WIP - 1/350 USS Lexington (CV-2)

[smithec]

Hi James

I've been out of touch with this thread since middle of last year. Don't ask. But now settled into lovely new house with the perfect hobby construction den.

Haven't seen any updates on your build, which I thought I might have been way behind on. So wondering if you are OK.

My son has moved to Tampa, Florida and we (me, wife and daughter) are planning to visit him and his lady this coming Christmas and New Year. And I've worked in a trip to the Naval Air Museum in Pensacola! Trip of a lifetime for me.

Anyway, as I say, hope you're OK.

Regards, Chris

[lvsquarerigger]

Hi James

I've been out of touch with this thread since middle of last year. Don't ask. But now settled into lovely new house with the perfect hobby construction den.

Haven't seen any updates on your build, which I thought I might have been way behind on. So wondering if you are OK.

My son has moved to Tampa, Florida and we (me, wife and daughter) are planning to visit him and his lady this coming Christmas and New Year. And I've worked in a trip to the Naval Air Museum in Pensacola! Trip of a lifetime for me.

Anyway, as I say, hope you're OK.

Regards, Chris

Just going through one of thse frustration points and a lot of life. Aside from that everything's OK.

[lvsquarerigger]

Finally got back to work on my poor neglected baby but as usual there are problems. First I finally found something to use for the wooden decking on the forward 5 inch gun platforms. Yaaaaay! So I decided since I had the port one down to deck level I would also do the starboard one. Yayy somewhat. As I got down to the deck and was going to make a template for the new material I made a big mistake and figured it would be easier to just copy the plan and cut out a pattern. As usual it didn't fit! I got out the full plans and measured the distance of the front and back openings from the front of the ship aligning with the frames. The front of the opening is fine but the back is too close to the front or another way the opening is too small. Damn! so now the sponson is also short so I took the starboard one off. If I have to scratch it why not get a clean space? Then since the port holes are also off now would be a good time to do them as the sponson wouldn't be in the way when I used a new pattern to make the new ones. So I filled all the openings forward of the new part I had done for the boat pocket and vent doors. Then I decided to edit my pics so I could post them. I might also mention I'm on my small computer which is Lenox based as my big one had a hard drive die and it still isn't replaced. Anyway as I got to my usual online photo editor it wouldn't upload the picture. Mmmmmmmm. I went back to the small program in Lenox (or is it Lenix? doesn't matter.) Now when I edit it I can't find the edited photo. Hmmmmm. Need to call my friendly IT department (a friend who is a programmer) and seek counsel. So my poor baby is back under construction but no pics for now.

James

[lvsquarerigger]

Got hold of the IT department (Alias Richard) this morning and computer problems seem to be corrected so here are the pics.

[R.Ricardo]

Very nice work are you doing at this Lex...

[lvsquarerigger]

Thank you Ricardo

James

[lvsquarerigger]

Had to go back and read my last post to know where I am. I made a copy of the starboard plans and pasted them to the ship so I could drill right through them and get all the portholes in the right place. Opps! It worked well for the boat pockets but the hull side was basically flat and this part isn't. It seems that as the sides slope back the line of portholes rises! Imagine that. It didn't really show until I peeled off the pattern and then you could clearly see how they rose as they went forward. ON to plan C. fill in the offending holes, again, and use a different process this time. Use a compass with the ship on a flat surface and scribe a line for each row of portholes. Mark again and drill these out. It also seemed that I had the bottom of the sponson off for the same reason so also corrected that! Now it was time to glue on the sponson and the new planked deck. Did I mention in there anywhere that I also widened the opening for the setback? anyway I did. So here are some pics. Now off to the port side.

James

[Fliger747]

I am most familiar with the one step fwd and occasional multiple retrograde motions involved in scratch or bash work. First glancing at your taped plan on the side I thought what a clever fellow with a plating plan.... Almost never a disaster, a learning experience!

Keep up the good work! Tom

[lvsquarerigger]

Thanks Tom.

