The Ship Model Forum

Okay, I had been pondering doing this for some time. I have always been interested in the Arizona's less famous sister ship, USS Pennsylvania, BB38. I won't go into history or details as there is an abundance of it on the internet. Sufficient though is that being sister ships, someone noted they weren't identical twins. I knew what the differences were, but not sure how to go about modeling them as references and good photo's were hard to come by, apparently the Arizona got all the attention. Enter Model Monkey (Steve Larsen) and Shapeways. Now, the modeler has at least a starting point for converting the Trumpeter 1/200 Arizona into a respectable looking Pennsylvania. As I began to research the Pennsy, I noted that there were actually more differences than similarities, superstructure notwithstanding. My build will try to highlight those major differences. I am not sure at this point how far I want to go with creating the differences, because as the build progresses I will highlight these differences and may have to leave them as the kit intended them to be. I am not a skilled scratchbuilder nor do I possess the patience or the draftsmanship to enter that realm. Another modeler here on the forum succinctly stated: "representation, not duplication." As this is a model, will strive within my skillset to best represent the Pennsylvania as it appeared during the time frame of August - December 1941. So; let's get started.
To begin with, the obvious. I used the Trumpeter 1/200 kit of the USS Arizona, warts and all. Having built the Arizona, when I was finished after a little over a years work, I came to the: "Now what?" I answered that with the Pennsylvania. I then ordered the Model Monkey 1/200 Pennsylvania 1941 Superstructure:


It arrived in good order. I sanded it down per the guidance and began to drill holes for the fittings that needed to go on, searchlights, signal lamps, pelorus', binnacle, directors etc.

I also set it on the superstructure deck and inserted the main legs of the foremast for fitment. As you can see, it fits pretty good.


The doorways and portholes are open for the modeler to choose how he wants to present the doors and portholes.



After reviewing the Mare Island photo's I began adding details like the flag bags, the halyard "tying off stanchion" drilling holes for the fittings, adding doors, ladders and companionway railings.







One of the more noteworthy ID Keys to BB38 is the abundance of pillars or stanchions. To properly place these I drilled holes through the signal deck. What is nice with this 3D printed superstructure is that Steve included the underdeck supports. I drilled these out prior to painting as the material is transluscent you can see the supports allowing the modeler to properly mark off the stanchion locations with a sharpie, which is precisely what I did. You can see these marks along the sides. I will mention here that this is my second superstructure bottom as I knocked the original one off my bench and it broke. I immediately went into panic mode and asked Steve if he could send or make just the bottom, which he did. Once I had overcome this panic attack, I fixed the broken one and used it as a test and fit bed. I found out that by not painting it right away, I could correctly mark off the stanchion drilling points. An expensive lesson learned. Here too you can see the railing for the flag bag canvas and the halyard attaching structure. These were made by eyeballing the photo's of the ship at Mare Island.



This next photo is the underside after painting. You can see the ladders and the compartment. After I placed the doors and the ladders I noticed that the ladders interfered with the doors, oh well. I also painted the interior Tamiya XF21. When I was on board ship as a Marine, I noticed that some of the compartments were painted a light pea green, so I opted for that for all the interior spaces, I think below decks they would have been white. You can also see the holes for the stanchions.



As the Pennsylvania was in Measure 1 5-D, I painted the surfaces Tamiya XF-24 Dark Grey. It is a close match to the Snyder and Short paint chip set that I have. A side note about painting. Steve recommends using Acrylics for the 3D printed parts. I use Tamiya Acrylics thinned with Methyl Ethyl Ketone, (MEK) and yes I use a respirator. There was no adverse affect to the material and the paint dried quickly with good sticking properties. I experimented with Testors Model Master Enamels, painted over the Tamiya paint, figuring the Tamiya paint would act as a barrier. It took days for the Testors paint to dry. I would not recommend using Enamels per Steve's guidance.
The below picture shows the superstructure signal bridge and command bridge pieces assembled and painted. I spent a lot of time scoping out pictures to ensure proper placement of rigging attachment points, ladders, rungs etc.




