This Acedemy kit was just too much of a toy to try to add any more details to it, so I am going to call it finished. Much of the detail is so oversized that when I added the PE, the scale of the PE compared to the molded parts looked funny. This kit did give me a chance to try new paint and mask techniques which I am happy with.

Steve, go ahead and put in the first picture for the cover page.

I request permission to leave the ship sir.

Scott, it looks good in the pictures.  a nice addition to the colection

Thank you Capt for participating and I will get you up on the wall.

You have permission to go ashore. The watch will pipe you off. 

Mosey yourself over to the German dock after you hit the liberty chest for some relaxation.

Excelent job on the incenerator!

Your boy had a premonition and hoofed it outa there.

Scott: She looks friggin' perfect to me. Good show!!! 

Ben: WOW, that is amazing work you're doing there! 

BB: I like how she's coming! Nice work! 

Thanks Gamera and Modelcrazy...

After completing the incinerator I began adding other components to the superstructure deck. The first items were the remaining ammo and storage containers. Next was the small boats or tenders. If you recall earlier in my build thread, I had already built the little boats and folded their PE nesting cradles. Now I painted the cradles, attached the boats, tied down and stacked the boats, touch-up painted where needed, then added them to the deck.

Once the boats were done I began work on the handrails for the superstructure deck, 13 in all. Nothing was terribly difficult here but the one piece under the main mast had 11 folds. After a little touch-up painting they were done.  

Next was the large boat cranes. They were also assembled and detailed earlier in the build thread. These were nothing more than sliding a shaft into a hole while keeping them oriented in a stored uniformed military manner.

Then came the main mast, also assembled earlier. I attached the three legs to the lower deck while carefully avoiding stairs and hand rails. After it had dried I noticed that I forgot to add the long ladders to the front two legs of the mast (embarrassing). They should be fairly easy additions though, even while the mast is in place (oops). 

Finally I attached the four previously assembled main guns into each of there respective turrets. I oriented them into stowed positions as I am not modeling any kind of naval engagement.  

So what is next?.... I still have plenty to add to the decks, such as the last two small boats to the each side of the superstructure deck (beneath the large cranes); finish and add the remaining three captain's tenders to the lower deck; add several reels on the lower and main decks; finish adding the people; add the hand rail to the lower and main decks; add the fore mast control top; complete the various PE details to the lower and main decks; add the antenna array to both control tops; add the completed rear crane and flag staff; attach the aircraft to the catapults, rig the ship, weather the ships hull; attach the ship to the display base; finish the displays water and name plates, etc., etc.

So, here we go with photos of where I am so far. I am beginning to see the finish line on this one.











Stay safe and love well....until next update.

Ben

Ohh la la, I cannot believe what you turned that Banner kit into.  Looks soo good!

scottrc

Ohh la la, I cannot believe what you turned that Banner kit into.  Looks soo good!

 

Wow Ben! What a beauty!

Ship builds just seem to go on and on don't they? There's just so much to 'em. That's why these GB's are open ended.

I have regrettablely been away from the GB for longer than I had realised. There is so much amazing building going on. I has taken me awhile to go through and get caught up on everyone's parogress and completions. I promise that I will get around to throwing out accolades on an individual basis when I have a bit more time.

I have been, though, making some progress on the USS Oakland. I masked all the gluing surfaces.

I have primed with Tamiya gray primer and sprayed the deck blue on but, yet again, Postimage is not in top form for posting my other pics. Hopefully I'll get those up later today.

Okay, let's see if I can proceed.

Hull, superstructure and main guns primed

Hull and main superstructure decks painted with Colourcoats, ex-White Ensign, Deck Blue

Ben: She looks friggin' fantastic to me! That's some museum quality work. 

Joe: Looks cool!

Joe glad to see you back on the Oakland. Yeah, the NC has bee languishing on the ways for a while as well.

Thanks Gamera, still much more to do...

Joe, its nice to see you back in the GB. That looks like it will be a nice kit (with your great skills). Good work so far!

Items accomplished since my last update:

- added the boat cradles and boats on the rear edge of the superstructure deck, beneath the cranes. The model had two unrealistic fat solid ridges to set them on and they were removed prior to adding the wood deck. Eduard provided some very small PE brackets that were only partially correct. The instructions have you bend two small squares on the already small brackets prior to attaching them to the boats and then to the deck. I chose to add the brackets to the deck first to ensure they were parallel to each other and perpendicular to the deck edge. Even with the brackets firmly attached I found that the two small squares on each bracket did not want to cooperate so I too some liberty in making my own nesting planks to lay each boat upon. Here is one of the nesting cradles attached to the deck.



