The Ship Model Forum

Greetings!



Construction started this past Monday.

Unlike my usual style of posting this will be done as the ship is being built rather than afterwards.

I must finish this by the morning of September 28th.

I'm used to build things rather quickly, but even so, this is a monstrous project with a significant number of minor modifications.

Suffice to say, this is rather stressful.

Damn the torpedoes.....

I will skip my usual blathering about the ship and its history....it's the Arizona. Paul Stillwell's book is fantastic if you are interested.

And it's the Trumpeter kit, of course.

Over the weekend I'll try and post some picture of my rather busy week and explain my methods and thought process.

For now, please have a look at the hull plating:

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Si hortum in bibliotheca habes, nihil deerit.
- Consul Marcus Tullius Cicero

Obviously not, I never said that it was.

It's not supposed to be a precise reproduction. The horizontal lines are roughly lined up with the prototype's equivalent seams.

So I made up a pattern, this is the Trumpeter kit after all....

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Si hortum in bibliotheca habes, nihil deerit.
- Consul Marcus Tullius Cicero

A large thank you to Jim Baumann for the idea of using nail decoration tape.

About halfway down this page, he uses it on his 1/700 Normandie project:
http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=168156&start=80

I was not able to find a suitably compelling set of images to make an attempt at truly authentic hull plating. The bow and stern are documented fairly well, but the midships and underside are harder to figure out. And anyway, I had to finish the hull prep work this week, so a more comprehensive plan had to go by the wayside.

I chose to identify a particular stake that could be clearly identified and base a brickwork pattern off its top line. I used the incorrect pattern on the 1/350 Trumpeter USS Texas and expanded its scale.

There are two large ridges along the side of the bulges, I chose to use a wider tape and leave off other effects to avoid detracting from them.

At this moment, the entire hull is curing in its coat of lacquer primer in the garage. My preliminary examination indicates a very subtle effect, will get some photographs once it's fully dry.

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Si hortum in bibliotheca habes, nihil deerit.
- Consul Marcus Tullius Cicero

Additionally, the two deck seams were filled with Tamiya putty, sanded flat, and rescribed.

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Si hortum in bibliotheca habes, nihil deerit.
- Consul Marcus Tullius Cicero

Progress is good, another update soon.

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Si hortum in bibliotheca habes, nihil deerit.
- Consul Marcus Tullius Cicero

Looks good! Can’t wait to see what else you do with it, outta curiosity why does it need to be done by September 28th?

Matt

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In the yards right now:
USS Utah AG-16
On Hold
1/350 USS Portland CA-33 1942
1/350 Trumpeter Texas with a twist

It is our biennial show for the Boise IPMS chapter.

I noticed you are in Oregon, if you've got the time and inclination feel free to drop by.

With any luck you can see this ship in person!

PM me if you would like the details.

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Si hortum in bibliotheca habes, nihil deerit.
- Consul Marcus Tullius Cicero

Primer is now finished outgassing.

Results are pretty good. Of course it showed up some of the poor filling around the waterline but that is an easy fix. Additionally there are some places where I have had to sand back some paint.

There seems to be plenty of paint dust in the pictures, rest assured that it all cleaned up nicely.

Next will be the shafts and the various deck fittings.

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Si hortum in bibliotheca habes, nihil deerit.
- Consul Marcus Tullius Cicero

Micro-update.

I added the shafts and did some modifications to the rudder.

I attempted to add some rivets for visual interest but I screwed it up. Doesn't look like it is in the pictures but I've filled them then sanded.

The model was designed for RC. The rudder had an axle that I chopped off and used to plug the hole.

I used super glue to fatten the attachment points and faired out the rudder a bit. Drilled holes and used short bits of paper clip as reinforcement dowels. It is actually quite solid now and it held together by friction. I plan to leave the rudder off and paint it separately to avoid snapping it.

The shafts:


The plugged rudder hole:


Still need to clean up the rudder a bit, but here are the attachment dowels:


Dry fit:


Going to try and get the deck fittings all together now.

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Si hortum in bibliotheca habes, nihil deerit.
- Consul Marcus Tullius Cicero

Been traveling a great deal lately.

Still been very busy with the ship.

A considerable amount of work has been done to the decks, the armament, and the superstructure. Several hundred parts have been added and the first bits of photo-etch are present.

The superstructure is in separate layers to ease painting and weathering - ladders are glue to the floor above.

I'll have to take some better pictures later (and remove the plastic dust) and show some of the internal bulkheads I've added behind the 5"/51s.

Next part of the work is to finish the foremast and tackle the barbettes.

Here are a couple teasers of today's dry-fit:

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Si hortum in bibliotheca habes, nihil deerit.
- Consul Marcus Tullius Cicero

My plan is to do the blue variant of postulated schemes.

Was curious to know everyone's thoughts about the colors of the metal/linoleum decks when sunk. A great many of the photographs that I have found are of the ship in happier, differently colored times.