Now it was time for the port side and I removed everything and filled all the existing holes. Then it was sand, mark, and drill.I went all the way back under the boat pockets and did them too. No filling here as Trumpeter didn't even bother to put them in! I first got lines alnog the hull at the appropiate height and then I took the plans, folded them just above the relevant line of portholes, lined them up and marked where they shoud be. then it was drill and drill "til done. Then it was time for the sponson again. I wasn't satisfied with the balsa ones as the texture was too rough even after coating with yellow wood glue and sanding. So I went to basswood and made the new one. Along the way I started looking at photos and found that even the outline on the plans was different from what was actually done so it was investigate, think, and make it as close as I could by guesstimate. If you look at the photos from Squadron at sea it's apparent that the port and starboard ones are different. The port one comes up to the deck level and has a flat steel plate dropped around the edge. The starboard one goes up to a similar flat spot but does not have the open aspect the port side does. My port one is not complete but I'll have too many pics and info if I don't post now.

James

[lvsquarerigger]

It's been a bit since I've posted but I have been working, really. It's just that it has taken a bit of time and I'm now doing the degausing cables and they are T E D I O U S! Persnickety too! Anyway here are the pics of the aft portholes so now all of them are done. Just all those fuel filling, boat bumpers, and all the other little things to do.

[lvsquarerigger]

I got all the degausing cables done and then all those teeny tiny little guards under the boat positions to protect them. I used .3mm rod and it's like working with hair. It doesn't sound like much but it took a lot of time and I had to break often for my eyes. I couldn't find anything definitive on the cables at the bow, but there is a pic of sailors on the Sara swimming off the bow and what seems to be degausing cables going in the hawse holes with some kind of links connecting them so that is how I did mine.

[marijn van gils]

great stuff!!!
I wish this thred was there when I started my 1/700 version, as your research and attention to detail is great! You are the only one Ihave seen to correct the rear AA platforms for example (which I noticed toolate for my own model).

good job on the degaussing cables too, they are fun arent they?
only bad news: also to the front, they double up to four cables. This can be seen on several pics in the warship pictorial book. But luckily, there are no protective hooks there, so you can still add them without having to redo those.

Cheers,

Marijn

[lvsquarerigger]

great stuff!!!
I wish this thred was there when I started my 1/700 version, as your research and attention to detail is great! You are the only one Ihave seen to correct the rear AA platforms for example (which I noticed toolate for my own model).

good job on the degaussing cables too, they are fun arent they?
only bad news: also to the front, they double up to four cables. This can be seen on several pics in the warship pictorial book. But luckily, there are no protective hooks there, so you can still add them without having to redo those.

Cheers,

Marijn

I have WP 33 but not 11, also the squadron at sea book. I couldn't see any definitve looks as it always seemed to be in shadow. There are a couple of pics that seem to have a white streak but it wasn't clear. Is that what you are talking about? Could you give me some page numbers?

James

[Christian M.]

This thread is one of my favorites ...

When you start reading it on page 1 and if you take a look on the first building processes ... there was something else planned to build as model out of the box as that scratch building what we have in moment now!
But this happens when someone gets the right (or wrong?) documents in his hand of what he makes currently.

[marijn van gils]

Hello James,

I'm also working from these 2 books. Together, they are great!

The only definite proof is on page 35 of WP33. You can see the rear end of the starboard forward 5" sponson, with the crane above it. Below it are clearly 4 cables. They continue a bit to the rear of the vessel, but on page 34 you can see that below the bridge it already switched to two cables.
On the famous pic on pages 50-51 you can barely make out, just forward of the vertical line on the hull in between the two 1.1"AA positions forward of the bridge, something bending down from the cables, just like the ending of the 3rd and 4rd cable at the rear (visible on page 33) or maybe even more. Also, the lines of cables seems to be thicker forward of that point. On the top pic on page 24, and for the port side on page 21, I think I see the same. Again, this is quite faint, but I found it quite logical too (symmetrical to the doubling of cables at the rear at about the same distances from bow and stern), so I took this position for the start of the 4 cables forward on my model.

Just to be clear: I don't intend any criticism (on other things your model is already more accurate than mine, and you still have some building to do ), just help a fellow Lex-builder at a point in the build when it still can.

Cheers!

Marijn

[lvsquarerigger]

Hello James,

I'm also working from these 2 books. Together, they are great!

