Calling all USS Lexington CV-2 fans

[Elvis965]

Thanks Steve!

It won't hold a candle to Yorktown when you're done, though.

Bob

[Guest]

Thanks John and Guido!

I promise no hazy photos when she gets to the gallery, because I won't be taking them!

Bob

Hey Bob...when are we gonna see some more shots in the gallery?

[MartinJQuinn]

Thanks John and Guido!

I promise no hazy photos when she gets to the gallery, because I won't be taking them!

Bob

Hey Bob...when are we gonna see some more shots in the gallery?

Whoops - that was me.

[Elvis965]

Hey Bob...when are we gonna see some more shots in the gallery?

Holy Impatience, Batman!!!!!

There are currently 14 SBD's, 13 TBD's, and 12 F2A's sitting on my table, puttied and primed, and waiting for paint & decals!

I was going to wait until the airwing was done before I sent it in to Sean to post in the gallery.

While I'm on the subject....NO red & white tail stripes in Oct 41, right? You posted the pic of the F3F on Sara in 41 and there weren't any. I'm thinking I read that they weren't added until Jan 1942?

Bob

[MartinJQuinn]

Hey Bob...when are we gonna see some more shots in the gallery?

Holy Impatience, Batman!!!!!

There are currently 14 SBD's, 13 TBD's, and 12 F2A's sitting on my table, puttied and primed, and waiting for paint & decals!

I was going to wait until the airwing was done before I sent it in to Sean to post in the gallery.

While I'm on the subject....NO red & white tail stripes in Oct 41, right? You posted the pic of the F3F on Sara in 41 and there weren't any. I'm thinking I read that they weren't added until Jan 1942?

Bob

Who's impatient!!

No tail stripes in October 1941, correct.

[MartinJQuinn]

I was going to wait until the airwing was done before I sent it in to Sean to post in the gallery.

How those planes coming along? (This from a guy who still has 28 SBDs to finish for his Lex...)

[Elvis965]

Howdy Martin,

Well, here's an update:

All 39 are built, primed, and have had the undersides painted light gray.

The 6 TBD's that will have folded wings are also painted USN Blue Gray and have a gloss coat on them. They are currently waiting for a wash and decals.

Peter Van Buren was kind enough to share his method of highlighting the panel lines on those great TBM's on his Casablanca, so I have to go pick up some dark gray oil paint this weekend. Peter actually doesn't do the gloss coat, but I had already done those 6 before I exchanged e-mails with him.

So I painted one of the SBD's blue gray, and will try his method on that without glossing to see how it comes out.

Question for you....what color do you think I should paint under the canopies for the TBD's & SBD's? Zinc green? Black? I can't decide.

Also, I'm not sure if you've needed the Trumpy F2A's yet, but they leave MUCH to be desired.

Lex was my first Trumpy kit, so I really haven't had much of an opinion on Ron & Tracy's grumblings about the steps back in quality from Trumpy, but now I know what they mean.

The TBD's & SBD's have much more detail than the F2A's. I know the Buffs were much smaller, but wow. The first two have separately molded individual landing gear, but the Buffs have this clunky single piece undercarriage that looks more like the things that fell off the ME-163 Komet's after they took off than they do landing gear. I'm trying to figure out if I can jerry-rig some of the PE that came with the GMM & Tom's sets to cobble together some decent looking landing gear.

And there is no separate cowling for the engine. It's molded into the left and right halves of the plane's fueslage, and after you glue it together you have this horrid, totally flat front on the plane, and the only detail is the seam that runs from top to bottom and the hole in the middle for the prop. How hard would it have been to just mold a separate cowling, like on the TBD & SBD?

So that's where the planes stand! I hope to get more painted blue gray this weekend. I probably won't get to the washes until next week.

Bob

[BrianK.]

Hi, anyone know when the splinter shields were added around the AA platforms. Did she have splinter shield while in peace time grey? Thanks in advance.

[MartinJQuinn]

Question for you....what color do you think I should paint under the canopies for the TBD's & SBD's? Zinc green? Black? I can't decide.

Also, I'm not sure if you've needed the Trumpy F2A's yet, but they leave MUCH to be desired.

I painted the "interiors" of the TBDs aluminum and the F4Fs and SBDs Zinc Chromate Green. From what I can discern, the TBDs probably never had their interiors repainted into ZCG from aluminum, silver, or whatever freakin' color they were.

Man...I thought the F4F/TBD/SBDs were bad...if the F2As are WORSE, then they just really suck.

[Elvis965]

Martin,

If I remember I'll snap a couple pics and show you what I mean...

Hi, anyone know when the splinter shields were added around the AA platforms. Did she have splinter shield while in peace time grey? Thanks in advance.

Brian, which AA platforms? If you flip back to page 12, Mike Sills has a post at the top that said the 5" platforms got STS shielding "mid 1941".