Once I had all the holes drilled for the stanchions/pillars, I pushed them through the underside and using super glue, glued them in place securing them to the overhead and applying a drop in the hole where the plastic went through. Once set, i cut off the plastic from the underside. I used Bob's Buckles eyelets for rigging attachment points. I drilled holes into the deck side and inserted the eyelet per the reference. There seemed to be a loudspeaker located at the front of the citadel, I found a piece of rounded plastic in a scrap pile and used it for the loudspeaker. The railing is from the kit. Doors are from the Eduard Superstruture set for the Arizona. All the PE so far is either from the kit or the Eduard set.



After scoping out more photo's of the ship at Mare Island, I realized there was a searchlight platform on the air defense level, where that little structure is located between the mast legs. There is also a deck below it with a railing and a ladder going to the next level down, so I had to add some decks. I took artistic license as there were none shown on the Chesley drawing and photo's were unclear.



In the next installment, I will list my references, paints and aftermarket accessories that I used as well to assist the modeler who wants to do this conversion.
Until that time

_________________
Mark
Master Gunnery Sergeant USMC (Ret.)
http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html

On the bench:

1/200 USS Enterprise, CV-6

Oh man Mark! The adventure begins! You've got the skills to pull this off well; I'll definitely be watching...

_________________
-Jason Channell

Current Project: 1/200 Bismarck

This should be fun...

_________________
Sean Nash, ACG (aircraft camo gestapo)

On the ways:
1/200 Trumpeter HMS Nelson
1/700 Tamiya USS Yorktown CV-5

In the stash:
1/35 Italiari PT-109
1/35 Tamiya "Pibber" Patrol Boat
1/350 Trumpeter USS Yorktown CV-10

Love the detailing!

Thanks to requests from Mark, Hank, Martin and David, proper Pennsylvania cranes are now in design and nearly complete.

Heads up: Pennsy's cranes were very different than Arizona's. Some photoetch for Arizona cranes will still be usable, however, probably the diagonal bracing between the horizontal girders at top is still good. The boom itself is a very different shape so the top handrail will require modification.

Here's the 3D design at about 90% complete. Some dimensional tweaking in progress and further detailing to come.

A note about the Chesley drawing's cranes, since many of you will be using those drawings. Chesley's crane drawing is dimensionally differently than that of the cranes in the Feb-March 1942 Mare Island photos. The booms are drawn too long, for example and the mast is a bit squat, the equipment platform is too long, etc.

I originally designed the cranes according to Chesley's drawings then superimposed the design onto very high-resolution copies of the Mare Island photos (low-res version below). The differences showed up quite clearly and fortunately the design fix is easy, just taking some time to get right. Chesley's drawings are normally superb so, apparently, Chesley relied upon inaccurate references for the cranes. I'm now adjusting the design to match the Mare Island photos prior to adding more details.

Yep, the boltheads are properly sized and six-sided complete with a washer, where so indicated by photos.

Keep up the awesome work, Mark!

_________________
Have fun, Monkey around.™

-Steve L.

Complete catalog: - https://www.model-monkey.com/
Follow Model Monkey® on Facebook: - https://www.facebook.com/modelmonkeybookandhobby

Excellent work so far Mark! I was about to post the start of my 1/700 AZ-PA conversion, but it doesn't look near as good as yours! I am definitely looking forward to updates.

