1:700 CVE-9 Bogue U.S. Escort Carrier

The escort carrier Bogue in 1:700 scale

A kit of the American escort carrier. This category came about out of practical necessity: large carriers were in short supply and the convoys needed air escort against submarines. The solution was to build a flight deck onto the hull of a merchant ship. The result was slow, it had a small deck and it carried only a handful of aircraft, but it could be built quickly and in quantity. It was exactly these ships that decided the Battle of the Atlantic, because they closed the gap in the middle of the ocean that land-based aircraft could not reach.

The real subject

The ships of the Bogue class came about by converting the hulls of merchant ships. They carried twenty to thirty aircraft, that is a fraction of what a large carrier had, but for searching out and attacking submarines that was enough. The air group was made up of machines able to take off from a short deck, that is single-engine bombers and fighters. Besides escorting convoys, the ships were also used for ferrying aircraft.

Building and painting tips

In 1:700 scale the parts are very small, so work over a mat, with fine tweezers, and dose the glue with a point. Paint the hull and the flight deck separately before you fit the superstructure. Set the wooden deck apart from the steel hull in shade as well as in sheen. Paint the aircraft on the deck separately and place them irregularly; a tidy row looks static. Keep the weathering restrained; in this scale a heavy wash tends to flood the detail.

Who the model is for

• For modelers of the US Navy of the Second World War.
• For collectors of ships in a uniform 1:700 scale.
• For anyone interested in the Battle of the Atlantic and the fight against submarines.

The model is supplied unassembled and unpainted. Glue, paints and accessories are not included in the package, unless stated otherwise.