I just bought my first aircraft carrier model today- the Dragon 1/700 USS Essex. I have a few questions though. Do I have to put on all those door thingies on the side? I have heard various things about that. And what are the right colors to paint it? The Dragon instructions give some funky color callouts that are clearly not right. I think it is Measure 36, in 1944. And finally, what is the best way to paint the carrier with all those teeny tiny guns and such. Should i paint those separately or mask them with the other larger parts? Thanks for the help.
Hi raider,
By door thingies, I guess you mean the roll up door panels at the hanger deck openings. If so, you can leave some off as though they were rolled up, sure.
The Essex, like most CVs of the class had at least two paint schemes during the war. The ships went through lots of rapid changes as radar and communication gear improvements were happening very fast. Antenna locations, mast changes, etc., varied widely. So you have to nail down a specific time segment and build toward it.
Easiest scheme, of course, is the Navy Blue measure 21 scheme. All vertical surfaces are 5N Navy Blue all horizontal surfaces are 20B Deck Blue. The flight deck was stained to match. This site is a big help http://www.shipcamouflage.com/measures.htm
When I’ve done my carriers, I’ve airbrushed the basic hull and island. Detail parts I paint with a brush, depending on whether I can use plastic cement or if I need super glue for PE stuff. Since I tend to weather the model, some of the base coat doesn’t matter all that much. I’ve never done a dazzle scheme in 1/700. Sure somebody will chime in for that.
Have fun with it.
Mike
Clearly?
Essex was painted in Measure 32, pattern 10D about April of 1944. Measure 32 called for black, Ocean Gray 5-O, and Light Gray 5-L; pattern 10D was originally meant for destroyers (hence the D in the designation) but only used the 5-L and Black. Before anyone gets started on FS-595 numbers, these colors pre-dated the FS system and no FS numbers were assigned to them (they went out of use in 1945) when the FS system came into use in 1956.
In regards to the roller doors, you can leave them open, closed, or in between. They were used for many purposes, the main two being to allow aircraft to run and warm up in the hangar bay while others were launching on the main deck and to cool the hangar bay in warmer climates as the exhaust trunks ran through it and warmed it up (A common problem among many carriers of the era).
When I said clearly, I meant that the Dragon instructions gave some strange colors for the Measure 32. The color that should have be light gray would have been a bluish-green and the black someting odd too. Thank you for the help on the roller doors.
I’ll have to pull mine out and give it a look-over. The Navy paints back then were based on a purple/blue tinting material and even the light Gray should have a slightly bluish tinge. 5-O Ocean gray is a definite blue gray.