_________________
-Abram
ModelWarships Gallery Page
Joslin Models Facebook Page

Thanks guys and thanks Steve for posting your crane supplement: I will be ordering these as I have no idea how to go about "Scratching" these. So, the build continues. ArizonaBB39: I am sure you work will be exemplary
For starters, I got the Floating Dry Dock DVD "PSBB38" that has both the Pennsy and the Arizona on it. The main feature of this disc are the wonderful photo's that some gifted photographer took at Mare Island. What besets the modeler with these excellent photo's, is the time frame. What was added post Pearl Harbor? Like any puzzle the pieces began to fall into place. Someone posted a photo of the Pennsy at 1010 dock out of the book, "Pearl Harbor the Way It Was." I have this book but the photo is between two pages. The poster took the photo out of the book and posted it on the forum which then allowed me to zoom in on the details and what details there are; but I digress.
For references I used the FD PSBB38, Hank Strub, a.k.a. BB62vet, provided me with crystal clear photo's of the Mare Island photo's, Jeff Sharp provided a distant photo of the Pennsy in dry dock, and I found on You tube a video with the Pennsy in the background in the dry dock.
For paint, I used Tamiya XF-24 Dark Grey, which is what Chuck Bauer used on his Arizona build, and for the 5-L I made a mix of Tamiya acrylics that closely match the Life Color 5-L, but I fear I got mine a little too green, oh well, says I!
For Photo etch I am using the kit provided railings, MKI Photo etch that comes with the MKI wood deck and all the Eduard that is available for the 1/200 Arizona, Tom's Model works 1/192 Radars for the CAXM-1 Radar and Tom's Model works 1/200 Doors for more doors.
So, moving along I have painted the and assembled the air defense platform which is pictured below.
As you can see I have painted it the 5-L that I mixed, I have added the searchlight platform, I don't think I got it tall enough, but I am going with it. I added a ladder and a door, I figured that there needed to be an access to the support wiring and electrics in there somewhere, so I added a small door. I added a Bob's Buckles Eyelet and a hunk of plastic to the directors as there seemed to be some sort of antenna sticking out if it and another block of something. I also added what looked like control panels to the railings. Not quite exact but representative of the control panels that appear on the railings. As I mentioned, there are more differences than similarities and as the build progresses I will be pointing these out with the help of Steve Larsen, Hank Strub and others. Remember, this is not the Arizona so any references to the Arizona to the Pennsylvania are not comparable, the rigging is totally different for example, and the photo's at Mare Island are only for reference as the modeler has to divine what wasn't on the ship at Pearl in the August to November time frame.



I added some PE Ladders, brass hand rails, some hunks of plastic and brass wire for the electrical boxes and other details to the gun directors. Here you can see the platform that rests under the director and the platforms I added. Again these are purely conjectural as the photo's are quite vague. I figured thus: If there is a ladder to the platform, which is clear in the photos, there has to be a platform that the ladder goes to, so I added a notional platform for the ladder to go to. It's my model and that 's what I am calling good.
You can see the flag bags. My intention there is to cover the void with a tissue "Tarp" and then attach the halyards to the railing covering the void with the tissue tarp. These were made with pieces of scrap sheet plastic, Bob's Buckles eyelets and wire. Bob's Buckles can be purchased from Robert Booth in England at: http://www.bobsbuckles.co.uk/ Having built a number of 1/32nd WWI Biplanes these are the "Bees Knees," and work extremely well for 1/200 and 1/350 ship rigging. The tubes work great for insulators and simulating turnbuckles. A bit spendy, but well worth the expenditure.
Here is a more clear shot of the back side of the superstructure. You can see the doors on the aft side of the navigation bridge and the platforms. I drilled holes into the decking, using brass wire, I then drilled corresponding holes into the decking and "wired" them into the superstructure.



Okay, moving along. I am having a heck of a time trying to download the photo's of the ship at Mare Island. You will have to take my word for it. However, you can see them at Navsource: http://www.navsource.org/archives/01/38a.htm

The flag bags aren't included in the Model Monkey 1/200 Pennsy Superstructure, so Looking at photo's and trying to diving how they looked, discarding the Eduard Flag Bags for BB-39, I made my own. Again these are scrap sheet plastic, I just eyeballed them and fitted them into the space they are supposed to go, added a railing to attach the halyard to and called it good.



The machine gun platform on Pennsylvania is quite a bit different from the Arizona: not being inclined to scratch build I thought I could get away with using the Arizona platform with some mods, ala Jeff Sharp in his Arizona build.


But alas, it just didn't look right so, I "scratched" it. Basically an outline of the Arizona one for fitment and then modified to more closely resemble the Pennsylvania.



Then cutting sheet plastic I made the splinter shields, added some bracing and called it good:



I added the machine guns some railings and viola: here it is:

Moving along to the fore top:

This picture is of the ship in dry dock: here you can see the machine gun platform, and there is a triangular antenna or rigging mount that come off the bottom of the top, it is in earlier pictures of the ship and definately shows up in the Mare Island photo's, the antenna comes off this and goes to the jack staff.


