Angle deck Essex class

Excellent!  I need to contact them about making corrected 1/720 islands for the Forrestal class ships, as well as making the foward sponsons for the USS Ranger (CV 61) in both 1/720 and 1/800.

After the 1/350 USS Intrepid came out, I had contacted the USS Hancock (CVA 19) Association about any detail differences since I wanted to build the latter in honor of my father, a former crew member.  They sent me a wealth of detail information, but pointed out that the Intrepid and the Hancock were virtual twins at the time my Dad was aboard.  In fact, they were the only two of the class where the crane was forward of the elevator; all others in the class had their cranes aft of the elevator.

Anyway, good luck!

Bill

I did go to the website, and yes, there are a number of Essex Class carrier islands listed. Every one of the ships of that class however have many differences, including the configuration of the island. USS ESSEX herself, having been the first of the class probably had the most differences compared to many of the later ships of the class. For instance, she was actually the only ship of the class that was commissioned without any catapults at all. I contacted Steve Larsen, the designer of those islands for shapeways. He was the one that told me that because he did not have any good photos of the island for the USS ESSEX CVS-9, in 1960/64 era, he was not able to produce one for that particular ship. I'm in the process of locating some good pics from our archives (USS ESSEX Association) to provide him with accurate information.

EJ

That's interesting because I distinctly noticed many different islands in 1/542 scale for different Essex class ships.  However, I am not sure whether there was one for Essex or not.  Please check out their website.  But, I am glad to hear that they will design others with photos.

Bill

G.M.

Shapeways has informed me that we can design our own parts with their help and they will print them.  I emailed them back that I am interested in designing parts for various kits and am waiting for them to contact me back. I will let you know when they do.

Bill

Mention to them that a decent Type XXI U Boat conning tower would be much appreciated. The one on the Revell kit is really poor.

For those who are interested, www.shapeways.com produces accurate and very detailed islands for many of the Essex class carriers to replace the Revell and/or the Renwal parts.  Each island is unique to a specific ship during a specified year.  They also produce other detail parts as well.  These are ocomputer designed and printed by 3-D printing and are quite reasonably priced.  They also have the islands for the three USS Yorktown class carriers.  Check them out!

Bill

Bump for you, Tanks

Hi :

I want you to notice one thing .See how much smoother the contour is on the LEXINGTON bow than the others .This same thing is evident on the MIDWAYS that got changed for whatever reason or another . When I left the MIDWAY she looked a lot , in that area , like the pictures of the Hancock and the Kearsarge

I just want the ship model Not to look like a modified toy . Even those that are somewhat blunt don't have the bow angled like an IOWA on steriods ! And the HORNET is that way too . Just like the LEX !

Thank you for the info.

Does the 1/530 PE work? The scale difference would be noticable to me.

this is the best book as of right now (the used prices, not the new, lol)

www.amazon.com/.../ref=sr_1_5

the three paperback books that you would think would be cheaper,,,,,,,are crazy collector's price books

there may be a couple of Essex books coming soon, but, I don't know if any will cover the angled deck versions, one I know for sure is going to be "straight only" or "mostly straight deck" coverage

Rex

Well I'm jazzed about this re-release.  No more looking at spending a 2nd mortgage on ebay.  I can't wait to get the Renwal kit.

Lex is dear to me.  My father was on her 55-58 and then I got to go on a dependent's 20th anniversary tour of her in 78.  He never got his plank owners cert when she left Bremerton so it was presented to him in 78, but he wasn't impressed in the fact they had CVT16 instead of CV16 on the certificate. I did do a 1/700 bash to mount on his plank.

His cruise book is cool because it has a lot of pre-commissioning photos of the Lex getting the hurricane bow installed and before and after pictures of what had changed on the ship due to the SCB125.

I picked up the Renwal Shangri La at the LHS this morning.

Whats a good resource book on the class?

I have made a lot of non navair types laugh by telling them that gear door edges and etc got painted red,,,,,,,,,,,or else they got colored red,,,,,,,,,,,,,they thought I was joking

my brother was one of those Air Farce types,,,,,,,he likes to tell about the time he was walking and talking in the Weasel line,,,,,,and walked right into a G's wing trailing edge,,,,,,,"jabber, jabber, jabber, splat, thump" (he slaps his forehead when he tells it,,,,,,,,sounds just like a hollow melon to us Jarheads)

my Uncle and I called him an amateur,,,,,you ain't been hurt good by an aircraft until you go to climb up on a Scooter by the tank, and land cowboy style between the tank's fins and the trailing edge of the wing bonus,,,,, points if you hit your head on the wing as you thump into the saddle (not me, lol,,,,,my Uncle, the Gunny showed me the "path to avoid")

ps, my son in law is a "close to retiring" Bubblehead as I type this (his mom was Army)

I've been injured by more than my share of F-4J tail planes. Crazy angles on those things...

I was on Ranger from 72-75 and finished my active duty on Lexington in 76. I was in ship's navigation in those days, went on to be a nuke at the Navy Yard until I retired last year. I flew in a lot of CODs in my Navy Yard days.

