1/200 Arizona finally DONE!

[Jeff Sharp]

One more small update for today. Working some more on the case mate area. Although this is a nice touch by Trumpeter to add these fire hoses and I guess some sort of water supply line which everyone seems to be painting red as if it is a fire hydrant, I don't believe they ever existed on the real ship like this. I think Trumpeter got the idea from Don Preul's model. So off they must go!



There was only one hose reel that I can find that was in this area and that was just forward of the #1 case mate seen here. As you can see, it looks nothing like what is on the model.

[Jeff Sharp]

Slowly making progress on the case mates. I've constructed new fire hoses by bashing the ones that I scraped off and located them in the proper places.



Then I decided to improve the look of these electrical boxes and lines.


Here is a Starboard side closeup of what they actually looked like.


And my version of what I'm seeing. For some reason I did Port side first so its a mirror image of the above pic.

[Christian M.]

Well ... with your building report here, you make me really wanting to make the big Arizona too!

But before I have some other vessels in the yard

[LE BOSCO]

Hello Jeff

good attention into the d�tails I Like this "philosophy"
cheers
nicolas

[Jeff Sharp]

Finally finished up the case mate area. I added a bit more detail to the 5" 51's and cleaned things up a bit.




Now time to cover it all up and work on the splinter shields, the 5" 25's and gun tubs.


I am eliminating the steel deck on the forward tubs so the teak deck shows. Then I will reconstruct a new steel deck in the area that overhangs. I believe this is how it actually was on the ship. Here is a pic of the forward tub. Notice the teak deck inside the tub.




While researching the gun tubs both forward and aft, I noticed that Trumpy got the dip in the shields in the wrong place. The lower portion of the shields are too narrow. Looking at the above photo of the forward tub you can see the proper place where the dips should be. The dips are not equal distance from the back opening like the kits dips are.


I believe the aft tubs did have an equal distance for the dip on both sides but, the dip was much wider than the kit represented.

[Leftie]

Jeff. I'm surprised you didn't thin the walls/openings around the "5" guns. They really need it.

[Jeff Sharp]

Jeff. I'm surprised you didn't thin the walls/openings around the "5" guns. They really need it.

I definitely overlooked that. Oh well! I'll know to do it on the next one. Maybe on the next one I'll open up the doors as well. That also would require some thinning.

Small update. Here are couple of pics of the completed forward tubs.

[Jeff Sharp]

Been constructing the 5" 25's. I eliminated the 3 shells from each gun rack. I believe the only time these racks were filled with shells was when the crews were firing them during battle practice.






Also been working on the wood deck. I used KA's wood deck for this build. This decking definately has it's pluses and minuses. One glaring minus is the overscale end joints that are very distracting to the eye.
I am softening these joints by applying a drop of WEM's teak color paint in each joint. In this pick the top 2 rows of joints have been painted, the bottom 2 have not.


Here is a view of the finished quarter deck. No more distracting end joints.

[Jeff Sharp]

Things are slow going right now. Finally got all the end joints on the teak deck filled in with 2 coats of paint in each joint. They are now virtually invisible from a distance. Then I decided to backtrack a bit and revisit the casemates. I took Lefties advise again and thinned down the bulkheads under the 5" 51's. Here's a few picks of this and the improved deck.

[Jeff Sharp]

Time for me to start doing a little rivet counting (and bit counting).
Before I work on everything above deck level, I wanted to add some detail to the quarter deck. I decided to use the kit supplied stern catapult instead of the PE one from KA. I simply like the rivet detail on the kit's catapult that the photo etched one lacks.
I added some extra detail to it, like the pulley on the underside seen here.



Then I added hand wheels to this piece that is located aft of the catapult on the starboard side. Not sure what this thing is. Maybe it controls the cat or the stern crane? The plans simply have it labeled as "W.T.S." I have no idea what that stands for. Here's a couple pics of what I'm talking about. Did this thing actually have hand wheels? I have no idea but I like the look.





As you can see, I also added a third bit on the stern as seen in this photo.


Then I started to detail up the hatches on the deck.
I also have WEM's PE set for this kit. I was excited to see it included awnings that covered the deck hatches.


Unfortunately the shape and size is all wrong! It is too small to fit over the hatch if the hatch is in the open position. And the back is rounded. These awnings cannot be used!! I'll have to scratch some if I decide to add awnings to some of the hatches.



All of the hatches at the time had this three bar setup that flipped over the top of the hatch and acted as an extender to attach the awnings to. When not in use, it was simply stowed in this fashion.


Often times the awning was rolled up and stowed on top of this extender.
In this Pennsylvania photo you can see the extender stowed in a curious position with the rolled up awning. Note to self! Notice also Pennsy had railing around the parameter of turret 3.


Here is a look at my first attempt to replicate this extender.

[Fliger747]

As to the "racks" on the port side of the 5" mounts is probably for the fuse setter. As these were dual purpose weapons, a time fuse setting was used for AA work.

Cheers: T

[taskforce48]

I'm sure you've heard this before, but very Sharp build

Matt

[freewheelinguy]

Wonderful detail. Thanks for taking the time to post these improvements.

Happy modeling,
Len

[Christian M.]

You make really feel to "wanna build the Arizona in 1/200" too here! But I have to maintain discipline and to finnish These ships I have currently in Yard first ... but that remindes very hard!

Great Job and for me a clear building instruction for the future!

[Jeff Sharp]

Thanks guys! This one is definately fun for me! This scale is perfect for all this added detail stuff.

[footballdude2k3]

This is fantastic! 1/200 is a bit big for me to try right now, I just got back into this for the first time since I was in middle school, so a 12 year break haha. I want to get a 1/350 fleet going, and your build is inspiring to say the least.

[Jeff Sharp]

Just finished assembling the stern crane. I had 3 options to choose from, the kits, WEM's, or KA's crane. By far, KA's is the best option! It has very nice interior detail. Only a few small modifications were necessary for this crane. One mod was the pulley on top of the crane at the knuckle. I scratch built a smaller one because all of the supplied options were way too large. I also added a couple of lifebuoys. There is a '41 pic that shows the buoys there. Now I'll have to somehow add this info onto the buoys.


Here's a few pics of the actual crane and mine. I don't have the rigging quite right yet.


Worth noting! Check out the stern lights on the ensign staff. There is a lot more going on there then just a couple of lights.

[Goodwood]

Looking good, and it blends nicely with that seascape�or rather, harborscape?

[Tracy White]

Worth noting! Check out the stern lights on the ensign staff. There is a lot more going on there then just a couple of lights.

For what it's worth, the Booklet of General Plans (sheet 2, outboard profile) shows the lights and their colors.

[Jeff Sharp]

Just when things seem to be rolling along with all minor obsticles out of the way........SCREEEEETCH! Back the bus up! Time to revisit the case mate area again with another modification. The credit for this mod goes to Mr. Tracy White for bringing this one to my attention.
At the point on the ship where the deck breaks, the kit has two of the mainmast tripod legs passing through the bulkhead. Problem is, there was no bulkhead there. It was actually an open passageway that lead to the crews galley and vent grills were on the bulkhead next to the open space.
Here are a few pics of my initial attempt at the mod in progress. Still pretty rough but it gives you an idea of what I'm trying to accomplish.