The CAXM-1 radar is clearly evident in this photo as well: So, using a couple of pieces of wire I added the device.



The modeler can also see that the fore top lights are different than on the Arizona. So, what to do? I looked at the sprues for the Kingfishers and noticed that bombs are provided. So, I cut one of the bombs in half and used it for one of the lights on a mount and used another one and placed it on the a mount that I "scratched" to more closely resemble the light mounts on the foretop.



One of the things that the Eduard PE Set offers is the ladder rungs or hand rails for the foretops.

There are three on each side of the fore top as seen here and 7 on the back sided. I tried to get them even, but that was a chore. I also added the "L" channel to the front of the foretop, when after checking the photo's I realized that there weren't any "L" channels on the front of the foretop, so I had to scrape them off. I used Plastruct channel for the foretop structure supports around the bottom as well.



Now for the fun part. Attaching the Lattice yards. Whereas having built the 1/200 Arizona and whereas having knocked off the lattice yards two times each, I was loath to attach them. So, I tried to come up with a way that would give them purchase and yet be unobtrusive. So, I made a template and after much dry fitting came up with this:


Just some hunks of sheet plastic to give the yards something to hold on to. I also noticed that yards had a hand rail on the top, so using a piece of railing, I added a hand rail. Boy was that fun trying to get that lined up, but after much perseverance, like Uncle Milton with his Ant Farm, I got it in on both sides.



So it ended up looking like this after adding a weather vane, an anemometer and another "deal", and some lights and rigging and the CAXM-1 Radar from Tom's Model works 1/192 Battleship radars, which is just sitting there for now, so I don't knock it off.





Here is a photo of the CAXM-1 on the Foretop as well as an early SC radar as well. The SC wasn't on at Pearl Harbor, but the CAXM-1 clearly is.
Figuring that the Tom's Modelworks 1/192 CAXM-1 would be close enough and the only one available, I went with it.



.

The base of the radar is the kit part #D-29. It is a bit short so I added small piece of sheet plastic under it to clear the railing on the platform. The actual platform is a perforated structure, but for strength for the model, I used the kit part, #D-26. The Pennsylvania did not have the D-28, flag looking device on the radar hut on the air defense platform ala the Arizona.

Here you can see a little more clearly how the whole thing sits on the platform and the railings and ladder that surround it.



Going back to the armored citadel. I noticed in the photographs of the Mare Island fit, there is a periscope right smack dab in the center, there is a hand rail on either side and ladders that extend to the top. So, I used one of the periscopes from the Arizona kit, some wire for the vents, and the Eduard hand rungs for the run on the top of the armored citadel, or conning tower and added ladders to either side.



Bending the railing to match the contours of the conning tower was fun, but I think I got it down pretty good.



I jumped ahead a bit and went to the bulkhead that separates the main deck from the superstructure deck. The Arizona had two ladders coming off the superstructure deck to the main deck, Pennsy had one and the door arrangement was different. I started it and once I get my doors from Tom's Model works, I will remove the kit molded doors and place the PE doors in the correct position. I also added the electrical boxes and conduit per photographs. I think the door on the right accessed the Master At Arms compartment.



Once I get the foremast/superstructure assembly accomplished, I will move on to the more mundane boats, guns and other subassemblies.
Until that time

_________________
Mark
Master Gunnery Sergeant USMC (Ret.)
http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html

On the bench:

1/200 USS Enterprise, CV-6

_________________
-Abram
ModelWarships Gallery Page
Joslin Models Facebook Page

Beautiful work, and another great project.

Mark,

Well, this is really progressing at quite a pace! Very impressive, indeed. Will be following, of course.

Hank

_________________
HMS III
Mocksville, NC
BB62 vet 68-69

Builder's yard:
USS STODDARD (DD-566) 66-68 1:144, Various Lg Scale FC Directors
Finished:
USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) 67-69 1:200
USN Sloop/Ship PEACOCK (1813) 1:48
ROYAL CAROLINE (1748) 1:47
AVS (1768) 1:48

Nice work!

