Hello all. I'm getting ready to build my first ship models-a Tamiya 700th scale Hornet, and a Hasegawa 700th scale Yorktown II for a Battle of Midway club display. I've been an armor, figure and artillery modeler for about 25 years and have a few questions. How much different is the Yorktown II from the previous one (CV-5)? Can I modify it or is it too much work? Are the color schemes in the kit directions (for both kits) ok for Midway carriers? Thank you very much in advance for any help.

Rich

Hi Rich,

Unfortunately, the Yorktown II CV 10 is a whole 'nother critter than the Yorktown CV 5 that was lost at Midway. Yorktown II was actually a modified Essex Class Aircraft Carrier that was originally going to be named the Bon Homme Richard but got a name change after we lost the original at Midway. CV 5 was painted in Measure 12 at the engagement in question, it consisted of vertical surfaces, 5 S sea blue from sea level to hangar deck, from that level to the tops of the main superstructure she was 5 O Ocean Gray with all pole masts and other slender parts above that painted 5 H Haze Gray, all horizontal surfaces were painted 20 B deck Blue.



Most likely the Hornet kit that you have probably includes a few B 25 bombers to show the ship as she was during Doolittles' raid on Japan and is shown with her camouflage pattern for that little escapade. She did carry that same pattern for the Battle of Midway.

I don't know of any models of CV 5 currently out on the market. As you can see by the pictures there is quite a bit of difference between the two ships.

Hi Joseph, and thank you for your reply. I did check out a few links a friend had sent me and recall the name change when the Yorktown II was built. Some of the links were lengthy and some confusing. Having no knowlegde of ships I thought I'd check this site in the interest of saving time; I have an extensive library for armor, but only one or two books on ships. I have a short time to build the two carriers and want them to be reasonably accurate. If I can ask one more question: Are there Tamiya equivalent paints for the colors you mentioned or other brands? The kit instructions for the Hornet only mention "deck color" , "light gray"and "dark gray" , but don't specify paint numbers. The Yorktown kit specifies Gunze Sangyo. I'll also have to use some of the airplanes from the Yorktown as the Hornet does indeed have the Mitchell Bombers. Thanks very much for your help again Joseph .

Hello Rich,

Let's start with the Hornet. When using the Tamiya Hornet kit you will need to make a few modifications. The forward end of the flight deck needs to widened. The port side midships 20mm need to be moved towards the stern. To make this an easy fix, buy the Tamiya Enterprise kit and use parts from it to make your modifactions. You can cut the forward flight deck to make pieces to widen the Hornet's Flight deck. The port side rear 20mm gallery is in the right position in the Enterprise kit. The island is to narrow and you can widen it if you want to.

WEM makes a PE set for this kit.

Tamiya doesn't make correct colors for this paint job.

I use Testors MM Naval Acryl paints. (I think Polly S paints are to dark, imo). WEM Makes paint that is suppoed to be perfect matches. I have not used though.

Ms. 12 modified:

Lower hull: Navy Blue 5-N
Upper hull: Ocean Gray 5-0
Island : Ocean Gray 5-0 and Haze Gray 5-H
Horizonal (steel) decks: Deck Blue 20-B
Flight deck: Norfolk 250N Flight deck stain

Now for the Yorktown. This is a little harder to do. You need both the Tamiya Enterprise and Hornet kits for this.

Enterprise kit for: Island and 20 mm galleries on the port side You need to modifiy the
starboard side fr the .50 cal mgs.

Hornet kit for: Flight deck and forward flight deck catwalk.

Yorktown was painted Ms. 12 graded.

She was painted as Jay stated.

Lower hull: Sea Blue 5-S (up to hangar deck)
Upper hull: Ocean Gray 5-0 (hangar deck upwards)
Island: Ocean Gray 5-0
Horizonal (steel) decks; Deck Blue 20-B
Flight deck; Norfolk 250N Flight deck Stain

HTH

Hi Gordon, thanks for the info. I'll pick up those Testors MM Acryl colors at my next visit to the LHS. As for the kit modifications, I'll see what I can do. I don't have much time as I volunteered to do two of the carrires for our club display (after I found noone was doing the US ships!) at the last minute.