And she wouldn't have been in Standard Navy Gray any longer at that point.

Bob

[masch3]

Hi all,

I am about to embark on a build of the USS Lexington (that is after I finished some small stuff).

I am going to build the 1/350 Trumpeter kit with the YMW backdate kit.

I have two questions:

1. Which are the best references?

2. Which etched fret does best cover the Lexington in her late '30s fit? I was thinking GMM.

TIA

//Magnus

[MartinJQuinn]

Hi all,

I am about to embark on a build of the USS Lexington (that is after I finished some small stuff).

I am going to build the 1/350 Trumpeter kit with the YMW backdate kit.

I have two questions:

1. Which are the best references?

- The Lexington Class Carriers, by Robert Stern
- Warship Pictorial #11, Lexington Class Carriers by Classic Warship Publications (out of print)
- AJ Press Lexington & Saratoga Volumes 1 & 2 (out of print)

The Wiper book and the AJ Press books - if you can find them - have good pictures, but the Stern book has the best information, IMO.

My understanding is that Wiper is working on a new Lexington book, but I haven't heard anything about it recently.

2. Which etched fret does best cover the Lexington in her late '30s fit? I was thinking GMM.

TIA

//Magnus

Gold Medal Models has two sets for Lexington class carriers. Set 350-33 is for Lexington, while set 350-39 is for Saratoga. I used the Lexington set on both my Lex and Sara builds - it's a great set. The Sara set came out after I had built both kits, but I'm sure it's the usual high quality you can expect from Loren. The only thing missing from the sets, IMO, is a photo-etch part to replicate the lattice yardarm on the back of the spotting top. I pirated that part from the YMW Lex set to use on my Sara. You can see the part I'm refering to here.

[Elvis965]

The only thing missing from the sets, IMO, is a photo-etch part to replicate the lattice yardarm on the back of the spotting top.

Agreed. That and the forward crane. I used 1/700 Arizona yardarms for mine and clipped the ends off:



My PE is a combination of GMM's set and Tom's set. Had I noticed the missing yardarms, I would have gotten the YKM set.

Good luck on the Wiper book. Auctions on eBay generally get over $80 for that book. I lost 4 or 5 of them, and finally gave up. I think the Stern book is also OOP. I know I paid $120 for my used copy from an online reseller, but it was in great condition.

Bob

[Jeremy Dominique]

Anyone know the squadron markings for Lexs planes in 38. My Lex build has come to a screeching halt trying to find out the markings. Ive looked in the Stern book and Wipers and on countless websites. Any help would be appreciated.

Jeremy

[MartinJQuinn]

Anyone know the squadron markings for Lexs planes in 38. My Lex build has come to a screeching halt trying to find out the markings. Ive looked in the Stern book and Wipers and on countless websites. Any help would be appreciated.

Jeremy

The closest I have seen are the markings for 1939 - Starfighter Decals makes a set of decals, which can be viewed here

[Jeremy Dominique]

Thanks Martin. I thought about ordering starfighters decal sheet. It would work for the SB2Us and the TBD1s. I still have to find the F2Fs and SBU markings. I'm going to go ahead and order the decal sheet that way I only have to find the F2Fs and SBUs. Thanks again Martin.

Jeremy

[angeleyes]

i am trying to built a dio with lex as on fire or just before that with crew abandoning etc and i want to know the flight deck markings.I mean according with the foto in the link below from what i can make out appears as if she had the classic yellow? or black lines runnin along the lenght of the deck
Having said that am not sure the colour or their size/shape at all so any help would be welcomed.

http://www.navsource.org/archives/02/020236.jpg

[Elvis965]

Light gray. Check out Martin's build in the gallery:

http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html

Bob

[Dick J]

i am trying to built a dio with lex as on fire or just before that with crew abandoning etc and i want to know the flight deck markings.I mean according with the foto in the link below from what i can make out appears as if she had the classic yellow? or black lines runnin along the lenght of the deck
Having said that am not sure the colour or their size/shape at all so any help would be welcomed.

http://www.navsource.org/archives/02/020236.jpg

You have to be careful in interpreting the stripes from these photos. What you are looking at in the photo listed above are not painted stripes. Lex and Sara had slots or tracks in their decks (the purpose of which is not covered by any of the various books on the ships), and that is what is visible here. If you have both the Lex and Sara kits, the tracks are depicted on the Sara deck but not on the Lex (at least, they are that way on the 1/700 kits). The tracks should be on both.

[MartinJQuinn]

This is from YouTube. It's a video clip on the Battle of the Coral Sea. About 1/2 way through there is a 4-5 second clip taken from a plane flying along Lex's port side. Note the Ms12 camo!! (Which she wore prior to Coral Sea). There is also a short snippet of a Fighting 2 Buffalo taking off.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28fdcrCPJdw&NR=1