The United States Navy took an early interest in naval aviation. After all, the Wright brothers were the first to fly in a heavier than air aircraft. Wooden launching decks were built over a couple of cruisers and Wright aircraft were obtained for launch
tests. The USN was the first navy to launch an aircraft from a ship in 1910. In  January 1911 Glen Curtiss tested a floatplane. They appeared less dangerous to operate, could be launched from a catapult, which was invented at the Washington Navy
Yard in 1912, and could land alongside the ship and be hoisted aboard. Then the USN forgot about naval aviation in terms of wheeled aircraft. The USN considered catapult launched floatplanes to be the wave of the future and a number of large
armored cruisers were fitted with fixed catapults. In April 1917 the United States entered World War One and naval officers were sent to Great Britain. This started a change in the view of the USN towards wheeled aircraft on warships.

As World War One advanced the Royal Navy became the forefront of progress in naval aviation in. Meanwhile all the USN was concerned with was building battleships. While the RN was building scout cruisers to be the “Eyes of the Fleet” and leaping
forward in the development of naval aviation, the USN didn’t even acquire cruisers, much less naval aviation warships. However, by the end of the war, the huge advances made by the Royal Navy and the fact that major warships were being converted
to aircraft carriers could no longer be ignored by their cousins across the pond. The conversion of the USN towards the aircraft carrier and much less towards floatplanes started before the end of the war. The naval officers in Europe saw the benefits
of RN carrier experiments first hand. The commander of the American naval forces in Europe, Admiral William Sims, became an enthusiast. He ordered the USS Texas to be fitted with a launch platform, which operated a Sopwith Camel. (A real
Sopwith with the USS Texas markings can be seen at the Naval Aviation Museum at Pensacola Naval Aviation Station.) Sims did this in spite of the objection of the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral William Benson. Actual experience proved that the
wheeled aircraft had a clear advantage in operations and performance over catapult launched floatplanes.
Late in 1917 Great Britain sent S. V. Goodall to America to work with the American allies. Goodall was a naval constructor and was throughly up to date on British naval aviation plans and operational experience. He even brought plans of British
designs, including those for HMS Hermes, the first carrier designed from the keel up. Goodall’s interaction went a long way towards converting the USN into an aircraft carrier power but many of the top officers were still not convinced but even they
approved of further experimentation. The navy was interested in an aircraft carrier but Congress refused to fund one in FY20 and FY21. For further experimentation a ship would be needed. Congress would fund a conversion of a collier into the
experimental carrier.

Finally, it was the upcoming Washington Treaty that finally put the spurs to the lethargic American admirals. Under the terms of the treaty neither the US nor Japan could finish their beautiful battlecruisers under construction. Treaty terms granted both
powers the right to complete two of the battlecruiser hulls into large aircraft carriers. Those chosen were the Lexington and Saratoga for the USN and Akagi and Amagi for Japan. After the hull of Amagi was structurally ruined by the Great Tokyo
earthquake, the hull of the battleship Kaga was substituted for the Amagi. If the USN started with an experimental aircraft carrier before the finalization of the treaty, her tonnage would not count against the total tonnage cap for aircraft carriers.
Having been in a cocoon for more than a decade, the USN was hopelessly behind the RN in combat aviation. What was needed was an experimental aircraft carrier in order to learn the ropes before the huge Lexington and Saratoga were ready. In
1912 the USN had built a large collier to service the coal fired battleship fleet. Her name was the USS Jupiter AC-3. She was selected for conversion into this experimental aircraft carrier. There were many reasons for her selection. She had six large
holds for coal that could be easily converted into storage areas for aircraft. The Jupiter also was the prototype of the turbo-electric drive. Turbo-electric drive allowed the ship to reverse almost as fast as going forward.  In theory this would allow the
ship to land aircraft from the bow or the stern by moving into a headwind to land the slow moving aircraft.

