Best aircraft carrier

jtilley

Skywave made a Bogue-class escort carrier in 1/700. It came in two boxings: American and British. Tamiya now lists the same kit, with some upgraded parts.

Is that CV6 kit before or after her 43' refit I wonder.

I loved the Tamiya USS Bogue! It was the first carrier kit that I ever saw with a hangar deck, and it was the first on which I ever used photo etch parts.

I would also recommend that a manufacturer release updated kits of the Midway class and the Forrestal class ships since the only kits are grossly dated or are inaccurate, and do not fit into any collection. Given the upcoming releases of the J.F.K. and the Kitty Hawk, coupled with the Tamiya Enterprise and Trumpeter Nimitz, 1/350 would be nice.  But, there are also numerous carriers in 1/700, so either would be good.

Bill

We had a mention on the forum about the Merit kit earlier this spring.  Someone reported that the Merit kit representents CV 6 in fall '42.  That would make sense since it will no doubt be a reboxing of the Yorktown CV 5 kit.  The Enterprise mid '43 refit would require a completely different hull molding to include the added blisters. Of course if they do a remolded hull and eliminate the overscale hull plates, that would be welcomed by everybody.

The Yorktown kit contained some 40mm Bofors guns on the sprues, etc., that weren't needed for that ship. That was a good clue that an Enterprise is coming.

Mike is correct. Tracy White wrote the following:

You might consider the old Revell Yorktown/Enterprise/Hornet kit, too.  It's another box scale kit, in 1/545, I believe, but it can be made into a nice model of CV-5 or 6, with some additional effort.

I'm with the others regarding the Ranger and the Wasp.  Every time there's a poll on kits we'd like to see, they're two of my suggestions, injection molded, in 1/700.  Both are otherwise represented by resin kits made by Corsair Armada, which are both currently available again.  But I'd rather have a styrene kit.

I for one would love to see any builds of the Shangri La, as I have relatives that served aboard her.  I know that the Essex class models can be modified and built into any of the class of ships, but the only two carriers I'd personally like to build would be the Shang and USS America. 

Hi, Squatch-

I'm relatively new to the forums , and happened upon this topic and decided to weigh in. Sounds like you've got a lot of questions and factors to consider- not sure if I can help, but will offer some perspectives.

Consider your shelf or display space, budget, time, and amounts of detail to incorporate into your build,when deciding on your subject.

Remember too that when building your subject, it's important to consider whether you're modeling your carrier at a particular time and place (e.g. Enterprise at Midway, Santa Cruz offensive, or in her final wartime fit before being taken out of the fight in May of 1945 by a kamikaze off Okinawa) or as a more generic reperesentaion of the class.

I've built three Yorktown-class carriers (Tamiya 1/700 scale Enterprise, Revell's 1/542 (?) "Battle of Midway" carrier 3-in-1 model, and the more recent Revell Yorktown repop.) If you decide to go that route, the Revell kit has a very accurate hull for the Big E, but needs minor mods in bow shape for the Hornet. Tamiya's mold is a waterline hull, and portrays her in a late pre-war/early war appearance. Fit overall is good, but detail is lacking as pointed out elsewhere in the thread.

I think one of the reasons a CV6 kit has been shied away from by manufacturers is that her refit history is far more extensive than that of her sisters. Drastic changes in armament fits, catwalk structures, radars and comms antennas, searchlight platforms, aircraft, addition of anti-torpedo blisters, and even the camouflage schemes she wore during her service make her a challenge to even the most experienced modelers to build.

And incidentally, that's a important consideration regardless of which WWII carrier class to build. Given the staggering pace at which innovations were introduced into US naval aviation, both in field modifications and Stateside refits, do your research carefully. If and when you need to purchase aftermarket kits for your subject, make sure it contains the parts, aircraft or structures needed for the time period you wish to portray in your finished model.

My Revell Yorktown repop was built as a prewar version, with relatively minor mods to the island, a painted wood deck with simulated two-color planking, and deck striping and decals, but without the big "Y"painted on the island structure. Added rigging, "*** box loudspeakers to her signals bridge, and deleted the "theater marquee"structure located aft on her portside island. planes were painted in prewar silver and yellow with painted engine cowlings, tail planes and wing stripes. Probably not accurate to a T, but a very good looking final result.

