1/700 Hobby Boss Arizona

She did perform exercises right up to the attack, She was accidentally rammed by Oklahoma in October, and I believe was last out of port on December 4th.

Pretty well established that the Arizona was in 5D Dark Gray from April, 1941.    She went into the yard to fix the fender bender with the Oklahoma and came out something like November 30 [?].   This time frame has lead to the conjecture that she was repainted during the yard availability.    No definative documentary or photographic proof has been found.

The gun tubs on the main deck just aft of the break were empty on Dec 7.   Also a pair on the O1 level forward.  They were to receive AA guns during a planned yard availability later in December.   The Arizona was scheduled to depart Pearl for the West Coast during the week of December 8.

Thank you for the info. I have conflicting reports from multiple sources of her scheme, from Navy blue with white/light gray towers above the stack, to Dark Grey. Also, were the 1,2 and 4 turret tops Red during this time period?

I see the gun tubs in question, and of course they have holes for guns.  I will fill these and leave them empty.

I was shocked to learn that she was painted Navy Blue for a time, until I looked at my 1/350 Missouri which I had build SEVERAL years ago, and that is Navy Blue.

I will follow your build with interest.  I am building the same kit, but converting it to the Pennsylvania, circa 1935.  I, too, am building the model to depict the ship in action, based on this photo:

Here's where she is, at this point:

Overall, it's not a bad kit, though I wish HB had engineered the superstructure parts differently.  The seams are all horizontal and fall along the lines of portholes or windows at each level.  If I were to build another one, I'd plate the sides of the deckhouse with styrene stock and drill new portholes.  The fighting tops, too, are designed like cake layers, and I think they could have gotten crisper detail if they had been designed in halves, front and back.  I suspect that the kit's design may go all the way back to the old Revell kit, which had similar tooling. 

Yes it seems to be exactly like the Revell kit. I will probably try to fill the seams rather than cover them. I also don't like the deck seam on the bow. I not sure why HB put one there.

modelcrazy

Yes it seems to be exactly like the Revell kit. I will probably try to fill the seams rather than cover them. I also don't like the deck seam on the bow. I not sure why HB put one there.

Yes!  I didn't understand that one, either.  It's a trick to clean it up without losing any of the detail on the deck.

If your interested in making water and don't know exactly how to go about it, take a look at this site, http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery/users/Kostas-Katseas/user-index.html

this forum post from 2 years ago goes into detail. http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=155661

Tell me what you think. My first attempt at water is posted on the Aircraft forum under 1/48 Airfix Grumman Duck.

Just a start and going to get better. Steve

modelcrazy

Baron

If your interested in making water and don't know exactly how to go about it, take a look at this site, http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery/users/Kostas-Katseas/user-index.html

this forum post from 2 years ago goes into detail. http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=155661

Tell me what you think. My first attempt at water is posted on the Aircraft forum under 1/48 Airfix Grumman Duck.

Just a start and going to get better. Steve

Thanks for the links and the tips, Steve!  The oat bran method is interesting. I would be concerned, though, that the material might get moldy or rot over time.  You have a similar problem if you use flour for snow in dioramas, like the old-timers used to.  I'm planning on a mix of clear acrylic caulk  for the basic water surface and gel medium to add detail.

The Ship Model forum is a great place to see some outstanding work. !

Best regards,

Brad

modelcrazy

I was shocked to learn that she was painted Navy Blue for a time, until I looked at my 1/350 Missouri which I had build SEVERAL years ago, and that is Navy Blue.

Yes to the red turret tops. Ed is a bit incorrect - the earliest we can peg the ships being in Measure 1 with Dark Gray is the end of May, 1941. We don't have a definitive "painted on this day" list; I have photos from the beginning of May and all of the ships at Battleship row are in the pre-war #5 Standard Navy Gray, and another shot from the beginning of June has something like four out of ships painted in Measure 5, with the remaining ships still in #5 Standard Navy Gray.

It is extremely unlikely Arizona was in Navy Blue before the attack. It is possible that parts of her were repainted in this after the attack as a preservative measure before it was decided she was not going to be salvaged. We have a lot of circumstantial evidence that she may have been painted in Sea Blue following the October collision, but no sort of definitive report from the collision repair itself.

We know for a fact that Arizona was standard Measure 1 from June through October. After that, there is only interpretation and opinion at this point. If you're doing "late 1941" you're safe with Measure 1.

Thank you for your answer, I Googled "Dark Grey 5 D" and found several sites to help explain. Do you know if "Tamiya Acrylic XF 24 Dark Gray" is similar? It looks like it should work.

Baron

Yes, the oats seemed kina strange to me, and I used to use flower for my early dioramas (when I was a kid) and had the molding issue. I don't think Chris has that problem because he soaks the oats with thin CA. I believe this is possible because the oats aren't very deep.

Now for a calm water scene he will use Plaster of Paris, then may go over the plaster with an Acrylic medium.

