Scale: 1/200
Set includes 4 turrets (2 with rangefinder "ears", and 2 without rangefinders) and 4 trunnions (no barrels).
Recommended for:
- Gomix-Fly Model 1/200 scale USS Saratoga CV-3 (pre-war)
- GPM 1/200 scale USS Lexington CV-2 (pre-war)
- GPM 1/200 scale USS Saratoga CV-3 (1944-1945) - backdated to 1941 or earlier
Until late 1941, the Lexington class aircraft carriers USS Lexington CV-2 and USS Saratoga CV-3 carried four twin 8"/55 caliber turrets. The upper two turrets were fit with rangefinders ("ears"). The lower two turrets were not.
Install the turret with rangefinders in superfiring (elevated) positions. Install the turret without rangefinders on the flight deck.
These turrets are not suitable for models of US Navy cruisers of World War Two. Those ships carried 8"/55 cal. turrets of a different design (available separately).
Features:
- overall dimensions accurately scaled from official US Navy drawings
- accurately shaped armored rangefinder hoods
- six crew access doors with raised hinge, rain deflector and dog details
- hex-head exterior bolts and rivets accurately sized, numbered and positioned according to photos of the actual turrets
- separate trunnion, slotted for your favorite brass barrels (barrels not included) to allow you to position the guns to any realistic elevation from -5 degrees to +40 degrees just like the real turret
- turret-bottom breech well
- turret-back shell ejector ports
- heavy turret-bottom supporting structure per photos of the actual turrets
© Model Monkey LLC. These 3D-printed models may not be copied or recast.
From Wikipedia: "The 8"/55 caliber gun (spoken "eight-inch-fifty-five-caliber") formed the main battery of United States Navy heavy cruisers and two early aircraft carriers. United States naval gun terminology indicates the gun barrel had an internal diameter of 8 inches (203 mm), and the barrel was 55 calibers long (barrel length is 8 inch × 55 = 440 inches or 11 meters).[3]
"Mark 9: These built-up guns weighed about 30 tons including a liner, tube, jacket, and five hoops. A down-swing Welin breech block was closed by compressed air from the gas ejector system. Loading with two silk bags each containing 45-pounds (20 kg) of smokeless powder gave a 260-pound (120 kg) projectile a velocity of 2800 feet per second (850 m/s).[1] Range was 31,860 yd (29,130 m) at the maximum elevation of 41 degrees.[1][4]
"Mark 14: These guns were similar to Mark 9, with the same shell weight and maximum range,[4] with a smaller chamber and rifling twist increased from 1 in 35 to 1 in 25 in a chromium-plated bore."