1/350 USS Independence CVL-22 (Dragon)

The USS Independence was the first of what were ultimately nine "light" aircraft carriers (CVLs) built for the US Navy, which could not (early in World War II) build the larger Essex-class carriers fast enough for service in the Pacific against the Imperial Japanese Navy.  These ships were all built from the hulls of what had been intended as Cleveland-class light cruisers; commissioned in 1943, all saw extensive service throughout the Pacific theater of war as part of the fast carrier task forces (only one, USS Princeton, CVL23, was sunk in action).  The Independence herself was used after the war in the Bikini atom bomb tests; surviving both blasts, she was eventually towed to Pearl Harbor and then San Francisco, and was sunk during naval weapons testing off California in January 1951.

Dragon's model of this ship has been praised by many builders in online forums; I was especially impressed by how well the hull sections and flight deck fit together.  Dragon's assembly instructions show some differences in painting schemes (mainly for the flight deck and aircraft) for different phases of the ship's career; my choice was the September 1943 Marcus Island raid version.  I augmented the build with WEM's extensive photoetch set, which allows much more precise modeling for both early war (1943) and late war configurations. Regardless of which version one decides to build, there will be many leftover pieces for your spare parts box.  The complicated mast structure and its various radars especially require steady hands and experience to build.  Ordinarily, I would use all-brass 20 mm Oerlikon guns from MasterModel, but Dragon's multi-part guns with their own brass photoetch set (I omitted their railings, which are too thick; WEM's are much finer) are quite good, as are the quad and dual 40 mm Bofors guns.
 
 

Gallery updated 6/18/2014

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