Hey Joseph, I noticed the lower picture in your post shows a Yorktown II with helos and Jet aircraft which I think were from the 1960s I would guess. I've been looking at the Hasegawa box art and it looks much closer to the original Yorktown. I'll have to do a little more research to get these reasonably correct. Again, I have no knowledge of ships although this project is lighting the fire ! Thanks again Gordon and Joseph for help-it's much appreciated !

As you mentioned, the photo of the Yorktown, CV 10 shows her in her post war modified configuration, which altered her appearance from her WW II fit considerably. As originally built, she did appear more like the Yorktown class, but only to the extent that there was a separate visible stack on top of the island, rather than blended in as was done in the post war modernizations. The attached site covers the Essex class and shows the WW II views, but the Hasegawa 1/700 Yorktown kit is an Essex Class, and not a Yorktown class ship.

One thing is for sure, you REALLY don't want to take on a project of trying to convert an Essex class ship into a Yorktown class . (Think converting an M26 to an M4!)

Good luck on your build, and don't hesitate to ask any questions you may have and be sure to share your build when you're done.

http://steelnavy.com/essex_data.htm#CV-14%20USS%20Ticonderoga

Hi Tom, thanks very much for your reply. I find it extremely difficult telling one ship from another-probably because I've been looking at Armor my whole life! The Carriers all look alike-but I will share the build with you all and send some pics when they are finished. So let me get this straight-the Yorktown(CV-5) was a Yorktown class ship and the Yorktown II was an Essex class ship? Thanks for the link !! I may have to start collecting some reference books while I'm at it....

Rich

Hi Rich,

As Gordon pointed out, it is possible to build up a Yorktown CV 5, but it is a lot of work. Someone out there in the model maker world needs to fill this hole in a major fashion. And yes, the original Yorktown was a class by herself and the Yorktown II was actually an Essex class with a little longer flight deck and other modifications. After the war it was even further modified and lived on into the early jet aircraft age. Good luck with your project and we do look forward to seeing how it goes for you. If you have any other questions just pop in and give us a shout.

Joe , Gordon and Tom-I will keep you updated on these projects and hope to post some photos of the finished products. I don't think I will undertake such a difficult task as converting one carrier to an older version. I might try to find an Enterprise (hopefully one that is correct for the Midway battle!!) and use it for our club display. I really want the US ships represented since noone wanted to do them-just ain't right ! Thanks again gentlemen for your help. See you soon-

Rich

It really is a shame that good kits of the Yorktown don't exist in the 1/700 scale, although I personally prefer the larger 1/350 scale. And a check at a couple of sites seems to indicate that it may now be difficult to find the Tamiya Enterprise CV-6 which seems to be discontinued.

Yorktown and Enterprise (CV-5 and CV-6) were both commissioned in the 30's and as sister ships were very similar, so much so that at one point prior to the begining of the war, Yorktown had a very large "Y" painted on her island so the pilots wouldn't land on the wrong ship when they were operating together. Saratoga had a large black strip on her funnel to differentiate her from Lexington, so don't feel so bad about having a hard time recognizing the differences, as for the most part they were not huge.

CV-7, Wasp, was essentially a "one -off" ship, as the Navy had to reduce her size and weight to stay within the limits of the Naval Treaties we'd signed. When it came time to build the CV-8, although there had been a lot of lessons learned and a new class was under development (the Essex Class) to save time and money, Hornet was essentially a "repeat" Yorktown class. However there were a lot of differences and improvements which would mean that while you can use a Hornet kit to make the Yorktown, to be accurate, it requires modifications. And as Gordon pointed out, to make the Enterprise at the time of the battle of Midway, from the Hornet, other modifications are required as well.

