¹⁄350

USS Lexington (CV2) 1927-1942

Stage 22: major components sub-assembly

Time: 1 hour



This involved final assembly of:
• the lower and upper bridge structures together with the 8-inch fire control platform above
• range finder on flag plot roof
• water tank to forward end of lower stack structure
• 5-inch fire control platform to aft end of stack.



The struts for the foretop structures were shaped to pencil points at each end to help insert them through the various apertures in the platforms. At the top they were then cut and filed to match the height of the central mast. At the lower end corresponding holes were drilled into the flight deck through which the struts were inserted. The outboard strut is very close to the deck edge and the thickness of the plastic hull below had to be taken into account. In this case it was sufficient for the strut to extend no further than the thickness of the wooden deck.

Stage 23: bridge detailing

PE parts: 4
Time: 0.5 hours

The inclined ladder on the starboard side between the pilot house and flag deck level was made up from a spare GMM PE set replacement for kit part F16 cut to length. A vertical ladder (inclined) was positioned between the roof of the flag plot and the hatchway at the rear of the 8-inch control platform.

The signalling lamps on the bridge signalling platform came from one of the bridge telegraphs in the GMM PE set (part 2) divided in two.

Stage 24: stack assembly detailing

PE parts: 3
Time: 0.75 hours

A vertical ladder was fitted between the hatchways of the lower and upper platforms at the aft end of the stack. The 5-inch director and rangefinder platforms were mounted on the upper platform and two lengths of GMM PE railing fitted.

Stage 25: major components assembly

Time: 1.25 hours

This involved attaching:
• stack assembly to flight deck
• elevators to underside of flight deck
• bridge assembly to flight deck.

Stage 26: foretop

PE parts: 3
Scratch parts: 29
Time: 5.25 hours



I had assumed that forward 8-inch fire control director and its associated housing above the 8-inch fire control platform was removed at the time of the Lexington’s final refit. However, close scrutiny of photographs seem to indicate that this was not so. If the weather-proof shutters were in the lowered position, then this would give the false impression that the housing had been removed. The roof for the housing appears to be in place, and something which may or may not be an 8-inch director can be seen protruding from the roof of the 8-inch control platform. On this basis I decided to proceed on the assumption that the 8-inch director and housing were not removed.

The 8-inch director was made up from scratch using various pieces of square and round-section styrene extrusion and stretched sprue.

The housing roof was made from two pieces of 2mm bass wood glued together and cut into octagonal plan form. Wood was carefully sliced away to create the downward slope across the three front facets. The coaming on the roof of the 8-inch control platform from which the downward opening shutters were hinged from was made up from seven lengths of styrene strip. The rear bulkhead of the housing was not hinged (the mast was behind it) and was made from styrene strip as were the seven rectangular shutters. The windows were represented by ink-jet printing onto clear matt film. Decal sheet would have been better.

A PE vertical ladder was added to the rear face of the central mast.

With the roof of the director housing glued to the underside of the forward 5-inch control platform, I could now mount the 5-inch director pedestals and rangefinder platforms on the topside. This was followed by the directors and range finders. These were also mounted on the stack upper platform at this stage. The fire control platform was fixed to the top of the tripod mast. There was a square section tube to accommodate the upper mast when it was lowered, and this ran from the underside of the 5-inch fire control platform down to below the 8-inch fire-control platform. This was made from square-section styrene rod.

One of the bridge telegraphs in the GMM PE set (part 3), divided in two, came in very useful to represent the battle order telegraphs mounted on the deck to the rear of the directors.



Above: Completed bridge assembly including foretop.