Battle of the Coral Sea Group Build 4 May, 2017 - 8 May, 2018

Safety nets.

Scott, the pastel looks good to me. It's almost like a sunlight effect.

I love your Lex and need to get mine further along.

Nice work, GM.  Safety nets are something I've never attempted in 1/700.  Yours are looking very good.

Thanks GM, that means a lot.

Your safety nets look perfect. How hard was it to keep them in alignment?  I thought of cutting the plastic ones off the 1/700 kit and using the PE, then sanity kicked in and I talked myself out of it.  They look to be a must for 1/350.  Keep on it GM, I am excited to see your progress.

I noticed on the 1/350, the arresting wires are molded in the deck, on the 1/700 there is nothing molded into the deck.

Scott

Here's how I did the safety nets.

As molded in the kit.

Besides looking pretty clunky, they are flat, which is incorrect. I learned from reading the build article on MWS by Tracy White that they sloped upward at about a 15 degree angle. Pictures show that. (Saratoga).

I made a little 15 degree gage which turned out to be most useful to set the angle after the CA glue was about half dry. Also shown are the kit part and replacement PE part. That xacto was included in the picture for scale, funny that it's angle is very similar.

Next step was to glue little ledges along the edge of the deck. Shown here after painting.

Final product.

The arrestor wires weren't molded on the deck, but there are very faint little circles molded flush that locate the reels at each end of the arrestor wire pendant (removable sections).

I used those to drill small holes fore and aft.

Then I installed really thin monofilament and taped them on the underside to be taut. Touch each end with a little CA before trimming off the extra and removing the tape.

Back topside, theres a little PE cover over each reel.

Once I get all of the deck detail done, I'll go back and touch up stuff with 5-N and flat coat to kill the shiny CA spots.

Great tutorial, Bill.  Very helpful.  Thanks for including it with the photos.

Managed to accomplish some more progress:  installing the wings.

Lots of gaps to fill in where they join the fuselage.

The joint where the wings fold is pretty clunky, but not much to do about it without destroying the corrugations.

You have a good clean build going. Sometimes seams- it is what it is. What ship is that aircraft assigned to?

I wanted to show you all my builders base for warships. I got this design from one of the other modelers, either Ed or Bill or Tracy, can't remember.

What sets it apart is the end vertical piece.

Which allows me to do this.

So side details like the safety nets have a slim chance of surviving to the end of the build.

GMorrison

I've been thinking about building the CV-2 Lexington, 1/350 Trumpeter kit. Barring another move, things should settle down this year.

It looks to be a pretty simple build, only thing would be to load the deck up with more Wildcats.

 

Best GB in a while to come along.

That's a pretty innovative base, GM.  Something like that would be handy in 1/700, too.

I've got the sheet of Starfighter decals for Coral Sea, and I believe the only Devastator markings I've got left from it are for a Yorktown TBD.

Thanks for the building info GM.  Lots a great tips.

CM, I had the exact issues with the MPC kit, which now I am convinced is the same kit.  

I think you're right, Scott.  It must have been reboxed a number of times.  I got one from Sprue Brothers labeled "NAVAIR Historical Series," and specifically claiming it's a rebox of the Airfix mold.

Scalemates says that the MPC kit is the Airfix version, reboxed, and dates the original molds to 1969.

Admiral put out a new-mold a couple of years ago, and it looks much better from the box, but I haven't examined it in detail.

A couple of updates. I'm working on the gun tub contents which will be hard to get to once the deck with its safety nets is installed.

.50's with the blue bases shot. Still need to paint the guns.

5" guns.

20 mm.s

I very much like the looks of those, GM.  Nicely done!

Would it be possible for me to switch from the 1/72 Hasegawa SBD to the 1/48 Academy SBD-3?  Looking to start this soon :)

Very fine, ET.  I'll adjust the build roster.  

I have been out for awhile with work and other stuff.  I am set up and ready to start decaling the planes, well, really its looked like this for two weeks now, I just cannot get myself to sit down and start.  Maybe tonight.

