Hi Dick,
The Critical Past film is one that was posted on Steelnavy several weeks ago so I did not do a search; however, the title that is with the film is "United States ships enter the Navy base in Hawaii, United States". I don't know if this will help but one of the photo file numbers that I ordered is 65675062973_000644. As for the structure under the aft tirpod mast I did make this out on some other photos; however, I still don't think it extends all the way between the gun deck and the aft structure. There seems to be a girder boat rack there in part of this area. This shows up on a Life photo of SLC early in the war (try here
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/6c00d758dbfb3b18_large) and looking at the prewar photo on page 123 in Friedman's book the structure from overhead seems to be walls only with no roof, but still can't tell if it goes all the way between the gun deck and aft structure. I agree that it would be a short space and that is what the Critical Past photos seem to show. An interesting find on the Life photo of SLC is that there are no reinforcing ribs on the 5" gun shields. Pensacola seems to have the ribs. There also seems to be a small structure on SLC near/underneath the aft tripod mast that Pensacola doesn't show in the Critical Past photos or in the Navsource photo dated September 1942.
Hi Jerry,
I do have the Terzibaschitsch book and agree that it is suspect at times with some of the information and drawings; however, it has been a good reference for me for many years (got it in 1989) and for a long time the only reference available to me. I think 9 20 mm may be correct or the best we can get at this point for Pensacola in 1942.
As for the H-P kit, I cannot recommend it. It is one of the early kits and is a mixed bag. The hull is 0.18" short and some parts are unuseable. The MS release of the CW kit is much nicer than the old CW kit. MS did away with the PE bridge and replaced the metal turrets and funnels with much nicer resin parts; however, while the hull of the CW/MS kit measures close to the correct length (WL 570" is 9.77" in 1/700) at 9.75", a mistake was made on the forward part of the hull. The Baker plans on page 120 of Friedman's book are in approximately 1/735 scale. Measuring from the tip of the bow to the face of the two deck structure under the No. 2 8" turret is 2.1" on the Baker plan. Measuring from the same points on the CW/MS hull has this same distance of 2.1". It should be approximately 2.21" in 1/700 so the first two turrets and the structure are .11" too far froward. This cannot really be corrected on the kit since the structure is molded on the hull. The H-P kit hull is correct in the placement of structures and spacing from the bow to the aft end of the gun deck aft of the No. 2 funnel. The kit loses .08" at the aft end of the gun deck in the hull and the gun deck length. It loses another .06" in the hull from the aft end of the No. 4 8" turret and the stern. The H-P kit does capture the rise in the forward part of the gun deck forward of the second funnel, the side opening below the gun deck, and the open areas under the gun deck that are present on the SLC and Pensacola, but missing on the CW/MS kit.
We can only hope that someone like Mike at Corsair Armada does new early and Late Pensacola and SLC kits to the same standard as his other cruisers. I may try and add plugs to the HP hull and do some mix and match part swap with the MS kit plus other aftermarket items to get something that is close to the Pensacola 1942. The error in the forward part of the MS hull has really put me off from using the MS kit.
Frank Fowler