Good luck and good hunting to you in your decision, and do keep us posted

I would like to see different sets of detail parts making corrections to the various Italeri 1/720 aircraft carriers.  For example the islands differ widely between different sets of ships in the Nimitz class, whereas Italeri uses the same basic island for all.  The islands for the Forrestal class ships are grossly inaccurate, and Ranger is missing the forward sponsons.  There are no Landing Officer platforms on any or the carriers.  Constellation and Kitty Hawk do not have accurate sponsons.  I know that GMM makes a 1/720 photo etch set for the super carriers, but I am talking about a mixed media detail set for each class that can greatly improve the only scale that represents all of the US super carriers (except Kennedy).

Bill

jtilley

There has been at least one resin Ranger kit, but I'm pretty sure there's never been a plastic one.

I wish somebody would do a nice, state-of-the-art plastic Ranger and Langley. And a Wasp (CV-7)...

I agree, JT.  Every time there's a poll on kits we'd like to see, Langley, Rangerand Wasp injection-molded in 1/700 are three suggestions I submit.  The Corsair Armada kits do come up from time to time on eBay, and I think Corsair Armada re-releases them, too, every so often.

I will second the Trumpeter 1/700 Saratoga, too.  It's a very nice kit out of the box, though it does benefit from PE for the rails and safety netting around the flight deck.

How is the Trumpeter 1/700 USS Hornet?  Is it any better than the Tamiya offerings of the Yorktown class?

Bill

I see they've released the Yorktown, CV-5 so can CV-6 be far behind?  I thought about getting the Yorktown and converting to Enterprise but I guess I'll wait for the Big E and svae myself some trouble!

The Enterprise is already here, and stores don't seem to be able to keep them in stock.

Bill

Here are my modern carriers:

Revell of Germany USS Wasp LHD-1

Trumpeter USS Stennis CVN-74

Fijumi USS Kitty Hawk CV-63

Trumpeter Adm. Kuznetsov

HP PA Charles DeGaulle (Resin)

all in 1/700

Thats quite impressive! Do you know how the Hobby Boss LHD-1 compares? Is it perhaps the same kit?

AS for another Navy, Aoshima has a very nice 1-700 WW2 HMS Ark Royal at the moment and Trumpeter has shown Test Shots of the same Ship in 1-350 for release next Year. I have about 14 Carriers in my Nest for the Slipways ranging from 1-700 to 1-350 US to IJN to Russian. PS I would love to see a Carrier GB also....Cheers Mark

A 1/350 WWII Ark Royal from Trumpeter? I'm getting in line now! But then again, any 1/350 WWII RN Aircraft Carrier would be very welcomed.

Steve

Here is a picture I found online of said test shot.

warshipguy

You could compromise and get the Gallery Models 1/350 USS Intrepid, an Essex class carrier from WWII but with the later Vietnam era SCB-27a angled deck appearance. Given that the Intrepid was a CVS and never operated F-4 Phantoms, you could model her as the USS Hancock (CVA 19) or USS Oriskany (CVA 34) because the kit comes very close to those ships as well. However, Essex class carriers did not operate Phantoms. You could build the Tamiya USS Enterprise or the Trumpeter USS Nimitz, both of which did operate the F-4 until 1992.  Also, Merit will soon be releasing a 1/350 USS John F. Kennedy (CVA/CV 67) and Trumpeter will release a 1/350 USS Kitty Hawk (CVA/CV 63) later this year.

Bill

 

"Operated Phantoms until 1992"????? Ummm, don't think so. Enterprise recieved her first Tomcats in 1975, Nimitz shortly afterward(she had them for The Final Countdown in 1981). Unless you're referring to Marine recce birds?

 Trumperter makes a Essex class cv

in 350 scale i.e. Uas Essex cv9

uss York town cv 10

all of the Essex class cv s embarked a4 C and d skyhawks and a1 d sky raiders and chance vaught f8 crusaders and grumman s2 trackers 

and Grumman seasprite asw choppers 

and gruman s f 2 s for cod duties 

f4 Phantoms were used on uss enterprise cvn65 and and on the forestall class of cva s and on uss Nimitz can 68 from 1/2/75 to 12/2/89

and on kittyhawk class of cva 

like I wrote befor there were no f 4  phantoms embarked on any of essex class aircraft carriers