I was watching TTT yesterday on AMC while at work, (slow day). I've done a couple of Harvard/Zeros & have done some cutting for the Kates & Vals but never finished them. I was think of doing a TTT Yorktown with WWII Jap a/c onboard. The only thing is, I think all of the 1/700 ish Yorktowns are of the WWII variety. Can anyone point me the right direction or tell me what to look for? I don't really do boats, so I'm not sure what to look for. Thanks.
We are talking about an Essex-class with postwar modifications.
*Goes to get the Detail & Scale book on USS Lexington and other pertenant materials*USS Yorktown was part of a subfamily of the Essex-class that received steam catapults and an angled flight deck through postwar modification. The other ships in this family included Essex herself, plus Hornet, Randolph, Wasp, Bennington and Kearsarge.
Now, Dragon Models currently has a few 1/700 Essex-class ships in release, including USS Princeton, which while of a parallel subfamily to Yorktown's, is still very close when it comes to general hardware. (Dragon's Hancock, Lexington, Essex and Randolph kits are in WW2 fit; their Bon Homme Richard and Antietam are in Korean War fit.) Their USS Boxer is also in Sixties fit, but I still think Princeton is the closest you'll come out-of-the-box.
The reason for the "families" is that early Essexes, such as Yorktown were "short hulls" and the later ones, such as Princeton were "long hulls", the difference being in the bow--which was extended forward to make room for extra anti-aircraft batteries. When the ships were modernized, the bows were closed up for safety reasons and so the difference isn't so apparent. A detail fanatic would tell you to get a Princeton and one of the WW2 Essex or Randolph kits and kitbash, but I believe you can build a Princeton without many changes and get away with it.
Good luck.
Stephen "FPilot" Bierce/IPMS #35922
Thanks for the help. I figured there was a sister ship out there that would work. IIRC, Monogram's line of carriers back in the '70s, tho different named boats, were all the same molding with maybe different aircraft on-deck & markings. At least that's what I think a 'purist-fanatic' once said.
I just went & looked it up & it looks like their Princeton is still the straight deck version. I'll check their other carriers tho. Maybe they do 2 Princetons.
USS Antietam definitely has the angled flight deck. I thought Princeton did too, based on the boxart. The Dragon USA website has limited information on all their 1/700 Essex-class carriers.
Stephen "FPilot" Bierce/IPMS #35922
The Dragon Antietam does have an angled deck, but it is an experimental type that does not match what you're looking for. Antietam retained the twin 5" guns, open bow, aft centerline elevator, and original style island of the straight decked ships. There is only one Dragon release of Princeton, as a straight-decked anti-sub carrier (historically, Princeton was one of the Essexes that never got the angled deck anyway) Dragon has been slightly updating their Essex kits to later and later time periods, so if they continues with their series, they will eventually arrive at the fully-modernized angle- decked ships. They're not there yet. In the meantime, I've heard of some resin ones in 1:700. For injection platic, there's also the option to jump up in scale to the Revell kit in the 1:500-ish range.
- Sean F.
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