Anyone know which kist are the best of each of these two super-carriers? Looking only at scales below 1/350th…
I’m not a big into ships guy but off the top of my head; USS Coral Sea may be bought as the USS Midway 1945 version from the USS Midway museum in San Diego.
I’m not aware of 1/700 kits of Coral Sea but Italeri does assorted supercarriers in 1/720; generic boxings with different decals for different ship names. I Googled “Italeri 1/720 carriers” and found a link to Hobbylinc. They advertise a Kitty Hawk for $20.29. Sorry I coudn’t post the link via this library computer.
Hope this helps
the 1 from the midway museum is probably revell’s 1/547 aircraft carrier.
I saw an Academy Kittyhawk in an odd scale—anyone have Intel on that kit?
The kit you refer to is a 1/800 scale reissue of the Arii kit.
Fijumi issued a true 1/700 scale USS Kitty Hawk and USS America back in the 1990s. I have the Kitty hawk in my collection. It had 300 or so parts a big step up from the Italeri kit.
Arii produced USN carriers in 1/800 in the 1990s. They did have Kitty hawk class, and Midway class CV, even a JFK in 1/800. They are OOP so you’ll have to look for them.
Thanks, I saw the Fujimi kit but it looks to be waterline only? Is it better than the Academy kit?
The Otaki/Arii/Kitech/Academy 1/800 Kitty Hawk and Midway are nice kits. I have the entire range of these ships. Unfortunately, the 1/800 USS America represents the Kitty and the Connie, not the America. The old Monogram USS John F. Kennedy can be improved with a modicum of added details. I have generally been impressed with this range of kits, although there are no after-market sets for them. Please note that the USS Midway would have to be modified to represent the Coral Sea. Also note that these kits are OOP but can be readily found on sites such as eBay.
The Italeri 1/720 range of US Aircraft carriers is a mixed bag. Perhaps the best kit in this range is the kit of the USS America, except that the funnel is much too high. Unfortunately, the Kitty Hawk and the Constellation are simple repackaged America kits with a slight changing of the island.
The Fujimi USS Kitty Hawk is indeed a waterline kit. However, it does offer a hangar deck and the three openings on the bow for an anchor and mooring lines.
There is a 3-D printing company called scalemates that offers to help design and print more accurate components of plastic kits.
Bill Morrison
great info. Thanks.
So if I interpreted you correctly in regards to the best Kittyhawk, the Fujimi kit is the ‘best,’ which is only limited by the waterline feature, and the Academy offering is full hull but isn’t accurate for a Kittyhawk because it is a repackaged America?
And there really is no OOB accurate Coral Sea…???
…thanks…
Revenant,
Actually, just the opposite is true. The Arii, et.al, kit of the Kitty Hawk is quite good. The America is a repackaged Kitty Hawk. I prefer the 1/800 Arii kit to the Fujimi kit because it is full hull, hangar decks are easy to build, and the hawse holes at the bow in the Fujimi kit are not shaped correctly. They are also easy to make.
Unfortunately, there is no Coral Sea kit in injection molded plastic. There might be one in resin, but I am not sure.
Finally, have you considered the 1/350 kit of the Kitty Hawk by Trumpeter? It is outstanding!
Bill
Thanks Warship Guy. I’m still confused a bit. Everyone keeps referring to ships that weren’t in my original post (Midway, America, JFK, etc.).
I am only interested in the Coral Sea and/or Kittyhawk. And I’m getting scant info on the Academy Kittyhawk offering…is the Arii better than the Academy Kittyhawk? I have considered the new Trumpeter offering in 350 but I tend to like 700th for larger ships…are there any major issues w it?
Also, my understanding is that the Kitty was a unique carrier with no others built in her class. Is this true? And if so, why?
Hi;
Yep , On that , it is the REVELL kit . T.B.
The Kitty Hawk had a near twin sister, the USS Constellation (CVA/CV-64). The USS America was a modification of the original Kitty Hawk design, having different side sponsons and a slightly modified island structure and a smaller funnel. All of the 1/800 kits of the entire Kitty Hawk class ships are the same; Otaki being the original. Arii, Academy, and Ki-Tech have each marketed the same kit from the original Otaki molds. There is no difference between them. Revell did have an offering boxed as a 1/800 Kitty Hawk that was actually a rebox of the Monogram 1/800 USS John F. Kennedy, which was not a member of the Kitty Hawk class.
The Coral Sea had two sisters, the USS Midway and the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt. Revell originally sold a kit of a generic Midway class carrier that they released under each name. These were the ships in their original axial deck configurations. Revell never modified this kit to reflect the many changes each had undergone throughout their long service lives. Otaki, then Arii, modelled the Midway as she appeared after her early 1970s refit. She then differed markedly from her sisters.
The 1/720 Italeri Kitty Hawk is simply a rebox of their excellent kit of the USS America. It does not look like the Kitty Hawk!
Finally, the Fujimi 1/700 Kitty Hawk depicts the ship as she appeared in the late 1980s-1990s; the Otaki version depicts the ship as she appeared early to mid-life.
Anyway, I hope that this answers your questions. But, keep asking if you have others!
Bill
So what I have extrapilated from your thorough response is that the Fujimi and Academy boxings best represent a true Kittyhawk…and I’m outta luck on the Coral Sea. Wow, one woulda thunk there would be better representations of these super carriers out there…
Any of the 1/800 Kitty Hawk kits, whether by Academy, Arii, Otaki, or Ki-Tech, are good. These are simply the same kit repackaged under another label. Don’t mess with the Revell kit.
The Fujimi 1/700 Kitty Hawk is also a nice model, albeit waterline.
I found a waterline 1/700 resin kit of the Midway as originally built with the axial deck. This model can be easily built as Coral Sea. It is produced by a company called Loose Cannon and can be found at Free Time Hobbies.
Bill
…hot-link please…
This is the end-game I have in mind:
How are you at “kit-bashing”? I have a FSM article about converting the Revell 1/542 USS Midway into the USS Coral Sea by grafting parts from any of the Revell 1/542 USS Essex kit. You can also find this particular conversion on the www. modelwarships.com website. That will give you the configuration of the ship as pictured above.
Bill
My apologies! The conversion is of the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt, a sister of the Coral Sea. It is of the SCB-110 conversion. Anyway, just perform an internet search for: USS Franklin D. Roosevelt conversion by Chris Dupois. It will come right up. Check it out; it is not a difficult conversion.
Bill