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

[lmagna]

The entire hanger deck overhead looks great even when you are not right there looking into the doorways.  It could end up being hard to tell from the real thing once painted.

[RGL]

Last part of the under flight deck 

[popeye the sailor]

looks superb Greg!   

[RGL]

Paravane rails, the kit instructions state they are stowed on the stern,  it this shows them at the bow bulkhead, I’ll probably my just do both. 

[RGL]

There’s a whole lot of things that need to be added as extras, bollards, cable reels, chain breaks and stoppers, paravanes, fire hoses etc. 

[RGL]

Ready for some priming

 

a few additions to the gun platforms just to get rid of bland 

[Old Collingwood]

6 hours ago, RGL said:

Ready for some priming

 

a few additions to the gun platforms just to get rid of bland 

"Carrier develops list as Huge lighter enters deck  - must belong to a giant"

 

OC.

[RGL]

Flight deck revisited. I primed then painted the underside white and gave it a dirty wash.  I’ll have to mask this piece so I can paint the outboard bits. I dry fitted it and as usual, nothing aligns. So I cut the deck back into three pieces  and each piece has been trimmed with a razor saw so they fit flush. The alignment tabs also had to be cut off. I’m hoping this is the hardest part of the build as it’s not easy and other builds have had the same problem apparently. 

Edited November 26, 2019 by RGL

[RGL]

1 hour ago, Old Collingwood said:

"Carrier develops list as Huge lighter enters deck  - must belong to a giant"

 

OC.

They are pretty universal in size, unlike coins which can vary a lot. 

[RGL]

I have to do up the bow and stern areas before plonking on the deck. I’ll get this done soon. 
 

lots of dark blue which really hides detail. Hangar deck masked so I can paint the hull. 

[RGL]

Focsle, lots of detail coming together

 

once covered pretty much invisible  

[RGL]

Fantail or back veranda 

[RGL]

The deck is on. Just a horrible piece of engineering, which is going to require a lot of work to fix gaps. Luckily there are walkways alongside the flight deck which will cover a lot of gaps, there is a massive gap in the deck which luckily will have a wooden overlay. 

[lmagna]

 

LOVE this photo! If the rest of the railings were in it would look like the real ship!

[knightyo]

7 hours ago, lmagna said:

 

 

LOVE this photo! If the rest of the railings were in it would look like the real ship!

 

Agreed.  That is a sensational photo!

[Old Collingwood]

20 hours ago, lmagna said:

 

LOVE this photo! If the rest of the railings were in it would look like the real ship!

I thought it was,      happy thansgiving  lou.

 

OC.

[amateur]

Ah, well. Thought I was the only one not being able to recognize this as a model . I was looking for sailors in the pic, actually   

 

Jan

[popeye the sailor]

I though the same.........very life-like in detail   

[lmagna]

17 hours ago, Old Collingwood said:

happy thansgiving  lou.

Thanks OC. I need you to come over and do all of my dirty dishes though. Food was too much, family was OK, and cleanup will probably take days! I think we used every dish and tableware we owned in the house!

[CapnMac82]

On 11/23/2019 at 6:53 PM, RGL said:

the kit instructions state they are stowed on the stern,  it this shows them at the bow bulkhead, I’ll probably my just do both

As a guess, that's a legacy of changing doctrine.

 

During WWII, self-sweeping was considered a "must" for capital ships, especially those with deeper draft than their support craft..  This is why the shoe fitting is on the bow.  When fitted up with the chains to run out the paravanes, the 'vanes need to be forward so that they can be streamed.

 

When the DMS were introduced, with the ability to sweep to given depths (and the increasing use of "influence" mines) pretty much ended the need for capitol ships to stream paraanes.  So, those could be moved aft, so that they were aboard, per TO&E, just not really use able. 

 

While a DMS can stream 'vanes from the stern, that's due to haing specialized gear (otterboards and downhauls and the like) and also because you can have several in the van to overlap coverage.  Streaming fro mthe stern of a capitol ship would only be sensible in a line of such vessels, and would put the lead ship at considerable risk, too.

 

Installing such things on high-value assets made sense when it was expected that they might cruise in solo fashion.  The creation of battle groups (and influence weapons) made that obsolete.  yet, did not remove the gear from ships' inventories--mostly as a "just in case."

 

Now, the goofy thing is, looking at period photos, the chains leading to th ebow fai lead seem to be in place all the way to 1946 or so--even though that had to be a Deck Division headache to have to hoist out the chains ahd clean and repaint them on a regular basis.

[RGL]

Portside elevator, the little grey blob is the Trumpeter support and the actual platform has no details whatsoever. I‘ve had to burn and rebuild the actual support structure as the instructions are no poor. 

[RGL]

Quick lick of primer, supports added 

 

dry fit

[yvesvidal]

That elevator takes the whole model to another level: Museum quality!

Superb.

 

Yves

[Javlin]

Greg great as usual as to the deck not fitting was that the plastic our the PE being introduced?I will have to do the Mogami one day and can see just off here could set the whole deck off to which I could see in your case cutting the deck was a great solution since you have the overlay.It's a shame all that fine work below is going to be covered up being so Beautiful! Kevin

[RGL]

The deck was already in three pieces, but adding the underside detail threw the specs out and it’s a clumsy fit anyway not designed for this much PE. 

[popeye the sailor]

guess they don't know you Greg    great job detailing the elevator too!

[Javlin]

4 hours ago, RGL said:

The deck was already in three pieces, but adding the underside detail threw the specs out and it’s a clumsy fit anyway not designed for this much PE. 

So Greg do you think painting the top of the lower pieces and pressing the deck while still wet would of helped?get the outline?

[RGL]

Javelin, the alignment sucked, required a lot of trimming and there are still some gaps. Meh, it’ll be fine. 
 

the next step is the catwalks. The kit has plastic ledges which I discovered today when I started the Pontos replacements need to be cut off. 
 

ive added a few reference photos here as they are an insanely detailed area which requires my imagination to detail up as there is nothing really showing this area in detail. 
 

this area has refueling hoses, firefighting equipment, Gun and storage, catapault controls  And arrest or cable controls etc etc. 

 

the Pontos detail here is amazing but the instructions are somewhat “expert” level to guess. I want to do most of these off model so I can prime them before placement and still work the hull without risk of breaking or worse, bending them off. 

[Old Collingwood]

On 12/5/2019 at 1:01 AM, popeye the sailor said:

guess they don't know you Greg    great job detailing the elevator too!

This guy is the scale expert on the site  - a master in scale and detail  -  just a delight to watch  art unfold.

 

OC.

[RGL]

This image from the AOTS shows placements on the catwalks for the Arrestor gear control stations, barrier control stations and fueling stations. I found the image in my previous post on Facebook (can’t find any other images anywhere) but I’m yet to find one of the barrier control station. This will all have to be scratch built but Pontos actually provides the Buts in image 2.What is not included is the fire hoses which I’ve found after after market 

 

Ive also found fire hydrants which I’ll add.