I am very interested in how your water turns out.

modelcrazy

Thank you for your answer, I Googled "Dark Grey 5 D" and found several sites to help explain. Do you know if "Tamiya Acrylic XF 24 Dark Gray" is similar? It looks like it should work.

I have paint chips for the paint colors, but no XF-24 to compare, sorry. =/

Well it's been a while since I've done anything on the Arizona because of my GB commitments, but while I'm waiting for paint I've done a little more on her. I also need to tarp off an area in the garage this weekend for my painting area, since we are now in freezing temperatures. Here's an updated picture. I'm planning to get quite a bit more done in the next few days.

Won this kit as a door prize at the last show.  I will be most interested in learning all the issues you faced pulling her together.  

Marcus.

Nice progress!  It's fun to see it come together.

Marcus McBean

Won this kit as a door prize at the last show.  I will be most interested in learning all the issues you faced pulling her together.  

Marcus.

In my case, they are:

1. Softness of detail, especially portholes on the deckhouse and in the rectangular windows of the bridge and the rest of the superstructure, and in the fighting tops
2. The engineering of the superstructure, from the deckhouse up (the deckhouse is the first level above the main deck, with the casemated 5" guns).  Everything is molded in upper and lower halves, meaning you have a horizontal seam running through every vertical surface on the superstructure.  If I were to build another on of these, I'd plate over the vertical surfaces with styrene strips and drill portholes, and clean the rectangular windows with a fine blade
3. The fact that the main deck is molded in 2 pieces, with a seam just forward of the first turret.  It's hard to make that seam disappear
4. The instructions mis-identify the masts and yardarms for the foremast (which is the first mast, at the back of the bridge structure) and the mainmast (aft of the stack).  I only noticed this when I was looking at photographs.  The part that HB would have us attach to the back of the fighting top on the foremast should actually be attached to the front face of the fighting top on the mainmast (and vice versa for the other piece).  The yardarms on the mainmast have the wider reach
5. The "left-right arrow" piece that is to be installed in the fighting top on the mainmast represents two pyramidal antennas or frames that were mounted on the fore and aft faces of the platform.  It's best replaced with pieces of stretched sprue.

These aren't too bad, though, and can be overcome.  You get what you pay for, with this kit.

No doubt it's like the Revell kit, because their earlier rebox of the Banner 1/350 kit certainly is.

Run that pirated design into the ground.

Wow, those are some issues.  Printed off your comments and put them in the box, Thank you.

Marus

What is that circular clock on the fore mast for? It seems to always be at the 12:00 position. HB seem to have gotten that backward (or I did). It is facing aft on the main tripod mast. Although I don't seem to see any evidence of it after Pearl, granted the for mast is such a tangled mess that it would be easy to miss.

I'm going to tackle the casement seams a little differently. The instructions have you build up the upper works and superstructure prior to installing the entire assembly to the hull, thus making it difficult to fill or sand. I'm going to install the (deck 02??) first, then fill and sand the seam. We'll see how that goes.

Those are concentration dials, or "range clocks". They pointed each fore and aft. Two hands, one in thousands of yards and one in 10,000s of yards indicated the estimated range to target for ships ahead and behind in the firing line.

I am interested to know if they were installed on 12/7/41. I don't think they were but others will know.

I though maybe they had something to do with ranging, but wasn't sure. I can't seem to see any evidence of them just prior to or after the attack. Like you sais, others will know.

I believe it was removed from the Arizona just before 12/7/41.

October of 1941.

Thanks Tracy,

I wasn't feeling well after work last night, so I went straight to bed. I'll check out the link today. Needless to say I didn't get anything done on the Arizona, I had big plans for a lot of work on it. I won't be able to paint anything until I get a tarp up in the garage this weekend (we have our house on the market and taking it off this weekend) to have a work area to paint in

Another issue you'll find on this kit is the representation of the stairs between the two deck levels. They're not even "Aztec" steps, they're a flat-faced solid wedge. You may consider carving these off and replacing with suitable PE stairs.

I still haven't decided how to represent the range dials on my Pennsy.  I might try making the image in Paint and reducing it as small as I can go, and then punching it out and gluing it on.

GMorrison

No doubt it's like the Revell kit, because their earlier rebox of the Banner 1/350 kit certainly is.

Run that pirated design into the ground.

Yep.  I have an article around here somewhere that traces the kit's lineage.  If I can find it, I'll post it.

I got a little more done to the Arizona last night, and started an attempt at filling the seam on the main deck casemates. I also removed the range markers since it appears the they were missing around October 41, the time frame for my diorama. I'm not going to worry too much about very small stuff such as the ladders on this model as my real goal is to work on my water process (see my post "1/72 Airfix Grumman Duck" to see my first attempt at water. I will be far more concerned about the ships detail when I build my 1/350 Maqueta Arizona, which I do have a PE set for. Can't wait to complete that one.

Steve

Here's the update. I filled and the seam at the casemates. I also hand painted some of the small almost impossible to mask areas. The tripod masts and superstructure are just placed on the deck for pictures. I will mask and spray the light and dark grey as soon as I set up my new paint area.

Looking very good!