By Dave Becker
1/350 USS Lexington CV-16 (Tom's Modelworks)
USS Lexington CV-16 as she appeared at the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October 1944 with Air Group 19 on board. Ship is in the Measure 21 paint scheme from which she acquired the nickname "The Blue Ghost."
Model kit is from Tom's Modelworks and is a 1/350 resin kit of a Mid 1943 CV-10 Yorktown. I decided that I wanted a more heavily armed ship and one from a different time period. After careful research I decided on CV-16 USS Lexington at Leyte Gulf. Ended up having to scratch build 20 mm gun platforms, 40 mm gun tubs, modify the bridge and antenna/radar farm to the Lexington layout. Tons of fun and I enjoyed it immensely.
The aircraft that came with the kit were of an earlier period so I ordered additional F-6F's and SB2C's from L'Arsenal. The F-6F's were perfect but had to change the props on the SB2C's to the 3 bladed kind. Props provided with the aircraft were of the 4 bladed SB2C-4 variety used by the French Navy.
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