hey,

This is my first build log on a international forum. I placed a lot of logs on dutch forums. my english is understandable for you guys i hope. excuse me if i spell it wrong or whatsoever

ok, to business. i am participating in a dutch campaign about the Korean war (forgotten war). i am building for about three years now. normally i only build modern armor and aircraft, but decided i wanted to do something totally different.

so my choice went to a Carrier to start off the right way i decided to buy some extras for it.

- Trumpeter 1/350 USS Essex CV-9
- Tom's Modelworks Special USS Essex upgrade set.
http://smmlonline.com/reviews/photo_etch/toms_essex350.html
here are some pics:

the boxart:


all thats inside:


nice!:


manual:




the PE set:


spread out:


since i know NOTHING about ships help with the build would be greatly appreciated. especially since the instructions of the PE set are not really clear to me.
i found three reference books of essex carriers but already bumped into some think i can not locate.
more on that later.
to keep thing separated. ill post my progress in the next post!

thanks guys, hope i can make a beauty of this one with your help!

Boris
For more on the USS Essex CV-9 see my website

since the PE instructions are not so good to me. i decided i will follow the pe instructions at first and will use the pe as much as possible before starting on the kit it self ( otherwise i might forget some pe)
I made a start on some of the guns and radars:

the 20 mm deckguns:


the upgraded piece and the standard trumpeter piece


about 9 pieces done, there are a total of 70 javascript:PasteSmiley('|:(')


the MK4 radar:




bended the right way. again, the instructions are very simple and only tell you to check reference javascript:PasteSmiley(':-X')



also belongs to the radar:




finished. but a lot to do left




this is the base for the 40mm quad guns. the PE set adds some nice detail to it. have to make about 20 of those i think



here you can see some nice difference with and without pe. thats what keeps you going javascript:PasteSmiley('m:-)')


one more:



well thats as far as i am yet. what do you think about it?
there will be some questions next (tomorrow or something) those will be about where to place some pe parts. you guessed it, this is because the instructions dont show it.


one more important thing.
can anyone give me info about what planes were used on the Essex during the Korean war era?? and are there some other major differences? which i have to adjust?

thanks man!

Boris

For more on the USS Essex CV-9 see my website

Welkom aan boord Boris, should be an interesting build to follow,
cheers,
Julian

Boris,

Welcome to MSW. I am looking forward to watching your progress. Everything looks good so far.

Boris, welcome. I'm going to be watching your build with interest. I've got Trumpy's 1/350 Hornet in the stash along with the GMM PE. Looks like you are off to a great start.

An FYI for others interested in these kits, when I was at my LHS weekend before last the owner told me that Trumpeter is rotating the 1/350 Essex class kits out of production for a few years and anybody who wants one should go ahead and get it, they may become scare for a while soon.

Bob

That PE really makes it pop doesn't it. I built this kit several years back and looking at it in kit form brings back good memories. It was/is a fun build

thanks for the replies guys!

already having a problem with the placement of a piece of PE on the base of the 5" gun:

this is the gun base trumpter made:


i have to make 4 x the 5' gun. and have a total of 12 pe pieces of this one. so this means i should use 4 one each base?


this is what the instructions tell me (#32) javascript:PasteSmiley(':D') yeah right, thats right.


this is a picture of the instructions from trumpeter which shows what the total would look like. any clue on where to place the PE?


who can help me? pretty sure the pieces should be placed in 90 degrees on the base. but where? and how much? i searched all my reference but couldn't find anything..............
thank you for reading, hope you know it javascript:PasteSmiley('==)')

best regards,
Boris

edit: why doesn't my java emoticons show up the right way??

For more on the USS Essex CV-9 see my website

well hello!

Past weeks I picked up this build again (yay )
I put the build on a hold for about one year, but am continuing it from now on!
Last week I finished most of the detail work on the USS Essex CV-9 aircraft carrier, below are the pics

This is what the island looks like at the moment:





I added some speaker boxes, they are only a few millimeter in size! Note the supports



Some more speaker boxes



Here you can see the mast I built with the thinnest brass wire I could find



One more shot



Almost fully equipped



The shots above are test shots, and the guns and radars etc are not fixed yet, just temporarily.
I am about to airbrush the USS Essex CV-9 's island with its final color.
Any big errors? Please let me know since I have 0.01% knowledge of warships.

Pictures of the earlier process can be found here (click)

Thanks for watching!

Boris

See the original post of the USS Essex CV-9 on my website

Hi Boris, nice work so far. Sorry I missed this one the first time around... It's interesting to note the difference in the AA guns compared to the more recent dragon kits.

As for your questions on Essex during the Korean war, all I have is that she served from the latter half of 1951 after modernization which included a new flight deck and modified island incl. deletion of th 5in gun turrets. Here's a link to a site with pics during the Korean War:
http://ussessex.bravepages.com/korea/koreagallery.html 

Look like the planes were F2H Banshees (actually she was the first carrier to have those) and AD Skyraiders

Here are some more pictures and you can clearly see the differences in the island:
http://www.navsource.org/archives/02/09a.htm 

HTH!
Stefan

Thanks Stefan!
those pictures are very interesting. I think its a little late to make a lot of changes to the model. maybe if I got the pictures earlier. Im almost done with the island at the moment....
I could build it as a WWII ship as well, since the campaign build is over for a long time, so that makes no restrictions

ONE MORE important question (for me) I got the color for the vertical surfaces of the island, but what about the horizontal surfaces of the island? that would be US 28 right?

