hello gents;
Another refugee from the A/C forum just wanting to know what the flight deck of the USS Enterprise looked like, Was it metal or wood? I am building a Devastator that flew from the Big “E” and want to put it on a flight deck> Thanks again[8D]
Wood, here is a color photo from 1940.
I can’t get the photo to come up. Here is a link to the photo.
Thankyou. [:o)]
As I understand it, the flight decks of American pre-war carriers were made of fir, treated initially with a mahogany-colored (i.e., dark, slightly reddish brown) stain. Shortly before or after Pearl Harbor they were repainted with a new stain that more-or-less matched the Navy’s deck blue paint. So iff you’re doing a flight deck from 1938, the mahogany color would be appropriate.
A prominent feature of American WWII flight decks was the row of metal thwartships “tiedown strips,” which were set into the planking every few feet. Each consisted of a strip of steel with a bunch of u-shaped holes stamped in it. Several aftermarket companies offer flight deck sections complete with planking seams and tiedown strips. One thing I don’t know is what color, if any, the tiedown strips were painted before the war. I suspect any paint that was applied to them would get worn off pretty quickly; a dull gun-metal color might be as good as any.
I know Verlinden does a resin flight deck section in 1/48 and 1/72 that includes the tie-down strips.
Tim was correct, the deck stain for Enterprise was a red mahogany with yellow flight deck lines.
Jeff Herne
Hey there,
Another source for a carrier deck (1/48 and 1/72) is: http://www.flattopsandmore.com/
I’ve got one (although I haven’t assembled it yet) - the tie-downs are PE metal and sit in grooves cut into the wooden base. To me, it looks much more 3D (and realistic) than the solid cast resin decks.
I’m working on a 1/48 diorama of Corsairs sitting on the Bunker Hill in 1943, so I’ve been doing some deck color research myself. I’ve gotten some info from the National Museum of Naval Aviation regarding decks colors in 1943, but there was something about earlier deck colors too. I didn’t pay attention at the time, but I’ll look it up again to see if it adds anything to what’s already been said here.
Mike