In July 1919 the Jupiter was designated CV-1 and was renamed USS Langley in April 1920. She entered Norfolk in March 1920 to start the conversion. The holds were combined to form a semi hangar but really more of an aircraft storage area. The
first hold was used to store aviation gasoline and the fourth hold was converted to the magazine and above that the elevator. She could accommodate 55 dismantled aircraft or 33 flight-ready aircraft but the aircraft were small at the time. The aircraft
had to be hoisted out of the hold by a 3-ton gantry crane that traveled on centerline through the holds or by one of the two side mounted 3-ton cranes because the elevator couldn’t be used because it was on top of the magazine, eight feet above the
hangar deck. It took 12 minutes to move an aircraft from the hold to the open maintenance deck. The existing superstructure of the Jupiter was removed and a wooden flight deck was built on top of an elaborate girder, beam and support structure
resembling the complexity of the Eiffel Tower. The deck was 533-feet 9-inches long, 63-feet 11-inches wide and was the world’s first full length flight deck. The original deck of the ship, underneath the flight deck, became a work area for
maintenance of the aircraft. There was no island and the bridge was placed underneath the flight deck at the bow. For flight operations an aircraft had to be hoisted out of the hold to the maintenance and workshop area open to the elements and then
could be moved to the center elevator to be lifted to the flight deck. Preparations for flight could not be undertaken until the aircraft was on the flight deck. The side cranes would also be used to move seaplanes from the water to the maintenance deck.
Clearly it was not an efficient operation. Only about half of the available aircraft could be spotted on the aft flight deck for an operational cycle. They needed approximately 400-feet with a head wind to take off. One and then two swiveling funnels
were placed on the port side aft. During flight operations the funnels were lowered to be parallel with the water. However, the exhaust fume problem never was really fixed. Two telescopic masts were forward, which were lowered in flight operations.
On March 22, 1922 the conversion was finished. Overall length was 542-feet 2.5-inches with a waterline length of 520-feet. The beam was 65-feet 3-inches. Her engines developed 7,152 hp with a maximum speed of 15-knots. Her displacement was
12,700-tons design and 11,500-tons standard.
Originally the aircraft took off and landed on a bare flight deck. Then a wire mesh of wire rope was added as the first arrester system. One and then two catapults were later installed , which were 94-feet long and had the ability to launch a 6,000 pound
plane at 55-knots. These were later replaced by two A Mk III compressed-air catapults, one forward and one aft. Her first landing of an aircraft at sea was on October 26, 1922. In January 1923 the Langley was part of the Atlantic Fleet and started flight
operations. In November 1924 she was transferred to the Pacific Fleet and cruised between San Diego and Hawaii for pilot training and flight drills. Laangley earned the nickname of The Covered Wagon because of her appearance.

In 1923 Captain Joseph Reeves was appointed head of the Tactics Department. He completed a Aerial Observer Course at Pensacola NAS in 1925 and took a deep interest in carrier operations. Reeves was then appointed as Commander, Aircraft
Squadrons, Battle Force. Reeves saw that large numbers of aircraft aloft at the same time were a key to success in carrier operations. At this time the Langley was only operating eight aircraft at a time. In November Reeves assembled the Langley
aviators and crew in an auditorium on North Island, California and told them that he was going to increase the aircraft from 8 to 14 and then to more. He further was going to shorten the cycle time between takeoffs and landing. Landing of aircraft on
Langley took excessive time. They landed and then had to be lowered to the maintenance deck before the next aircraft could be recovered. It took over four minutes to do this. On December 18, 1925 Langley showed that she could launch ten aircraft in
one minute and 38 seconds, which was far faster than earlier operations. However, it still took 35 minutes for them to land, so landing time had only decreased slightly. A solution to the long landing time took place in June 1926 when Langley was
equipped with a crash barrier that would stop an aircraft if it missed the arrester wire. This created the aircraft park forward of the barrier. An aircraft no longer had to be lowered to the maintenance deck before the next one could be recovered. The
plane would land, the barrier lowered and then the plane moved past the barrier into the aircraft park. Once all aircraft were recovered, they were moved aft, refueled and rearmed with none of them having to be lowered to the maintenance deck,
completely eliminating that time consuming operation. Langley could launch an aircraft every 15 seconds and recover one in 90 seconds by August 1926. Reeves wanted to make Langley a full fledged combatant and increase the number of aircraft
carried to 28. The Royal Navy had been very open with the USN in carrier development. However in 1928 Admiral Reeves had shown less consideration to the RN. After receiving a visit from Vice Admiral Fuller of the RN, Reeves wrote; “Of course I
did not tell Admiral Fullerthat we operated not 24, but 36 and could operate 42 and possibly 48 airplanes from the Langley.” (American & British Aircraft Carrier Development 1919-1942, by Thomas Hone, Norman Friedman & Mark Mandeles,
Naval Institute Press 1999, at page 47) All of Reeve’s work showed that even small ships could be efficient in operating aircraft, setting the idea that led to light and escort carriers.
