The Ship Model Forum

Here's a couple of shots of the beginnings of my Hobby Boss (Banner/Trumpeter) 350th scale Arizona. I'll spare everyone the details of the kit as it's been pretty well documented on other forums and sites, and focus instead on the upgrades I am making to the kit to build a presentable model. My inspiration for the kit came from Charles Lundrum's fine effort that has been captured on Roll Model's website underneath the Gallery Tab. Charles put quite a bit of effort in backdating his to the 1936 configuration. I will be doing mine in the '41 configuration, but in overall light gray as she appeared prior to her repaint November of '41, as I want to show off her good looks as she appeared in happier days.

I am using Eduard's Big Ed PE set for this one. I like the fact all of the fighting tops and other details with the seams on the vertical faces will be replaced with PE panels. Having read Mr. Lundrums build, I may opt to clad the plastic kit parts with the PE pieces, rather than replace them, but I'll make that decision when I get that far. I am also replacing all of the guns with 5/51's from White Ensign Models, and the 5/25's from Veteran Models. The gun barrels will also be replaced with brass units from Master Models. They are simply too exquisite to not use.


After the main and upper decks were replaced. The structure in the center will be visible ( I hope) behind the casemate guns, which will be displayed with the curtains and storm doors open.


Here I set the turrets, Superstructure deck, and bridge in place. This will enable me to paint the decks first, then add the details after, eliminating a lot of tedious masking later on.


Here's a closeup of the new deck surface. The narrower recessed boards are a big improvement over the kit decks.


I've begun building the upper half of the hull, as this is where most of my work will take place. The raised deck planking had to go. It's way over scale, plus all the deck details are molded blobs, rather than separate pieces. Using my razor saw, I cut off the turret barbettes, all the winches, ventilators, and casemate sections. These will all be replaced with either scratchbuilt items or PE parts. For the deck I am replacing all of the decking with Evergreen V Groove plastic sheet. It's .020" thick with .025" spacing on the V Grooves. It's much more accurate than the raised decking the kit comes with. Once all of the deck items were removed, I made paper templates of the anchor ways, Wildcat mounts and chain openings, and replicated them with .010 plastic. These will be applied over the Evergreen deck after painting. I did the same for the mooring bits at the stern, as these were left off by Hobby Boss. I then re-drilled all the bitt locations, chain hawser locations and turret center holes for future reference. I have a good set of drawings from Paul Stillwell's book so I will use that to locate the various hatches, ventilators, scratchbuilt gypsy-head winches and other details. WEM came to the rescue with their nice little 5/51's, so they will be displayed in the Casement positions. This means that all of the interior has to be detailed out. I've added the internal superstructure immediately behind, and will add portholes and doors as needed. Depending how visible it will be in there, I may or may not add the structure on the ceilings. I will paint the deck the same way I did on my Monterey, using 3 colors of teak, and masking off individual boards. With the nice recessed grooves of the Evergreen, masking will be a snap.

Thanks for looking. I'll post some more pictures later on as work progresses.

Cheers
Mike

Bob Pink.

Great work so far.

Thanks for the responses guys, I appreciate the feedback.

I got a little more progress done, mainly getting smaller subassemblies finished that can be installed later, namely turrets, bridge structures, etc. Rather than drone on with a bunch of narrative, I'll let the pictures do the majority of the talking.





Two views of the ship overall. Nothing is glued in place yet, I'm still mocking thins up as I go to make sure it all fits. Much of the kits structure is being replaced with either PE parts from the Eduard set or scratchbuilt items. The drawings in Stillwell's book have been most helpful in locating where each component goes, which is very important because the new deck I have installed has covered up all the kit locating holes and pins.



Turret #3 with the catapult in place. The Eduard set gives you replacement glacis plates, rangefinders and ladders, as well as a multi piece catapult. So far the fit of all the PE parts is very good, I haven't run into any snags yet. On top of Turret 4 you can see the degaussing coil, also included with the Eduard set. The Master Models turned brass barrels are simply wonderful. Very easy to install and they improve the looks of the guns 10000%. The kit barrels are woefully to short, and this simple addition takes care of it in one fell swoop.



Here's the beginnings of the bridge structures. You can also see the PE Casement faces that comes with Eduard's set. They fit well and eliminate the horizontal seam on the kit parts, plus I can display them open and have the 5/51 guns on display. The PE bridge sections also fit well. I soldered mine so they are stronger and easier to handle without fear of them coming apart later.



A bit of a closer look into the Casements. You can see some of the structure I've added inside. I need to add some PE doors and drill out additional portholes yet. I set a couple of WEM's 5/51 guns in place and there will still be quite a bit of open space to see through, so it should add a nice dimension to the model.



Lower view of the Bridge structures. I removed the molded on structure from the kit parts and replaced it with bits of .020 plastic strip. The Range Finder columns are 1/8 plastic tube, the kits were pretty clunky in appearance.



The stack has been detailed using a section of 19/32nds brass tube for the uptake, and that was divided off into 6 sections as the original. It will go all the way below decks so no chance of stray light coming up from below.

