by Jim Russell
1/350 Essex class variations - late 1944; The Ultimate, The Original and The Mistake (Trumpeter)
My return to model ship building was initiated by Trumpeter's release of the 1/350 Essex class carriers. I always wanted to model a fast carrier task group and these ships provided the core of that goal.
The ships I built were CV-10 Yorktown (The Ultimate), CV-12 Hornet (The Original) and CV-19 Hancock (The Mistake).
The first ship built was Yorktown, using Trumpeter's Yorktown kit. This choice was easy since I had Warship's Data #5 to use as a reference and she was one of the first ships to be fitted with all the mid war alterations. I was very pleased by the overall quality of the kit but many opportunities for enhancement did exist. Some of the more visible were lowering the quad 40mm adjacent to the port 5" and filling in the flight deck notches, adding or moving many 40mm directors, adding the walkways starboard of of the island and between the 40mm sponsons below the island and MANY others.
The second ship built was Hornet, using the Essex kit. I wanted an "as built" ship in dazzle, late 1944 and the two choices were Wasp and Hornet. Hornet was selected because I liked the idea of her Measure 3a in 5-P, 5-H and 5-N contrasting with Hancock's 5-L, 5-O and black (colors came from Faltum's Essex Aircraft Carriers). Modifications included removing the square flight deck ends and replacement with a piece of drinking straw and blind bits on the hull sides. Since Hornet was commissioned in Nov 1943 and the model was late 1944, the ship was weathered extensively. The primary reference was Robert's AOTS Intrepid.
The third ship built was Hancock. Even though only two CV's were needed to portray a task group I "had to have" a long hull. Hancock was the first long hull to enter the war zone (Hancock was present at Leyte Gulf, Ticonderoga was not). I used the Franklin kit with a nose job. When Trumpeter released CV-2 Lexington I concluded they were done with the Essex class, a long hull would require a new hull mold, which is expensive. I was doing the final sanding on the new bow when the Ticonderoga kit was announced (Trumpeter cheated). Besides the new bow, the flight deck was shortened and the big notch was cut into the flight deck. Details were changed to match pictures in Wiper's Ticonderoga book. Based on Friedman's "Aircraft Carriers" I came to consider this ship "The Mistake" or "the last gasp of the gun club" since so many of the external changes were controversial. The aviation community DID NOT LIKE the shortened flight deck and the big notch. The wide bow form slammed in a heavy sea (the Ticonderoga "buckled her hangar (strength) deck amidships in a postwar passage around Cape Horn, the entire class had to be strengthened").
There are errors, some intentional. Late 1944 was a time of change from the three tone aircraft paint scheme to overall dark blue. My attempts to do the three tone scheme looked "cartoonish" so I cheated and went 100% dark blue. The first two ships have flight deck numerals that are too small, I used Trumpeter's decal as a size guide (always check Trumpeter's research). Overall I enjoyed the builds and consider Trumpeter's kits of this class to be quite good, errors are few and fixable.