And here is a photo of the boat nested in the cradle.



- I folded the Eduard PE ladders for the main mast and attempted to add them. In my last post I commented that they should be easy to add even though the main mast was already attached to the ship, .... I was wrong. After several attempts and messing up one set of ladders I ended up removing the rear mast assembly from the model. Once I finished cleaning up the CA glue residue I had to repaint the front legs of the mast. When looking at the ladders I noticed that I actually had two other sets; one from my second Eduard PE set, and another from the Tom's Modelworks PE set. I chose to use the Tom's set this time because I noticed that they had a handrail that tied into the platform handrail while the Eduard set did not. Once added I re-attached the main mast back to the deck.

- When looking at the kits Paravanes you could not miss the large raised ejector pin mark on the exposed side of the part. What is a Paravane you ask? The paravane is a form of towed underwater "glider". Initially developed to destroy naval mines, the paravane would be strung out and streamed alongside the towing ship, normally from the bow. The wings of the paravane would tend to force the body away from the towing ship, placing a lateral tension on the towing wire. If the tow cable snagged the cable anchoring a mine then the anchoring cable would be cut, allowing the mine to float to the surface where it could be destroyed by gunfire. If the anchor cable would not part, the mine and the paravane would be brought together and the mine would explode harmlessly against the paravane. The cable could then be retrieved and a replacement paravane fitted. The USS Arizona had four Paravanes attached to the #2 main gun turret. After careful trimming and filing I painted and attached them to the turret. I still may add more detail to them, but they are on the model as well as the hose reels.



How many of you already knew that the USS Arizona had two catapults but actually three aircraft? So the next question would be, where would the third aircraft be stored if there was only two catapults? There is some documentation which shows one catapult storing two of the float planes, but there was another option. The USS Arizona, like many WW2 ships, also had a "dummy car" (cart) on the lower deck that was designed to store one of the aircraft. Feeling like doing something extra special I decided to attempt to create a "dummy car" from scratch to hold my third USU2 Kingfisher aircraft. While there are not many photos of these stowing devices, I have seen a limited amount of pictures of several styles. I chose to make my first attempt using spares from my PE stock. Looking closely at the photos, here is my first attempt (8 pieces shown in brass PE):



I may make another that is lower to the deck with simulated rubber wheels. My goal is to store one of the three aircraft on the deck. More on this as I finalize the "dummy car".

Till next time.....

Ben

Still she looks incredible to me Ben even with more work to do on her. 

Hey Steve would this fit the GB???

Just kidding, I'm not buying it. I thought it was pretty crazy someone actually made a kit of the 'Love Boat' though. Figured everyone could use a smile on an overcast (at least here) Monday. Wonder what scale she is? A diorama with a Japanese destroyer or U-Boat would be pretty cool... 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/124242030686?fbclid=IwAR3mL-dxeZ5ct41wTiK65NzqfSaoaB8BgyNEviX4Y2pIOlOdR0T4fOPEmi0

Ben absolutly fantastic work! I love the little plane garage you made up.

Cliff, well, it's a real ship. I don't know which one she was/is or which line, but that would be a nice addition, assuming someone bought it.

Gamera

Still she looks incredible to me Ben even with more work to do on her. 

 

Hey Steve would this fit the GB???

Just kidding, I'm not buying it. I thought it was pretty crazy someone actually made a kit of the 'Love Boat' though. Figured everyone could use a smile on an overcast (at least here) Monday. Wonder what scale she is? A diorama with a Japanese destroyer or U-Boat would be pretty cool... 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/124242030686?fbclid=IwAR3mL-dxeZ5ct41wTiK65NzqfSaoaB8BgyNEviX4Y2pIOlOdR0T4fOPEmi0

 

 

 

im disappointed you aren't building this :-(

you really brought back a piece of my youth with this post! I may go look at it!

Hehehe, I've never even seen the show even though I was around back then. The most I remember is an old Bob Hope special where in one of the skits he was the captain of a U-boat called the 'Hate Boat' and was stalking the 'Love Boat'. 

My apologies for no recent updates. My duties have been regulated to finishing all of the fall cleaning outside our home by my Commander Wife and Chief. What little time I got on the Arizona has been both good and not so good. The model does not provide any of the correct details for either masts antenna arrays. I was fortunate that Eduard did provide the updated triangular antenna structure for the fore mast control tower and I was able to fold and added them without much issue.