I've seen Jeff Sharp's outstanding Arizona with red linoleum but my understanding is that those colors (where present) were painted out over the course of 1941 in most of the fleet.

Were they painted the same color as the superstructure (as most builds online show) or were they their own shade of grey?

Also, does anyone know if the decks of the masts (like the birdbath, the platform under the foremast blockhouse, etc.) were also painted light grey or were they the same deck color as the levels below?

I've seen a great many variations in the builds online.

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Si hortum in bibliotheca habes, nihil deerit.
- Consul Marcus Tullius Cicero

Really doesn't matter if you want to model the only "blue" battleship.

I gather from the tone that I interpret in your text that you do not subscribe to 5-S Sea Blue theory. (I presume that you mean only 'blue' battleship in the context of late 1941 - there is plenty of color photography recording some very blue ships later in the war.)

It does matter actually. Rather a lot in fact.

The degree to which I assemble the ship will vary if I have deck colors match the vertical surface colors.

I can assemble entire structures and paint them as a single unit if I can convince myself that there is a practical basis in reality towards matching the deck color with the bulkhead color.

My own prejudices guide me towards a theory that the decks might have been painted in a uniform color that would appear distinct from the color of the ship. I also suspect that with the right color choices the aesthetics of the finished product will be superior using this method. Indeed, Sovereign Hobbies' suggested color guide for the Arizona indicates a degree of agreement with my instinct.

But if there is a suitable body of information that can justify matching deck and vertical colors I can shave several hours off of my build time.

I have a seen a number of very nicely done Arizona models that go either way.

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Si hortum in bibliotheca habes, nihil deerit.
- Consul Marcus Tullius Cicero

Ahahahahahaha! Well played Sir, well played!

Well, the ship is almost ready for painting.

Most everything is assembled into various sub-assemblies. We have finished with well over 1,000 parts!

I am getting ready to do a bit of a photoshoot with the model dry fitted and also with all the pieces disassembled so keep an eye for that in the next few days.

Sorry for the lack of updates or pictures...really have not had the time to document much of what I am doing.

There has been some very minor scratchbuilding and a moderate amount of photo-etch. I'm building this with minimal aftermarket - only the Trumpeter upgrade set and half a WEM set (long story) to try and make this look good.

Only thing left for me is to install the deck and superstructure railings...I like to glue them on before painting to better hide my glue joins. I've developed a method for painting my ships without damaging/crushing the railing. So far, only two accidents in four years!

Anyway, the clock is ticking rather quickly as I have only three weeks to add the railings, paint, weather, and rig this monster!

Plenty of pictures coming soon!

Here is a sweetener - the finished aircraft handling crane:



The brace is made of stretched sprue.

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Si hortum in bibliotheca habes, nihil deerit.
- Consul Marcus Tullius Cicero

Ok.

It's been a very long weekend getting this together.

I've been hunting down all the various odds and ends to get this ready to paint.

Here are 31 pictures of my dry-fit. Obviously I've left off a considerable number of small fittings to ease disassembly.

I have not glued down the upper deck or fitted its railing to facilitate ease of installation. I need to paint the interior and install the 5"/51s before I seal it up.

I've scratchbuilt a significant number of small details, many are probably hard to spot. I've left the kit more or less unaltered otherwise. I've used the kit PE and some scrap from an incomplete WEM set. Also some plastic card stock, plastic dowels, scrap brass and piano wire, and I used the foil nail tape method for the hull plating.

I hope to finish painting this whole thing by Friday but we'll see.

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Si hortum in bibliotheca habes, nihil deerit.
- Consul Marcus Tullius Cicero

Oh, forgot this one.

Here is the internal bulkhead configuration.

Obviously not accurate but more of an attempt at controlling cross-structure light pollution.

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Si hortum in bibliotheca habes, nihil deerit.
- Consul Marcus Tullius Cicero

Very clean PE work. Direct sunlight shows it off to great advantage.

There has not been much interest in this project, I've elected to forego further updates.

I'll throw up pictures of the finished model when I find time to do a photo shoot.

The project must complete by this Friday night so I have taken the week off to work round the clock. For context, yesterday's work completed around 4am and was restarted at 10am. As I type this I am waiting for the latest round of oils to dry (btw enamel thinner and oil paints is a beautiful thing - quick drying time vs mineral spirits also).

For the size of model, things are moving extremely fast. I think the whole project will finish in less than 250 hours and, barring any setbacks, this will be my best work to date.

There has been some scratchbuilding and I think that the total number of parts is around 1,400 before adding crew.

Compared to my Rodney project two years ago, I have managed to cut production time by ~31% and improved general quality of the work across the board.

Here is a picture of a section of hull before applying the first wash. The lighting was very bad and the deck looks less yellow in person.






Thank you sir.

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Si hortum in bibliotheca habes, nihil deerit.
- Consul Marcus Tullius Cicero

Deleted, following an exchange of friendly and constructive PM's...

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Bill Livingston
Cambridge