Lee

sorry, I must have put you into the "wrong batch" of guys,,,,,,,I apologize (you know, the "I'm online" and "I am the only one that really served or saw anything" group)

yeah, I have pics of that COD, in that Lex book, if you want them,,,,,,I was wondering how you missed the "twice or more a day traps" that Kinzey talked about

the A-7 quals pic is just labeled as "early seventies",,,,,,,again, that could very well be before your nine months

we must have been in at almost the same time,,,,,I was in USMC from august 1975 to september 1979

you could very well have been in longer,,,,,as you can see, my career was cut short at one 4 year hitch (very long story cut short,,,,,,,when a Phantom is knocked off her jacks,,,,,DON'T try to catch it, you will jerk your internals loose)

Rex

No, no, no!    I'm just saying that I want to depict Lex as she was when I was onboard. And, as far as I know, we didn't have any aircraft other than the ones I mentioned above during my nine month tour, I want to keep it correct for that time period only. September 1975 to June 1976. It is for personal accuracy only. Heck, I wish that I could have seen T-28s on her then so I could put them on board, too.

I wasn't trying to discredit anybody's input, or to cause a ruckus. I would just like to depict Lexington in a kind of snapshout during my tour, that's all.

Lee

edit: Rex, you did jog my memory of C-1s operating during that time, thanks!

okay (this keeps happening),,,,but, then, before you got there, and/or after you left, then (those quals pics were taken sometime)

I could say "NAS Glenview never operated A-4Cs, when I got there they didn't have any",,,,,,but, the Naval Reserves on that NAS very photogenically operated A-4C, as did the MART-D

I will refrain from typing anymore in ship threads, don't want to mess things up by providing pics and data

Rex

Not when I was aboard, just the A-4s TA-4s and T-2s.

plus quals for the Air Wing Four aircraft on the East Coast, plus both a C-1 and a C-2 at different times

The version of Lexington that I would do will be the 1970s era when she was CVT-16. The only aircraft she handled then were the white and orange Buckeyes and Skyhawks. (Including the Blue Angels' Skyhawks).

I am not sure I follow what they got wrong on the bow,,,,,,,I built a bunch of those in their old release, and this release didn't get any updates (it was lobbied for, but denied), just mold repairs

are you saying they have the wrong version of these variations??

Essex, short hull ship, bow after angled deck mod on 27A ship

Randolph, long hull ship, bow after angled deck mod on 27A ship

Kearsarge, long hull, bow after angled deck mod on 27A ship

Hancock, long hull ship, bow after angled deck mod on 27C ship

and Lexington, short hull ship, bow after angled deck mod and 27C done in same yard period (3 ships)

as you can see there is a variation in the bows depending on whether the ship started as a long or short hull ship, whether they were 27A or 27C, and whether the mods were done in two different years on a ship, or in one yard period

I apologize for the poor black and white picture, but, they are copyright USN from a book published in 1971, and the one in color is from Detail & Scale Lexington cover

I hope this is of some help

Rex

Hi :

Hey , I am building that old REVELL beast . I have to tell you though , boy did they screw up the bow .I remember a lot of carriers , but , none looked like it hit a wall at speed ! Once that is done however she starts to look okay . Now nothing is actually changed except the bow on looks and the stem from the side view .they overemphasized the " Hurricane bow  "profile badly .

   With P.E. and the elevator/crane changes she will look darned good I think . I must advise any of you to be aware this vessel model has vertical sink marks the whole length of her hull ! They are noticeable ,so you have to fix them . That said she is not bad looking when done I hope !

Mikey, I left them out on purpose, along with the straight CVS and Korean era ships

none of them was an angled deck carrier, the subject of the posts in this thread (straight deck talk would be converting the Lindberg into sister ships, long and short hull)

I did make mention of the Valley Forge in my "use the Phantoms" part of one post above

but, LPHs Boxer, Princeton, and Vallley Forge were all straight decked long hull former CVS carriers

NJJK, you have to fiddle with different years markings and air wing variations, but all the 27A decals that I know of are on this page  www.starfighter-decals.com/1540-de.html

no guarantees, but, since he is the guy that pushed for those two kits to get re-released, he may do more Essex decals now that the kits are finally here

I do hope you didn't forget the Essex class carriers that were turned into helicopter carriers Tarnship.

TarnShip

yes, Stik, they do

they build up into Two of the Four main shapes of the Essex class,,,,,,Five if you count the Oriskany's different hull width

the cool part of the Angeled Essex is that you can build them in Air Groups and ASW Air Group mixes so that no two would look exactly the same on your shelf,,,,,,,the Air Groups were in so much flux and aircraft development were so varied that between the aircraft on the deck and the distinctive markings,,,,,,even if two ships happened to look the same at the same time, the aircraft would give you variety

I once did a build list of the Angled and Straight decked ships for a Steel Navy member,,,,,and it is possible to build more variations than the total number of ships built (24),,,,,,,,one year, every Angled Essex that was done at that date had a different Antenna arrangement or Island configuration, creating a different look

Lexington is one of the three that the "new" Revell re-release of the Renwall kit will build into.

If you can find the older Revell Lexington kit,,,,then you will have the trainer aircraft for your Renwall conversion (Starfighter has the decals),,,,,,save the Phantoms from the Lexington aircraft for your Intrepid if you ever build one

if you pick the right year for Intrepid, in amongst the CVG-6 aircraft there would be ONE Phantom, Number 6 did deck trials on the Intrepid before moving on to the Independence,,,,,,,the other Phantoms can be saved for the straight deck Valley Forge (as long as you mark it with an 8 for the deck number) the Forge as LPH-8 moved VMFA-314 to Vietnam for their first deployment, along with a Skyhawk squadron

don't use the revell lexington unless you have it already as a kit as will have to do a major rebuild to do it right. i'll do that with mine eventually after i do all my 15+ 1/426 arizona conversions.

I would really like to build a model of Lexington, she was my last ship before leaving active duty, but want to do her right.