My problem has been with the antennas on the main mast control tower. Specifically, the very small three legged antenna that are on the sides of the main tower (there are 4). 



So far, I have tried four and destroyed them all. Now consider that these antenna are the width of a human hair and you can see my problem. 



Perhaps I should've added them prior to attaching the main mast to the ship. You see, the mast is vertical and laying the ship on its side might make it easier to attach these little boogers, but that also has many risks for breaking something already attached to the ship. Actually, when looking at the ships photo and that of the antenna, I see where they did not make the all PE antenna accurately anyway (?). Why would you make something in PE to add to the model if it is not completely accurate? I am resorting to making my own antennas for the side of the main tower with the very, very small (thin gauge) guitar "E" string. It is my belief that they will be much stronger and more accurate than the PE after they are assembled. I will post some "work in progress" photos soon.

Here are some of the other main mast antenna already attached as well as evidence of removal of the CA residue (brass showing). Disregard the larger antenna I placed on the lower front of the main tower as they are too large but were used as proof of concept. I think as soon as I have the scratch antenna made and the tower painted, it will be satisfactory.



Till then....

Ben

Ben: I wouldn't worry too much, she looks amazing to me. If I did that kit she'd probably look like she did after the Japanese bombed her. 

Ben, it looks like the one on the lower tower is an ADF antenna. The ones on the superstructure on the mast top appear to be flag lanyard poles. They are tough little buggers to make.

I agree Steve.... The photo above is  around 1936 from what I can tell. It matches with the drawings in the George Stillwell book. In January 1941 the upper turret and mast area were modified when they added the sky top MG platform. 

I noticed several things when comparing the kit and Eduard PE to the photos. For instance, the front and rear four legged pyramid antennas are not in the kit at all. Instead, when using the kit parts, they have what looks like a large arrow point mounted to the front and rear (?). Looking through the photos, going back to the 1931, I have never seen these arrow/pointers. 

The Eduard PE does provide the forward and aft antennas but they are three legged and not four (?). So I guess I'm fortunate they got bent and destroyed; that way I could make them correctly (smile).

I also noticed that the Eduard side antenna locations are incorrectly referenced as going straight out from the tower. Actually, the rear side antennas are canted to the aft section of the ship by aprozimately 25-30 degrees or so. Even on the 1/250 kit they show the main tower side/rear antennas to be straight out which do not match the drawings.

While I'm bringing things up, I found that most people paint the antenna the ships color (5H, etc.), when they are actually black (perhaps insulation?). If you look at the photos below, the top portion of the front and rear pyramid antennas are the ships color, but all else is black.

Unless HooYah or GMorrison correct me on this, mine are going to be black.

I will post the scratch build of the antennas on the next update.

Ben 

Ahh Ben I so enjoy your updates. This thread is going to be the penultimate Arizona resource.

Time to make the main control tower antenna array. The last two updates tell you why I chose to make them. It all starts with a similar diameter steel rod to match the thickness of the PE; in this case I am using a thin guitar "E" string. 

NOTE: If any of you used guitar string before you know that regular plastic sprue cutters will not work, in fact it will damage the sprue cutters softer metal. I cut mine with needle nose pliers, but any cutting plier will do.  

To get the correct lengths I used the ships drawings in the George Stillwell book which are 1/600. If you want to enlarge or reduce the specs or drawings there’s a simple formula; Divide the scale that appears on the drawing by the scale you want, then use the result to reduce or enlarge to scale. For example, if you want to build a 1/350 scale ship but only have a 1/600 scale drawing, divide the scale you have by the scale that you want. So, 350 ÷ 600 = 0.58333. Now round to the nearest whole number, leaving you with 0.58 . So I enlarged the drawings 58% to make them 1/350, measured the antenna sections, and cut accordingly. When all cut, there are 25 pieces at various lengths.



There is no single method when assembling the individual pieces. Some people might assemble them first and then attach them while others may add each piece to the ship. I chose to build the antenna directly on the control tower. The sequence of assembly is a personal choice, but I decided to assemble the antenna under the MG platform first as it has the least risk of being damaged when building the other antennas. Here it is partially done (three legs). 



Next was the rear four leg pyramid antenna as it has the 12' rear range finder platform beneath it to protect it after assembly.



Then I added the shorter side (rear) antennas to both sides, next the longer front antennas. Last was the scratchbuilt 3 piece flag pole above the MG platform and mast beneath it. More WIP photos:





After final tweaking and painting I then added the main mast back to the ship.





