Hello all! I’m sure most of you have noticed the vast quantities of Japanese Navy models available. Seems like every ship ever built is in a model somewhere. I’m actually getting a little perturbed at teh lack of American vessels available and have been wondering if I’ll nee to scratchbuild.
Specifically, I’m looking for a 350th USS Langley (CVL-27), but any Independence (CVL-22) Class would do. I saw on on eBay go for about $150, but that’s WAY out of my budget right now.
Does anyone have any info (solid, not just a lead) on where I can get my hands on this…or if any plans are in the works to get one out to us? This has become a greatly overlooked component of our presence in the Pacific Theater.
Side note: In the event I do need to scratchbuild, where can I get plans from naval archives?
For plans try the Smithsonian.
I’ve ran into this problem with the WWII Patrol Frigates.
There is no plastic 1/350 CVL, which means no cheap one. Without going into the economics of resin casting it is very unlikely you will find a mutli-media kit of this sized ship for less than the one you saw on eBay, unless a modeler is just looking to dump one.
As far as scratchbuilding, that would indeed be the way to go for you on this project. Why not give it a shot? You can get good plans from the Floating Drydock
http://www.floatingdrydock.com
And supplement them with photos that they sell as well. They are an outstanding resource for anyone who is building a WWII US naval ship.
If you have no experience in scratchbuilding, I would suggest picking up Mike Ashey’s book on Ship Models from FSM; the last few chapters cover pattern making in this scale which would be very applicable to your project.
Good Luck!
Kurt
According to the most recent issue of FSM (in the upcoming kits list), a 1/350 scale Independence-class CVL is supposed to be coming out later this year.
I think it was from Blue Water Navy, but I’m not sure. Guaranteed it won’t be cheap, though. Maybe Trumpeter will do one someday![:)]
Nothing is 350 is cheap, unfortunately. It’s a rather large scale when you’re building carriers. I think the Enterprise at 350 was just over two feet long!! CVL’s would probably end up closer to 1-1/2 feet.
I get FSM…I’m surprised I missed that part. Grrr.