U.S.S Oriskany

  To the best of my knowledge, there are no kits of Essex class carriers, with the angled flight deck, and hurricane bow modifications. I am working on USS Randolph CV/CVA/CVS-15 in 1:700 scale, and Have done the flight deck/bow mod's. I still have to figure out the exact change made to the hull (10' added beam), and make that change. Someone will have to help me here, I can't remember whether Oriskany is a long hull, or short hull essex. It would make a difference if you want to start with the original version, and add the upgrades as you build.

Best bet would probably be the old Revell Lexington.  It has the updated angled deck and hurricane bow.

Mark

For what it's worth, here's a list of the various issues of the old Revell kit.  The source is Dr. Thomas Graham's excellent book, Remembering Revell Model Kits.

H-353 - U.S.S. Essex - 1958

H-384 - U.S.S. Bonhomme Richard - 1961

H-426 - U.S.S. Lexington - 1962

H-370 - U.S.S. Oriskany - 1968

H-375 - U.S.S. Wasp - 1968

H-354 - U.S.S. Hornet - 1970

H-442 - U.S.S. Bonhomme Richard - 1975

H-444 - U.S.S. Lexington - 1976

2555 - U.S.S. Bonhomme Richard - 1979

Dr. Graham's coverage stops with 1979.  I think the kit may have been reissued one or more times since then - and it's probably appeared in a Revell Germany box at least once, with different kit numbers.

The scale is listed as 1/538.  As you can see, Revell got a lot of mileage out of those molds.  So far as I know, all the kits are identical with two exceptions.  One - the first one or two versions had pieces of stiff wire included to represent (sort of) the deck-edge and island radio antennas; later issues replaced the wires with plastic parts.  Two - the aircraft complement changed several times.  As I remember, the original Essex release had Cougars, Skyhawks, Skyraiders, Crusaders, and Sea Knight helicopters (along with a "Tilly" crane and a couple of nifty little tow tractors).  The Hornet version contained a minute Apollo 11 space capsule and a couple of Sea King helicopters.  (The box was labeled "Hornet Plus Three.")  And I think the last Lexington version represented her (sort of) in her then-current role as a training carrier, with some training aircraft.  I think some S2F Trackers may also have been thrown in sometimes.

The only other changes, I think, were on the decal sheets.  (I believe one of them included an outline for the modified shape of the forward elevator, which got lengthened to accommodate newer, bigger aircraft; the kit elevator parts weren't changed, though.)

A few other companies have done angled-deck Essex-class carriers in plastic.  Renwall, a company that went out of business many years ago, had one on 1/500 scale; it was, in some ways, maybe a little better than the Revell kit.  And Lindberg made two of them.  One was about a foot long, and came with an electric motor; the other was a tiny kit somewhere around 1/1200 scale.  I believe at least one of the resin manufacturers has done an angled-deck Essex-class ship, but those kits are quite expensive.

I suspect Dragon is going to get around to the angled-deck version in its ongoing series of Essex-class ships, but I don't know when.  If such a kit does appear, it undoubtedly will render all the earlier ones obsolete.

The hobby offers few pleasures greater than building a sailor a model of his ship.  I vividly remember the U.S.S. Bollinger (WWII attack transport) that I gave my father for Christmas.

Good luck.

I hope Steelrudi will forgive us for having, to some extent, hijacked this thread - which was supposed to help with his fine idea for a family-related project - and turned it into an exercise in nostalgia.

My poor old brain has been trying - without complete success - to remember the aircraft that were included in those old Revell carrier kits when they were originally released.  (I was in grade school at the time; my older brother usually built them before I did.)  The first Revell carrier kit was the Midway class one, which originally (according to Dr. Graham) appeared as the Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1954.  The appendix of the book says it "includes 26 aircraft:  Cougars, Skyraiders, Corsairs, and Piasecki copters."  (I'm pretty sure some of the Cougars were molded with their wings folded.)  The next was the Forrestal, initially released in 1957.  The listing in the book's appendix doesn't describe the air wing, but the book does have (on p. 123) a photo of one of the built-up and painted sample models that Revell sent to hobby shops.  ("History making addition to every real model fleet/build America's mightiest super carrier.")  The photo's pretty small, but I'm pretty sure I can make out Skywarriors, Furies, Cutlasses, and Sea Knights on the flight deck.  Unfortunately the book doesn't say much about the Essex-class kits, beyond the names and release dates.  I'm fairly clear in my memory of the Crusaders, Cougars, and Skyraiders (the latter two in improved versions, not just borrowed from the Midway-class kit) and the Sea Knights (which had separate, 3-bladed rotors rather than the crude, integrally-molded ones in the two earlier classes).  It sticks in my memory that one or the other of the two newer classes - Forrestal or Essex - also had F11F Tigers.  But I'm not sure which one.

Both kits were indeed full-hulled (though I imagine the underwater lines of the Forrestal, at least, were somewhat speculative). 

I watched the Discovery Channel documentary about the sinking of the Oriskany.  I normally try not to get emotionally worked-up about such things; for such a vessel to wind up as an artificial reef is, I guess, preferable to her getting scrapped.  But those shots of the explosive charges going off, the hull gradually sinking, and the divers studying the wreck on the bottom were pretty hard to take.  I can only imagine what the ship's former crewmen must have been going through.

