The Ship Model Forum

Apologies if this is covered in the thread and I missed it. There was a kind soul who had posted about the composition of the Lexington's airgroup during the interwar years in rather extensive detail. I'd saved the info but, after upgrading to a new hard-drive, I can't find where I stashed it. Could anyone point me in the correct direction for this info?

Thanks,
Matt

Saratoga is just fine as well!

Thanks,
Matt

Here's the Saratoga Post

_________________
Tracy White -Researcher@Large

"Let the evidence guide the research. Do not have a preconceived agenda which will only distort the result."
-Barbara Tuchman

I finally have some updated in progress pics. I'm done touching up the hull & flight deck, now it's just waiting for the bow wave - hopefully today, on one side, at least.

Apologies to Michael Vorrasi for the brown flight deck & yellow stripes. I was working with Stern's book as my reference, and had the flight deck painted before I knew about his article on shipcamouflage.com.

Bob

Sweet looking! The hull is 5D?

Feeling left out with these Lex updates, I went back and added the hull numbers to the four corners of my Lex and added the canvas dodgers on the superstructure with white glue. I also started decaling the TBDs and F4Fs. The TBDs are done, except for the canopies - those will go on after a final flat coat, then they'll be mounted to the aft part of the deck. Over a year after being finished, the Lex will finally start receiving her airgroup!!

_________________
Martin

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." John Wayne

Ship Model Gallery

Thanks guys!

Yes, the hull is 5D. I think the flash on the camera is washing it out a little, because it's much darker than it looks in the pictures I'm posting. The evevator wells are just about glowing in them as well.

When it's done I may try and take pics of it outside (when it warms up!) to see if I can get a little truer perspective on the color.

In the second pic above, you can just make out my Starfighter Decals for the Lex's air wing in the lid of the box!

Port bow wave is done:



Bob

The thing I noticed is that you have tubs of Apoxie Sculpt on your work bench. Are you one of the converted? That stuff is amazing. I've never heard of a person trying it and using anything else afterwards.

Great job on the hull paint. I really like that bow wave.

-Devin

_________________
We like our history sanitized and theme-parked and self-congratulatory, not bloody and angry and unflattering. - Jonathan Yardley

Thanks Devin, and I think I found that stuff because of you.

Someone posted a question a long time ago about substitutes for Squadron Green, and I think it was you that posted a link to Apoxie Sculpt. I ordered some that week and I LOVE the stuff!

Yes, you have to let it dry longer than Squadron, but you can actually use a putty knife or Xacto blade to remove most of the excess before it does dry, and keep the sanding to a minimum.

I'll never use anything else again. The stuff IS amazing. It was exactly what I was looking for.

Bob

PS: Starboard side bow wave is drying as I type.

Starboard bow wave:



Bob

How did you get a smooth hull seam on the Lex? I dry fitted mine a few days ago and found that the lower hull is in fact almost one millimeter narrower than the upper hull and deck parts.
/Magnus

To fit the lower hull I used heavy sprue to spead the beam of the hull for a good fit. I did not cut the reinforcement beams of the upper hull. There is a length difference between the upper and lowere hull as well. I took the mismatch at the stern. I fit the bow and cut away the guides at the stern and then faired it in with a file. Check out IPMS-USA for my full review to date.

http://www.ipmsusa2.org/Reviews/Kits/Sh ... ex_hdr.htm

Great stuff Charles. Did you ever finish the model? Would love to see more.

As for the hull, I did pretty much the same thing, following Keith Bender's advice.

_________________
Martin

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." John Wayne

Ship Model Gallery

Magnus,

I followed Charles' suggestion to the letter, although the overhang at the stern was very slight on my model. I just did a little filing to get it even.

Bob

I've hear dof people using wood dowels as a brace for the lower hull to spread it out more. This is a common occurance with a lot of the trumpeter lower hulls... the long concave shape lends itself wenn to squeezing in as it cools after molding.

