USS Yorktown (CV-5) by Coyote_6 - FINISHED - Tamiya - 1/700 Scale - PLASTIC

[Coyote_6]

Every year at my work a few model builders display their World War 2 Pacific Theater model builds on Pearl Harbor Day.  Never forget.   Folks who don't model bring cool stuff like Great Grandpa's dog tags, or occupation money.  It grows every year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arizona in 1/700 at the front end, the Revell 1/535 Missouri at the end, but missing in between are the Midway carriers.  I have committed to the Yorktown and my buddy the Enterprise.  This will be my "quick build" saga of the Tamiya Yorktown.  Wish me luck.

 

Steve

Edited October 9 by Coyote_6

[ccoyle]

8 hours ago, Coyote_6 said:

Wish me luck.

 

Good luck!

[Coyote_6]

@ccoyle  I wish we could post multiple emoji reactions to posts.  "Thanks", and "laugh".  You say wish me luck but no one actually does.   You brightened my day and cracked me up - thank you!  

Edited October 9 by Coyote_6

[ddp]

what about the Hornet with the Mitchell bombers?

[Coyote_6]

@ddp That Hornet kit looks fabulous, especially with the B-25s!   I was torn between the two, but with aircraft upgrades (not enthusiatic with the aircraft included with the kits) the Yorktown's airwing was an easy upgrade as we will discuss.   For the Hornet I would be tempted to build both a complement of B-25s for the Doolittle raid and an airwing representative of Midway.

 

Perhaps for 2025!!

 

Steve 

[ddp]

i have Revell's 1/480 scale USS Hornet that comes with the B-25s in the stash waiting to be built. i actually have all 3 Yorktown carriers plus 2 more to be kitbashed into the Ranger & Wasp. already have the General Booklet of Plans for those 2 ships & the Yorktown.

[Coyote_6]

@ddp Wow.  Those sound like a lot of fun but a lot of work, too.  The Yorktown class was so influential in the outcome of world history.  Truly fabulous projects!

[Coyote_6]

On to the building.  I wasn't planning on a build log but decided why not?  This is pretty much box stock on the front end.  Starting with the island, and test fitting it on the deck/hull.

 

 

Island completed with the Tamiya airwing.  I am not super enthusiastic about the lack of propellors and stick landing gear.  Something will have to be done. 

 

 

Starting on the hull.  Already deciding to leave some of the hangar bay doors "rolled up".  The Pacific can get pretty warm after all.

 

 

But leaving the front doors open means adding a little hangar deck up front.  Not perfect but good enough.

 

[Coyote_6]

Ordered Flyhawk's FH1164, 6 Wildcats, 6 SBDs and 6 TBDs.  Two boxes means 36 planes!!  Yikes!

 

 

Major improvement as we get props, more detailed landing gear, bombs for the SBDs and torpedos for the TBDs.  Lots  of panel detail too!   Comparing the two Wildcats, Tamiya in the foreground and Flyhawk to the rear...

 

 

 

 

The three Flyhawk types, sitting on the flight deck mockup.

 

Edited October 10 by Coyote_6

[Coyote_6]

A little research goes a long way.  The book is a nice reference - a photo album with detailed captions.  Very useful for a project like this.

 

Back to work on the aft hangar deck, test spotting some aircraft.  Leaving these doors open.

 

Hamgar deck to hull fit.   Still missing some flight deck structure here.

 

Aaand experimenting with some photo etch.  Tough stuff.   But gotta get it on the hull and get the hull/hangar decks into paint.

[Coyote_6]

Layed down some paint. On the hull assembly Tamiya TS-32 Haze Grey above the hangar deck level, and Tamiya AS-8 Navy Blue below.  This will represent the Measure 12 camouflage the Yorktown wore at Midway.  (The destroyer is Tamiya's early Fletcher class in 1/700, done up as The Sullivans.   This was my 1/700 scale testbed for this project - paint colors, photoetch, weathering and lycra rigging.)

 

Bow - note the photoetch rails.

 

Stern

 

And some detail shots mocking up aircraft in the hangar deck.  The ship's launches will likely cover a lot of the viewing here, but we'll know they are in there!

 

 

 

 

Edited October 10 by Coyote_6

[Coyote_6]

Decided to brush paint the birds for the hangar deck to expedite things - the airbrush just takes me longer.

 

Mixed the paint to Tamiya instructions for the planes (tried some straight blue first but it was just too dark - second time is the charm.  Against my birdcage Corsair for comparison.  Pay no heed to the AS-5 - serves no purpose in this build.)

 

All detailed up, at least for 1/700 scale!  Wildcats!!  (#2 lead pencil for the canopies, Silver sharpie for the prop spinners, Tamiya TS-80 flat clear over all)

 

The pair together.

 

And pairs of SBDs and TBDs.  6 down, 30 to go.

 

 

Definitely needed decal setting solution at this scale to set down the roundels.

 

 

Edited October 10 by Coyote_6

[PvG Aussie]

Steve, how do you plan to set up you planes on the deck as the options are many? ✈️

Peter

[Coyote_6]

@PvG Aussie Hey Peter!   I looked at your Enterprise build and wow is she amazing.  Great work.

 

Notionally at this point I am thinking "Captain's (model builder's) Choice" and thinking a launch configuration, leading off with Wildcats for fighter cover, then SBDs 'cause their wings don't fold, and finally TBDs, with the final two rows 3 wide with the wings folded to demonstrate that early shipboard capability.   It looks as though Wildcats with wingfold (F4F-4, wikipedia) were prevelant by Midway but I am not planning to fold any Wildcat wings just yet.

