Looking great. The only thing is I dullcoat at the end which makes the little brass spots less bright and shiny. Mask bridge window3s of course.

This build is complete and in the case.  Here's some completed build shots.

If I had it to do over, I'd test fit the flight deck more often to avoid the problems I had, but otherwise I'm fairly satisfied with the finished ship.

The research was fun and with the few exceptions I've mentioned, the kit is an enjoyable build.

I came across a photo of the forward flight deck of the ship and painted out the flight deck stripes to port and starboard that went to the deck edge and blended the weathering.  The center line needs to continue forward of the elevator, but I'd used up all the kit's decals and couldn't find matching ones.  It is a discrepancy I need to fix, but I needed to case the model with all the fragile bits as I try to track down some deck stripes.  I'll live with it for now.

The a/c deck spot shows the six Wildcats launched at dawn for the CAP and the ten Dauntless bombers launched for the dawn search.

You can see the largest gap of missing railings I had to fill with foil representing canvas.  Other builders of this kit should perhaps use foil around the island to save some PE rails to fill this gap.

The two light pieces of foil-canvas on the port bow comes from one of the Midway photos.  They were a light color so I used pale gray, but they may have been another shade.

That's a very fine model. Prompting me to get Hornet back down off of the shelf of death and finish her.

A question- were there really no deck numbers? I couldn't find any war time aerial views that showed a "5", although quite a few of Enterprise have two black "6"'s later in the war.

G.

Thank-you.

There were no deck numbers at the time.  Flight deck numbers didn't begin until the fall of '43.

Yorktown and Hornet carried hull numbers, Enterprise never did.

Perhaps the three Yorktown-class ships didn't need deck numbers since, in the Pacific, they were each in different paint schemes and could be distinguished from each other.  By summer '43, there were several Essex-class ships in the Pacific and all painted Navy Blue and therefore they needed numbers.  Enterprise returned with the "6" on her deck after her '43 refit and overhaul.

One of the "fun" things about USN CVs in WW II is how rapidly they changed schemes and antenna rigs, forever keeping model builders scrambling.

Mike-

  Excellent!  That looks really great, nicely done!   A very impressive model display.

Thanks for taking the time to post your in-progress photos.  I can't tell you how many times so far I have referred to your build photos to check how various parts go together for my build. I've learned a lot of details and issues to watch out for.  It's not easy to be the first one to build this kit on these forums, but I wanted you to know that it is appreciated.

Thanks,

Phil

Very, very nice work.  I really like the weathering on the hull, she looks like she really put on some miles.

Mike,

I can't open the photos.  I would love to see your Yorktown.  Can you repost them?

Thanks!

Bill

Phil and Marcus,

Thank-you.

I suppose I should pass on a few paint details.

I used Life Color marine acrylics for the camouflage colors and Model Master Acryl paints for the standard (red, black, etc.) colors.  The Life Color paints were Sea Blue 5-S, Ocean Gray 5-O and Haze Gray 5- H.  These of course, were the correct colors for the USN Measure 12 camo scheme.  There are some questions regarding the 5-S Sea Blue.  The original 5-S may have been somewhat lighter than shown on the model.  The paint went through a change to a slightly darker color in late 1941.  It moved much closer to the 5-N Navy Blue color.

This becomes very important with Enterprise during the same time.   Most photos of CV 6 seem to show her painted with a darker paint than the lower hull areas of Yorktown.  This has lead some to believe that Enterprise was painted in overall Navy Blue 5-N (Measure 21) in 1942 although records state she was in Measure 13, overall 5-S Sea Blue.

I lightened the lower hull on my Yorktown for the weathered look as the ship obviously appeared, but I believe the Life Color 5-S is the darker shade.  It is definitely darker than the old Model Master Acryl 5-S that I used on other projects and is no longer available in MM Acryl acrylic.  (I don't know if the new MM enamel 5-S is the same as the former acrylic or not.)

Of course, judging such stuff is difficult now due to variations in photo printing, films, contrast filters, etc., that were in use by Navy Photographers in 1942.

