EJS

Gonna make up some towbars for those little jeeps? Those look really nice. Part of the kit, or aftermarket. EJ

Wow, I just love doing those little woodies. Will be following with interest. EJ

The tooling board is very intriguing. Kinda looked on line for US sources but didn't find much, probably because I don't know what I'm looking for. The shapeways stuff is usually great. I'm converting an old Lindberg U S Navy tanker kit of the Kennebec class to a Mattaponi class (40 feet longer) as a friend of mine served aboard the USS Mattaponi AO-41. Got the correct gunnery from Shapeways - 5"/38 open mounts, twin 40 mm bofers and just recently, 3"/50 deck guns, all in 1/500 scale. They are really nice. Following this build with great interest. EJ

Amazing scratchbuild. I am in awe of your skills.

I have a few elevator pics from the WWII USS ESSEX. I'm trying to figure out how to post them since Photobucket fiasco. I had about 2000 WWII ship pics there, and posted many of them on various forums. Much time down the drain. Not sure I want to waste my time starting over. Any suggestions regarding a hosting site? EJ

Wow, some undertaking. I'll be following this with great interest. That thing is nearly the size of a canoe! EJ

OK, I visited the hornet museum last year (CV-12). I'll see what I can find. my mistake, but I assume the kit is of Hornet CV-8, not Hornet CV-12, right? EJ

Escalater? Do you mean elevator (for aircraft) there were two, or escalator (for pilots) just like in a department store escalator. EJ

Very very nice paint work. The flight deck wear and the hull weathering are subtle and very realistic. I really like the look of the paint on the hangar deck that shows the "plates". How did you go about getting that effect? Looks like the flight deck decals went down well. Are they the kit decals?

That is a really Beautiful ESSEX Build. I can only wish mine turn out this nicely. EJ

Beautiful detailing.

OK, here's the story. I have been told by certain "historians" that this never happened, but the photo's don't lie. I copied some of the pictures from the Archives/memorabilia room at the ESSEX reunions and from a book I have, published by the Association in 1999 by taking pictures of the pictures with my digital camera. Not everything that happens in the military makes it into the "official" records. Very often, some enterprising sailor, soldier or airman comes up with an idea, implements it, and it becomes part of the way things are done. The story was told to me by several old WWII ESSEX men. I will relate the story told me by William Christensen. He was a Mustanger, starting as a seaman apprentice and eventually attaining the rank of a Commissioned Officer - Lt Junior Grade, serving as the Flight Deck Officer. He Passed away July 3, 2012 at the veterans home in Mexico, Missouri, picture of me visiting with him June 9, 2012, on our way home from the 2012 reunion in Dallas Texas. Bill left, me right. The story - ESSEX was laid down before the US entered WWII, on April 28, 1941. Design work had been started in 1939. She was Commissioned December 31, 1942 ( I was born February 12, 1942 and served aboard her 1961-64 ) , the first of 24 ships of the class built through 1945 or 46. After commissioning she departed for sea trials and training from the East coast, that continued through the transit of the Panama Canal on May 17 and 18 1943 and bound for Pearl Harbor, arriving there on May 31. During this training period, the flight deck crews found that the continuous pushing around of the planes during flight operations training (it was done manually with several men pushing them) was very tiring. Some said the Essex's were just lazy, but Bill said no, they were just tired from all the exertion. Also, the newer aircraft being deployed were heavier, plus the armament loads were heavier than what had been used on the older carriers, #1 thru 8. There had to be an easier, better, faster way to re-spot those planes. As the story goes, a couple airdales were taking trash to be dumped down on the pier in Pearl Harbor. On the pier, there were rows and rows of brand new jeeps sitting there, bound for someplace or other. They got an idea. Back aboard, they talked with some other guys and came up with a plan. Someone made out an acquisition form. Two guys went down on the pier and took (Acquired) two jeeps. They never were asked about requisitions forms, but they had the phony ones just in case. They took them over to the pier just below the aircraft cranes, hooked them up and hoisted them onboard, taking them aft in the hangar bay to the DC shop. There, a couple enterprising guys devised tow-bars that could be hooked up to the front wheels of the aircraft. Back at sea, they tried them out, made a few adjustments and were then off and running. Surprisingly, none of the command officers saw anything unusual, remarking casually that " that was a great idea" and went on doing business as usual without questioning anything. None of the guys involved identified themselves to keep under the radar, so they passed into history quietly and unnoticed. It wasn't long and the plane pushers could re-spot aircraft in half the time it took before. Down the road, some of the other carrier captains and fleet officers came aboard just to see how those "ESSEX GUYS" could launch and recover aircraft so much faster than the other bird farms. What were they doing different? After watching this happen, they apparently thought it was such a good idea that they requested vehicles for the other flat tops, and got them. The Navy, deciding they were more appropriate, furnished tow-motors instead of jeeps, but the use of flight deck vehicles was firmly entrenched from then on. EJ

Here's a few picks of those jeeps, plus a couple of "Tilley" tossed in. There is a story about the jeeps told by the old timers that were there. If you would like to hear it, I'll post it here for you. Gene Schmidt Assistant Treasurer USS ESSEX CV/CVA/CVS-9/LHD-2 Association

I too prime everything, using Tamiya aerosol fine surface primer. Seems to really key in to the plastic. Not sure if it's an acrylic or lacquer product. On larger plastic and all wood models, I use aerosol automotive primer. There is one specifically made for priming plastic auto parts and it works well on model plastic too.

Pretty amazing little machine. Nice job.