GM, those guns look soo much better in 1/350.

Ah, yes:  motivation, the bane of making progress.

Looking forward to seeing the air group, Scott.

I have the base ready to go. This thing is 8" by 30"!

That is a big base GM.  I am still painting mine. It needed another coat and then I will be applying the gesso to simulate the waves.

Still putting decals on planes.  Gad, there are six to eight per plane, at 1/700, this is getting pretty mundane.  

Scott

Got all my planes spotted on the deck and started the decal process.  Got the Big E finished in the background.

Looks very good, Bill.  Nice work!

Scott:  it does get tedious, doesn't it?  But that ship is looking good!

Had a massive failure with that Airfix Devastator, so I reverted to Plan B with it:  the trash can.  Have to look around for something else.  I do have Trumpeter's Lexington in 1/700 in the closet, and may try that--or Admiral's F4F-3, but it's a finicky kit; built one a few years ago.

Also had the home computer died, and I'm limited to using the computer at work, so my response time will be slower than normal.  Hopefully I can find time to get it back to Best Buy, but it's a trip of about an hour's drive away.

scottrc

That is a big base GM.  I am still painting mine. It needed another coat and then I will be applying the gesso to simulate the waves.

Still putting decals on planes.  Gad, there are six to eight per plane, at 1/700, this is getting pretty mundane.  

Scott

 

checkmateking02

Looks very good, Bill.  Nice work!

Scott:  it does get tedious, doesn't it?  But that ship is looking good!

Had a massive failure with that Airfix Devastator, so I reverted to Plan B with it:  the trash can.  Have to look around for something else.  I do have Trumpeter's Lexington in 1/700 in the closet, and may try that--or Admiral's F4F-3, but it's a finicky kit; built one a few years ago.

Also had the home computer died, and I'm limited to using the computer at work, so my response time will be slower than normal.  Hopefully I can find time to get it back to Best Buy, but it's a trip of about an hour's drive away.

 

Whaaa  Whaa What????  Trashed the TBD?  Thats sad, was it the wings?  I stuck some braces in mine since the lightest bump would cause them to shear off.  

I've had a rash of "finicky" aircraft kits as of late, which is probably why I went back to 1/700 scale ships.  The Lex is a fast build if you don't include all the aircraft.  

GMorrison

 

 

scottrc

That is a big base GM.  I am still painting mine. It needed another coat and then I will be applying the gesso to simulate the waves.

Still putting decals on planes.  Gad, there are six to eight per plane, at 1/700, this is getting pretty mundane.  

Scott

 

 

 

 

I certainly skipped the two on the bottom of the wings on the SBDs and F4F-3s and the tops of the folded TBDs.

 

 

I really considered it, at least on the aircraft that won't have the wings hanging over the side.  I also tried folding the wings, but that dang clear acrylic shatters.  I'm am not that impressed with Trumpeters 1/700 aircraft.  I'll still take their 1/350 planes any day.  

scottrc

Whaaa  Whaa What????  Trashed the TBD?  Thats sad, was it the wings?  I stuck some braces in mine since the lightest bump would cause them to shear off.  

I've had a rash of "finicky" aircraft kits as of late, which is probably why I went back to 1/700 scale ships.  The Lex is a fast build if you don't include all the aircraft.  

 

Yeah, it was a combination of things:  the corrugations in the wings; poor fit of the wings to fuselage; etc., etc., etc.,  Got to be more headache than fun.

Man, that sucks about the molding issues on the Airfix kit.  As we discussed early on, I built the MPC kit, which was from an early run (1968) of the Airfix tooling, and the corrugations looked pretty good.  Maybe Airfix will come out with a new tooled TBD like they did of the Kate?

I like to see how this A-Z kit will come together, sounds interesting.

I got the decals on my TBD's last night.  Those little tail stripes were a pain because the tails were molded like perfect triangles.  They look kinda funny, but are not that bad so I'll keep them.

Scott