Went up to Phoenix today and saw the Test Shot for this ship. Overall, it looks real good, but it does still need some work. I did take pictures and if they came out, I will post them when I learn how! First, the good news.
The Engineering Hatches in front of Turret #3 are molded wood in the deck. They look a little simplified, but they are NOT raised steel plate hatches. The odd thing is though, they include two plate hatches of the same shape on one of the plastic frets. Maybe to appease those who refuse to believe the pictures in Stillwell's book, I don't know. The man on duty for Stevens didn't know either.
The Potato Bin looks correct to me. It is not a casting going all the way to the Quarterdeck with the side wings. The side wings are both raised above the Quarterdeck, level with the Boat deck. The center section does go down to the Quarterdeck as its supposed to. The vents in the surfaces appear to be raised louvres, but no holes.
The deck is cast with rows of holes in it for, I presume, the canopy poles, for when canopies were rigged.
The personnel hatches in the decks are cast with their coamings, but the stairs leading down are the old fashioned Aztec type. Maybe railings will be included with the PE? Don't know.
There are no turrets for the 5"/51 guns.
The Lower Hull and Upper Hull split appears to be closer to the waterline than the Banner model.
Overall detail seems good. All the portholes are actual holes, not dimples with a ring around them. Some of the portholes have the rings, others don't.
Now for the bad news:
The Lower Hull shrank on this Test Shot. It is about 1/8" shorter than the Upper Hull in length. The man in the booth did not know when they might have this corrected. It was cast as one piece in medium dark red plastic. A bit darker than Insignia Red.
The Torpedo Blisters, while they seem to go far enough fore and aft, have no clear demarcation at either end. Smoothly blended into the original hull. They also do not have the Reinforcement Bands on them. Totally smooth. They do extend around to the bottom of the ship leaving a raised outer edge about a 1/4" wide by, maybe, a 1/16" thick.
The Side Keels are not at the bottom of each side. They are about a 1/4" up the side, in the middle, and a little more at each end. So the "Smile" is back.
There are no bottom keels, at all.
No PE was included with the Test Shot. And no other brass parts.
Whatever else may be wrong with this model, I don't know. I'm just a layman, not an expert. But they did fix the Engineering Hatches, and most of you may recall that has been MY particular pet peeve about the different Arizona models. When I can get the pictures on here then, hopefully, you will be able to see for yourselves and tell each other what else may be missing or wrong. Oh, of the four main turrets, they only had one on display. And no brass parts, so no main barrels, either.
Ernie Gee, of G Factor Models, was set up right next to the Arizona display. He told me he is planning to make some investment castings for this model. Probably starting with the propellers, and then maybe some of the secondary guns, and/or machine guns. He had a lot of landing gear on display, ship propellers, and what looked like a detailed twin 40mm with gun tub. All of the landing gear was very detailed and cast in, I think he said, White Bronze. The props were brass.
For those interested in other new releases, next to the Arizona was a board with a Test Shot of a 1/700 AO USS Sacramento.