Calling all Essex-class (Cold War configuration) fans

[Jeffcsr]

My interest is in doing Valley Forge after her FRAM overhaul. I am trying to "pick a year" that I can get the right type Helo's and Deck Markings. Since Valley Forge did go thru FRAM II did she get the 3" 50cal duals on the rear where the Quad 40s once were? I haven't seen any picks of the rear of the ship that I can close up on.

I am also trying to pick out the Helo compliment. Did she every carry Seaprites / SeaHorses / and Dueces at the same time?

Also was the Port rear 5" mount reduced to 1 gun or 0 ?

[Stefan Buysse]

Hi,

Thanks for confirming the bit about the arrestor cables, Aryeh. Quite interesting that you served on LPH-8.

Jeff,
What did you mean with "Deuces"? S-2 Trackers?
I don't think Seasprites were normally on LPH's.
You are probably aware of the Starfighter decals for LPH's? One sheet broadly covers 1960 to 1965 and the other 1965-retirement.
I believe that LPH's from 1960 to 1965 carried a large amount of CH-34's and sometimes a couple of CH-37's. I've read about the CH-37's being sent ashore as soon as the ship reached Vietnam in 1965: they took up too much space on the ship.
For an LPH after 1965 you can have CH-34's, CH-46's and CH-53's onboard.

Cheers, Stefan.

[Jeffcsr]

The S-56 Mojave, or "Duece" was one nickname it had. I'd ve never thought of that Helo if it weren't for Starfighter-Decals website.

A few photos look to me like they are SeaSprites on board with the H34s but I've not found any picks with all 3 at the same time. A variety would be nice.

Where would you find 1/700 CH-46s ? I haven't found any yet...


Oh... and I saw photos of LPH-5 Princeton recovering Apollo 10, with SH-3 SeaKings on deck.... That one is itching to be my subject . That is possibly gonna happen if I don't decide on what year to do the Valley Forge.


EDITED: You're right I was thinking of the CH-37 Stefan, thanks for checking into that

[Stefan Buysse]

Hi, Jeff.

For a number of 1/700 helicopter kits, White Ensign Models offer the best option.
They have, among others, Seasprites, SH-3's, CH-37's, CH-46's, and CH-53's.
They also have the Wessex, which you could probably use for CH-34's.
The CH-46's were temporarily out of stock when I placed my order, but I have the CH-37's and I think they're gorgeous.
If you go for Seakings, Trumpeter also has them.

Cheers, Stefan.

[awetherhorn]

Regarding Valley Forge - As far as I know she never had 3" mounts. during the time I was assigned she had 2 twin 5"/38 mounts fore and aft of the island and 2 single 5"/38s on the port side, one forward and one aft. There were no other guns.
The flight deck was marked for 13 helo operating spots. Six forward and 3 opposite the island were for H-34s and the 4 after spots were larger, for CH-53s. We never carried CH-53s while I was on board. The ship's hull number, "8", was painted in yellow on the port side of the flight deck forward and on the starboard side aft. There was a solid white line marking the center of the flight deck. Helo operating spots had a spot number in white in the center and the spot was defined by 4 arcs of a circle that was approximately the rotor diameter, also in white. The mast, above the level of the stack top, was painted black and carried a TACAN, an SPS-4 surface search radar, and an SPS-8 height finder. I don't remember what we had for air search, but it may have been an SPS-43. I was aboard from early 1964 until the ship returned to the US after her first Westpac deployment in late 1964. DANFS history says she returned to Long Beach via Midway. The stop at Midway was to medevac me following an accident.

Aryeh Wetherhorn

[Dick J]

A repost from the main forum.

With the comming of the Korean War Essex , long overdue and apparently very well done, the question on my mind is:

Do long hull and short hull Essex Class Carriers come out of the mod equal? I know that there are variations to antena's, radar, and some of the weapons sponsons but are they essentially the same hull/flight deck?

Or more specifically, can the Iron Shipwright model be made into a long hull easily is the basic question of the day. ie...Essex into Lake Champlain.

I know, it is not even listed as available but I have been waiting for a modern Essex in 1/700 for a very long time.

Except for the bow above the waterline, long and short hulls were the same as-built. After the SCB-27A and C straight-deck mods, the bows were virtually identical on all of the modified ships. The post-mod beam is where the main differences existed. 27A's were blistered to 101' (except Oriskany, as the prototype, was 106'). 27-C's were 103'. When the SCB-125 mod was included, the forward overhanging part of the bow was removed and reshaped prior to enclosing the anchor deck. This was because the Tico was damaged in heavy seas, and the extra flare of the long-hull bow was seen as a contributing factor. There were some variations in the shape of the enclosed bows after the -125 mod.

The flightdeck was the same for all SCB-27A's. The deck was different on the -27C's, however. Because the steam cats were longer than the H-8's of the -27A mod, the after end of the stbd steam cat had to be moved inboard since the proximity of the island would make proper line-up difficult and slow operations. The location of the middle of the cat was fixed by the forward elevator and the 5" gun tubs, which pushed the forward end of the cat too close to the deck edge. Therefore, a thin triangle of deck was added to the stbd edge making the forward round down wider than the deck at the forward 5" guns. The port cat was also "angled" to parallel the stbd one. The -27C's also included a stbd deck-edge elevator. The three straight-deck "C's" had the elevator further aft than any of the later mods.

There also seems to have been some variation in the tie-downs. Some -27A's appear to have retained the WW-II style tie-down strips. They aren't obvious in the photos of -27C's, which seem to have the later tie-down points. I am not sure when (or if) the change was made. Perhaps Tracy White or Ray Bean can answer this one.

