1/426 Arizona

If it is an imaginary aircraft carrier, why the heck not? I'd go pre-1920 just because there were far superior ships built after that and I would guess that it probably would have met it's end in 1947 at Enewitok otherwise. Borrowing from my model RR friends, it helps to build up a story around it. If you peruse the net you'll find a lot of this stuff, some of it pretty out there, but imaginative.

with thanks to navsource.org here's a shot of the Arizona and the Langley.

I found my old completed kit a few months ago; made it when I was very young.

It probably is doable -- might want to check how they converted real ships into this configuration for some ideas.

You could do half the ship this way. Take off the rear turrets and make a few extra catapults available the way the IJN did with the Ise.

instead of using the arizona, why not use an iowa class ship to build this.

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/s-file/s511-54c.htm

Or try Rusty White's build of the Pulver design to Congress of a hybrid Iowa helicopter carrier

http://www.steelnavy.com/TinianRWhite.htm

Thanks for the feedback, you have given me some ideas, just need to sort it out more.  I had athought of doing a "What if" Navy of the Confederate States, if they had won the war.  I would guess that relations between the US and CSA would still be fragile so the Navy can not be too "United States".  Keep the thoughts and feedback coming!

Thanks again!  

Another option would be to convert it to the USS Utah as she appeared on Dec. 7th - supposedly the Japanese pilots mistook her for a carrier because, her days as a battleship long over, her decks had been covered with planks and she was being used as a target ship for dive bombers.  I've never seen any photos of her in this condition, other than ones of her bottom-up after the attack, but I've often wondered exactly what she did look like.

the japanese tried it for real in wwii it did not work at the time  but....

i think if (and i say if) they had destroyed our carriers at pearl , in a stop gap we may have actually done some thing like that

 For the Arizona experts. I have built both the Revell and Banner 1/350 Arizonas and see quite a difference in the underwater portions of the two hulls. What time period does the Revell hull represent?The Banner appears to have expanded torpedo blisters. Is either hull accurate?

See Brad Chaucer's side-by-side comparison & review of the Revell Arizona with the Banner/Trumpeter/MiniHobbyModels Arizonas posted on SteelNavy.   This was written back in 2001 just as the latter kit was being released.   In the intervening years there have been several aftermarket items produced - the most recent being 5"/51 guns by White Ensign

http://www.steelnavy.com/ArizonaBanner350.htm