Dragon 1/700 USS Lexington CV16 Build Log -"COMPLETED"

Thanks Check,

Got all the wheels on those clear SBDs and extra Hellcats from Trumpeter.  Anyone have a better way to put these little buggars on?  In know some folks like the idea of molding these in clear for the canopy, but really, in 1/700, whose going to notice a clear canopy?  Needed the Optivisor and a lot of concentration of not squeezing the tweezer too hard to have the little landing gear go shooting off into space.  I have about three planes that are going to be wheelless and probably stored hanging off the roof of the hangar deck, never to be seen.  

The folded wings on the Dragon planes went on well.  Dragon also had molded both landing gear into one piece that made it a lot easier to install.  Dragon molded the tail wheel right into the fuselage where as Trumpeter adds to the insane fun of trying to glue an very oversized, clear, tailwheel onto the area the size of a flea.  I thought I had learned my lesson about Trumpter 1/700 aircraft from building the Enterprise and CV2 Lexington, but they do look really good when complete.

Looking good, Scott.  I like the look of the radar!

TB,

I remember when the Table Top Navy was made by, first, Eagle or Eagle Wall, then Pyro.  The Eagle line was very expansive; Pyro limited their line to only a few ships.

Unfortunately for me, I do not recall any of the carriers coming with hangar decks or open roller doors.  I have them all, even the Lindberg releases.  I bought up the entire Eagle collection over the many years I have been on eBay. They might be crude by today's standards, but they inspired a very young boy to run down to the local drug store every week with his 50 cent allowance and add to his ship collection.  They cost anywhere from 38 cents to 50 cents when I was a kid!

Bill

Neatstory TB.  I built a few of those Lindberg kits as a kid.  Remember the "TableTop Navy"?

Lindberg re-released those about a year ago, but not at the $0.99 prices I used to get them at.

Well, I have some updated photos.  Got the MK37s to look somewhat presentable.  Now onto assembling all the aircraft.  I usually paint them a primer because I REALLY HATE these clear parts. Its a real bear to find the tiny hole or slot that the landing gear fits into. Yet if I pre-paint, then the glue and paint reacts and I have a mess.  But still, nothing is more satisfying than finishing up a detailed assembly in 1/700.

Hi!

     Even though it's from a different Company and smaller scale ,It reminds me of a Lindberg kit I built years and years ago .They had a open hull and hangar like that .You weren't even given something to close up the hangar deck with .

     Luckily I was an inventive kid .I had a box from an Easter shirt My cousin gave me .It was that slick type where the cardboard was wrapped in smooth white Paper . After I succeded in making a pattern I chopped up pieces of sprue and put them in the right spots .Then I glued the deck to that !

     Viola! a Hangar Deck deck. Still have that old thing somewhere in another box of hulls . T.B. 

Don Stauffer

 

 

GMorrison

I think that Paypal works for Tom's.

 

 

 

 

I don't have a paypal account.  Tom's site seemed to say I could still pay with a credit card, but it did not seem to work.

 

 

Hi Don,

I have set up a Paypal account with just my credit card, that way when a merchant only uses Paypal, I just click the Paypal; pay with Credit Card option.

I hope to see your Lex and Sara builds.

Scott

DutchLQ7

 

Sorry to hear about the rough time you had. Hope everything turns out well.

 I’m pretty new to posting on here but I just started with this build today also. Going to be a OOB Build. While working 2 weeks ago I met a radio operator that served aboard the Lex from her commissioning in 1943 until he was discharged from active duty in 1946. He’s 93 years old and I thought it would make a nice gift and be a small token of appreciation for the man. I look forward to keeping track of your work and gleaning some wisdom from your posts. 

 

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That is neat that you know someone who was a crew member on the Lex during WW2.  My dad was a plank owner on her second commissioning after the modernization.  I hope to see some of your build here.

Scott

GMorrison

I think that Paypal works for Tom's.

 

I don't have a paypal account.  Tom's site seemed to say I could still pay with a credit card, but it did not seem to work.

I think that Paypal works for Tom's.

I'm following this thread eagerly, as I will be starting a 1:700 Sara as the next thing on my bench.  Love both Lex and Sara!  Never built a 1:700 carrier before.  I have the Eduards PE package ( for some reason I cannot seem to place an order with Tom's). 

Looks sharp, Scott.  Sorry to hear about the weather issues.  Seems lots of rain has been quite an issue this spring in different parts of the country.  Locally here, we've had a couple of county roads collapse.

Looking Good! Yes, I had to buy two frets of the CVE PE because I lost an SC radar. 

Try as I might, I couldn't scratch up one that looked like anything other than what it was, a section of railing. And it is in a prominent location.

Fun stuff!

I have been dying to give an update.  I had been working on the MK37 Fire Control Radar PE from Toms and its been quite a workout for my eyes.  But everthing has stopped as of last night when my town got hit with a series of thunderstorms that dumped 5" of rain in an hour.  My workshop is in the basement, I lost power, my generator blew a fuel line gasket, and well, you get the picture.

I had to move all my equipement and supplies upstairs, in the dark, and within minutes.  Everything got moved, generator got repaired, and my sump pumps within the hour had the 4" of accumlated water pumped out of my basement.

So hopefully, in a few days, I will have my workbench back in order. I was really getting into making 1/700 radars out of PE.

Scott

This weekends update:

Hanger deck painting is underway. Painted base coat white to go under the 5N on the vertical surfaces. I find it gives a faded hue to the 5N.  Also base coated the flightdeck with Mahogany. I debated on using a wood flight deck, but the Dragon deck is molded very well and I would enjoy the build more not having to prep and deal with the wood deck.

