| On April 18 1942 The USS Hornet launched a raid on Tokyo.
It was more of a symbolic attack as the amount of damage was minimal. But
the psychological value of the attack was great and it showed that America
was willing to take the war to the Japan. |
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| Here is the 1/350 scale USS Hornet, made by Trumpeter. Also used
were the two excellent Gold Medal Models photoetch sets: the general
Hornet fitting set and the Gold
Plus extra detail set. The Gold Plus set gives you all perforated catwalks,
arresting gear parts, LSO platforms and many other very fine details. |
Click images
to enlarge
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| Several of the hangar bay doors were carved open, and
rudimentary hangar deck details were added. A set of F-4F Wildcats
were added. Honestly, after everything was closed up, you simply
can't see anything in there, other than what is immediately inside the
door.
Arresting gear was added, made from stretched sprue and the above mentioned
GMM parts. All portholes were drilled out, and real anchor chain was added. |
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| GMM suggests using the kit splinter shields on their perforated
catwalks. First, the kit's shields are too short, and second, sanding them
down would be near impossible. All new shields were made from strip
styrene, wrapped around a dowel and dipped in boiling water. Then
cut to size and applied. |
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| The model's hull was sprayed with a base coat of 5-0 ocean
gray, then the wave pattern was hand brushed in 5-N navy blue. The
island got a coat of 5-H haze gray, and again the pattern was hand brushed
in 5-0 ocean gray. All paints used came from the White Ensign Model's Colourcoat
line. |
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The B-25's were painted and detailed with stretched sprue machine guns.
Several have spinning props. I considered adding interiors to the
bombers, but I'm glad I didn't as you wouldn't be able to see them.
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| The island was rigged with stretched sprue, and 200 handpainted
figures were added. Note the correct radar for the Doolittle Raid
was used.
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| The model is great right out of the box, especially the planes.
With the addition of the photoetch sets, the ship really comes to life! |
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| Many thanks to Timothy Dike and Tom St. James for the reference
material. |
| Links:
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| Editor's note:
This ship won 1st place in it's catagory and Best Ship at the 2003
IPMS Nationals held in Oklahoma City July 2003. Congradulations to Kelly
Quirk on another well deserved win. |
