Deck seams on USS Arizona

I also have this kit, but have not started it. However, I am 1/2 way through building their Bismark kit. And guess what? It has the same flaws. The deck has huge gaps in it as well as many of the seams on the deckhouses. The V-Strut and shaft housings on the lower hull are really poor fits.

For small gap filling, instead of white glue which I found leaves depressions and airholes, I use both a medium CA or 3M Porcelin Cement. Both these products allow you to fill a crack, both horizontal or vertically, without much sanding.

My feeling toward raised deck lines are like those the wingy thingy modelers have towards raised panel lines. They don't exist. So, since 1/3 of the deck lines are sanded to oblivion due to the seams, I am just sanding the entire deck and rescribing.

I have salvaged raised panel and deck lines with streched sprue cut to length, positioned, and glued in place.

Scott

Humm, ran out of space. You know I found a sheet of plastic that comes pretty close the the planking on the model, but I'm not into a complete rebuild of the deck. I did find that is you that PE latter materal. and cut one side off, it makes a good match to the hand rails on the top of the turrets. Well, enough. Sounds like we are on the same page or pretty close to it. More later.

Hi Jesse,
I don't build for competition either, just for my own amusement. I'm trying to get rid for those nasty seams between the secondary deck and bridge sections. I found that just over laying them with strips of plastic and a bit of sanding looks better than the alternative. I ordered replacements for the 5" guns and a couple of Kingfishers. I got the Tom's Modelworks PE and the boat detail one. I have a couple of old BWN kingfishers, but I'm saving these for the Tom's Modelworks Arizonia I bought some time ago. I was hoping that the CW kingfishers would be a good fit. I have not seated the top section to the bottom yet. I just installed the resin plugs for the screws when she is secured to the base. Yeah, I had the same problems with the struts on the last kit I built. Interesting idea you have, I will try that. I will replace the plastic shafts with brass, looks better.

torybear,

I know what you mean by the decking not lining up. That is another reason why I don't what to rescribe the deck. I kind of feel that the deck seam would be less noticable to the average person then if I tried to rescribe them. Hey, I'm not entering any competition here.

What do mean by your order from Classic Warship? PE? I've got PE sets from Gold Metal Models (hatches and ladders) and Tom's Model Works (boat detail and railings).

Where are you on the model? I've just finished joining the top of the hull to the bottom. I've filled the seam and sanded it smooth. I'm currently working on the Props and Shafts. It seems that the V-struts don't sit correctly in the grooves on the hull. Did you run into that problem? I decided to fill the grooves with strip styrene and to glue the V-struts on top of the now filled in grooves. I like the angle the shafts have to the hull better this way.

Later,
Jesse

I'm working on this kit as well. I tried to flush the deck pieces from the bottom and reenforced the deck below with 'I' beam plastic strips to stop any flexing of the deck. I used that plastic weld liquid glue to help create the bond between the deck pieces. I still had to sand the seam on the top, but it was not as bad. The only problem I had with rescribing the decking was that the decking from one piece to the other was a bit off. I used a rounded blade in my xacto knife to sort of role the deck seam back from one side of the sanded seam to the other piece. This worked pretty good for me. Now if I could just get that order from Classic Warship. Hope this helps. Good Luck.