets but nothing about FS700005 the five star super set. Does anyone have any experience with it? I've used other five star sets so I already know that the instructions suck. The instructions to the set seem to suggest you don't use the kit deck at all, it's a trumpeter essex kit, and I want to know if this is so? Thanks in advance for any answers it's been fun slogging through the 124 pages. This could all be solved if Flyhawk would just offer a short hull kit and save all of us gray hairs and profanity.

[Navy2000]

What are the items insdie of the circles? Are they some kind of load speaker or some other device?

Duane

[Tracy White]

The nomenclature was "reproducer" and yes, they were speakers. There were a few different styles - if you see a single column this was a reproducer as well. CVEs and CVLs had reproducers that look like a searchlight without glass.

[Navy2000]

Thank You very much. I will see if I can make these in 1/96 scale for the model that I am working on for a friend.

Duane

[brianksnavy]

Hello, I love this site/forum except ....most of the photo links are non-operable (there I said that nicely) and I can't seem to locate any links to build blogs referenced throughout the entries. Also did Tracy White ever do his book on Essex class carriers? I have the five star super pe set and the flyhawk super pe set and i'd love to comment on them, politely, constructively, but I'm feeling a little frustrated with this forum. I tried Dear Abby but she's history....any suggestions?

[Tracy White]

Book is still in progress and running hot and cold (mainly due to work and other projects. I could put it out "now" but I'd like at least one more archives trip and they've been closed since the pandemic started....

Current status is heavy work on the air group histories. I did proof-of-concept with Essex but wasn't really happy with the results and decided to expand it a bit, which I tested with Independence (I know, not Essex class but I was working with Dragon on the 350th kits at the time). Started with the weekly summaries of aircraft, that wasn't always detailed enough or reliable, so I started going through ship war diaries, but some ships were better than others, so I started going through squadron war diaries......

I gotta sit on some stuff so there's still interest in the book but I do not want to impede anyone's builds so I'll always answer questions if I can; I just might not back it with photos.

Problems with links not working are what we call "link rot" and have to do with the age of some of the posts. Web sites go offline or switch to a different back end that changes the address of pages and they don't usually leave forwarders.

I don't have any super photos of the actual elevator wells. Hangar bay in general has less photos than the flight deck because it's less "sexy" and the elevator even more so, it seems. The clearest shots I can recall weren't even that helpful as they documented one of the ships fire-fighting efforts and mostly showed a pit filled with black water. Plans will show you the auxiliary elevators, which can be used somewhat to hide lack of detail - at least with the aft elevator.

[brianksnavy]

Tracy perhaps you or someone else can help me....I want to build a 1944 CV=12 Hornet and I can't find a kit that has the correct single starboard side catapult. I would be willing to use a wood deck if there is one. The Nautilus decks have two catapults and the
ArtWox decksare no longer available. Any suggestions in 1/700 ? The FiveStar PE deck also has two catapults.

[Timmy C]

Tracy perhaps you or someone else can help me....I want to build a 1944 CV=12 Hornet and I can't find a kit that has the correct single starboard side catapult. I would be willing to use a wood deck if there is one. The Nautilus decks have two catapults and the
ArtWox decksare no longer available. Any suggestions in 1/700 ? The FiveStar PE deck also has two catapults.

The Trumpy Essex CV-9 kit comes with the single-cat flight deck: http://www.modelwarships.com/reviews/sh ... cv9-03.jpg

[brianksnavy]

Hello, Thanks to Timmy C for the info about the trumpeter essex flight deck having a single catapult. My dilemma is I want to use the FiveStar Pe set as part of the build since it has most of the underdeck structural supports and the gallery deck spaces and you can't use the trumpeter Essex deck with that set. The only solution I've found is to use the Artwox Essex wood deck with the FiveStar PE deck however the Artwox wood deck is no longer available. Apparently Artwox was out of south Korea and they ceased production and I read that Blue Ridge Models bought up their leftover stock but it didn't include the deck I need. I used to be able to talk to Brandon at Free Time Hobbies about such esoteric stuff but he sold out to another company. Having said all this I'm reaching out to the new owner of Free Time Hobbies to see if there is a remote chance of help along this avenue. Until then I have tried all the wood deck manufacturers I know of and so far no help. I have lots to do on the build for now without crossing this road and I have feelers out to see if anyone has a Artwox deck they are willing to part with. That's where I'm stuck anybody have any ideas? Thanks Brian

[Timmy C]

All of the heights of the girders in the 5 Star set are designed for a flightdeck underside that is the thickness of two PE sheets: the top of the flight deck and the bottom glued together. The bottomside also contains all the deckedge galleries. 5 Star has you add plastic strips to the top of the hangar bulkheads to make up for the thickness of the plastic deck (which is no longer used).

If Brian uses the bottom of the flight deck (and all those lovely details it includes) and simply sticks it to the bottom of the single-cat plastic deck, there would be insufficient space for the girders because the bottom of the flight deck would be too low.

Brian could, of course, trim down the girders on the fore and aft to make up for that height difference, but that can be tricky and there may be additional problems due to the deck edge galleries now being a millimetre or two lower than designed by 5 Star. Still, Brian may have no option but to do so if he cannot find the appropriate wood deck.

[Timmy C]

Well no, the problem is that the PE deck's upper surface is the wrong pattern (double cats). His only option is to use the plastic Essex deck or the wooden sticker in order to provide that correct flight deck pattern. A plain plastic deck, no matter how thin, provides no solution.

[lexington1709]

Hello. I am looking to start a Dragon Lexington (1/700) and decided to make this one like Lexington appeared at the Marianas Turkey Shoot in June 1944. I've got a Model Monkey island for the time period... it's beautiful. But, in doing the requisite research prior to construction, I had a couple of questions and thought I'd ask about the kit itself. Most particularly, it's the PE set that's got me a little corn-fused...

1) Radars: The kit PE has all but the SK (bedspring) radar. The PE does have the SK-2, which she got in her May 1945 refit, but it won't be right for her June '44 configuration. Is this right or am I missing something?

2) Mast antennas: The PE has only 3 mast antennas and the whip antennas from her May 1945 refit. Lexington still had all 5 masts in June 1944. Again, am I missing something?

Seems to me like either I may be missing a PE fret (kit was bought used but all the parts checked against the instructions) or was this something Dragon done when they released the kit? I mean, the SK and the mast radars are in the frets but it's not in the PE fret. Odd they'd do the one but not the other. Thoughts? TIA!

[Timmy C]

Strange that your PE fret includes SK-2 - as you can see in these scans of the instructions and kit parts, the PE fret shouldn't include any SK radar, neither the original or the -2: https://www.super-hobby.com/products/U. ... rtner_id=9

[lexington1709]

Strange that your PE fret includes SK-2 - as you can see in these scans of the instructions and kit parts, the PE fret shouldn't include any SK radar, neither the original or the -2: https://www.super-hobby.com/products/U. ... rtner_id=9

You�re right. I pulled out the kit PE and it doesn�t have any SK radars! And it had the mast antenna. I�m silly!