Calling all USS Lexington CV-2 fans

[MatthewB]

I finally got around to opening my Trumpeter 1/700 USS Lexington.

And my first thought was:

DAAAAAMN! This ship is freaking HUGE!

The Akagi and Sh?kaku are equally monsters of the sea.

These things are longer than the Iowa and Yamato-classes of ships.

I'm going to need to order some new bases for them, as I thought they would fit on the bases I had cut for Battleships (which were roughly 12" long).

The Lexington must have been a ponderous and terrifying sight for an enemy of the USA to see Steaming off their coast.

Now to get the PE for it (I have the PE for the Sh?kaku, and part of it for the Akagi).

It is fortunate for my wallet that the USS Lexington was sunk, as I hesitate to think about how many versions of the other carriers I am going to have to get for all of WWII.

MB

[Jeff Sharp]

Here is some rare footage of Lex 1942. I love the view of the MG gallery on top of the stack. Enjoy.

http://www.gettyimages.com/videos/50279 ... st#license

[Tracy White]

I like the quad 1.1" gun tub footage at the very end - notice that it has a taller splinter shield section forward, presumably to keep them from shooting through the island?

[Jon C Ryckert]

Are we seeing the forward sponson modification that supported the 3" gun and later 1.1" that are shown on the May 1941 Booklet of General Plans at around 17 seconds time?

[Michael Vorrasi]

I like the quad 1.1" gun tub footage at the very end - notice that it has a taller splinter shield section forward, presumably to keep them from shooting through the island?

Yes, no doubt the shape is to prevent firing into the ship. See the clip of the hull close up and waterline at 18 seconds in. Note the two color demarcation. Measure 12.

[Dick J]

Are we seeing the forward sponson modification that supported the 3" gun and later 1.1" that are shown on the May 1941 Booklet of General Plans at around 17 seconds time?

Yes, there is a view of that structure on the starboard side. The view is looking forward, and so gives a limited perspective on the support. I am still looking for a clear beam-on view of that supporting structure.

[marijn van gils]

I like the quad 1.1" gun tub footage at the very end - notice that it has a taller splinter shield section forward, presumably to keep them from shooting through the island?

Me too!
As far as I know, this area is not visible clearly in any other film or photograph.

The .50 gallery is also great, showing metal rods to prevent shooting their own ship, and splinter matting hung to the splinter shields.

Good stuff!!!

[Sambini]

Hello,

I have the trumpeter 1/350 scale kit and want to backdate it where it has the 8" guns. I can't find the YMW backdate kit anywhere. What where the differences with the 8" guns and are there any detailed plans that will show what needs to be changed.

Thanks

[Mike C]

I have the backdate kit for $25 plus postage. Kit is complete and unstarted. I also have resin copies of the water-cooled .50 cal guns if you need any. Contact me at mikecap07 (AT) gmail (DOT) com if interested. I'm in 30134.

Have fun with your project!

[marijn van gils]

What where the differences with the 8" guns and are there any detailed plans that will show what needs to be changed.

Lexington's features changed considerably during her career. If you want to build her with the 8" guns, but want to keep the conversion work to a minimum, it would be best to portray her somewhere in between her last two refits.
The 8" guns were removed after 26 march 1942, so after the raids on New Guinea but before the battle of the Coral Sea.
Before that, in juli 1941, she had her CXAM-1 radar and related equipment fitted. In late august 1941, her 3" guns were replaced by 1.1" quadruple guns, and she had a catwalk installed between the bridge and radar control room at the front of the funnel. So for minimal changes, best from september 1941 to late march 1942. Maybe during the famous raids in early 1942 would be an interesting time to set her?

This famous shot was taken a bit earlier, but shows her in this configuration:

Warship Pictorial 33 on Lex has some more nice shots from this period, from october '41, december '41, and early '42. Also one nice one from her entering Pearl Harbor for the refit in which the 8" guns were removed, and several shots showing the removal itself.

When the 8" guns were removed, some more changes were made however, so you will need to 'undo' these on the Trumpeter kit. You will need to:
- not place the three 20mm AA platforms in the boat wells, but configure these as boat wells.
- surpress the two 20mm platforms at the aft flight deck edges
- remove the 20mm platform on the starboard side of he funnel, and install a boat platform instead. This extends farther forward than the later AA gun platform.
- build the 8" fire control station at the aft end of the funnel, on the lower of the two platforms (which has two 20mm guns in the kit). I believe Model Monkey has a 3D funnel correct for this timeframe, including the fire control station, and much better detailed than the kit item, available on Shapeways.
- cut the upper level of the bridge back a bit. I believe Model Monkey has a 3D bridge correct for this timeframe, and much better detailed than the kit item, available on Shapeways.