The last use of the catapults was in 1925 and they were removed on July 25, 1928. Also in 1925 the navy considered converting the sistership to Jupiter, USS Neptune, into another experimental carrier outside of treaty restrictions, but this was rejected.
By the mid-1930s the Langley was past her prime. The Lexington Saratoga and Ranger had joined the fleet and the Yorktown and Enterprise were on the horizon. Further, in 1934 the Langley would have to be counted against the maximum carrier
tonnage and the navy didn’t need a 15-knot carrier eating up 12,000-tons of the allowable carrier tonnage. However, the Navy still saw a use for her. With a large fleet of flying boats on hand, which needed maintenance when operating away from bases,
the Langley would be ideal for use as a seaplane tender. She went to Mare Island, California for the conversion. By October 1936 her conversion to a seaplane tender AV-3 was complete. The conversion amounted to removed the first 1/3 of the flight
deck. She continued to serve in the Pacific Fleet, except for February to July 1939 when she was with the Atlantic Fleet. In September 1939 Langley was back with the Pacific Fleet. World War Two had started in Europe and Langley made a very good
aircraft transport. She was serving in this purpose when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Langley was assigned to the Western Pacific to transport aircraft to the Dutch Indies.

On December 8, 1942 Langley was at Manila. She along some other auxiliaries were ordered south. A few days later they were met by USS Houston, USS Boise and two destroyers, who were going to escort the ships to the Dutch Indies. After the link
up Langley had the opportunity to cause much amusement in the US Asiatic Fleet. The gunners on the Langley spotted a shining object in the sky and went to quarters to bring down the attacking aircraft. Langley fired 250 3-inch shells at the target
with no results. Aboard the oiler Pecos a Filipino mess attendant asked the captain “Why for Langley shoot at Venus?” An officer on the Houston commented, “They’re really protecting us.”“ He further stated that Langley’s performance was good
practice “...for interplanetary target practice.” (Rising Sun, Falling Skies, by Jeffery Cox, Osprey Publishing 2014, at page 118) After reaching the Dutch East Indies the Langley was sent on to Darwin, Australia. On January 19, 1942 the RAN
decoded a message indicating that s submarine was operating off of Darwin. The next day a kingfisher from Langley participated on the attack on I-124. This helped damage the submarine but not destroy it. The RAN finished the job, making the I-124
the first submarine killed by the RAN. When trying to reinforce the Dutch, fully 60% of the P-40s trying to fly to Java were lost because of weather an inexperienced pilots. Langley was the solution. Langley left Darwin on February 11, arriving at
Freemantle on February 18. She was transferring aircraft to Java from Freemantle with 36 assembled P-40s with crews and 26 P-40s in crates. On February 22, 1942 Langley, the freighter Sea Witch and light cruiser USS Phoenix left Freemantle to
temporarily join convoy MS-5 on the way to Tjilatjap, Java. Langley and Sea Witch were scheduled to break from the convoy and time their approach to Tjilatjap to finish in the darkness to arrive the morning of February 27.
Langley broke from the convoy and steamed north at 13-knots. Promised two USN Flushdeckers as final escort, Admiral Helfrich sent a solitary Dutch minelayer. On the 26th two Dutch Catalinas appeared and signaled that her escort was 20 miles to
the west. Langley turned west, wasting time. Unfortunately the Dutch minelayer was experiencing engine problems and was only capable of 10-knots, slower than Langley. Keeping the escort would wreck the time table so Langley’s commander,
Commander Robert McConnell, decided to go it alone. McConnell had made the right choice but multiple events of incompetence raised their heads to destroy Langley. First Langley was ordered to turn south to rejoin the 10-knot Dutch minelayer.
Then just as she rejoined the Dutch ship she was ordered 200 mile south of Java to join the two USN Flushdeckers for escort to Java, which happened on the morning of February 27. At 9AM an aircraft was sighted and the Langley had been
discovered. Langley was still 100 miles from Tjilatjap. Knowing that an air attack was soon to come. McConnell had the XO, Commander Lawrence Divoll, address the crew. “Boys, I’m just a little bit scared. We’re going to catch hell and I want
everybody to concentrate and do his job. I wish you all the best of luck.” (Rising Sun, Falling Skies, by Jeffery Cox, Osprey Publishing 2014, at page 273) The Japanese aircraft had reported the Langley as an aircraft carrier with a deck packed with
aircraft. The Langley suddenly became the Number 1 target of the Japanese Navy and their response was prompt. At 11:40AM the approaching Japanese aircraft were sighted. A wave of 16 Mitsubishi G4M Betty bombers approached and split into two
Vs.
