i have the booklet of general plans for uss boxer from the floating drydock which are great,but i see they have some plans of uss boxer and essex as c/a access compartment access plans,can any one tell me what is on this kind of plan or plans? or describe them,do they hold more detail or are they just the same as booklet of general plans?any help would be great,
To answer my own question...I've managed to get a picture showing her starboard quarter while she was carrying the dazzle scheme. The two 40mm mounts were located inboard. Still not clear is locations of their Mk.51 directors.
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For those that didn't catch it, his Franklin took 1st place in the 2007 IPMS Nationals under the category "Class: 400 Powered (surface) Aircraft Carriers, 1/401 and smaller:".
So can anyone give me some magic tidbit of knowledge to keep from losing more than half of the tailwheels from the 5 Hellcats I have assembled? Fortunately the 5 that I have built are going on the hangar deck, so I can hide the miscreants. That still doesn't help when I build the flight deck Hellcats and those pathetically tiny tailwheels! My biggest problem is lifting them with tweezers - they tend to shoot across my desk into the nether-regions of my room. Any advice is welcome!
Don't squeeze the tweezers very hard; hold them with just enough pressure to keep the piece between the prongs. Perhaps you can also find some sort of rubber coating that you can dip your tweezer tips in, to add grip.
jgrease wrote:So can anyone give me some magic tidbit of knowledge to keep from losing more than half of the tailwheels from the 5 Hellcats I have assembled?
Build Corsairs instead?
I find self-locking tweezers with a somewhat loose grip good for small parts.
Didn't get to visit here till now...Tracy deserves some credit for my prize at the National as well. Without Tracy's helps I'd probably be losing sleep for many nights trying to figure out key details and configurations.
I've rebuilt all exposed gallery deck under flight deck overhangs. Unfortunately most of those are not visible once the model is finished. I guess I've learned a few lessons here and there so my next Essex shall take less than a year to finish.
Speaking about Essex...does anybody know when did Air Group 15's F6F switch from 3-tone camo to overall sea blue? I've seen both schemes on Essex while she was carrying dazzel camo. I am thinking about building CV-9 at the time of Formosa/Leyte operations.
Thanks,
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So I have been away from my Essex project for a while dealing with other modeling matters. I am beginning to build some aircraft and after reviewing all of the posts in this thread, I would like to confirm my choices:
If the Essex is done as it would appear late 42 early 43, then the aircraft would probably be overall blue-gray with light gray undersides, stars on both wings. However, aircraft after Feb 43 would begin to show the 3-color camo of sea blue uppers, white lowers and intermediate blue fuselage, stars on both wings.
My question becomes this - are the Trumpeter color charts reflecting a mix of older aircraft and newly-painted aircraft at the same time? This is annoying. I'd just as soon paint all of the planes in the older two-tone scheme, but I am under the assumption that the Avengers are only in the 3-color scheme as would the Helldivers. Please guys, input!!! Help!!!
Haven't seen the Trumpeter guides for Essex herself so I can't comment on that.
Keep in mind that Essex wasn't even commissioned until December 31st of 1942 and her shake-down wasn't even until April. This May '43 Picture should show you the markings and paint schemes... looks all two-tone to me. I'll know more with my notes though.
So here are the paint schemes as given by Trumpeter:
First thing I noticed was that the insignia are on the wrong side on the Helldiver's wings, but that's easy enough to figure out. I also noticed the white stripe on the right flap of the Hellcats and the diamonds on the tails of the Helldivers. Are these squadron insignia? Which ones are right for an early Essex? How many Hell cats would have that white stripe? How many Helldivers have the diamonds? Are there other insignia for planes on Essex? Too many open issues with planes! If this ship is the one right off of sea trials, then should there be such a mish-mash of paint schemes? Should they all be 2-tone, or are there some later planes in 3-tone? Help?
One thing.. it'll make my life easier if you can pick a more specific time period....but here we go:
OK, the SB2Cs with the diamonds... that diamond was *Franklin's* air group marking in 1945. CV-9 didn't get SB2Cs until April of 1944, following a March-April refit. She carried SBD-4s & -5s until then in the two-color scheme. In fact, the air group was in two-tone up until that refit and then her new air group was in tri-color... the same time she painted into Dazzle.
So if you want to do her first combat deployment with Air Group Nine (up to Feb '44) plan on F6F/SBD/TBFs in two-color schemes; after April of 1944 it's F6F/SB2C/TBFs in tri-color (Air Group 15), with Glossy Sea Blue F6F-5's appearing about late-October to November of '44, shortly before Air Group Four rotated aboard.. Glossy Sea Blue F4Us appeared about Jan '45 and the air group was still tri-color for most of the rest of the war (first GSB SB2C didn't show until July of 1945 and TBF-3Es in May, albeit I don't know for sure if they were tri-color or GSB).
Please correct me if I am wrong, but shouldn't the upper surfaces of the wings and horizontal stabilizers on the TBF/TBM's and SB2C's be the darker blue, with the undersides of the folding parts of the wings the medium blue?
Ok, here goes. Based on the photos Tracy has provided and others I've looked at from the 'net, if I want an early '43 Essex I should have the following:
-F6F, SBD and TBF in the earlier 2-color blue-grey over light grey with stars on both wings and no Helldivers at all
-those pesky AA galleries were still mounted on the aft end of the ship under the flight deck
-the radar setup is the initial one as launched
Sound right? I sure hope so. I'd like to finish this in the next 3 weeks. The only other outward issue for me is the cat on the flight deck. I know it's wrong, but if I fill it in and mess it up, it be more obvious than just leaving it there. Thanks again for all the help.
