Frank Portela (Clanky44) bring us his inbox view of Trumpeter''s new 1/700 Carrier - the Hornet CV-8
Another teaser for Flattops Campaign!

Skipper

Link to Item

If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Nice review Frank.

That's some kit. ALL 16 B-25s PLUS 36 assorted other aircraft? That's very generous of Trumpeter. They are certainly becoming the kind of ships. Goon on them.

Just be aware that the color callouts in the kit instructions have some substantial errors.

Cheers,
John Snyder
White Ensign Models
http://WhiteEnsignModels.com

Hi John

Can you enlighten the Crew here?
I only have seen this images, not the model actually.
Any inputs you can give us will be great!

Skipper

Good review, Frank, Thanks!
My feelings mirror Mr. Coles' of the aircraft provided...looks like yet another kit box destined for the stash!

John, could you expand a little more on your post concerning the color call outs??

Thanks!
Gunny

Here is the instructions paint guide...

flight deck H365 (Deck Blue)
lower hull H17 (Hull Red)
upper hull H55 over H42 (Sea Blue over Ocean Grey)
Island (colour selection not given) appears to be H42 (Ocean Grey) with a lighter grey in a hard edged vertical wavy stripes

Frank

C'mon John

You can use your Colourcoats Range of WWII US Navy colours

Skipper

I suspected that might trigger a response. ;^)

The Trumpeter instructions show the darkest color on the hull as "Sea Blue". In actuality, it was 5-N Navy Blue. They also show Sea Blue for the upper sides of the aircraft. This should be early war Blue-Gray, which was VERY different from either the Sea Blue used on ships (5-S) or the later Sea Blue used on aircraft. They show "Deck Blue" for the flight deck. Deck Blue was used only on painted steel decks and other steel horizontal surfaces. The flight deck was stained with Norfolk 250-N Flight Deck Stain, quite a different color from Sea Blue. Hull Red should be Norfolk 65-A Antifouling Red, distinct from the antifouling reds used by other navies. Finally, they specify Olive Drab for the B-25s with Light Gray undersurfaces. The B-25s were painted in Olive Drab 41 (which was a different color from the later Olive Drab ANA 613), with Neutral Gray 43 undersides (much darker than Light Gray).

Of course, we have all the correct colors available in Colourcoats (you KNEW I was going to say that, didn't you?):

US 05, 5-H Haze Gray
US 06, 5-O Ocean Gray
US 08, 5-N Navy Blue
US 10, 20-B Deck Blue
US 27, Norfolk 250-N Flight Deck Stain
US 19, Norfolk 65-A Antifouling Red
ACUS 05, Prewar/early war USN Aircraft Light Gray
ACUS 06, Early War USN Aircraft Blue-Gray
ACUS 15, Olive Drab 41
ACUS 13, Neutral Gray 43

And of course, we have PE 755 1/700 Enterprise/Hornet photoetch available. Though designed for the Tamiya kits, it will work with the new Trumpeter kits as well.

Remember, we have no minimum order on paints, and we ship worldwide. Paint ships at-cost by weight, while our photoetch ships post-free.

Cheers,
John Snyder
White Ensign Models
http://WhiteEnsignModels.com

Thank you for the enlightment John

It was worth it!

Now guys, we have all info needed to get it donne!
If this campaign goes well, maybe I'll pull out my Tamiya USS Hornet - and I have the colourcoats!
Just need the PE set

Skipper

Thanks for the clarification John. Regarding the B-25's, the few close up photos I have of these bombers show them to be very weathered, with sections of them oversprayed with newer patches of paint, so I think any and multi shades of OD should be used.

Question for the crowd.... the flight deck stain, knowing how quickly these stains wore off, would any of the underlying wood show through?

Frank

Hi Frank

Analyse these pictures (see also the bottom links)
http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-pac/misc-42/dooltl.htm and apparently there isn't much wood showing... perhaps it could on heavy duty areas, but mainly by crew members not by airplanes (after all they wear "rubber shoes" and crew members don't)

I am looking forward to this and also your big brother Flattops entry!

Skipper

One other thing to consider about Hornet's deck. She was only commissioned for just over a year, and that was when she was sunk. By the time of Doolittle I don't think she'd been out for more than six months, if that. (going off memory here, always fatal.) I doubt she'd have too weathered, though those B-25s would be another matter.

Sorry I couldn't find a color deck photo, but here is a color photo of the Hornet in San Francisco where it picked up the Doolittle Raiders.



BTW....last year at Model Fiesta in San Antonio, Tx, I got Dick Cole's autograph. He was Doolittle's co-pilot. He'll be there again this year. The event is this weekend.

Kenny

Flight deck stain seems to fade quite rapidly. The photos I have of the Yorktown CV-10 on her shakedown cruise through the Caribbean Sea off Trinidad in the spring of 1943, show her to be a mottled light blue and grey and unprotected wood. The same carrier is seen being commissioned on the 15th of April 1943 at Newport News Shipbuilding Co. with a coat of deck stain that is opaque. With this said, the Hornet would of received (I'm assuming) a fresh coat to help fer blend in to the surroundings.

Any opinions?!?!?

Hey Frank, the same set of photos came to my mind too. A thought is that because of the nature and importance of the mission, they may have given her a fresh stain job to help the raiders line up on the flight deck at take off. If not, then it would have been faded for sure.

Kenny

Ok, here you go (sort of). Two photos from the raid.





IMHO, it looks as if the deck would have been faded. It's just too light of a shade in the first photo.

OK folks, a couple of points here.

1. Regarding Yorktown's faded flight deck stain--she was using Flight Deck Stain 21, much lighter to begin with than the Norfolk 250-N used on Hornet.

2. Regarding that upper photo of the Doolittle crews on deck of Hornet, that photo was made on orthochromatic film. Ortho films were blue-sensitive, meaning that they rendered anything with blue in it as light in the final print. That would hold true for the blue flight deck stain. Notice how light the 5-O Ocean Gray appears on the gun tub in the background? 5-O was a purple-blue, and ortho film rendered it lighter than it actually was. (Trust me on this: I wrote a professional paper on the subject for the Association of Preservation Technology International some years back.) The angle of the sun likely was a factor in that photo, too. You have to take a lot of factors into account when trying to judge colors from black-and-white photos.

The deck appears much darker in the launch photo because it was wet that morning.

Cheers,
John Snyder
White Ensign Models
http://WhiteEnsignModels.com

Thanks Kenny, John

I will use the Norfolk 250-N, but I will try and discolour it somewhat in heavy wear areas.

thanks again,
Frank