_________________
Tracy White -Researcher@Large

"Let the evidence guide the research. Do not have a preconceived agenda which will only distort the result."
-Barbara Tuchman

FWIW, I took a slightly different (naturally!) approach to dealing with the mismatch between the upper and lower hull castings. I left the supporting webs in place on the upper hull. I cut the lower hull along the centerline on the bottom from about 2" aft of the stem back to a point about 1" forward of the aftmost point on the bottom where the rudder will join the hull. I don't recall the exact dimensions, but it's not important. When you pull the upper edges of the lower hull outward, the slit just created will expand in size. The overall length of the lower hull will also shorten slightly. After gluing the lower hull to the upper hull, I wedged strip styrene into the slit to hold the lower hull out to the proper width. Once the glue is dry, sand the hull bottom flat where the stryrene strip plugs the slit and you are good to go. I believe this method produces less stress in the hull plastic, and therefore less tendency to induce a twist in to the hull at some later point.
For the flight deck installation, I started with the Nautilus deck. I then created a sub-deck of pieces of 1/8" basswood that fit properly into the hull, and held the upper gunwales apart. After some careful sanding and fitting, the sub-deck is then glued to the underside of the Nautilus deck with Titebond wood glue. The result is a very rigid deck structure that also holds the gunwales apart and (tada!) pulls the bow into alignment without buckling the flight deck.
OBTW, I know Nautilus says not to get any waterbased product onto the flight deck, But I used waterbased Titebond to glue the parts together. I used mucho weight to keep the assembly flat while the glue dried, and I had no problems with any significant warping when dry. If you do have any warping, lightly wet the wood and weight it down again and it will dry flat.
I had significant problems with induced stress cracking in the plastic when I first set out to reshape the Trumpeter HORNET hull. The steps above were lessons learned that I employed on LEX. Unfortunately LEX languishes while I wait for the documentation regarding the island structure at Coral Sea. I understand there is still a revised LEX pub coming from Steve.

I’ve been trying to put together a list detailing the composition of CV-2 LEXINGTON’s air group in the “golden wings” era. During the interwar years the carriers participated in the Battle Fleet’s annual tactical exercises, and the format I have used is to show the squadrons and their equipment during these deployments. These cruises were the one time for certain that the complete air group would be aboard ship.
LEX is not as well documented as SARA, and I have had to piece the information together from several sources. I think the following is reasonably accurate, but I will welcome any additions or corrections.

1929
Jan-Mar Deployed with Battle Fleet to Panama for FLEET PROBLEM IX.
VT-1B (Martin T4M-1)
VS-3B (Vought O2U-2)
VB-1B (Curtiss F6C-2/3/ BoeingF3B-1)
VF-3B (Boeing F3B-1)

1930
Feb-Jun Deployed with Battle Fleet through Panama to Caribbean for FLEET PROBLEMS X and XI.
VT-1B (Martin T4M-1)
VS-3B (Vought O2U-2/4)
VB-1B (Boeing F4B-1)
VF-3B (Boeing F3B-1)

1931
Feb-Apr Deployed with Battle Fleet through Panama to Caribbean for FLEET PROBLEM XII.
VT-1B (Martin T4M-1)
VS-3B (Vought O2U-2/4)
VF-5B (Boeing F4B-1/2)
VF-2B (Boeing F3B-1)

1932
Feb-Mar Deployed with Battle Fleet to Hawaii for FLEET PROBLEM XIII.
VT-1B (Martin T4M-1)?
VS-3B (Vought O2U-2/4)?
VF-5B (Boeing F4B-2)
VF-2B (Boeing F4B-1/2 ?/F3B-1)?
VS-15M (Vought SU-2)

1933
Jan-Feb Deployed with Battle Fleet to Hawaii for FLEET PROBLEM XIV.
VT-1S (Martin BM-1)
VS-3S (Vought SU-2)
VF-5S (Boeing F4B-2)
VF-2S (Boeing F4B-1/2)
VS-14M (VoughtSU-2)