But check your references further, maybe I forgot something�
Also, check which types of aircraft to use, and their markings (no tail stripes before late december '41!), as these might have changed during this period.
Note also that she had degaussing cables from may '41 onwards.

If you want to date her further back, more changes need to be made: weapons and their platforms, radar, and even forward flight deck shape if you go back far enough. At that point, the Saratoga kit would be easier to start from however, obviating the need for the YMW set.

Good luck; that sounds like a great project!

Marijn

[MartinJQuinn]

Impressive Lexington.

[Dan K]

Particularly as it's a 1/350 scratch-build.

[MartinJQuinn]

Particularly as it's a 1/350 scratch-build.

Hat tip to Dan for pointing this blog out to me (twice)!

[Jon C Ryckert]

Could you provide a link to his blog, or am I missing it somewhere?

[Dan K]

An amazing Japanese scratch-builder who originally focused on large scale CV islands, primarily IJN, though his Hornet CV-8 island is excellent.

Website home page is here (Various build links are in the left hand column, under the chronological calendar; Lexington at bottom, under the 1/300 scratch-built Taiho): https://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/kenchick07/19643072.html

Direct link to the Lexington 1938 W-I-P (19 pp currently. Translation says he won't be scratch-building the airwing): https://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/kenchick07/fo ... l?m=lc&p=1

[MatthewB]

Impressive Lexington.

Whaaaaa.....

MB

[Mike W]

I'm doing something much simpler than that scratchbuilt Lex. I'm making the Trumpeter 1/700 Lexington as at Coral Sea, with added GMM etch and Model Monkey Bridge. I have a couple of questions, were there railings on top of the bridge? I can't quite make it out in the photographs, did she retain her rangefinder/director on top of the bridge and was there any radar fitted to it? The kit is also devoid of deck markings, did she have any and is there a plan for them? Lastly, is there anything really obviously missing from the kit?

thanks
Mike

[Mike W]

I was fearing having to trawl through nearly 40 pages of replies, after already looking in books, on google and at other people's models but I've found a few answers on here. I see she did have some kind of radar antenna on the spotting top but I can't quite work out how it was attached and what exactly it was attached to. Is there any update to possible deck markings? I see it might or might not have had them.

thanks
Mike

[Tracy White]

There was no "2" on the deck such as you see later in the war, but there were deck lines. I haven't found any documentation on them and personally believe that they were in the same pattern as they were pre-war but in a different color than yellow (5-O Ocean Gray is a good start). I tend to agree with how Marijn completed his deck.

If you want to look more, you can see the deck on photos 80-G-16806, 80-G-16807, and 80-G-16811. 80-G-16802 is heavily showing some of the metal tracks in the deck to good effect, so keep that in mind when looking over photos.

In 80-G-416362, October of 1941, we see that she still had the pre-war and lacks the line plainly in view near the damaged port 5" gun gallery in the above photos, so there were probably some small lines here and there for marking.

[marijn van gils]

Hello Mike,

There is indeed quite some things that are hard to know for sure about her final configuration. Tracy helped me very well with my own build too (thanks again Tracy!), and he already explained the best guess for deck markings. It is not really certain though, but only if new photographs pop up we will learn more.

NH 76560 shows Lex's island best at Coral Sea:
https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collec ... -uss-.html (pic is at bottom right)
Warship Pictorial n�33 has a nice big print of it.

The 8" director is still on top of the bridge. There is railing, but only from the director towards the rear, not to the front of the director. There is splinter matting hanging to the outside of (part of) the railing. There seems to be some kind of FC radar fitted one level higher. I fitted it directly to the roof with standard brackets, but this is pure guesswork from my part. There are some mistakes in my island (both funnel and bridge sections); the Model Monkey bridge (which was developed later) is more accurate. The Model Monkey funnel section would also be a good investment for better accuracy and detail than the kit parts.

IMHO, the rest of the kit is basically very sound, but could do with some extra detailing. The GMM set is quite useful indeed, and replacing the deck-edge netting alone will make a big difference.
The only obvious thing missing from the kit are the degaussing cables. It took me quite some effort to determine how these looked and where they ran, but I believe I got them as correct as possible on my model. I'm only not sure of their configuration at the bow.

Enjoy your build!

Marijn