_________________
Martin

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." John Wayne

Ship Model Gallery

Oh boy Mark! I really like this! Man, do I want to do one of these, but I would have to add a Cassin, Downes and a big a** dry dock. That would be a 10 year project. I think I'll just enjoy your buildup instead. Good luck!

Thanks Abram, Hank, Dan, Martin & Jeff:

I think it will be pretty neat. No diorama in Dry Dock Jeff. Just a straight up build. By the time your AZ dioarama is finished you may have 10 years invested in that one.

_________________
Mark
Master Gunnery Sergeant USMC (Ret.)
http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html

On the bench:

1/200 USS Enterprise, CV-6

Mark, your crane design is now at 95%. All of the overall dimensions match the Mare Island photos - exactly. Detailing, mostly riveting, continues. You, Hank, Martin and David asked for it and here it comes.

Teaser below.

For more drawings, see:
viewtopic.php?f=16&t=161238&p=680887#p680887

_________________
Have fun, Monkey around.™

-Steve L.

Complete catalog: - https://www.model-monkey.com/
Follow Model Monkey® on Facebook: - https://www.facebook.com/modelmonkeybookandhobby

Sometimes it feels like it! I keep getting new ideas to add to it.

Those cranes Steve are making are incredible! Cant wait to see them on your kit. Now you'll also need those "S" shaped vents.

Hi Jeff:

Yes, the vents. Steve is going to come up with those as well. The one behind the #3 Turret is that "S" shaped one, and the other two are square. I tell ya, we're living in the golden age of modeling.

Your ideas to add the ship are great. I really like it. At first I was a bit skeptical, but after seeing the progress you have made, I think it's pretty cool.

_________________
Mark
Master Gunnery Sergeant USMC (Ret.)
http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html

On the bench:

1/200 USS Enterprise, CV-6

They really look great. I got the stack today, another work of art. I am UV'ing it now. Can't wait. I am going out of town for about a month, leaving on Sunday, I will be checking in on my wifes laptop though. I won't order until we have about a week left, then we should be back before it arrives.

Are the vents in the Model Monkey pipeline?

_________________
Mark
Master Gunnery Sergeant USMC (Ret.)
http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html

On the bench:

1/200 USS Enterprise, CV-6

Aye, cap'n.

Have a safe trip!

_________________
Have fun, Monkey around.™

-Steve L.

Complete catalog: - https://www.model-monkey.com/
Follow Model Monkey® on Facebook: - https://www.facebook.com/modelmonkeybookandhobby

Thanks

_________________
Mark
Master Gunnery Sergeant USMC (Ret.)
http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html

On the bench:

1/200 USS Enterprise, CV-6

Okay, The foremast is quite a bit different from Arizona in that there is not "middle platform". There is a small platform on the foremast forward post with ladders going from it to the machine gun platform and then a ladder going to the top. In trying to divine what is there and what it is that is there, I came up with my best guess.

Working form the image below, you can see the searchlight platform, the foremast leg and a platform with a ladder leading up to the machine gun platform. Coming off the machine gun platform is a tubular device, I have no idea what it is or what's it function was, may be to catch the spent shells? Bearing in mind the machine gun platform has been up-armored with better splinter shield protection since it's days at Pearl and before and now has 20MM's vice the .50 cals. With the smoke and clutter and not knowing what it is, I came up with a simplified version.





Here is the starboard side. You can see there is "gear" attached to the formast leg under the platform, but again, I have no idea what it is, so my best guess:





And here it is in dry dock at Pearl.



I am just about done with the superstructure and the foremast and top. I have a ladder, some rigging and it will be set aside and then moving on to other things.

Thanks to all for your comments and encouragement.

_________________
Mark
Master Gunnery Sergeant USMC (Ret.)
http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html

On the bench:

1/200 USS Enterprise, CV-6

Excellent work so far. I didn't realize the foremast was so different in this area. Thanks for the info.

_________________
-Abram
ModelWarships Gallery Page
Joslin Models Facebook Page