Trumpeter USS Lexington CV-2 Part I

I'm on a "Golden Age" aircraft jag right now. The planes developed between the world wars of the last century are colorful and they're all "retro-future" cool. So what does that have to do with Trumpeter's 1/700 scale Lexington aircraft carrier? It was launched in 1929 and was the US Navy's first real aircraft carrier. I saw it in the hobby shop, and not having any idea what I was doing, I figured I could modify the kit to a mid-1930's "Golden Age" version (like this guy did).

Ha! That guy's Lexington has four 8" gun turrets which Trumpeter's 1942 version does not. Also, nobody makes aircraft for that timeframe in 1/700 scale. That's way too much scratch building for Blur Modeler, so since I bought the kit before I did the research, different plans must be made.

I'm determined to make the Lexington's air wing look pre-war with yellow wings and silver bodies, so I guess I'm making the October 1941 version of the Lexington, just like this guy did with the Yorktown.

Except for some flash that shows up in the most inconvenient places, Trumpeter's kit is an easy build and beautifully detailed. The only thing I had a problem with was the 28mm single-mount anti-aircraft cannon. They look gargantuan compared with the quad mount of the same gun. Also, they're missing the very prominent gun shields.

I suppose I could have looked around on the internet for more accurate photo etch replacements -- and added photo etch railings and ladders, too -- but this kit is kind of a confidence-restorer for me so I didn't want to make things complicated. I have yet to try using photo etch details.

But I did run across a single set of Skywave E9 1/700 WWII USN details at a local hobby shop which included 28mm guns that looked right. Even if they're not as detailed as Trumpeter's guns, they're closer to scale and they have the shields. But of course, nothing is easy. The Skywave set is one short of the number of guns I need. So I split the difference and used the Trumpeter guns below the flight deck and the Skywave guns above the flight deck.

Other than that, so far, so good. I'm ready to do some painting...

links: technorati