Where have all the forests gone, long time in passing?
Where have all the forests gone, long, long time ago?
Where have all the forests gone, off to Lex-Decks everyone.
When will they ever learn, when …… will they ever learn?
Where have all the Lex-Decks gone, long time in passing?
Where have all the Lex-Decks, long, long time ago?
Where have all the Lex-Decks gone, Off to Modelers everyone.
When will they ever learn, when ….. will they ever learn?

Where have all the modelers gone, long time in passing?
Where have all the modelers gone, long, long time ago?
Where have all the modelers gone, Off to Chainsaw everyone.
When will they ever learn, when ….. will they ever learn?

Where has the Chainsaw gone, long time in passing?
Where has the Chainsaw gone, long, long time ago?
Where has the Chainsaw gone, To cut down forests everyone.
When will they ever learn, when ….. will they ever learn?

You knew that you would see it. After preparing wood flight decks for the Hornet and Enterprise/Yorktown, how could James Corley, AKA the Atlanta Chainsaw, pass on producing a monster wooden deck for Trumpeter’s USS Lexington? But what is surprising is the lightening speed in which he has accomplished the task. Modelers were still getting kits of the Lex that they had preordered, when the Chainsaw had finished with a huge bass wood deck for the Lady. What James has produced is a lexcellant product but I shudder to think of the decimated rainforests of the world.

You receive two sheet rectangles of basswood. The long one is slightly under 24-inches long by 4-inches wide and contains the flight deck of Lexington from slightly forward of the bridge to the stern. The second sheet is 12-inches by 4-inches and has the bow flight deck, plus separate elevators, for those who wish to model Lexington with elevators down, deck crane plates, bridge/stack locator bases and one page of instructions. This deck is for the Lady Lex for only the period of time from April 14, 1942 to her loss in the Battle of Coral Sea on May 8, 1942.

The Lex-Decks are simple replacements for the plastic ones provided in the Trumpeter kit. However, the slanted round down at the stern should be removed from the plastic deck to attach to the Nautilus deck. Nautilus provides two separate locator base plates for the bridge and stack structures. These are attached directly to the outlines found on the aft section of the deck in order to assist placement of the plastic superstructure. Deck crane plates are attached to the indicated circles on the deck. There are a number of small platform extensions running from the sides of the deck. Be careful in punching out the decks because they are vulnerable to breaking loose from the deck. However, if this happens, they are certainly easy to replace. As with all wood decks, acrylic paints will warp the deck as the water in the water-based paint is absorbed by the wood of the deck. If you must use acrylic paint, paint both sides to minimize the possible warp.

These photographs show the Nautilus Lexington decks laid atop a 1:350 scale Yankee Modelworks USS Lexington hull. These will give you an idea of how your Nautilus deck will look on your Lexington. The YMW Lex still has the casting base plates on the bottom of the hull, stack and bridge. So the bridge and stack are slightly higher than they would be with casting plates removed for assembly.

Verdict
Very impressive. This deck should look great when fitted on your Trumpeter Lexington. To see if it is for you, compare the detail on the Nautilus deck with the detail on the plastic deck. You decide which you prefer. It is an easy product to incorporate into a build of the Lexington and will add visual excitement to your Lady Lex.