Saratoga PE

I look forward to the results. I have a Trumpeter 1/350 CV-2 that's about half finished. Everything about the model is so big that it just grinds along. If I had time to finish it by May 4, I would be happy, but that's probably more like 2020.

Your Model should be much more manageable.

I see that Gold Medal Models has a Lex/ Sara set, 700-32. I think it is SST. The review is good and it seems to be designed for the Trumpeter kit. I'm using their sets on the bigger model. The single biggest improvement is the perimeter netting. The plastic ones are just way out of scale. In particular, the plastic ones are flat level, but when lowered on the actual ships, they were still angled upwards about 10 degrees. The two ships have very different forward deck planforms. Maybe GMM has parts for both.

As far as time frame, it looks like the kit you have is set for the early 1942 Butch O'Hare era, with the 8" guns? I'd guess that gets you most all of the way back into the 30's. Maybe the top is one difference from earlier.

This might be a good chance to use a wood deck.

I'm not a big fan of throwing a lot of AM stuff at models. And personally am so-so on wood decks. But Artwox makes a deck that has the right shape for Sara, and it seems to have a little PE fret with the different nets at the bow. It also has the holes for the bases of th 8" gun turrets.

I found an Eduard PE set for the kit and ordered it.  It will take a couple of weeks to arrive, so I am putting off starting on the kit until I have the PE set in hand.