trumpeter 1/350 cv2 lexington or cv3 saratoga

Modeling Subjects Ships
1

anyboody here build one of these? i am hoping to do CV3 as she is pre ww2 with 8" guin turrets, natural wood flight deck and biplane airwing. be a bit more colorful. just have to convince the folks i am building one of these for.

2

I’m currently building Trumpy’s 1/350th CV2 USS Lexington. I’m doing it in it’s December 1941 configuration with the 8" mounts because that’s the easiest paint scheme. All vertical and horizontal surfaces in 5D Dark Gray with a natural Douglas Fir flight deck with no painted markings but, lazy ends there. I’m using the Gold Medal Models photo etch set and the Yankee Modelworks conversion kit which consists of resin, brass photo etch and white metal parts. I’m ready to paint the flight deck but have to wait for warmer weather.

As for construction issues, only the bow area was problematic but, easily fixed. The conversion set resin parts are easy to work with, the PE is good, too. IMHO, the white metal 8" gun barrels leave a bit to be desired but, there are turned brass barrels out there and I may look into getting some. I found my Lex on the clearance table at my local Hobby Lobby for $50 along with Trumpy’s 1/350th USS North Carolina for the same price so it was pretty easy to justify the price of the aftermarket stuff. I got the GMM set for the North Carolina as well.

3

I have built the Lex. It was a great kit and the result was very pleasing. I forget whose PE set I used. I tend to think Tom’s, but am not sure. I think the build was about five years ago. My version is the wartime version. I would have loved to build the pre-war version. Not more than a few months after I finished they came out with the early Sara. That was an expensive enough kit (and PE) that I will probably not spend the money to do the Sara. So, I eventually bought the 1:700 Sara which is supposed to be the early configuration.

4

I’ve always loved these two ships since I saw that picture of Lex during the Coral Sea battle being abandoned. Beautiful design!

I’m building both Sara and Lexington right now with extra aircraft from Trumpeter and PE sets from GMM for both. Lex will be on a water base entitled “Sailing into history”, Sara peacefully at anchor 1936 time frame with all those bright yellow bi-planes on the deck.

My only issue so far with Lexington was the two extensions on the bow where the flight deck was widened. Fit leaves a bit to be desired and I got annoyed enough that I boxed her back up for awhile.

My biggest question is any idea what color is a good match for the Douglas Fir flight deck for Sara?

5

My suggestion for the color of unpainted Doug Fir would be to trot on down to Lowes or Home Depot and take a look at the real thing. Photograph it and, starting with a white base start adding in yellow, tan, brown and whatever else is needed to match your photo. Otherwise, Model Master Radome Tan is fairly close…

6

I just have a question–was the deck planking ever in natural color? I thought that prior to changing over to camoflage measures and blue deck staining, the Lexingtons, as well as the other carriers, had a mahogany-colored stain applied to the planking? It’s a brown with a hit of red to it, if I am not mistaken. In fact, the kit may have the appropriate color callouts. I have the 1/700 Sara in my stash, I’ll have to check.

7

I am pretty sure also that the pre war carriers had a Mahogany stain on the flight decks. With the change to wartime colors in 1941, a blue stain was adopted. That was one of the reasons for the switch from overall light gray on aircraft to the Blue Gray uppers was because they stood out against the blue stained flight deck and negated the camouflage effect.

8

Here are a few good original color photos of Enterprise in the pre war colors. Not computer colorized, but actual period color film. Note the Flight Deck color

9

stikpusher- where did you get those pics?!?

…and, I highly recommend getting a copy of The Fighting Lady.Its all the about the Lexington,same as the book on the Enterprise(The Big E).

10

Allen, those are off the Life archives that were released a few years back with Google. They have since tightened it up and it is much harder to find a lot of those photos, but I saved many of them onto my Photobucket account for reference.

Very beautiful, aren’t they?

11

I have a book with that title, but it’s about the second Yorktown - CV-10. The author is Clark Reynolds, who for a while was the director of the Patriot’s Point exhibition ships (including that one) at Charleston.

12

I got my reference to the flight deck being unstained Douglas Fir from the Yankee Modelworks pre war conversion set painting guide which states:

Early 1941 to Fall 1941:

Vertical Surfaces - 5D Dark Gray

Horizontal Surfaces (except Flight Deck) - 5D Dark Gray

Flight Deck - Unpainted Douglas Fir

Markings - None

Since I am building this for my own enjoyment and not for a client, contest, or musuem,I’m happy with it and will not research further.BTW…The comments about “Mahogany Stain” and “Chrome Yellow” markings are absolutely correct before this time period. From Fall of 1941 untill her loss in the Battle of the Coral Sea the Flight Deck was stained Norfolk N-250 Flight Deck stain with no markings…

13

Thanks, guys, that reinforces my question about the original poster’s comment. I don’t think he’d want to represent a natural, that is, unfinished wooden surface.

14

Here is a photo of flight deck ops on the Lexington in 1941 (according to the USN caption)-easily dated by the overall gray aircraft color scheme only worn from late 1940 thru mid 1941 on carrier based aircraft. The superstructure appears to be in the darker gray paint instead her pre war Light Gray. The flight deck appears to have some form of staining (although weather it is Mahogany stain or Deck Blue is impossible to ascertain here)