Well I don't have the definite answer for that. It depends on which measure she was painted at the time you're depicting her. For more info on the different measures I can recommend
http://www.shipcamouflage.com/measures.htm

I can also recommend the lifecolor US Navy sets:
http://modelshipwrights.kitmaker.net/review/6290
http://modelshipwrights.kitmaker.net/review/6306

I'll see if I can find anything on what measure she was painted.

Cheers!
Stefan

Ok here's another useful site:
http://www.navsource.org/archives/02/09.htm

You will probably want to model the late war measure 21, as it's a bit easier than the earlier dazzle measure 32 scheme...

Cheers!
Stefan

Hi Stefan,

sorry for my late reply!
thank you for your help, but your link does not work... maybe its just me.

The site Navsource is having technical problems currently. It will hopefully be fixed soon.

in the mean time, can anyone confirm if the horizontal surfaces of the island need to be painted a different color? colorcoats #US 28 right?

thanks

Boris, if you are going with the Measure 21 colour scheme, the horizontal surfaces where painted Deck Blue 20-B. Vallejo has it as #867 Dark Blue Grey, Tamyia has it as # XF-54 Dark Sea Grey, Gunze Aqueous has it as #68 RLM Dark Grey 74. Ultimate Model Paint indicates that these are all the same shade known in the US Navy as Deck Blue 20-B. One of them should be available to you locally.

Later

Thanks Bruce! now I can continue painting the tower

The last few weeks I have been busy with the USS Essex CV-9 Aircraft Carrier.
I want to get it finished in the coming months because this build has taken enough time.

I have done the following since the last update:

- Airbrushed the main island and done some minor weathering.
- Added arresting gear to the flight deck
- Added flotation baskets to the railings of the flight deck
- Added some catwalks underneath the front and rear of the flight deck
- Added the route to the rescue boat.
- Airbrushed the vertical surfaces of the hull
- Airbrushed the wooden part of the flight deck
Please see the following pictures for the result:
The escape route to the rescue boat:



Here you can see some arresting gear and flotation baskets I added:



A close-up



The added catwalk between the two gun positions, right under the flight deck:



Some more flotation baskets and arresting gear



A lot of baskets next to the island location



The new catwalks right under the flight deck:



Some detailing I did a while ago:



top shot:



I added some real chains to the anchors, they will be visible, you' ll see:



Ready for painting!



The next few pictures show the airbrushed flight deck and vertical surfaces of the hull:









The next three shots show the island, what do you think about it?







A lot to do left, much work is needed for creating all the small 20 mm guns, still have to make most of them.
All the steel decks need to be painted by hand, like on the island. When painting is done I can start adding the detail items, such as the guns, masts etc.

Weathering is the final step.

I wonder how you think about it so far, let me know!

regards,

Boris

See the original post of the USS Essex CV-9 on my website

Well thanks for the replies on my last update guys (just kidding)

I finally fixed the hull of the USS Essex CV-9 to the flight deck itself. All the 20 mm Oerlikon guns are fixed in position on both the flight deck and the island. The 40mm Bofors guns have been fixed as well.

I applied the decals on the flight deck, that is the reason you see the strange stain around the dotted white line, that's from the gloss varnish. Anchors are placed in position with real anchor chains on the lower deck (no pictures yet, sorry). I fixed some other small details, but most important for me was the first weathering! that means we are getting somewhere, yay, cant wait to finish it finally som I can move on.

I never built a ship before, and thus never weathered a ship before. With the help of some good pics I found out that a lot of vertical streaks are seen on the USS Essex CV-9 Carrier, so I placed dots of oil on the hull and started sweeping down with a wide brush with white spirit.
I think the weathering came out pretty well, take in mind that I only did the vertical surfaces of the hull. I have to work to do the rest of the carrier.
Rust streaks are the next step on the hull, after that I will start weathering to the flight deck and everything above.

Here you see an overview picture of the weathered hull:



Here is a better pic of the weathering



One more overview shot:



You can see the big difference between the weathered hull, island and the non weathered positions in front of the island.



Note the anchor



The last shot



Still a lot to do, but I am making progress
Please let me know if you have any corrections or remark.

Regards,
Boris Kamp

See the original post of the USS Essex CV-9 on my website

An excellent looking Essex class Boris, beautiful build with great PE work. This will look magnificent with a deck full of aircraft
Julian

Boris, really great work! The weathering is first class. As for your cable question (sorry, a bit late), I believe they were flat on deck when no planes had to be landed and only stuck up for the landings.

Looking forward to some life on deck!

Cheers!
Stefan

Thanks Julian!




Thanks Stefan! Well, to late now, no wires on the deck but thanks anyway

Magnificent job all the way around Boris. She really looks great. For a first time ship build you are doing great.
Later

You have done a wonderful job on her so far Boris. Would love to see her with a Deckfull.....Cheers mark

Very nice work Boris. I believe you had a question about the arrestor cables, I would use some fine wire to replicate them. You can attach them straight to the deck if you are not modeling her recovering aircraft. When a carrier recovers aircraft, the cables are usually 6 to 8 inches off the deck so that the hook can catch it.