Several years back I picked up the Banner model of the USS Arizona in 1/350 scale. I had the intention of building it as a semi kit bash, which is out of the box, plus modifications / corrections as best as possible short of using photo etched parts. Well, I put something like ten hours into it, sanding and removing a bunch of incorrect things. Then I put it away for another day when life would be more conducive to such activities. So, lots of time went by.
Now in the waning months of 2019, I’ve pulled it out again and decided to build it as an “As Sunk”, circa 1960’s. Going through the kit, I was stunned at the lack of detail, especially in this scale. It actually has less detail and correctness than the Revell 1/426 (1/429) kit. I started to list the required corrections but quit shortly thereafter as the list was getting way too long.
As the kit was already started I had to regroup and shift gears from the original plan to the as sunk version. So, I broke out the chainsaw . . .
As I said, I’m re-starting this kit so there are things to be un-done, in time. I will keep the upper hull assembly intact while I start cutting away the damage and salvage holes. Unfortunately, some things can’t be undone so I’ll have to either remake parts or come up with another solution. An example of this is the aft 1.1” tubs. If I were starting this new, I’d have cut the tubs out of the deck and filled the open holes with styrene. That way I could have simply added a pedestal and re-mounted them. But, alas, I cut the tubs off at the deck so now it’s either buy some or re-build them.
"Why do I do this? Because the money's good, the scenery changes and they let me use explosives, okay?"