USS Midway

I suspect that you saw the 1/800 kit formerly from Arii. The current iteration is a believe from one of the companies out of China. Is the "cheesy" from looking at the plastic for from the box art (which I admit is pretty bad). If it is the kit I believe you saw (the only other Midway kit is an old Revell kit from the '50s with the original staight deck) the it is a fairly decent representation of the Midway in the late '70s when I was aboard. There was also a 1/700 scale resin kit from Jim Shirley in the '80s configuration after the last 3 5"/54 guns were removed and the new radar tower built behind the island. This kit has been OOP for quite some time, not many were made, is not an easy build, and and would probably cost a chunk of change is someone was willing to let one go. Other options would be one of the 1/1250 models (also not cheap by any stretch of the imagination). I did put my request in with Trumpeter to do a Midway back when they were asking for suggestions.
The two F-14s that come with the Arii kit would have been based on the one time Midway trapped two Tomcats in 1978 from the Enterprise when they were unable to return due a storm.

Thanks now that you mention it Arii sounds familiar. The pictures made the kit look cheesy, but it may be my only choice for now, and my som is only 8 so he wont really care all that much. They have static F-14A on the flight deck and the audio tour did mention that they never flew from the Midway, but that 2 were landed due to inflight problems. I may have to head back down to San Diego and go on her again and pick up that kit for my son.
Steve

does anyone know if the fabeled Trumpeter is planning any release of the ship in 1/350??

CAN YOU HEAR US TRUMPETER

Your loyal minions and purchasers are calling......

I tried to email you dnatech but you dont have your email isted..

ebay currently has 2 of the Revell kits and from looking at one they look nicer than the Arii/Kangham kits (both the same mold)

here is one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=2590&item=5929466822&rd=1

and the other:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=2590&item=5929466822&rd=1

you can expect some price wars from collectors before the end, but who knows? I bid on an OS2U kingfisher, the bud went up to almost 50 dollars 20 min before it ended... went and bid on another and 5 days later got is for $11.96 without shipping... go figure...

here is a pic of the completed Revell kit:
http://www.midwaysailor.com/midwaymemorabilia/memory41b.jpg

and the Arii kit:

http://www.steelnavy.com/Arii%20Midway%20ML.htm

the Revell kit is a bit dated but to me it more accurately reflects the Midway... or the spirit of the ship... the other one is a little sterile, if more up to date than the revell one...

Ric,

Don't expect to see Midway in 1/350th...

Jeff

Whaaaaaaa !

I really wasnt holding my breath tho. I d just like to see a few more battleships and perhaps some more carrier versions coming out

And a WWII Japanese 1/350 thats NOT the Yamato

Be patient...lots of stuff coming that'll make you happy.

Jeff

tho9900 thanks for the info. I think I will settle for the Arii kit as it is the refitted angled deck version, and that is how my son saw her when we went down. He would notice the difference.
Steve

It's sad to say but if you want to build the MIDWAY in her modern form, the ARII kit is the closest, and quite a bit of scratch-building will need to be done to make her look as she did before she was decommed.

My Dad was on board when she recovered the two F-14As. It was actually around 1982 when it happened. They were on a NORPAC exercise with the ENTERPRISE (CVN-65) when the weather got bad and they had to recover an A-6E and the two Tomcats from the "Big E". Everyone was worried that the Tomcats wouldn't make it on board because MIDWAY's angle deck is a bit shorter than the ENTERPRISE's. They all made it safely on board and were launched off the next day. The cat shots were also interesting in that the MIDWAY's cats weren't rated to launch Tomcat's either. With 30+ knots over the bow, max steam pressure, and afterburner, they both got off safely. The A-6E wasn't a problem. The Tomcats were from VF-1, Wolfpack.

Another note on that exercise was that MIDWAY was designed with only two catapults and the ENTERPRISE has four. MIDWAY had one cat down so could only launch with one. MIDWAY launched AND recovered more aircraft with one cat than ENTERPRISE with four! MIDWAY Magic.

Just a question, didn't Revell release the angle deck version of one the Midways sister ships? For some reason, i keep thinking they did. Anybody out there know for sure?

BTW, I bought the origional release of Revell's Midway when it first came out. Thought the folded wing F9Fs were really neat.

I've got the excellent book Remembering Revell Model Kits, by Thomas Graham, in front of me. The appendix is a fascinating list of all the kits Revell USA produced between 1951 and 1979. I think we can regard this list as definitive; my memory of Revell kits goes back to 1956, and I certainly haven't found any significant mistakes in it.

According to Mr. Graham, the Midway-class carrier was originally issued under the name Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1954, with the kit number H-307. It was reissued as the Midway in 1960, the Roosevelt again in 1961, the Coral Sea (with an electric motor included) in 1961, the Coral Sea (non-motorized) in 1966 and 1975, and the Midway in 1975. The book says the original issue is valued at $60-70. The kit also appeared in a "gift set" called "Victory at Sea" (in conjunction with the then-brand-new TV documentary series), which was released in time for Father's Day, 1955. That set also included the old Fletcher-class destroyer and the old PT boat, and is valued at $500-600.

The book mentions nothing about the kit ever having been issued in an angled-deck version, and my personal (if none-too-reliable) memory doesn't recall such a modification. Every version of the kit I've seen was identical except for the decals.

A few years later Revell did a Forrestal-class carrier and a modernized, angled-deck Essex class one. I can remember lining up the three of them on top of my dresser when I was in grade school. Even then the difference in quality of the moldings was obvious. It seems to me the helicopters in the Midway-class kit had their rotors molded in with the fuselages (in the folded position), while the ones in the Essex-class kit had separate pieces for the rotors. And the Skyraiders in the Essex-class kit made those in the Midway-class one look pretty globby.

The Forrestal- and Essex-class kits did go through lots of variants, with different aircraft types and a few other changes as well as new names and decals. One Essex-class issue, with the name Hornet, had a tiny replica of an Apollo space capsule, along with Sea King helicopters.

Fun excercise in nostalgia.

I don't know if this has been brought up yet, but there's a resin kit of Midway in 1945 fit coming out from Loose Cannon. Info here:

http://home.earthlink.net/~loosecannonproductions/Kit67.html

-Devin