Steelrudi - I hope you're able to track down at least one of those kits soon.  Have you tried E-bay?  I've heard some horror stories of innocent people being ripped off by it, but I've also seen some remarkable bargains on old kits.

I remember cougars with folded wings on a kit, but they were only up about 45 deg. from horizontal. Jeeps, the crane which was almost a flat casting, and sea knights where the rotors were folded.

Rudi- if you need eBay advise just ask.

If you can't obtain decals from Mark, let me know.  I made a set for my 1/700 scale Oriskany and won't be hard to upscale my template. In 58 the deck numbers were still yellow for the first half of the year, then after February, the deck was stained grey and the numbers painted white.

The Revell kit is pretty general and shows the short hull configuration.  The Oriskany was a long hull but the kit will still be fine.  It takes a pretty detailed eye to see the differences which is in the angle the hurricane bow meets up to the flightdeck.

Scott

Before you start hacking away at that kit, be warned:  it represented the state of the art in 1958, but by modern standards it leaves a great deal to be desired.  Turning it into a really accurate model of the Oriskany would be a major, time-consuming project. 

If I remember correctly (always a questionable proposition), in addition to the "long/short hull" problem, there's some sort of basic error in the way the island lines up with the hull structure underneath it.  It may be that the entire hull is simply too narrow; I don't remember.  (I suspect the hull lines of the Essex class may still have been classified in the mid-fifties, when Revell designed the kit.)  At any rate, the result is that the diagonal, box-shaped projection under the flight deck doesn't line up with the island.  That projection represents the housing of the escalator that carried the flight crews, in their heavy flight gear, from the ready rooms to the level of the flight deck.  It's supposed to be located directly under the island - for obvious reasons.   

Some years back a volume appeared in the Detail In Scale series about the Oriskany's sister ship Lexington.  The last chapter of the book described the various Essex-class carrier kits available, and summed up the virtues and vices of each.  If I remember right, the Revell kit was judged the best of the bunch (which at that time - long before the appearance of the 1/700 and 1/350 Dragon and Trumpeter kits - wasn't saying much), but the list of errors in it was pretty depressing.

It's none of my business, but if I were you I'd think carefully about the unusual and important purpose for which this model is being built, and how crucial those errors of accuracy may be in the eyes of the recipient.  (I obviously don't know the gentleman, but if he's not a modeler himself the goofs may not matter so much to him.)  One other thought:  I have the impression that Dragon is working its way through the various Essex-class configurations with its series of excellent 1/700 kits.  I have no idea when that company will get around to issuing an angled- deck version, but Murphy's Law suggests that if a modeler spends six months bashing an old Revell kit, the new Dragon version will show up in the hobby shop the day he finishes it.

Good luck.

If you are super detail oriented, then kitbaching either the Dragon 1/700 of the Trumpeter 1/350 kit is the better way.  Many of us have done it and it isn't too hard.

Tracy White, who hangs out at Modelwarships, has a great set of photos of the SCB 125 moderization of the Lexington showing how the hurrican bow was assembled and the structural buildup of the angled flightdeck. The techniques used on the construction would be the same way you could fabricate them on the model.

Thanks to all for this message thread, especially steelrudi. I've been "lurking" at the armor and ships forums for several days now and building up more interest in getting back into my model shop.

The Bennington CVS-20 was my first ship (Bennington->Colleton->Coral Sea->Tutuila->Shasta) and I have often thought about building the model but figured the angled flight deck and enclosed bow would be pretty tough for me.

There is ALOT of information in this thread already to get me started! I'm looking forward to more progress reports from steelrudi, and many interesting hours spent following up the leads already posted from other members. This will be like getting reaquainted with an old girlfriend, I still think I could find my way around that ship blindfolded in the dark.

Your welcome.  I am in the scary place in my mind when I work on this project.  I am stealing stuff from the other carrier, and cuting it down for use on the conversion.  Nothing major, or that will be missed.  Railings mostly.  I am using alot of sheet for re-mods on the sides and deck walk ways for this thing.  Getting ready to order decals and planes from Starfighter for it, then I can top worrying.  My brother let slip what I was doing to my stepfather, and I guess he was very happy about it.  Calls once aweek to know of the progress.  I think I will end my brothers exsistance.  Well back to work.  Cheers!

Ray- I'm in the same boat as you- ARRRRGGGHHH!!!

I have almost finished my Pine Island at 1:400. My first ship in a long time.

Ship guys- I suck.

But as a newbie here's the deal.

I bought railings from Gold Medal and they were so good that I figured out how to install them.

I bought Haze Gray from Polly S and wished I'd lightened it 25%.

I asked a lot of ??? on this forum and got a lot of info.

Spray down the deck color, then spray up the hull and bulwarks (did I get that right?) color. Works like a charm.

Favorite bit- the Gold Medal 20mm Oerlikon. Rudi- its like someone made a brass model of a baby Mosquito: the bug.

Would like to see- a comparible 4x40 Bofors.

Last weekend I went to a garage sale as usual. Down in the basement there was a room full of old books and furniture, and .... a built model of the uss essex in that 1:596 or whatever scale, all painted up, I built a couple about 40 years ago. The capper was a big decal on the tower, musta been 50 feet at scale: BEWARE OF JET BLAST...bring back memories? It also had Vigilanies, Cutlasses, and Skyhawks glued to the deck.

I go upstairs, they want $ 9, I decline.