One of the things that is fascinating about ships (and this from a retired 30 year Army officer) is that unlike armor vehicles, which can be lined up in the motor pool and other than bumper numbers essentially be identical, not only vary one from another within a class, but change over time as well. So when you're depicting a ship during a particular battle, photos and research tend to be a very important part of the project.

A good example is Lexington, CV-2. For years a distinguishing feature of these ships was their 4 turrets with 8-inch guns. But they were removed from Lexington prior to Coral Sea, so the modeler building Lexington for this battle would have to take that into account.

As important a battle as Midway was, and given the unique factor that it was the only time all three Yorktown class ships fought together, you'd think that someone would do a better job in offering the modeling world the ability to accurately depict these great ships at that point in time.

Joe, I don't know where you're getting your info but you've been posting incorrect information. CV-10 Yorktown was the second Essex class carrier and her deck was the same length as the others as launched other than CVs 14, 15, and 19 (sub-variant of the main Essex class).

Definitely follow Gordon's advice regarding CV-5 Yorktown, but the CV-10 isn't appropriate for US battle builds until about August 1943.

The SteelNavy Essex page should be considered a starting point for essexes only as it has many errors and was not finished before it was posted.

Historically speaking. The Yorktown was not with the other 2 carriers. The Enterprise and Hornet left a day or so before Yorktown. Yorktown had received severe damage at Coral Sea and was frantically trying to get repaired good enough to go back out (which she did). So in a diorama, The Yorktown would be by herself with some escort ships like destroyers and cruisers (I am doing this from memory not looking up) and the Enterprise and the Hornet were together in another Task force. Like has been pointed out , the Yorktown kit you've got is an Essex class. Honet and Yorkwtown/Enterprise were similar, but you would need to do extensive modificatons to make a hornet into an Enterprise/Yorktown. Check Ebay to find the Tamiya Enterprise in 700.

Hey Steve thanks for the info-i'm learning more each day. I'll probably try to pick up the squadron book(s) on one of these carriers now that my curiosity is stoked. I'll also continue to check some of the web sites that have been recommended.

Rich

Squadron/Signal books Aircraft Carriers in Action vol 1 covers all these ships nicely.

Hey Tom: Retired Army officer eh? I started out in the Army-Infantry in "85 then went to the Military Police in the Reserves in '91-then transfered to the Air National Guard Security Forces in 2000-hope to retire next year.

Hello again guys-

Jay- I owe you a huge apology-I was in such a hurry to read these posts, that I got your name wrong- I am so sorry - forgive me -and thanks again Jay for your input on this subject !

That's okay Rich, just call me anything, except late for supper.

Good luck on your project.

I started out Active Duty in Germany in '72 as Field Artillery, then went to the Guard for a short while before moving over to the Reserves. Spent some time in an Infantry Training Division, as well as a three year stint as a Ground Liaison Officer with a Fighter Squadron in the Air National Guard, and then back to one of the last Field Artillery units in the Reserve. I switched over to MPs (300th MP Command) and commanded the 785th MP Battlion. Finally as a full Colonel I switched over to the Corps of Engineers before retiring 6 years ago. It's the kind of career path that could only happen in the Reserve Components, as I don't know of anyone on Active duty who branch transfers TWICE after 25 years!!!

I'd stay away from their "Yorktown Class Aircraft Carriers" book though as it has many errors and no information that can't be found easily on the internet. It's basically a web research project printed out with the pixelated pictures to boot.

Tom:
I was in Germany from '85-'87. 2/6 infantry of the 1st AD. Had the time of my life...Germany is a great place for an 18 year old kid !! Unfortunately, my next assignment was with the 197th Inf. Brigade (Sep) Mech at Benning....at the time it had to be one of the worst units in the Army. I can't complain though, I did get to go to Airborne school while I was there-that was a blast !!

Tracy: I'll stay away from that book when I get to my LHS-Thanks