Calling all Air Craft Carrier Gurus

Are you talking about 1:350 scale or 1:700?

To accurately accomplish your goal you need to rebuild/replace everything from the flight deck up.

In 1:350 scale, Nautilus Models makes a new/correctly shaped flight deck for the Yorktown/Enterprise as well as a resin island structure which is the correct conformation for the early members of the class

http://nautilusmodels.com/enterprise.htm

In 1:700 you may want to get a set just to reverse-engineer when you scale it down.

If accuracy is not your concern, build a Hornet & put a 5 on the deck.  No one will no the difference.

Oh, and CV5 was a Yorktown class, not an Essex-class.   The two are not interchangeable.  Getting to a Yorktown (CV5) from an Essex will be harder.  For that you need to rebuild everything from the waterline up.

 

To be honest I'm not sure. I was looking for the Yorktown and came a cross a few Hornets. Because it wasn't what i was looking for I passed it by. I didn't think about converting another ship till I was in the car on my way home.

Detail is hit or miss. The fine details could vary but things like the flight deck and tower are what matters. What about the flight deck? Does the Hornet have three elevators in the center of the flight deck like the York?  

Everyone builds these things like they sailed, and that's great but you see I want to build the Yorktown as she exists today. Sitting over 3 miles beneath the Pacific ocean. First off not many if anyone has done it if anyone at all. So its a whole different perspective. No one should ever forget what the men on that ship gave for this country.

 

Dirk

 

 

If you want to do CV-5 Yorktown in 350th start with the Trumpeter Hornet kit. You will need to modify the island and forward flight deck before you start thinking about representing the battle damage and ravages of 65+ years under the sea.

EdGrune wrote:

In 1:350 scale, Nautilus Models makes a new/correctly shaped flight deck for the Yorktown/Enterprise as well as a resin island structure which is the correct conformation for the early members of the class http://nautilusmodels.com/enterprise.htm In 1:700 you may want to get a set just to reverse-engineer when you scale it down. If accuracy is not your concern, build a Hornet & put a 5 on the deck.  No one will no the difference. Oh, and CV5 was a Yorktown class, not an Essex-class.   The two are not interchangeable.  Getting to a Yorktown (CV5) from an Essex will be harder.  For that you need to rebuild everything from the waterline up.

Good Lord, That is some expensive parts!  So then my next question is would the Enterprise be a better candidate to be turned into the Yorktown and do they make a WWII enterprise kit?

 

Dirkpitt289 wrote:

Good Lord, That is some expensive parts!  So then my next question is would the Enterprise be a better candidate to be turned into the Yorktown and do they make a WWII enterprise kit?

If the Nautilus price tag upset you then you might just want to put your project aside.   The only other Yorktown-class carriers in 1:350 scale are by Yankee Modelworks in resin & brass and run in the mid-to-upper three figure range.

In styrene Tamiya makes a 1:700 scale kit variously sold as the Hornet and Enterprise which is in actuallity neither.  The island is wrong and too narrow.  The weapons fit is a mix which doesn't fit any particular time frame.  It is a waterline kit

And like Tracy points out, you will have to do some corrections, even to that kit, before you can do the damages.   You'll also need to do something about adding the lower hull for the as she appears now presentation

If you want to do Yorktown then Enterprise would be an easier conversion.

Ed is right about the Tamiya 1:700 kits, but if that's your scale, that's what you've got.

There's plenty of research material on the Yorktown class ships, so the Tamiya kit can be modified to represent CV 5. The island is too skinny, but that can be fixed, if you want to work at it.

One of my planned builds is to convert the Tamiya Hornet CV 8 to a late war CV 6. My plan is to kit bash the Hornet and the Mini Hobby Enterprise, to take the Hornet Island, hull and flight deck, and use the MH cat walks, etc. which will get me reasonably close. Then some tweaking and photo etch will make up detail changes. I've considered then using those left over mixed kit parts and doing a Yorktown in Dry Dock at Pearl before Midway. I know the MH kit will have some trouble, but it is all doable. My research stuff is good.

am i reading you right ?

you want to build it as it sits 3 miles down as it is rusted twisted etc...

Try Revell odd 1/520 (I think) scale Yorktown.  The detail is thin, but there are PE sets for it.  Also, is 1/4 of the price of a Trumpeter, and the hull has the correct shape.  I still think the Trumpeter kit of the Hornet has a hull with a bow that went on a Liberty Ship.

Yup!

I have the book of the Ballerd expediction to her.  Being to deep, she has ben protected from many of the elements and organisms that destroy steel.  The pictures show where the paint still looks fresh.  She had rested on an even keel so not much was desturbed during the sinking.

After seeing that program and looking at the book, it is wonderful to know that there is still a relic of this class of carriers still out their, ready as if to take on planes from an eternal patrol.