These photos show the fore mast control tower sitting on the tripod. I am researching to find the color of the main antenna array, until then they are still brass.



Not sure if you caught it, but I also tossed in a little teaser of the third aircraft on a scratch built dummy car sitting between the #3 and #4 turrets; did you see it?

Still much more to do. To me, it is those little things that bring any model to the next level. I still have plenty of "little things" to do. More updates soon....

Ben

relocated

Well Drums .  .  . If you really want to know .  .  . Beats me !!! Actually, it is one area that I haven't researched (there are so many 'other' areas to fix first). So, go for what you know, it's looking pretty dang good so far. You've done yourself proud. Carry on.

Yep, I'd go with the pics. If they show black, go with black. There isn't anyone on this earth that could argue with you except for Lou Conter and Ken Potts, the last of the Arizona survivors. Both are 98 and probably wouldn't remember.

Looks excelent Ben. You have a steadier hand than mine.

Again, that looks amazing to me Ben. 

Thanks Gamera.....

Time for another update... Today I finished adding the remaining hand rails to the decks. When removing the hand rails, start with a new blade in the hobby knife and change it often (P.E. tends to do that to hobby knives). After cutting it from the P.E. fret, I check it again under a good light and remove any remaining nibs. I shaped and attached one segment of the hand rail at a time. This whole process is very time consuming, and that is OK. I chose to take several breaks during the process. When done I still had a couple locations where the ends of two P.E. did not join together tight resulting in a gap. My method of fixing that was to cut and add a very small partial piece from my spares that matched those on the Arizona. I fit it between and carefully align them to look as one piece. 

I'm sure many of you paint your hand rails on the P.E. fret or prior to attaching them, normally I would too. On this build the bare metal P.E. attached to the painted model better so I stuck with that. My next update will show the hand rails painted. During this process I added the rear crane too.



Next was adding the bollards to both decks. The model had bollards molded into the decks, but they were formless blobs of plastic. I purchased replacement (brass) bollards knowing that I would remove the kit ones when removing the other molded in deck details (like stairs). I needed to drill a little hole to fit each bollard on. So after 32 drilled holes and bollards later here it is. I will paint them when painting the hand rails. 





I painted the main antenna array on the fore mast control tower (black). I chose black as that is how it appears in the January 1941 #5 standard gray paint scheme. From July 41 until her demise, they would've been painted haze gray matching the top currents lighter color. Next update I will go over the last P.E.; adding chocks to the decks; adding the fore mast control tower; and final paint prior to rigging.

Till then....

Ben

Oh my gosh Ben that's really coming along sir!

Thanks Steve, there is just too much going on with this build to just have a final update.

First of all, neither the model kit or the Eduard or Tom's Modelworks PE have any chocks. The ships drawings for the USS Arizona show them in very specific locations (28 total). With the shear amount of them I find it strange that they are not an important part of the model kit or after market detail items (?). Here is a picture of another battleship with the "chocks" identified in the red circles. 

One thing is immediately clear, they are actually integrated in with the hand rails. Unfortunately, the Eduard hand rails, which are already installed, do not have the openings for the chocks. At this point in the build, I am not about to destroy all of the hand railing, and quite possibly the model, just to cut it up for chock openings. After an extensive search throughout the web I am unable to locate 1/350 "open chocks" available to purchase, so I am going to follow GMorrison's suggestion and make them. 

I chose to use SN60 alloy, 0.031" dia. solder. To get the shape I wanted I cut a strip of plastic from a sheet with the specific thickness and width for the chock in 1/350 (eyeball method). Next I coiled the solder around the plastic and cut the solder on one of the flat sides with a hobby knife.



Once the pieces are pulled from the plastic they had to be flattened for the ends to be even with one another. The last step was to use the hobby knifes razor blade to cut the openings consistently on all of them (this was a hit or miss process where only 50% of the chocks were usable), and here is the result.



Next was to identify the locations on the Arizona where the chocks are to be placed. One good thing was once you identified one side, the other was the exact same. Using a precision applicator for the CA cement and tweezers to apply them to the ship, they were applied and painted, here is the results.





My next update will either show final work on the little people, the start of the rigging, or adding the ship to the water. Until next time take care and have fun modeling.

Ben

That's one of the things I like about the forums, the ideas. I had that option embedded in my head long ago and it took this post to find it in the attic  dig it out and blow off the dust. Wow, what a difference.