[SeanF]

A question regarding flight deck stain: One of my current projects is the USS Boxer in about 1946 fit, with the added gun tubs and Ms. 21 (revised) camoflage. With the hull and deck paints now in gray instead of blue, was the deck stain also revised to a gray? The directives for the revised Ms. 21 on the Ship Camoflage site doesn't say anything about it.

Thanks.

- Sean F.

[Tracy White]

Still deck blue; photos of carriers in the Korean war time frame even show it.
http://www.steelnavy.com/EssexKWWarneke.htm
Pay attention to the tie downs; the deck is worn, but the tie-downs still have a blue tinge.

[MM2CVS9]

A question regarding flight deck stain: One of my current projects is the USS Boxer in about 1946 fit, with the added gun tubs and Ms. 21 (revised) camoflage. With the hull and deck paints now in gray instead of blue, was the deck stain also revised to a gray? The directives for the revised Ms. 21 on the Ship Camoflage site doesn't say anything about it.

Thanks.

- Sean F.

I've been doing a lot of Essex class research lately and ran up on this paint info at steelnavy.com. Measure 21 revised was a 1945 revision. It used #7 navy grey on the vertical surfaces. (A very dark grey, more like the deck grey used in 1960). Decks were a revised 20B deck blue (somewhat lighter than earlier 20B, but still bluish). The flight deck was a revised #21 stain (a darker version of the earlier #21, more of a blue -grey). I printed the color chips from the site but they don't print as vivid as the web page. www.steelnavy.com/usnchips.htm
Hope this helps,
EJ

[Mark McKinnis]

Here is a nice photo of the Hornet in 1954. I used Flight Deck Stain 21 for my Lake Champlain and I was satisfied with the results based on this photo and a couple of other color shots from that period.

[Tracy White]

Measure 21 revised was a 1945 revision. It used #7 navy grey on the vertical surfaces. (A very dark grey, more like the deck grey used in 1960). Decks were a revised 20B deck blue (somewhat lighter than earlier 20B, but still bluish).

The original documentation called for a new deck gray, but this is separate from the flight deck stain.

[Doc]

I have four color videos at my website you may be interested in viewing. They are all of the USS Oriskany.

I have excerpts from the movie's "Bridges at Toko Ri" and "Men of the Fighting Lady", both shot on Oriskany in 1954.

I also have two home movies. One was filmed by the CO of VF-192 "Golden Dragons" for the 1953/'54 cruise and the other is from the 1955 cruise shot by a member of the flight deck crew.

I have applied color correction to these videos where I could. Like photos whose dyes fade over time, video film does too.

At least you might enjoy the films as well as get an idea of colors. I just can't be sure the colors are correct.

Just click on my website link in my signature and go to the videos page of my site.

Doc

[gtb -red]

Planing on scratch building a 1/350 Oriskany SCB-125A 1974. Could i place it here?

[Tracy White]

In order to keep this monster from growing completely out of control we split the in-progress build photo posts into their own separate posts in Picture post: Works in Progress and completed models. You are welcome to ask as many questions as you'd like here and post little "bumps" from time to time linking people to your progress, but be aware that I will pull those out after a while to try and help keep this thread as small and informational as possible.

[Nektarios]

Great news for all Essex class fans. U.S.S. Ticonderoga CVA-14 angled deck version is on Ships & Co. website.

http://www.lamodellistica.it/DescrArt.a ... uct_id=524

[Mark McKinnis]

Great news for all Essex class fans. U.S.S. Ticonderoga CVA-14 angled deck version is on Ships & Co. website.

http://www.lamodellistica.it/DescrArt.a ... uct_id=524

I saw it and tried to purchase one. I can not read Italian so I dropped them a note. The only way I could do the deal was to email my credit card info. Of course, I am not going to do that , so I will have to wait until Pacific Front or another vendor gets them in stock. Bummer! I am have been waiting for that kit for a long time. Looks like it will be a little longer.

Patience is a virtue???

[Nektarios]

I saw it and tried to purchase one. I can not read Italian so I dropped them a note. The only way I could do the deal was to email my credit card info. Of course, I am not going to do that , so I will have to wait until Pacific Front or another vendor gets them in stock. Bummer! I am have been waiting for that kit for a long time. Looks like it will be a little longer.

Patience is a virtue???

I have bought from them directly gave my credit card nr. with no probs.

[Mark McKinnis]

I saw it and tried to purchase one. I can not read Italian so I dropped them a note. The only way I could do the deal was to email my credit card info. Of course, I am not going to do that , so I will have to wait until Pacific Front or another vendor gets them in stock. Bummer! I am have been waiting for that kit for a long time. Looks like it will be a little longer.

Patience is a virtue???

I have bought from them directly gave my credit card nr. with no probs.

Were you able to use a "secure check out system" or did you email them your credit card info?

[Nektarios]

I sent them my credit card info in two separate emails for security reasons and i had no problem.

[Doc]

Straight deck Oriskany,

I wasn't sure where to post this so please move it if it does not fit in here.

I'd like to build a straight deck version of the USS Oriskany but at the same scale as my angled deck version. I've aquired the Lindberg USS Yorktown which is the right scale for my needs.

Here's my question:
Do you think it would be easier to convert this model to Oriskany...or convert an angled deck model of the Oriskany to straight deck?

I've attached two images of the Yorktown model with an Oriskany island stuck on top. I will also post two photos of the Oriskany from the 1955 cruise book in a second post. All four views show both port and starboard (notice there is a crane on both sides of Oriskany).