USS Wasp question

My vote's for the CV-9 Essex kit but I don't have one in front of me so I could be wrong. Feel free to drop me a line at whitet@blarg.net and I can answer any detail questions you may want to ask about Wasp.

So, the concensus is.... CV-10? or 9?  I guess hyper accuracy isnt really called for. I dont know. Anyway I cant even get an accurate date for the photo. Some sites say 1944 some say 45. Really I was hoping to get the right kit and maybe a PE set, change the numbers on the deck and call it a day, so to speak.

 Im rolling out pretty soon and hope get this stuff before I go. Maybe I'll send some pics from the Bagram Hobby club of my progress on USS Wasp. If not, I packed some smaller kits in my shop set, so maybe you'll see a couple posts of that stuff.

 

Mog

 

You sure Jeff? The Yorktown's I've seen were closer to the Franklin kit.

:: Inigo Montoya mode ON::
Let me 'splain..... no, there is too much; let me sum up.
:: Inigo Montoya mode OFF::

WASP was one of the earlier Essex ships. She was also one of the last to go in to refit during the war, so when she was updated  she got a doozy of an update.  Best kit to start with would be the  CV-9 Essex  as it has the earlier island that Jeff mentioned but also the hangar deck cat on both sides (whereas the CV-10 gives you an incorrect configuration with the cat just on the starboard side and dual quad 40mm mounts on the port side.

If you've never done PE before Tom's makes a great set to start out and learn with. The GMM and WEM sets were also designed to fit the Trumpeter kit and their detail and etching is finer to boot.

OK, a little lesson on short/long hulls. The Long hulls were an attempt to add anti-aircraft defense to the Essex class. The bow and stern were stretched out above the waterline so that extra quad 40 mounts could be mounted. The first three of the ships to be built as long hulls also had their flight decks shortened so that these guns had better overhead effectiveness. So originally the LONG hulls had SHORT decks.

The air group hated this though as it really cut into the working space they had to move planes around during landing and launching of aircraft. So these three ships (Ticonderoga, Hancock, Randolph) were to have the decks returned to their original length. Hancock made it to war with the short deck and never made it back to a yard to get this change; both Tico and Randolph had the deck changed before they reached the war zone.

Mog,

You can build Wasp as she appears at Ulithi (Murderer's Row) with the Trumpeter Yorktown CV-10 kit. This gives you the early island and the starboard 40mm galleries. All you'll need to do is change the hull number, even the camo pattern is the same (Ms33/10a).

Jeff

That is a nice ref site Ed, Thanks ! So, which kit would you think would be best for the Wasp as shown ? Are the kits basically the same ? There are 3 kits which fit the short hull description and the more I read the more everything seems terrifically the same.

It sounds like the Toms set will work the best, since they are nade for each other so to speak.

 

Thx,

Mog

See John Sheridan's Essex-class guide on SteelNavy at:

http://www.steelnavy.com/essex_data.htm

The Wasp was a short-hulled Essex.  You do not want the Ticonderoga.   The difference between a long-hull and a short-hull was not at the waterline -- they were essentilally the same.  The difference was the shape of the bow - giving a longer overall length, and the flight deck length.

As far as PE - its like asking which of your children do you love the most.   GMM, Toms, & WEM all have their strengths.  Tom Harrison (of Tom's) worked with Trump, giving them his master for his resin Essex as the basis for the kit.  All of Toms brass is designed to fit the kit - from the beginning.   GMM and WEM both make terrifically detailed sets.    I think I'd mix several sets.

your link doesn't work. you'll want a short hull not long hull. cv10 & 13