1/350 Scale World War II Model Warship Diorama's USS North Carolina & USS Lexington Part 1 of 4

Part 2 Is The USS Missouri at anchor in Tokyo Bay For Japan's SurrenderShow more

I started building model warships over 40 years ago and had over 250 detail warship models from World War II. Here are some 1/350 Scale World War II Model Warship Diorama's That I Built in the past few years.  The warships in this diorama are the battleship USS North Carolina, destroyer USS Fletcher of the Fletcher class destroyers and the aircraft carrier USS Lexington.  The North Carolina was the first fast battleship the the US built just prior to the start of WWII.

I had a retired Master Chief  friend build me a work bench where I cut use my electric saw and grinder.  Having a good work station really helps when you are building large projects such as the 1/350 Scale World War II Model Warship Diorama's.  This bench is right next to my (L) shaped desk and I can move back and forth very easy between the two.

I made this diorama as if the North Carolina and a destroyer escort were off one of the Pacific Islands and were supporting the assault of that Island. The Island of Guadalcanal comes to mind. Where US forces controlled one part of the Island and the Japanese forces the other part. The North Carolina was armed with 9 16 Inch guns in 3 turrets. Two forward and one aft. The secondary guns were 10 - dual 5 inch guns. With 5 mounts on each side of the ship. These 5 inch guns were dual purpose. Anti air and anti ship. By the end of WW 2 there were upwards to 100 - 20MM & 40MM guns on the North Carolina. The North Carolina class carried 2 Kingfisher search planes on the stern of the ship.

If you look closely at the World War II warship diorama you will see US fighter bombers attacking small Japanese ships around the Island, bomb explosions on the Island from the planes dropping bombs and a plane shot down that landed in the water. I had the option with these two kits. Full hull or make them waterline model World War II warships. I choose the waterline hull so that I could make a diorama's out of the models that I built.

The 2nd large 1/350 Scale World War II Model Warship Diorama's That I Built was the USS Lexington, CV-2. The real Lexington started out in her design as a battlecruiser with 8 - 8 Inch guns in 4 twin turrets. Japan & the US agreed to convert 2 of their battlecruisers into full sized aircraft carriers in the late 1920's. That is how we got the Lexington & her sister ship USS Saratoga. At first these two carriers retained the 4 turrets of 8 - 8 Inch guns, but they were removed before the war started.  If you look closely on the USS Lexington, you will see figures of different air crew and sailors.   I purchased a special kit on ebay that had various air crew figures.  These instuctions basically left it up to the builder where to put the figures.

Lady Lex was sunk at the battle of the Coral Sea in May, 1942. I built this Lexington as if she survived that battle and retained her 4 turrets of 8 - 8 inch guns. I always thought that these two ships with planes & large 8" gun turrets were two of the coolest looking warships on the planet. So this would have been Lady Lex say in 1944/45 with up to date World War II model planes as well. Here before World War II the US had it's hybrid aircraft carrier. Part battlecruiser and part aircraft carrier.

If you look closely you will see where I have place 1/350 scale aircrew figures around the ship.  For this I purchased a special kit off ebay that had all the aircrew figures.   I lost a few pieces in cutting and did the best that I could.   One thing that really helps in doing something like this is that I have magnifying piece that I can wear like a miners lighted helmet.  It has 2 small lights on it's side.  You may look a bit weird wearing it, but it is a must in doing small detail work like this.

Part 2- of this series will conclude the building of the Lexington and the the Diorama of the USS Missouri at anchor in Tokyo Bay and the Japanese surrender onboard the battleship Missouri. I included a detail set of figures of hundreds of figures to represent in high detail every high ranking person that was there. Also there are several partly sunk Japanese warships nearby, a formation of American fighters/bombers doing a fly-by and much more.

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