USS Lexington - Backdate or NOT...that is the question

torybear wrote:

Hi, I JUST got my Lexington and I am debating on building her as she was at Coral Sea or backdating her to the 30's. I sure did like the looks of Vindicators in their silver coats and bright yellow wings. (Dive Bomber-Fred MacMurry, Erol Flynn) or the bi-winged F3Fs...F4Bs...Helldivers. Anyone out there with similar ideas?

 

This is the box art from the new Saratoga being done by the PitRoad/Trumpeter consortium..   It will be in 1:700 scale.   Trumpeter announced plans for a Saratoga in 1:350 - so this should give an idea for their plans once they run out of Essex kits to produce

http://www.pit-road.jp/w/w96.jpg

PitRoad's Whats New page (In Japanese) but the pictures are in English

It would certainly be easier to do Lexington in her Coral Sea fit than it would to backdate to pre-1936, since Lexington's forward flight deck was widened, and the hullform at the bow (where the hull sheers into the flight deck) changed. If you're doing a post-36 Lexington, you'll need to add the 8-inch guns and alter the bridge form.

Ed is correct - if you want to do a pre-'36 Lex, wait for the Sara kit.

Jeff

That's great, do you think they (Trumpeter) will do her in a 45 fit ?

Bill Clarke wrote:

That's great, do you think they (Trumpeter) will do her in a 45 fit ?

Somewhat more doubtful since it would require a modified hull, island, flightdeck, AA fit etc.

Puma wrote:

Bill Clarke wrote: That's great, do you think they (Trumpeter) will do her in a 45 fit ? Somewhat more doubtful since it would require a modified hull, island, flightdeck, AA fit etc.

 

Well when Trumpeter bring out a model of a AFV of which there were only ever 2 built ( 12.7cm Sturer Emil) it give me cause to hope that they would produce such a kit of Sara

Whoa...I opened the box...just couldn't wait. Dudes this is a BIG model. This puppy is bigger than the Hornet I finished last year. I have to get the photo-etched parts now. I'm torn between the Tom's and GMM. I have worked with both and they each has advantages. Of course, the cost of the kit may make the decision, especially if I have to get that backdate kit with the 8" guns and the wooden deck...decisions...decisions. It sure used to more easy to build models when I was a kid.

How do you post pictures here or can you?

Bill Clarke wrote:

That's great, do you think they (Trumpeter) will do her in a 45 fit ?

According to a buddy of mine, yes, Trumpeter still plans to do the late-war Sara.

torybear wrote:

Hi, I JUST got my Lexington and I am debating on building her as she was at Coral Sea or backdating her to the 30's. I sure did like the looks of Vindicators in their silver coats and bright yellow wings. (Dive Bomber-Fred MacMurry, Erol Flynn) or the bi-winged F3Fs...F4Bs...Helldivers. Anyone out there with similar ideas?

I've built it both ways - once as a Lex as Coral Sea and once as a 1939/1940 era Sara.   It's not that hard of a conversion.   Trumpeter actually makes it easy for you to narrow the bow, as the sponsons that helped support the widened deck are glued to the hull.   If you leave those off and cut the flight deck, you have the proper shape for your pre-war Sara (or pre-widened Lex).  

Yankee Model Works sells a conversion set that includes the different bridge levels, 8 inch gun mounts, and other parts needed to make a pre-war Lex/Sara.   Unfortunately, YMW doesn't include any ships boats in the backdate set, you'll need to get some (check with Iron Shipwright) to populate the boat pockets where the 20mm guns are located on the Coral Sea version.   For more information, check out the Feature Articles section on Modelwarships.com - I wrote an article about my experience converting the out of the box Lexington to a pre-war Saratoga.

Here's some links to a picture of Lex and Sara:

http://photos.kitmaker.net/data/16010/MartinJQuinn-lex22.jpg
http://photos.kitmaker.net/data/15455/USS-Saratoga_10.jpg

If you want a pre-war version, I'd probably wait until the new pre-war Sara comes out and build what you have as a Coral Sea Lexington, or get the Yankee ModelWorks backdate set and do an late 1941version of the  Lex.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me directly.  I'm not an expert, but will be happy to impart what I learned from building the sisters. 

Regards,

Martin

Funny Sara story...

A good friend of mine went diving at Bikini Atoll and spent some time diving Saratoga's wreck.  When he came back from his trip, he brought a large poster-sized drawing of the wreck, autographed by the two US National Park service divemasters that oversee all the dive operations on the atoll.

My friend Bill calls me and leaves a message on my voicemail that went something like, "I brought you back a souvenier from my vacation. It's a poster of this really gorgeous lady named Sara. She's kinda old, but she's still pretty hot for her age." Then he hangs up. Of course, my wife gets to the voicemail before I did and was a little irate...and wanted to know who Sara was!!

Needless to say, she got a good laugh when Bill arrived with the print of the USS Saratoga, signed by the divemasters, telling me to come pay her a visit, because she's pretty hot for an old lady... "hot" referring to the radiation (which is now well below acceptable levels).

That's my funny Sara story.

And yes, I've heard rumblings about a '44-'45 Saratoga, most likely in a dazzle pattern.

Jeff

martinjquinn wrote:

SNIP Unfortunately, YMW doesn't include any ships boats in the backdate set, you'll need to get some (check with Iron Shipwright) to populate the boat pockets where the 20mm guns are located on the Coral Sea version.    SNIP

Yankee Modelworks has re-released the old Blue Water Navy white metal and PE ship's boats in 1:350 scale, including a 26' MWB and a 40' personnel boat.    When you're ordering the Lex backdate kit, order some boats.   At Trident Hobbies, the item number for the MWB is YKM20001. The nunber for the personnel boat is YKM20002.

http://www.tridenthobbies.com/store/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=NM&Category_Code=YKMBIT