I’ve started my Trumpeter 1:700 CV3 Saratoga. This is the pre-war ship, and will be done in the pre-war livery, 8 inch guns and all. I have the Eduard PE set.
Got the flight deck ready for painting, nets cut away and elevators glued in place (making it with elevators up.
Since there was not that much color photography before WW2, I am having a hard time finding decent color pictures of the ship. I am trying to figure out the color of the secondary armament. Anyone know? I found a b&w picture that shows the big guns, and those appear to be the overall light gray. I have not found a good enough picture of the secondary, though.
Also, I would like to try to add the arrester cables, but have been unable to find either a picture or drawing to show those. Anyone have ideas on that?
Don, after your last small Victory model I am anxious to see everything you build, especially small ships. Have you ever done anything on the 1911 Marmon Wasp. That Victory was beautiful.
I’ll follow this with interest, Don! I’ve got this kit, too, but haven’t started it yet. It looks nice, out of the box.
I don’t have any color references, either, only black-and-white. The colors are pretty basic, though. I think I’ve got all White Ensign Models colors for my pre-war US Navy builds.
I intend to do the Wasp next year. This year is my Year of the Ship. I have set aside a set of 1:16 wheels for the Wasp, but will need to make some wheel covers for them too.
Com’on Don get going on the Saratga. You got me interested now & I asked Jim about a Yorktown CV5 kit in 1/700. I wanted it because a kid i was in the 6th or 7th grade with was 15 or 16 & as soon as Pearl Harbor happened he joined the navy & was on the Yorktown when it went down.
He was pretty old for that grade ,but was a great boy. He got off ok & finished the war ok. I asked my brother what Eddie said about the sinking & my brother said he probably thought it was swim call. They ran around together after the war. I missed WW2 by about 3 years,but everyone I knew nearly was in it.
There’s a good but small picture of her “recovering her planes off Maui 1932” or something like that on Navsource. You’ll see the number and location of the arrestor cables.
That class of ships originally was designed to operate aircraft off of either end, and there were cables amidships. By the early thirties, a more conventional cable set up at the stern was used.
A rule of thumb for the open 5" guns is that the gun itself is painted the color of the verticals around it. The base plate is the color of the deck it is placed on.
Thanks. Any chance you have a link to the picture? I also have a movie that shows a brief shot of her in the Panama canal, but it is from a below the flight deck aspect. Great movie- Task Force.
Got the hull painted, and the deck almost painted, except for gray on the bow and stern ramps. Boy, decaling that deck was a lot of work, with those very thin and narrow lines!
I did not put the ships boats in their positions, as they will be multi-color. Also, holding off on all PE like railings and those safety nets on sides of the flight deck. The latter will be butt glued to intersection of deck and hull, and I suspect that joint will be very fragile.
Hey, that is a great idea. I’ll try that when I am cutting the nets out. BTW, the PE stuff is all stainless. I personally prefer brass. I wonder how well most primers work on stainless. Adhesion seems okay so far. Lucky coincidence, the primer I am using (Rustoleum) is a very, very close match for the ghost gray I am using. That should minimize clogging fine nets and stuff.
I suppose this is too fine a detail at 1/700, but I remeber the nets were originally intended to be set vertical while the ship was not operating it’s aircraft, as a wind barrier for the light biplanes of the era in which she was designed. The bottom half or so was canvas strips, the upper half net. But I also think they were painted whatever color the ship was.
Don, I got an Academy Enterprise in 1/700, following your lead. I wanted a hull. Bill says he has 3 Academy Ent. & will build the Hornet, Yorktown & Ent. If I can handle the 1/700 scale I would like to do that.
My brother saw 3 of the Carriers get hit with kamakazi’s. The Franklin was one I think. I think that was at Okinawa.
IIRC Enterprise and Yorktown were pretty close in final build as they came off the ways. Hornet had a different island structure from what I have seen and understand. Have always looked at her as a kind of 3/4 sister to the first pair in the class.
Working on the superstructure, but it sure is going slow.
The levels are so tiny. The upper ones are like 5/16 x 5/15 x 1/8. And lots of parts for each level. Most are five pieces- four walls and an upper deck level. Unfortunately the molding is not accurate enough, and visible cracks remain where the walls each meet. This means filling and filing! With assemblies that small it is hard to get even a micro file in to do the work without scraping something else (sanding would be even worse). I don’t see why they have to make these levels with so many pieces. Seems to me with modern slide mold technology they could do it in one or two pieces (maybe a one piece slab for the walls representing the level with a seperate upper deck piece, or even a one piece structure. Pieces like searchlights are really tiny!
For a break to regain my sanity after working on the bitty parts, I am working on the base. The kit includes a very nice vacuformed sea base. I painted it and mounted it in a wood frame.
I temporarily sat the hull/deck into it to see what it would look like.
Looks pretty good to me. Leaves a big gap along side which I will have to fill with something when I permanently attach ship, but that should be pretty easy.
