USS Essex by RGL - FINISHED - Trumpeter - 1/350 - PLASTIC - as she appeared in February 1944

[Piet]

Hi Greg,

Caught up with you, finally.  She looks really great.

 

Cheers,

[RGL]

Back onto the catwalks, adding details such as the refueling station and fire hoses. this is the first piece of about 10

[RGL]

I finally got around to going to the hardware store and got a length or Merbu cut to length. A couple of layers of oil and she’s good to go. I intend on cutting the pedestals down by half then I can all all the completed catwalks which are strewn on the deck. 
 

I spend the entire day doing half of the funnel, the island superstructure is a whole model in itself it’s so intricate. 

[RGL]

Funnel, what the kit provides 

 

then what it is supposed to look like in 1943

 

and the metalwork begins plus some extra pipes 

[lmagna]

Amazing!

[RGL]

And done, with the SC-2 Radar, back to the hull now. 
 

not the kit provided radar set, this is why PE is really unbeatable 

[yvesvidal]

46 minutes ago, RGL said:

 this is why PE is really unbeatable 

PE and a seasoned artist and expert at PE.

 

Yves

[RGL]

The arrestor cables on the flight deck. The upgrade made these mandatory really, I’ve been told they stayed deployed the entire time and were heavily greased up. 

[RGL]

I’ve finally got the ship permanently mounted, it’s now safe enough to put the catwalks on as I won’t have to handle the ship. 
 

ive left one off that runs alongside the island and have yet to add the 54 floater net baskets and later on lots of rafts to be slung under. 

[CDW]

Beautiful...and very busy. Lots of eye candy to see there. 😀

[Tigerdvr]

21 hours ago, RGL said:

I finally got around to going to the hardware store and got a length or Merbu cut to length. A couple of layers of oil and she’s good to go. I intend on cutting the pedestals down by half then I can all all the completed catwalks which are strewn on the deck. 
 

I spend the entire day doing half of the funnel, the island superstructure is a whole model in itself it’s so intricate. 

 

 

Exemplary  job on the weathering. At first glance on the top picture, that reminded me of the photos of the Bunker Hill (or maybe the Franklin) being brought into New York after their horrific damage in the Pacific. Probably the absence of anything on the flight deck added to the impression. Great log, thanks for sharing.

Harley

[RGL]

Floater net baskets added 

[Shamrock]

Excellent! The blueish colour is new to me, was it used only in the Pacific? A certain period and only on some ships? I have always had the impression that WW2 warships were grey or maybe camouflage pattern (like Bismarck). It looks great, and the rubber marks on the flight deck is also great.

[RGL]

Yes mate, they were blue at the start, then went dazle to disrupt submarines which make them too easy for the Kamikazie when they went back to a greyer colour. 

[cog]

5 hours ago, Shamrock said:

Excellent! The blueish colour is new to me, was it used only in the Pacific? A certain period and only on some ships? I have always had the impression that WW2 warships were grey or maybe camouflage pattern (like Bismarck). It looks great, and the rubber marks on the flight deck is also great.

Brittish/Australian Navy WWII V&W-class destroyers were blue as well, e.g. HMAS Vendetta (1944), HMAS Stuart I00 (1942-2, 1945), HMAS Warramunga I44 (1943), and some Pacific located battleships e.g. HMS Duke of York, HMS Anson . These had a blue rectangle on the side.

 

Very nice details, Greg. The PE makes the model come to life ...

Edited January 9, 2020 by cog

[RGL]

So finally after finishing the catwalks I find a photo which shows the arrestor gear controls. Little bit more scratch building to go then

[popeye the sailor]

wow Greg...the deck looks awesome.......as well as the model as a whole    your videos wouldn't work for me...but that's OK..the pictures do her justice!

[knightyo]

The vids work for me, and are a lot of fun to watch!  Popeye, maybe use a different movie player?

 

Alan

[amateur]

Or Popeye uses a very old version of iOS.....

The vids don't work on my somewhat outdated Ipad, but function without problems on my new Iphone.

And to Popeye: the vids are better than the pics

 

Jan

Edited January 10, 2020 by amateur

[popeye the sailor]

i'm sure they are......I use windows media player....never had a problem before.   I'll check it out.

[RGL]

The beauty of the video is you can cover the whole length of the ship. 

[cog]

I've got the same problem as Popeye, and I run either Win or Linux

[mtaylor]

Have a look at the VLC Media player.  Windows Media Player didn't work for me either but VLC did.

[cog]

I've got that one ... and Quicktime, and ... a few more

[RussR]

MOV files don't work in Google Chrome as well. 🙁 

And I haven't found a plugin to fix it.

[mtaylor]

I had to download it and the watch it.  I'm using Chrome and it just didn't want to work.

[cog]

Thanks Mark. SHould have thought of that. Not really the easy way to watch a movie, but at least you can see it

[RGL]

I use firefox, have for years as it blocks all ads and pop ups. 
 

now the island 

[RGL]

This is taking forever. About 50% done. 

[Canute]

Greg, superb detailing on the island.

 

Harley, that beat up carrier was the Franklin. Took a lot of punishment, but sailed back to NY for refurbishing. Although repaired, she never went back to sea in an active commissioned status. Wiki history:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Franklin_(CV-13)