Thanks for taking the time to look. I really want to do this one up right, as I believe the Arizona has a special place in the history of the US Navy, and deserves to be represented as best I can make her. I'll post more shots later as things progress.

Cheers
Mike

Your attention to detail is right on the money!!!!




Bob Pink.

Keep the updates coming, I love seeing a build of the Arizona Excellent work so far.

Impressively sharp stuff!!

I will be watching

Jim Baumann

Most awesome work! I am interested in seeing the 5/51's, I was unaware there were any of these on the market, are you going to replace their barrels with Masters as well? I began doing my Arizona with the Lion Roar set like his but now I see the Eduard is far more detailed and sharp. Keep up the awesome work!

Matt

Thank you for the comments gentlemen. Matt to answer your question, I think you'll find these pictures useful.



The 5/51's from WEM are gorgeous. Even if you do not do anything with them short of clean them up and paint them, you will be happy with them. John really did a service by providing them. I did replace the barrels with the brass Master barrels. There's nothing wrong with the resin ones, other than if your like me they have to be drilled out on the ends. I used the Masters simply because they came in the set.


Here's a shot of the gun installed in the casemate. It really adds a lot to the model. I can't wait to get some paint on some of these, but I want to get as much fabrication done before I begin painting.



I also ditched the kit 5/25's and replaced them with the resin set from Veteran Models. I have no idea who their pattern maker is, but if I were to meet this person, I'd steal a line from the movie Apollo 13 and say "You sir, are a steely eyed missile man". Holy cow these things are tiny, but are they detailed, and it's very crisp and clear. They come in 8 separate pieces - 6 resin and 2 PE for the railings,and there's 4 guns to a package. I spent about 15 minutes per gun for assembly. There is very little, if any flash present, and what little there was was easily removed with a sharp #11 blade. The base, platform, fuse setter, right gunners seat and another little bit I'm not sure what is is all cast as separate parts. My only nit with the kit is the instructions aren't terribly clear where the little bits go, but after a few minutes of study I was able to figger it out. And yes, you can use the Master brass barrels with these also. I simply lopped off the barrel with a sprue cutter, donned the Optivisor and center punched a hole in the stub with a sharp pin, then used a #77 bit to pre-drill, followed by a #76 for the final hole. The brass barrel has a stub on the end that fits a #76 hole like a glove.



4 down for starboard, 4 to go for port. I've squinted enough for one day though, I'll tackle the port side guns tomorrow.

As always thanks for looking and comments, critique and suggestions are always welcome.

Cheers
Mike

Just an awesome job, keep the great work up! Your work shows how an older kit can be turned into a beautiful model to share with everyone. Thanks for sharing your work with us.

Whoa! are those casemate guns resin, or kit parts? I love it! Now if only I could get this detailed in 1/700.

Bob Pink.

Sr. Gopher wrote:Whoa! are those casemate guns resin, or kit parts?

skyking wrote:The 5/51's from WEM are gorgeous.

Excellent work so far. Looks like I now have to choose between L'arsenal and Veteran models for 5"/25s for an upcoming project! I didnt know they made 5"/25s as well. Thanks for sharing.

Wow!!!! Whatta model!!!



Nick

Awesome work! Look forward to seeing more!

awesome work! makes me want to go and start my 1/350 uss arizona

drdemented wrote:awesome work! makes me want to go and start my 1/350 uss arizona

Me too...

what other extras except the big ed set are you planning or did you use?

Thanks for sharing...

Thank you all for the kind comments, they are most appreciated.

I've begun painting the decks, and I am going to use three different shades, and mask off individual planks. Because of the Evergreen deck having such well defined grooves, it was pretty simple. I'll describe each step with the accompanying pictures.


First step was to shoot on an overall coat of ModelMaster Sand. I don't want the initial coat to be too dark, as I will apply progressively darker tints as I go. I let this dry a few days so I could mask it without damaging the paint.


I made a simple jig to cut my tape into strips. I used a section of the Evergreen, and marked off half inch intervals. I then applied a piece of tape, and cut them into the half inch sections perpendicular to the tape. I then used the grooves in the plastic as guides to cut my tape into strips, the same width as the planking. After they were all cut I am able to peel them off the plastic and apply them to the planking. I used a random pattern, being careful not to apply a mask on the same plank run any closer than 2 inches.


Here's a closeup of the aft deck after the first tape strips are completed. It's very easy to apply the tape straight because of the grooves.


After 4 hours of on again off again masking, here's the first taping complete. I tried using Tamiya tape on one section, but it was too difficult to see against the Sand, so I went back to the regular blue painters tape. The next step will be to add a couple of drops of dark brown to my base sand mixture, and spray this over the base. I'll repeat the process again one more time, using three different tints in all. Afterward I will apply a light gray wash to fill in the grooves and also to even out the colors. I used this same process on my Monterey and I was very pleased with the effect.

Next update will be the finished decks with all three colors. Stay tuned, and as always, thanks for looking and the comments.

Cheers
Mike

looks great, Mike! Kinda reminded me to put portholes onto my Missouri

keep up the good work and can't wait to see the next update

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