¹⁄350

USS Lexington (CV2) 1927-1942

"New MSW Crew-mate Chris Smithers (smithec) shares a fantastic full build story of his 1/350 scale, USS Lexington (CV2), in his first MSW Submission!"






USS Lexington (CV2) 1927-1942

Modelled as in April 1942 following final refit and preparing to depart from Pearl Harbour en-route to The Battle of the Coral Sea, where the ship was lost.

build details

Base Kit-CV2 Lexington, Trumpeter Models, 1:350 Scale



Material List/Approximate cost £ sterling

Kit- 80
Nautilus laser-cut wooden flight deck- 40
Floating Drydock Co. plans- 20
Gold Medal Models (GMM) PE set- 20
L’Arsenal 5-inch mounts- 20
L’Arsenal 5-inch turned brass barrels- 13
WEM Colourcoat paint- 14
Trumpeter Douglas TBD-1 x 10- 9
Trumpeter Douglas SBD-3 x 10- 9
WEM 1.1-inch quad PE sets- 8
L’Arsenal crew figures- 35
Voyager USN life rafts- 7
BECC cotton flags- 20
Custom built glass case- 59
Mirror for rear of glass case- 14
Aluminium edging- 6
Name plate- 11

Grande Total- 385



Build Progression, (as listed in article)

Stage 1: hull (part 1)
Stage 2: boat pockets
Stage 3: gallery deck
Stage 4: forward 5-inch sponsons
Stage 5: forward light AA sponsons
Stage 6: light AA sponsons in boat pocket positions
Stage 7: lower bridge structure
Stage 8: upper bridge structure
Stage 9: 8-inch fire control platform
Stage 10: foretop 5-inch fire control platform
Stage 11: stack structure
Stage 12: radar cabin
Stage 13: water tank
Stage 14: stack cowling
Stage 15: lower stack platform
Stage 16: upper stack platform
Stage 17: 5-inch fire control
Stage 18: flight deck and hull assembly
Stage 19: hull (part 2) and dry run
Stage 20: painting and tinkering time
Stage 21: weapons
Stage 22: major components sub-assembly
Stage 23: bridge detailing
Stage 24: stack assembly detailing
Stage 25: major components assembly
Stage 26: foretop
Stage 27: flight deck light AA positions
Stage 28: overall detailing
Stage 29: boats and rafts
Stage 30: boat handling davits
Stage 31: rigging and stores handling (part 1)
Stage 32: paint finishing
Stage 33: rigging and stores handling (part 2)
Stage 34: side ladders
Stage 35: boat booms
Stage 36: final adjustment
Stage 37: air group
Stage 38: crew
Stage 39: stores
Stage 40: flags and signals

References

The Floating Drydock Company plans are indispensable. Apart from one internal profile, they are however limited to external profiles and plans of the flight deck and superstructure. There are no plans of the decks below flight deck level, and no cross-sections, so an element of intelligent guesswork, backed up with reference to published photos, was necessary in many areas. The drawings represent the ship as originally completed, so you need to refer constantly to photographs for the later modifications. Be aware that these plans are huge, at 1:100 scale. Working on my bench I couldn’t roll them out full-length, but scrolled through them as necessary. This made it inconvenient to cross-reference detail from one end of the ship to another, and as a result I made a few errors that I had to subsequently correct.

The Lexington Class Carriers, Robert C Stern, Arms & Armour Press, is surely the definitive book on the Lexington class. Not only does it contain a superb range of detailed, on-board photos, but the text is comprehensive to a fault, enabling many detail design and modification issues to be resolved in the absence of photographic evidence. A ‘must have’ if you can find it.

Classic Warships Publishing, Warship Pictorial #11, Lexington Class Carriers, was also invaluable. It contains the most complete selection of photos of the ship throughout her career - and particularly immediately prior to the Battle of the Coral Sea - of any publication available.

Warships Illustrated No.10, The US Navy in World War Two, 1941-1942, by Robert C Stern, contains the most complete set of images of the Lexington at the Battle of the Coral Sea obtainable in a single volume.

Squadron/signal publications, Warship #5, US Aircraft Carriers in action Part 1. Nothing in it specific to the Lexington that isn’t in the Classic Warships publication, but contains useful close-up photos of generic details on other carriers of the period, particularly armament.

Naval Weapons of World War Two, John Campbell, Conway Maritime Press, gives in-depth details with drawings of armament, fore-control directors and radars for this class.

Aircraft carriers of the US Navy, Stefan Terzibaschitsch, Conway Maritime Press. Limited coverage of the Lexington class, some inaccuracies in the text, and profiles and a plan which are misleading and ficticious.

Osprey Publishing, Elite, The US Navy in World War II, for detailed information on uniforms and working dress.

Osprey Publishing, New Vanguard, US Navy Aircraft Carriers 1922-45, is not worth having for this particular subject (nor, in my opinion, any other for that matter).

Review