Building up 20mm guns. Eleven down, forty more to go!

Hi Check, glad to have you aboard.  I have this build assigned to both your 1943 and 1944 GBs.  Not much changed on the Lex other then some armament and the change from the SBD to the SB2C.

You too Surf.  I am glad you are familiar with this kit. This is the second Dragon 1/700 carrier I am doing and I think these kits are fantastic.

I hope to fire up the airbrush tonight and start painting the hangar bay and doing base coats on the flightdeck.

I did get all those roll up doors installed.

Cheers,

Scott

Will be watching with interest, I built this Kit about 10 Years ago and have another 4 of the Dragon Essex Kits in post war guises. Very nice work so far.....Cheers mark

Looking to be a great project, Scott.  Good job!

Well, I'm back to working on my Lex.  I had been missing working on a 1/700 ship.  Not much progress yet.  Putting in all the roll up doors and other details in the hanger.

I also am still trying to decide if I want to make it a full hull or waterline.  I can't make up my mind.

Scott

scottrc

Wow EJ,

You done wonders to that old kit.  It really like it.

Scott

 

Thanks. It was a fun build. Being an old USS ESSEX CVS-9 crewman, serving on "The Oldest and The Boldest", I love those ships. I've done the Hasegawa, Dragon and Trumpeter ESSEX in 1/700, and the Trumpy in 1/350. Working on a vintage Revell 1/540 angle deck ESSEX with major changes and improvements to it. That was MY ship, and I want to do that one RIGHT. Did a Trumpy Yorktown in 1/700 also.

Keep up the good work. I'll be following with intrest. Those ships of the ESSEX class were great looking in my opinion, not to mention the historical significance. 

EJ

I thought I'd show that the Dragon kit has a complete hanger deck.  I have a number of PE sets I have collected from other projects to detail this kit with.

Wow EJ,

You done wonders to that old kit.  It really like it.

Thanks guys for the input. For the moment I will be taking a short break from the Lex build to concentrate on the Warspite I am working on for the British Ships GB.  I want to get it done before November 11th and the 100th aniversary of WW1.

Scott

ejhammer

I don't want to hijack this thread - PM me your e-mail address if you wish and I'll dig up some photos of the stern conversion and a few other bits I did.

EJ

Quite right.  Thanks, EJ, PM inbound...

scottrc

"...My father served on the Lexington from 1955 thru 1957, so I have built it a number of times from the old Revell and Renwall kits, and back in 1991, scratchbuilt it in 1/700, but I never built the Lex in its WW2 configuration. I decided to try my hand at doing a build log, please bear with me, I work full time and have many other hobbies, so I may not be posting for days, but here we go..........

 

  I am Subscribed to this build and you're added to my Favorites!

I've got Dragon's Lexington and I am overjoyed that I'll have a WIP to WATCH!

 Thanks.

      Nino

P.S. I like Dragons armament sprues for the Essex class kits. PE and Resin are always an option but the L sprue has pretty good 5 inch twin mounts. 

the Baron

That looks beautiful, EJ!  Though, that doesn't look like standard blackout discipline

I have the same project on my bench, too.  Well, it's moved really more to the Shelf of Doom.  I've got the hangar deck roughed in, and I have frozen at the step of redoing the stern.  I'm finishing her as the Essex, recovering aircraft on her very first deployment.  The kit aircraft will go in the hangar, and Trumpeter replacements on the flight deck.

 

I don't want to hijack this thread - PM me your e-mail address if you wish and I'll dig up some photos of the stern conversion and a few other bits I did.

EJ

You're off to a good start, Scott.  That kit looks sweet!  It looks like it's engineered to let you show some good hangar detail as well as external detail.

scottrc

I have this strange addiction to 1/700 aircraft carriers.  Over the past year and a half, I have built three of them and now am about to embark on my fourth...

I know what you mean.  I am working towards building our first nine carriers in 1/700.  When Aoshima brought out its Wasp kit a couple of years ago, it fulfilled a wish of many years.  Now if someone would bring out the Ranger in 1/700 injection-molded plastic, I'd be all set.

ejhammer

This is my Hasegawa ESSEX from a few years ago. I served on ESSEX in the early 60's. The kit is kinda a generic Essex class, so to make it CV-9,

Scratchbuilt hangar deck, reworked stern gun and director tubs, Lighted the hangar deck, cut out many of the roller curtain doors (thats how I remember them most of the time), and a few other details...

That looks beautiful, EJ!  Though, that doesn't look like standard blackout discipline

I have the same project on my bench, too.  Well, it's moved really more to the Shelf of Doom.  I've got the hangar deck roughed in, and I have frozen at the step of redoing the stern.  I'm finishing her as the Essex, recovering aircraft on her very first deployment.  The kit aircraft will go in the hangar, and Trumpeter replacements on the flight deck.

This is my Hasegawa ESSEX from a few years ago. I served on ESSEX in the early 60's. The kit is kinda a generic Essex class, so to make it CV-9,

Scratchbuilt hangar deck, reworked stern gun and director tubs, Lighted the hangar deck, cut out many of the roller curtain doors (thats how I remember them most of the time), and a few other details.

The picks of it with the HB lights on don't show up well in a lighted room, nor do they do so well with the room lights off. Oh well.

EJ

The 1/700 Hasagawa Essex was about it for anything scale. Revell and Lindberg versions of WW2 Essex carriers were great to slap together on a Saturday afternoon when you couldn't go outside and play.

The Dragon kit is a really well engineered and molded kit.