The first wave of seven bombers dropped their 550-lb bombs but they fell 100-feet to port because McConnell had turned to port at the last second. Two of the bombs were so close that hull pates were ruptured and water lines broken. Water poured
into the hull and the pumps couldn’t keep up. The second wave of nine subdivided into three Vs of three with one following the other. They attacked from the aft of Langley. At the last second McConnel ordered hard left. The Japanese did not drop their
bombs. They made a circle to line up for another approach from the stern. The Japanese bombers slowed and McConnell tried another maneuver, he jinked to port and then did a hard turn to starboard. He was too early and the Japanese adjusted. Nine
bombs were released, five hit the Langley, three were near misses and only one missed. For a high level attack at 15,000-feet these were truly spectacular results. The hits were one forward, two on the port side of the flight deck setting the P-40s on the
maintenance deck on fire. The fourth hit the funnel sponson and the fifth penetrated the deck, jammed the rudder and exploded 3-inch ammunition lockers. The fire was put out and damaged P-40s pushed overboard but the flooding couldn’t be stopped.
Six escorting Mitsubishi Zero’s came in and straffed undamaged P-40s on the flight deck. Then they drove off a Dutch Catalina and shot down a civilian flying boat that had wandered into the fight in flying civilians from Java to Australia. The Langley
had a ten degree list to port and internally she did not have the compartmentalization of a warship. McConnell ordered to prepare to abandon ship but some of the crew dove into the water to be picked up by the destroyer USS Edsall. The motor pits
were flooded and the Langley slowed to a stop. With no power and under threat of capsizing, McConnell ordered abandon ship at 1:32PM. Edsall went to Langley’s port side and the flushdecker USS Whipple went to starboard. Casualties were
remarkably light with 7 killed, 11 missing and 2 wounded out of 484 crew and US Army AF personnel. The two destroyers tried to sink the hulk of Langley but she refused to go down. Four-inch gunfire and two torpedoes still would sink her but did
start a massive fire. Finally the destroyers had to leave before they too became victims. Later that night a Dutch PBY reported that the Langley had sunk. No one had been around to see the Langley make her final plunge. (Bulk of history is from:
Aircraft Carriers of the US Navy, by Stefan Terzibaschitsch, Mayflower Books 1978; American & British Aircraft Carrier Development 1919-1942, by Thomas Hone, Norman Friedman & Mark Mandeles, Naval Institute Press 1999; Rising Sun,
Falling Skies, by Jeffery Cox, Osprey Publishing 2014,; U.S. Aircraft Carriers, by Norman Friedman, Naval Institute Press 1983)
The Trumpeter 1:350 Scale USS Langley - Frankly, this kit is a mixed bag. It has some ingredients for a nice kit but is seriously marred by one fact. The extensive truss structure of girders, supports and lattices that support the flight deck are solid
plastic. They had circular voids saving weight, which were very conspicuous. Sure, you cane paint these voids black but that doesn’t cut it. This truss structure is one of the most distinguishing structures of the Covered Wagon. This kit desperately
needs brass photo-etch trusses and girders. Based on the aircraft complement, the Trumpeter Langley represents the ship around 1932. The Boeing F4B did not reach fleet duty until that year.

The hull looks very nice with a significant amount of detail. It is one piece with a full hull, so there would be some work if you want to cut it back to waterline. There are panel lines for the hull’s steel panels. These are not over-done. Long double bilge
keels are molded on each side and are suitably thin. The anchor hawse and the deck edge scuttles have raised fittings. Below the deck edge and running the length of the hull are a series of strengthening strakes. These are subtle and not oversize. A
horizontal strake curves around the stern. The funnel sponson is very pleasing with supports for the top level. Other detail includes a forefoot fitting, rudder fit attachments, side hatches, and boat boom brackets. Unfortunately, the two rows of portholes
lack eye brows. I like the deck, although I do question the small extension on the port bow. This extension looks like something on a modern USN aircraft carrier, resembling a ramp. I could not find any photograph or drawing in my references which
shows this extension. However, the photographs I saw were mostly dated 1930 or earlier. I do not know if it was present around 1932. Other than that curiosity, the Trumpeter deck is a good match with the line drawing plan by A.D. Baker found in U.
