So,
Is the Revell 1/480 Yorktown kit the same as the Revell 1/542 Carriers of Midway kit?
As I saw with the Lionfish, scales for Revell kits have an 'interesting' way of changing from release to release.

I'm looking to do a Big E, and Nautilus just re-released their 1/480 Yorktown conversion set - perfect if it'll work fine with my '1/542' Carriers of Midway kit.

All these odd scales...

Back when these kits were first made they were called "BOX SCALE" literally they made the kit to fit the box. So there is no rhyme nor reason to their stuff. Scales ranged from 385 down to 542 give or take a few numbers. Ship kits were all kind of the same size no matter the scale. So you would be playing with a 500 foot seaplane tender next to the 900 foot Missouri and it looked OK if they were the same size.

The 1/542 kit is the USS Midway class - the Midway, Coral Sea and Frankin D Roosevelt, as they were built with the straight deck, between 1946 and 1954.

The 1/480 kit is the Yorktown class - representing Yorktown, Enterprise and Hornet, more or less.

The two don't go together, not because of the scales, but because of the subject material. :-) Otherwise, you're right, it wouldn't be too far off to show them together.

A better choice would be to get a couple of the 1/480 kits abd build them differently - one as Yorktown early (maybe even pre-war with yellow wings on the aircraft) and one as Enterprise late-war, with lots of anti-aircraft guns and late-war planes.

There are lots of 1/500 after-market parts to be found, and the basic ship stayed the same.

Good luck,
Rick