Hi: I don’t wish to be a bother, but I am in the middle of building a diorama of the 3 carriers and their air groups at Midway. It is in the 1/700 scale, but the distance between ships will not be to scale. I have some questions that all my research hasn’t been able to answer. 1. What markings did the flight decks have on them (carrier number, stripes, etc)? Aside from some armament differences between the 3 vessels, how were they distinguished if there were no numbers on the decks? Also, since the distance scale will not be involved (size of the diorama is the main issue), do my fellow shipmodelers think that adding an escorting destroyer or cruiser would make the display too crowded? I’m not a great camera guy, but I will try to take pictures of it for your review and critique. Thanks to all, Lenny
hi
i think the uss hornet still had that white stripe going along the deck. it was used for the b-25 attack on tokyo to guide the planes down the deck.
sorry thats all i know. i have cfs2 and thats what the hornet looks like on my midway install i got online.
also the uss yorktown had this big “Y” on the main superstructure thing. also this is what it like on cfs2
No, the Yorktown was not in her pre-war paint scheme (Standard Navy Gray #5 with Mahogany & Yellow decks and the Y recognition mark)
She was painted in what looks to be Measure 22 - two-tone Haze Gray over Navy Blue
See the US Naval Historical Center’s Photo Archive of Midway events
http://history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-pac/midway/mid-6y.htm
By contrast, some info on the Japanese CVs - (from The USN in WWII) - pilots were saying they could spot the Japanese carriers because the flight decks were yellow (natural wood/coated), which implies USN had darker or gray painted decks. Interesting.
Would tghe White Stripe still be there at Midway? I guess so, trying to remember the timeline, and I guess it would be no matter to leave it and trouble to remove it.
My 2 cents.
As noted earlier, Hornet was still in the same camo she wore during the Doolittle Raid: Measure 12R, using (from darkest to lightest) 5-N Navy Blue, 5-O Ocean Gray, and 5-H Haze Gray. Yorktown was in Ms.12 (not 22), using (darkest to lightest) 5-S Sea Blue, 5-O Ocean Gray, and 5-H Haze Gray. Enterprise was in Measure 21, overall 5-N Navy Blue. All three ships had their flight decks stained with Norfolk 250-N Flight Deck Stain, and all their steel decks and steel horizontal surfaces were painted with 20-B Deck Blue. Their hangar decks were painted #20 Standard Deck Gray, and the bulkheads and overheads of the hangar bay were painted 5-U White.
We have all these colors available in our Colourcoats enamels, with no minimum order on paints, and we ship worldwide.
Cheers,
John Snyder, White Ensign Models, http://WhiteEnsignModels.com