Battleships at Pearl Harbour

Yes. And there were nine.

C'mon. It's a serious question; it deserves a serious answer.

Several people have built Pearl Harbor (pardon the American spelling) dioramas from scratch. Finding kits to represent all those battleships is harder. I suspect resin versions of all of them have been released at one time or another. But surprisingly few of them are available in the form of plastic kits.

There are styrene Arizona kits in just about every scale. (The concensus seems to be that the 1/700 Dragon kit is the best.) Trumpeter has released 1/700 versions of the California and Maryland in 1941 configuration. (Later in the war, of course, the ships that survived got extensively modified.)

I'm a little surprised that there's no Nevada or Oklahoma in kit form. And the Pennsylvania is only available in her late-war configuration.

Hope that helps at least a little. Good luck.

A diorama would be sizable, even eliminating Pennsylvania and Utah. Measured from the bow of California to the stern of Nevada, probably a mile or more. That's seven or eight feet in length. And you' need to find Neosho and Vestal, the latter I have seen a kit of.

do you mean the 8 or 9 just before the attack or from before the attack to the end of the war?

Whether the Utah should count as a battleship is debatable. She had lost her "BB" designation, and had been coverted to a target ship. She was not part of the "battle line."

I'm not sure the original poster intended to talk about a diorama. I've seen several of them online - on extremely small scales (e.g., 1/2400). A display of the ships themselves, side by side, would certainly be a worthwhile exercize.

I don't quite follow ddp59's query.

My guess is that Trumpeter (or somebody) will cover all eight/nine in 1941 configuration in 1/700. One obvious choice would be a Pennsylvania in 1941 configuration. The hull, and most other parts, of the Dragon Arizona would work, but the two ships did look different by 1941.

Personally, I'd like to see some American battleships in WWI fit. Freetime Hobbies has some 3D-printed basket masts that look mighty nice.

doing the various configurations of those battleships from before the attack to the end of the war.

Now I get it! Interesting idea - but it would take quite a few models.

Trumpeter has a Tennessee in late-war configuration on the way, and I believe Dragon did a late-war Pennsylvania. Those are the only styrene Pearl Harbor survivors I can think of; maybe somebody else will remember more.

what scale as i'm using the revell 1/426 scale arizona hull(much modified) to do mine?

I assume with "some work", Tennessee gets you California.

I was just asking if someone had taken the time to do a set.  It being such an iconic moment I would have thought there were kits for all of them.  But is sounds as if even if you wanted the set, there is no Nevada, Oklahoma, West Virgina or (Utah).  Is this correct?

I don't think there's a California either. And save Arizona, all of the rest of them are late war.

Trumpeter offers the Maryland and West Virginia in both 1941 and 1945 fits, in 1/700 scale. The concensus among the reviewers seems to be that they're both outstanding kits, but the basket masts leave something to be desired. (They're made of photo-etched brass, and when rolled up they don't have the right parabolic shape.) I don't remember the name of the company, but one of the aftermarket manufacturers sells replacement baskets that are 3-D printed and have the right shape.

Later edit: Found 'em. Here's the link: http://freetimehobbies.com/ship-store?sort=newest#/?Category1=Ship+Models&Searchkeywords=1%2F700&Category3=Ship+Accessories&search_return=all&Category4=Cage+Masts .

I have seen smaller dioramas of PH in 1:1200 scale.  Not many styrene kits, but some white metal kits in 1:1200 and 1:2400.

My name is Toshi, I'm a new member to FSM forum.  If I may, I was born in Honolulu, Hawaii.  Approximately a half hour away from Pearl.  My dad was shopping in downtown Honolulu on December 7, 1941.  

I used to see the old vets come into town and I would ask them about Pearl and what ship they were on.  Many if not most at the very least, has a replica model of the ship they were on.  

Try to see via the Internet if any of the veterans can help you.  I would also call Honolulu, Hawaii the Pearl Harbor Memorial (Which Elvin Presely who loved the Hawaiin islands so much, donated and ran a fun raiser to build the memorial at Pearl.) to see if they can assist you.  You could even ask them to display your work of art at the Pearl Harbor memorial.  Good luck!

This is just a thought,

Toshi

There is a diorama of the harbor at the Pacific Aviation Museum on Ford Island in their entrance lobby. I think it is 1/1200 scale and by Bob Bracci.

Palm Springs Air Museum has a diorama in 1/700 scale that is impressive, but somewhat shadow-boxy. (photo from here)

I would love it if we could get the whole line of ships from launch until end of war (imagine a cage mast Pennsylvania, Pearl Harbor fit with tripod masts, and late war bristling with AA guns). Keep buying all fo Trumpeters 1/700 USN battleships when they come out and they may eventually get to it.

Currently working on my first, and I can assure you, my last 1/700 ship. Eyes and hands are not up to it.

Some Hollywood types did... in large scale

jtilley

...I'm a little surprised that there's no Nevada or Oklahoma in kit form...

Hi, JT!  There was at least one kit, but I think most modelers today would turn up their noses at it.  Lindberg sold a diorama set in their "Great Moments in History" series.  It included the Nevada as she started her sortie, passing the Arizona, all on a vacuform base.  I have it in my stash, to build some day as a lark. 

But the kits are very, very simple, and not too accurate.  I don't know if the toolings are original to Lindberg or if they acquired the molds from another maker. 

Here's a link to the box art, on OldModelKits.com:

http://www.oldmodelkits.com/index.php?detail=16831&newlist=1

The scale is given as 1/820.

I am both sorry and glad you said that....I had toyed with the idea of building 1/700 kits, but of late even the 1/350 kits are giving me trouble and I have to wear that magnifying glass head gear. So I will stick to the 1/350 scale kits.

I did see a on that 3D printing website - Shapeway that they can print 1/4800 scale models of the Pearl Harbor BB ships. Looks like they could make into a nice diorama.  

There are some nice products available these days for modeling terrain (like celluclay) and water.  Check the model RR section of your local hobby shop.