The only definite proof is on page 35 of WP33. You can see the rear end of the starboard forward 5" sponson, with the crane above it. Below it are clearly 4 cables. They continue a bit to the rear of the vessel, but on page 34 you can see that below the bridge it already switched to two cables.
On the famous pic on pages 50-51 you can barely make out, just forward of the vertical line on the hull in between the two 1.1"AA positions forward of the bridge, something bending down from the cables, just like the ending of the 3rd and 4rd cable at the rear (visible on page 33) or maybe even more. Also, the lines of cables seems to be thicker forward of that point. On the top pic on page 24, and for the port side on page 21, I think I see the same. Again, this is quite faint, but I found it quite logical too (symmetrical to the doubling of cables at the rear at about the same distances from bow and stern), so I took this position for the start of the 4 cables forward on my model.

Just to be clear: I don't intend any criticism (on other things your model is already more accurate than mine, and you still have some building to do ), just help a fellow Lex-builder at a point in the build when it still can.

Cheers!

Didn't think of it as criticism, just information from another modeler as anal as me. I have looked at that pic on 35 so many times and never noticed there are four cables. Thanks.

James

Marijn

[lvsquarerigger]

I made all the boat bumpers, for lack of a better term, along the hull but was not quite happy with the results, so as I often do, off they came. The way I had made them the braces were beveled to fit against the hull and as I looked at photos they weren't. So now it's back to square 2, 1 didn't cut it, and I think a little bit thinner rod is called for. Will have to see how it works out. Anyway here are a couple of pics of what I didn't like that now no longer exists.

A little note here. As most of us, I assume, I have used sanding sticks from the local hobby shop and they don't hold up to wet sanding very well. I was at the beauty supply with my wife and was looking at the sticks they have for nail techs and they were both water proof, to be able to disinfect between uses, and various grits so I got an assortment. they are large and I cut them up so I got three out of each one and have different sizes to utilize. I was wet sanding the hull where I had removed the bumpers and got to wondring if anyone else had come across this little trick, and if not to pass it along. I laid them all out and took a photo that I'll probably post later. /The grits range from 100 to 600. Well worth the time if you haven't already found this source.

James

[marijn van gils]

Still not a bad job on those boat bumpers!

I agree though that thinner rod will be better for version 2. I would also loose the triangles at their bases in our scales. they look big on the official plans, but are nearly invisible on photo's. Also, pay close attention to the placement of the bumpers: they are not alwys centered symmetrically below the pockets, and within each group don't always have equal distance to one another. And finally, there are 2 more behind the rearmost pocket, on each side of the ship.
The two great views on pages 12-15 of WP33 show all of this quite well, and it seems to fit with the official plans.

Sorry for all these details; it was one of the last hings I added to my model, so by then I had seen all the pics a lot!

Cheers,

Marijn

[lvsquarerigger]

Still not a bad job on those boat bumpers!

I agree though that thinner rod will be better for version 2. I would also loose the triangles at their bases in our scales. they look big on the official plans, but are nearly invisible on photo's. Also, pay close attention to the placement of the bumpers: they are not alwys centered symmetrically below the pockets, and within each group don't always have equal distance to one another. And finally, there are 2 more behind the rearmost pocket, on each side of the ship.
The two great views on pages 12-15 of WP33 show all of this quite well, and it seems to fit with the official plans.

Sorry for all these details; it was one of the last hings I added to my model, so by then I had seen all the pics a lot!

Cheers,

Marijn

That's part of the fun of these forums, doing it yourself and sharing the experiences you had so others can benefit. Of course there are always a few who get persnickety but they are few and far between. I set my bumpers by laying the hull on the plans and them making marks on the blister. Hadn't noticed the extra ones aft but started looking at pics. The one on the first page gives the clearest view of the bumpers, although only a few of them, and that's the one that made me start redoing them. Thanks for the added info.

James

[marijn van gils]

That's the fun indeed!

I checked those triangular supports again, and they are visible on some pics. Both pics on the right of page 28 of the squadron book shows them clear enough, but also shows they were fitted behind the bars, making them less conspicious.

Enjoy modelling those bars!

Marijn