S. Aircraft Carriers, by Norman Friedman, Naval Institute Press 1983 at page 34. However this plan is for the fit around 1930. I especially like the tie down strips that forms a U around a portion of the forward flight deck. Although they look like tie
down openings, they may actually be associated with crash barrier nets. The deck does have the turn down at the stern. The arrester gear matches with the drawing. There is an opening for the elevator, so it can be assembled up at the flight deck or
down on the maintenance deck. The underside has girder detail.
Since the forecastle and quarterdeck at the maintenance deck level are higher than the amidships portion of the deck, it stands to reason that there are three parts to this level. The short forecastle has significant detail with nice anchor hawse, anchor
equipment plate and base plates for twin bollards. An unusual feature is that the bollards themselves are separate pieces rather than being part of the deck molding. There is a crisp breakwater with fairly thin support gussets, followed by two deck
hatches of different patterns. There are numerous locater holes for the forward 5-inch guns, cable reels and other equipment. There are also rectangular depressions for placement of the first two truss sets, which support the flight deck. The center
deck certainly reflects a cargo ship look. The center of the deck is raised above the sides and has locater lines for the separate hatches for the various holds. At deck edge on each side there are seven more depressions for attaching the bulk of the flight
deck support trusses. Also at deck edge are more bollard plates and many small items that appear as low support gussets for the separate solid side bulkheads. There are also a few locater holes for equipment. Most of the quarterdeck will be covered
by a level of superstructure. However, there are four more sets of truss depressions, more bollard plates, mushroom ventilators and equipment locater holes. At the very stern is the placement outline for a cabin called the dove cote. In the original
collier it housed passenger pigeons for communications, which is rather odd in an age of wireless, unless the collier did not have a radio as built. However, on Langley this cabin was used by the XO.

Trumpeter lettered the hull, maintenance deck pieces and flight deck as A, B, and C. The actual parts sprues start with the two large D sprues. Each sprue has two deck trusses and four girders. As mentioned at the start, they are solid. Brass photo-
etch with the hundreds if not thousands of openings would be light years ahead of these solid parts. Do you want a replica or do you want a toy? After market companies, come on! Save the Covered Wagon! Now that I am through with that rant, for
now, lets see what else is on the D sprues. There are some nice launches, each with separate top halves and bottom halves. The open launch has deck planking and an engine pit with an engine within. The other launch has cabins with portholes in the
bulkheads but with canvas covered tops. The bottom halves of the launches have rudder, propeller and propeller shaft detail. Other parts are nice cable reels, elevator posts, three piece anchors, side cranes, gantry trolleys, gantry operator’s cabin,
superstructure support posts, funnel swivels, J cowl ventilators, launch platforms, and stern boat booms. There are four E sprues, which concentrate of hold hatches and lattice girder supports. The truss structure, which supported the flight deck, had
13 trusses, which spanned the width of the ship. Girders connected each set of trusses and light lattice structure rose from the maintenance deck to support the girders. The lattice structure are on the E sprues but they will have a tough job in
supporting the solid trumpeter girders. Did I mention that Trumpeter provides solid trusses and girders in the kit and these parts need to be photo-etch. Tom’s Modelworks, HINT, HINT, HINT1 Eduards, are you listening? Flyhawk, I have a
suggestion. Pontos, the clock is ticking. The lattice are fine in themselves. There are four hold hatches, three long rectangular ones and one smaller square one. They have good hinge detail. Each has an open boat with good bottom detail. Other parts
on the E sprues include; open boat engines, open chocks, bollard heads, closed chocks, search lights, J cowl ventilators, life buoys, cabin support posts, davits, boat booms, and nice 5-inch deck guns.
The one large F sprue has, you guessed it, more sold girders. These solid girders are the only parts on this sprue that gets a F. There are three cabins, two of which have open windows perfect for glazing with Micro-Klear. The elevator is on this
sprue. It was nice wooden planking detail and each corner has a foot that allows attaching it to the maintenance deck. The instructions show the elevator raised to the flight deck but it is certainly no problem to assemble it in a down position. Another
large part is the bridge deck with support beams and locater holes for support posts on the underside. There are two open boat decks that flank the stern superstructure and also serves as boat decks, with boat chocks molded to the decks. Other parts
include gantry rails, propeller shafts and struts, ship’s rudder, small J cowl ventilators, gantry beam, and funnel pivot supports. I have no complaints about the parts on G sprue. In fact it has some very interesting items. Primarily it has the parts for
both funnels. Each funnel is in two halves so you will have to sand the seams. The trunk of one of the funnels snakes across the deck and will really create a focal point in this model. The trunking and the funnels have significant reinforcing bands.