1934
Apr-Oct Deployed with Battle Fleet to Atlantic for FLEET PROBLEM XV, East Coast tour.
VT-1B (Martin BM-1/2)
VS-3B (Vought SU-2/3)
VF-5B (Grumman FF-1)
VF-2B (Boeing F4B-2)
VS-14M (Vought SU-2/3)

1935
May-Jun Deployed with Battle Fleet for FLEET PROBLEM XVI.
VB-1B (Martin BM-1/2)
VS-3B (Grumman SF-1)
VF-5B (Grumman FF-1)
VF-2B (Grumman F2F-1)

1936
Apr-May Deployed with Battle Fleet to Panama for FLEET PROBLEM XVII.
VB-3B (Great Lakes BG-1)
VS-3B (Vought SBU-1)
VB-5B (Boeing F4B-4)
VF-2B (Grumman F2F-1)

1937
Apr-May Deployed with Battle Fleet to Hawaii for FLEET PROBLEM XVIII.
VB-3B (Great Lakes BG-1)
VS-3B (Vought SBU-1)
VB-5B (Boeing F4B-4)
VF-2B) (Grumman F2F-1)

1938
Mar-Apr Deployed to Hawaii with Battle Fleet for FLEET PROBLEM XIX.
VT-2 (Douglas TBD-1)
VS-2 (Vought SBU-1)
VB-2 (Vought SB2U-1)
VF-2 (Grumman F2F-1)

1939
Jan Battle Fleet deployed to East Coast for FLEET PROBLEM XX.
VT-2 (Douglas TBD-1)
VB-2 (Vought SB2U-1/2)
VF-3 (Grumman F3F-1) (reassigned from SARATOGA)
VS-3 (Curtiss SBC-3) (reassigned from SARATOGA)

(VF-2 deployed aboard SARATOGA with Grumman F2F-1.)
(VS-2 deployed aboard SARATOGA with 1 Vought SBU-1 and1 Curtiss SBC-4.)
SARATOGA does not deploy with fleet, remains on west coast for overhaul.

1940
Apr-May Deployed with fleet to Hawaii for FLEET PROBLEM XXI.
VT-2 (Douglas TBD-1)
VS-2 (Curtiss SBC-4)
VF-2 (Grumman F2F-1)
VB-2 (Vought SB2U-1/2)

The Battle fleet remained in Hawaii. No annual exercises were scheduled the next year, as a real war was underway in Europe, and one in the Pacific fast approaching. VF-2 transitioned to the Brewster F2A-2 in Oct 1940, and upgraded to the -3 model in Aug 1941. VB-2 received Douglas SBD-2s in Nov 1940. VS-2 got SBD-3s in Feb 1941.

Hey Mike, drop me a line at whitet@blarg.net.. I've got some info for you.

_________________
Tracy White -Researcher@Large

"Let the evidence guide the research. Do not have a preconceived agenda which will only distort the result."
-Barbara Tuchman

Here are some update pics of my Lex build.

Ignore the bad paint job on the #3 8" turret. It's not glued on, and I just shot the turrets quickly while I was airbrushing the stack. All 4 of them need going over again!

Next up is putting a PE beam at the end of the walkway leading from the boat deck to the island, continuing the 3 bar rail from under the boat deck to the front of the island, and installing some YKM boat davits to replace the lovely Trumpy ones.

Plus 4 more cable reels....the small ones, no less!

Bob

The Lex thread is getting way too far down in the list. Time for some progress pics!

The island is painted, but not glued down. I need to add the rigging between the flag boxes and the spreader arms before I do that.

Davits outboard of the island are YKM's, replacing the kit parts. I have some L'Arsenal 26' whaleboats to hang from them. That should be fun.

You'll notice a couple unpainted 5"/25's on the fore & aft sponsons. I've got 6 built, but have been setting them on the model to let the glue on the PE dry. Only 2 done with PE so far.

Bob

Thanks guys!

Six 5"/25's complete, six now awaiting PE.

Bob