 

Photos before Midway launch are not really discernable but I will do more research.  I am open to any ideas but for poor Yorktown, launch is probably the best configuration.

 

Thoughts?

Edited October 11 by Coyote_6

[Coyote_6]

@PvG Aussie  Also, if you are a glutton for punishment, I didnt glue down any of my planes or equipment on my Theodore Roosevelt  (1/700 Scale).

 

This left her reconfigurable for flight ops - even the JBDs could be swapped out.

 

The downside of course is every so often the shipyard cat will do an "inspection" and report an F-18 or two lying on their sides.

 

And I have never reconfigured from the show of force layout in pic 1.

 

But seriously, my OCD nature requires precise alignment and I have never set a plane exactly where I want it.   On this Yorktown build I did glue some in the hangar deck and had to reposition leaving a small glue smear.   This would not be acceptable to me on the flight deck.

 

 

Edited October 11 by Coyote_6

[Coyote_6]

And, speaking of glue smeared on the hangar deck...

 

Painted the aft elevator in the down position - Tamiya makes the aft elevator in the "up" position removable, and as I want to be able to do both options I painted it down for when the up elevator is removed.  The up elevator will straddle the Wildcat glued in place.

 

Two TBDs forward, wings folded.

 

And the view through the bay doors.  Screams for leds but alas...

 

 

[ddp]

what colors are you going to paint the hanger deck, bulkheads & elevator wells?

[Coyote_6]

@ddp.  Oh oh.   I was gonna leave the walls and floors ocean/haze gray?   Sounds like you have some knowledge.  What do you think?

 

From Legends of Warfare:  USS Yorktown (CV-5) by David Doyle...

 

It seems like the exposed portions of the underdeck were the same color as the hull/superstructure.   I assumed that would carry through to the internals.

 

Now is the time to discuss - once that flight deck is glued in place that will be it!

 

Edited October 12 by Coyote_6

[ddp]

try this.
"Same deck color (#20 Deck Gray), but pre-war aviation spaces (including cruisers and AV's at least) were painted in an aluminum color and it wasn't until 1942/1943-ish that this changed on the older carriers (we don't have the full details on this yet, but we have textual records that at least confirm the aluminum paint)."

https://members.boardhost.com/Warship/msg/1727704824.html

http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=12986&p=957444#p957444

what about the catapult machinery platform that hangs below the front part of the flight deck?

Edited October 11 by ddp

[PvG Aussie]

Thanks Steve for your deck configuration ideas. I agree with your launch idea.

 

The next picture shows a flying plane. Something I want to try.

 

Cheers, Peter.

[Coyote_6]

@PvG Aussie Peter - that flying plane looks cool.  Hiding the wire is the key!

 

@ddp Good tips.  I had read somewhere where they had been removing/scraping interior paint because of the flammability - the paint was causing excessive damage due to spreading fires from bomb strikes. 

Have you read anything like that?   

 

 

[ddp]

i think they were doing that to surface warships like cruisers, battleships & destroyers in interior corridors but not so much for aircraft carriers

[Coyote_6]

@ddp. Well that may jive.  I may try to silver up the bulkheads with my trusty silver sharpie - it's gonna be awfully dark in there at 1/700.

 

We'll leave the elevator walls the external colors.

 

Thanks!!

[Coyote_6]

Progress does continue.

 

Airwing built.

 

 

 

 

Ship's boats and launches in place.

 

 

 

 

And the undersides painted.  (Don't look a whole lot different, do they? 🤣)

 

Thanks for looking in!

Edited October 24 by Coyote_6

[PvG Aussie]

Looking good Steve.

Peter

[Coyote_6]

The battle lines have been drawn - with my old nemesis - overspray.

 

And a new battle - photoetch railings.  So fragile - always straightening out damage.  Ugh.

 

Anyway, attached the flight deck nice and square - everything below the top of the flight deck is painted, panel lined and flat cleared.  But that will all have to be protected as we haze gray and deck blue the flight deck.  Next steps will be Oerlikon 20mm gun barrels, flight deck rails, and paint. (And fixing some railing issues below the flight deck level. )

 

Port.

 

Starboard.

 

Aft.

 

Fore.

 

Taking a lot more time than I thought she would.

 

Thanks for looking in, and thanks for the support.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 26 by Coyote_6

[PvG Aussie]

Great job Steve.👏

Keep it up!

Peter

[Coyote_6]

Photoetch railings and metal gun barrels (representing 20mm Oerlikons).

 

 

 

22 custom cut 3mm long steel "barrels" using 0.015" K&S music wire.

 

 

 

 

Time for some fancy masking work, a coat of Tamiya rattlecan Haze Gray and airbrush some XF-50 Field Blue to represent deck blue.   Then we can start work on the island.

 

The days are slipping away til her December 6th debut.  Yikes.

[Coyote_6]

Flight deck painted.  Gray is Tamiya TS-32 Haze Gray rattle can and flight deck is Tamiya XF-50 undiluted applied with an airbrush.  Tricky masking and a lot of touchups around the elevators.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Railing around flight deck looks ok but oh so fragile.

 

Converted single searchlight mounts port and starboard from sinle to double to match Yorktown at Midway.

 

 

 

Thanks for looking in.  Not ahead of schedule but not really behind either.

 

Edited November 9 by Coyote_6

[ddp]

the 2 mk 33 directors are in reverse & unlikely those directors had radar dishes on them as Enterprise did not get hers til late 1942-43. Battle of Midway photos do not show any radar on those 2 locations. the platforms with the 2 search lights each should be centered on the center funnel uptake not offset like you have it now. 

https://www.navsource.org/archives/02/05.htm