1/700 scale WW2 Aircraftcarriers

scottrc wrote:

A neighbor of mine was helmsman on a destroyer during WW2 and Korea, which before helicopters, they had to replanish and do a lot of tranfers between the carrier within a few yards.  He used to say  that sailing close to a carrier was a lot like walking next to a drunk elephant.

That, my friend, is a good analogy.

Dragon makes some 1:700 scale aircraft to go with their new 1:700 scale carriers.  IIRC, Fujimi also sold packs of their mid-to-late WWII aircraft.

As far as the Tamiya 1:700 CV-6 Enterprise.  Its is also boxed as the Hornet.  In reality it is neither.   The island is wrong and there are flight deck differences also.  However - it is your choice to build.

Don't bother with the MiniHobby Models 1:700 CV-6 or CV-8.  They are poor quality clones of the Tamiya.  (You get all of Tamiya's mistakes compounded by deep engraving and soft details)

There is a new 1:700 CV-8 on the horizon from Trumpeter.  They will likely follow it with a CV-6.  As to whether they choose to do it right and make different islands is anybody's guess.  

A good looking diorama could be made from the Trump CV-2 Lexington paired with a Pitroad Benson/Livermore or one of the Midship Models Behnams (i.e. very early war stuff)

As far as 1/700 airplanes go, White Ensign Models has TBDs and some others in 1/700 scale, but if you want some order now because they're getting out of the tiny airplane business.

A neighbor of mine was helmsman on a destroyer during WW2 and Korea, which before helicopters, they had to replanish and do a lot of tranfers between the carrier within a few yards.  He used to say  that sailing close to a carrier was a lot like walking next to a drunk elephant.  

I rather doubt that CVs actually steamed close enough together all that often, if at all. At least not close enough to make a diorama that would be small enough to display on a reasonably small base. An escort ship or a replenishment ship would be better or maybe an inport depiction showing them tied up at parallel piers. At the end of the Vietnam war in 1973, the Ranger, Enterprise, and two other CVAs ( Oriskany, Constellation, America or Coral Sea, I can't remember for sure which ones ) were joined in a diamond formation with all of their escorts in what was the first four CV force since WW II ( at least that was what we were told at the time ). Even though we were steaming in very  close formation, the distance between the CVs was 1,000 yards which is a half nautical mile. This was mainly a photo op formation and by no means a normal configuration. We were manned up with special navigation teams and the officers were so tense that they could crack walnuts with their buttcheeks. Normally, when two carriers are operating together, they stay about a mile or two, at least, away from each other for safety reasons. The planeguard (lifeguard destroyer or cruiser) is usually a mile back in the CVs wake. I can't remember ever seeing two CVs in an underway repenishment configuration, either, for that matter. I would put them together at pierside, that way, I could add even more ships to the diorama. Every now and then, there are four or five CVNs tied up at the Naval Station in Norfolk, that is an impressive sight for sure. Anyway, that is my two cents, I will now crawl back under my rock.

There undoubtedly were plenty of occasions when carriers steamed in close proximity to each other.  But a diorama representing a close encounter between a carrier and a destroyer or cruiser would, to my eye at least, be more representative of a typical scene.

As you probably know, Tamiya makes a 1/700 Enterprise in mid-war configuration (with her original block-shaped pilothouse and augmented 20 mm battery) and a Hornet in 1942 configuration.  The two kits combined contain just about all the parts necessary to built a 1942 Enterprise (or Yorktown, for that matter).  Be warned, though:  those kits are rare in the Tamiya range in that both of them suffer from a pretty significant error of accuracy:  their islands are too skinny.  Like all such things, the importance of this goof needs to be determined by the individual modeler; to my eye it makes the ship look pretty silly, especially when viewed from the bow or stern.

Some time ago I picked up one of those low-priced Chinese copies. (I don't remember the manufacturer's name; I got rid of the kit pretty quickly at a club auction.)  It obviously had been pirated from one of the Tamiya kits; it had a skinny island too.

Trumpeter has just released a 1/700 Hornet.  I suspect many other folks are, like me, waiting to see if (a) its island is the right width, and (b) Trumpeter modifies it to do an Enterprise and/or Yorktown.

if you use a 2x4 pc of say plywood you can mount 2 carriers and 2 escort ships

and maybe an enemy periscope to add a little excitement too