how would i make it a Pre war version

Hey Jordan!

Welcome to Model Shipwrights! To do a pre-war Sara you need to put the 8" gun turrets on it. Here is a link to NavSource. It is an awesome reference for all things US Navy.

Prewar Saratoga

Gator

I realize that its not a conversion but Trumpeter makes a pre-war saratoga, incl. a/c in 1/700th.

John

Only with major, major surgery and a lot of parts. Buy the Trumpeter pre-war kit instead.

how much surgery

Well, for starters, a different Island, of course the different gun turrets, and modifications to the bow section of the flightdeck, as well as I believe the elevators themselves. Its been a long time since I made the Fujimi Saratoga, so i don't recall all the specifics, but you probably need to modify (maybe eliminate) most of the AA armament as well.

John

Ever heard of a guy named Frankenstein? That's about how much surgery...

Well, for starters:

The front deck and the bow would have to be cut back to the narrower shape.

The sponsons for the light AA guns on either side of the bow would have to be removed. All light AA guns would have be be removed and replaced with a handful (about eight) .50 caliber AA guns.

The 5 inch twin mounts would have to be removed and replaced with 8 inch gun mounts

The eight 5/38 cal single mounts would have to be removed and replaced with twelve 5/25 cal single guns.

The island would have to be reshaped and a tripod with spotting top added

The aft fire control stations (on the back of the funnel) would have to be removed and replaced with the correct platforms.

That's just the stuff I can think of off the top of my head. Take a look at these two models and you can see the differences. Here's the 1/700 Fujimi kit, which I built many moons ago:


And there's the Sara, pre-war. This is a 1/350 model, converted from the Trumpy Lex - which I did before Trumpy came out with a Sara. An example of the old adage that if you convert it (or scratchbuild it), someone will make it.