The funnels themselves are conical, flaring out as height increases. To complement the funnels there are the funnel sponson fairing and bulkheads. Two cabins and a deck house are on this sprue, all of which have open windows. The forecastle and
quarterdeck bulkheads have detailed fire hoses and doors. Other parts include the propellers, reels, cable reel center, anchor reel, three more J cowl ventilators, stern windlass, retractable deck mast, bases for deck houses and cabins, boat platform
supports, and boat davits.

H sprue is actually two levels of the aft superstructure. They are nice pieces and the levels have a good fit together. The bulkheads of the lower level have doors with dog detail and port holes. The upper level is lined with open windows on three sides
and has doors with not only dogs but also windows. They also have plentiful deck detail. The lower level has two deck access fittings of pyramid shape, each of which has eight hatches with vision fittings. On the forward portion of the lower level
are raised platforms, the bases for the funnel trunking and a trunk support structure. With four additional deck access hatches. On the deck of the upper level are four skylights with window detail. Each of these is unique. J and L sprues are more
solid trusses. Enough said about that. K sprue is dominated by the model’s name plate. There are ten more solid girders and eight more pieces for the girder lattice supports. Other parts are the navigation deck on top of the bridge, mast, gantry beams
and gantry rails. Sprue W has the parts for the stand. The Trumpeter kit comes with a good supply of aircraft. You get six F4B-4 fighters with two aircraft on each of the three sprues, six BM-2 bombers, and four T4M torpedo bombers. They are in
gray plastic instead or the normal clear plastic. I really like the detail on each of these small miniatures. They have very fine wing and fucelage detail. The separate radial engines have cylinder detail. In the past Trumpeter has relied on chunky plastic
slabs to represent the struts connecting the top and bottom wings. With these aircraft that is done the proper way, with photo-etch parts. All in all, Trumpeter did a very good job on the aircraft.
Trumpeter provides five brass frets. By now, you already know what is missing from these frets. There is a large fret of ship’s parts, a fret dominated by crash barriers, and three small frets of aircraft parts. Also included is a length of chain for
anchor chain. There are some nice items on the ship’s parts fret. There is some side railing which includes posts with open voids. The multiple inclined ladders have poseable treads and the bottom beam of the safety railing has wight saving voids. The
face of the pilot house is here. The ship’s railing is on this fret. The two parts for the cradles of a reel on the forecastle are the only relief-etched parts. Other parts include the gantry beams & wheels, block & tackle, cable reel end caps,
accommodation ladders and two parts that look like French doors for one of the small cabins. The next largest fret has three crash barriers, some small runs of railing, two inclined ladders and some supports. The last three frets have one fret for each
type of aircraft. Parts include wing struts, fuselage struts, landing gear, propellers, and tail gear. There are no machine guns for the rear position on the bombers.

The large decal sheet is mediocre at best. The center red circle for the wing and fuselage aircraft markings are slightly off register. One giant gaff is the stern name plate which is spelled, “LANOLEY”. Other decals include deep yellow flight deck lines,
flags and jacks. The instruction set is in typical Trumpeter format. It consists of 24 pages. Page one is general instructions and pages 2 through 4 are parts laydown. Page 5 is the basic hull and deck assembly with insets on the gantry beam and side
cranes. Page 6 has lower hull and boats. Page 7 has forecastle fittings. Page 8 has midship fittings. Pages 9 and 10 includes more forecastle fittings and also quarterdeck fittings. Page 11 has flight deck fittings and gantry assembly. Pages 12 through
14 have the truss and girder flight deck support assembly. Page 15 covers assembly of the bridge and stern cabin. Pages 16 through 18 goes through assembly of the aft superstructure and the funnels. Page 19 covers boat platforms and gantry
attachment. Page 20 shows superstructure attachment and assembly of the BM-2. Page 21 has truss structure and elevator attachment and assembly of the F4B. Page 22 has final truss attachment and T4M assembly. Page 23 has boat booms, boat
davits, stern railing and accommodation ladder attachment. The last page has flight deck attachment.
What can I say? The Trumpeter USS Langley CV-1 in 1:350 scale has so much promise. A very unique design with fine detail on hull, decks and aircraft, the ingredients are there. However, this kit is critically marred by providing solid trusses and
girders for the complex structure supporting the flight deck. In my opinion, I would wait on this kit until a brass photo-etch set of the truss and girder structure is available.

Steve Backer
Huntsville, Alabama
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