I painted the model using as many photo references I could find.  The most critical for this ship is where the break between the 5-O Ocean Gray and the 5-H Haze Gray occurred on the masts.  Most photos agree that the CXAM radar antenna was Haze Gray and everything below that point was still Ocean Gray.  That leaves everything above the "fighting top" in Haze Gray.  Regarding the mast aft the stacks, I cannot say whether its ever painted Haze Gray or not.  Obviously exhaust from the stacks would have blackened everything anyway, so I painted it black.  I cannot say for certain that Yorktown's after mast were painted black, but my best somewhat educated guess would say it was.  Photo evidence seems to bear this out.

All things said, it was a fun experience.  Perhaps I'm the first to complete this kit and post photos on line.  I haven't seen any other completed shots in other forums.  Phil and Steve have asked questions about the build.  Thanks to everyone on the positive comments.

Since it is such a new kit, I certainly encourage more questions and comments that any others may have concerning the build.  And best of luck to all who give it a shot.

Bill,

Here's a quick repost:

i188.photobucket.com/.../CV-5-final-a.jpg

i188.photobucket.com/.../CV-5-final-b.jpg

i188.photobucket.com/.../CV-5-final-c.jpg

i188.photobucket.com/.../CV-5-final-d.jpg

i188.photobucket.com/.../CV-5-final-e.jpg

i188.photobucket.com/.../CV-5-final-f.jpg

i188.photobucket.com/.../CV-5-final-g.jpg

i188.photobucket.com/.../CV-5-final-h.jpg

i188.photobucket.com/.../CV-5-final-i.jpg

Hope you can see these.

Mike, several inaccuracies in your post. There was only one formula for 5-S, and the Navy also quickly decided that it was too light. Both Atlantic (where CV-5 was based until the attack on Pearl) and Pacific fleets ordered it's replacement by 5-N Navy blue by December of 1941, and I think even by November in some cases (I'm at work and don't have the time to link or look at my camouflage page). Measure 11 was the Sea Blue Scheme and Measure 13 was Light Gray. However, a lot of confusion has come about because the Navy ordered "Measure 11 with 5-N substituted for 5-S" until Measure 21 came about.

In Yorktown's case she's too light to be in 5-N Navy Blue - or rather, there's not enough contrast between the 5-O Ocean Gray and lower hull for it to be Navy Blue.I'll try and add appropriate sources later tonight.

Beautiful job on Yorkie.  Always liked her, even with her short life in the war.

Thanks Tracy.

I did get the camo measures wrong.  It was indeed Measure 11, not 13.

Here's a quote from the Snyder & Short site:

---Faced with the phasing out of the Dark Gray, and with Sapphire Blue being unacceptable due to fading, the Pacific Fleet formally adopted Measure 11, Sea Blue, (formerly Measure 1A) in mid-September 1941, but allowed the Fleet to remain in Measure 1 Dark Gray for as long as paint stocks would allow.  Wood decks were not to he painted with 20B Deck Blue, hut were left in their natural color until tests with 20-B were conducted. Fortunately, by late 1941 the new 5-N Navy Blue had become available in the Atlantic, used there in Measure 12.  It was first applied to a Pacific ship in the first days of December.  This was the destroyer FLUSSER which was painted overall in the new color, the scheme was named Measure 1C later in 1942 formalized as Measure 21.

In the Atlantic, Admiral King (like Kimmel) was unhappy with Sea Blue, primarily because of fading, and by it not being dark enough.  He officially ended the use of  Sea Blue in early November, having formally replaced by 5-N Navy Blue, although Sea Blue continued in use on some vessels for many months until supplies of Navy Blue became available. Where Navy Blue was used in place of Sea Blue, Measure 12 became known as Measure 12A.---

I was never able to determine whether CV 5 was painted with the 5-S or 5-N paint. I assumed it was 5-S. I never saw a mention of Yorktown in "12A."  The confusion results from not really knowing when Yorktown was painted at Norfolk before returning to the Pacific.

I read somewhere that the formula changed, so that source was mistaken. Thanks for that correction.  However, there's definitely a color difference between the old MM 5-S acrylic and the Life Color 5-S, which really doesn't help ending all the confusion.  This really is a problem for Enterprise modelers.

Great build of Yorktown!  That canvas you note on the focsl was matress splinter protection for .50 cal machine guns on the bow.  If I am not mistaken, there were similar guns and splinter pro on the fantail.  Pic of forward portside in view of Wildcat taking off at Midway, at:  http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/OnlineLibrary/photos/events/wwii-pac/midway/mid-6y2.htm