1/200 Arizona finally DONE!

[Jeff Sharp]

Passageway completed. That was a cool little unexpected detour. Thanks for the tip Tracy!

[kylewoody]

Looking wicked. Scratchbuilt stuff looks great too - if you want it done right, gotta do it yourself.

Kyle

[Channell]

This is really turning out to be a great Arizona! You have a great eye for detail and some serious juevos to take on fixing all those kit errors. Keep up the good work!

[ArizonaBB39]

That looks amazing buddy! Was happy to see the Texas cameo too

[Jeff Sharp]

Thanks for the kind words guys. It definately helps when you are enjoying the build. I'm having a ton of fun with this one. Plus, hopefully others with better skills than me can really run with this stuff and do a real spectacular build of her.

Now, I find myself jumping back to the empty gun tub at the bow and adding a little something more. One of the things I found interesting about the plans that Tracy presented was this area where there is a break in the splinter shields to accommodate a ladder.


The plans indicate that there was actually a door there as well. So I went searching for evidence of that door. I could not find the door but I did find this shot of the opening. Also worth noting, a black searchlight!


Thats when I realized that Trumpeter got the location of the opening wrong. It should actually be here.


Easy enough fix. I added a door in the open position and here is how it looks.

[MuseumGeek]

Damn you and your eye for detail!
I am following your build daily. Your are finding tons of stuff I overlooked. Luckily, I am not to the paint part yet so I can add what you find pretty easily.
What did you use for the louvers you added at the end wall you just cut out and modified?

Keep up the good work! You are inspiring my build.

Matthew

[Jeff Sharp]

What did you use for the louvers you added at the end wall you just cut out and modified?

Welcome aboard Matthew. I see this is your first post. The "louvers" were a simple trick. The kit comes with molded plastic incline ladders. They are basically good for nothing until now. I simply cut those to size, filed the thickness down a bit and stuck two of them together. Instant louvers!

[MuseumGeek]

OMG! Pure genius! Awesome tip.
Thanks tons! Saves me from going to the railroad hobby shop and going through all their HO scale engine parts.

Mrb

[Leftie]

Jeff,

My hat's off to you. Great Job! Your tolerance for Trumpeter's sloppiness far exceeds mine. Super job/ excellent research. Still watching...

[Jeff Sharp]

Thanks Leftie! Your build definitely inspired me to do this one.
After that short detour, I can now get back to hatch and deck detail on the quarterdeck.
This one is for those of you that want to get insanely detailed with your build!
Looking at this shot of Pennsylvania.


Pennsylvania's and Arizona's deck hatches and vents were virtually identical in location and detail. So I decided to copy what I'm seeing here.

First, the little 24 x 24 hatches you see on the left were actually taller than the other hatches. So I decided to raise those up a bit on the kit.



Second, notice those three (or four) little boxes up against the barbette. Arizona also had these. Not sure what they are but�


Finally, notice the vent on the right. It had a center ring on it. So I added a ring on mine. And here is the final results.

[MartinJQuinn]

She looks great!

[MuseumGeek]

Jeff,
STOP!!! You keep finding things I have to add to my build. Just kiddin'. You are really making it easier on me as you are seeing things I have not seen before.
I do have one question... where did you find evidence of the louvers at the back of the second deck where the main mast legs come into the superstructure? I cannnot find any photographic evidence there was anything there.

Matthew

[Jeff Sharp]

Jeff,
where did you find evidence of the louvers at the back of the second deck where the main mast legs come into the superstructure? I cannnot find any photographic evidence there was anything there.
Matthew

Again, Tracy White gets the credit for that one. The louvers hide very well behind the boat cranes but if you have the Arizona book by Stillwell check out page 136. Or, if you own a copy of the movie "Here comes the Navy" you can see them there in a couple of different shots. The fact that a vent was actually there is verified by the plans Tracy also presented.

As far as the vents aft of #4 turret are concerned, it appears Trumpeter took liberties to add vents where ever they wanted to put them. I have to rearrange and eliminate a few.
In this shot of the vent with the ring I mentioned before, you can see a second one just like it on the starboard side next to an open hatch.


Tracy's plans verify that a second ringed vent was there.
Here is my corrections on the kit. If you look at my earlier pic, you can see which vents I eliminated.

[MuseumGeek]

Jeff,
Yup, I see it now. I have Stillwell's book and it does show it. It looks like I may have removed a bit too much of that back wall to get my vents in, so I will add a tad more wall to get the clearance I need. I think I will also cut out an area to countersink the vents so they can fit slightly behind the crane. Maybe not. Depends on what I can glean from the plans. Thanks for that tip.

I also modified the vent as you did and will build another one tonight so I have a pair of them. Then it is back to making all the awning supports over the hatch covers. Did you add supports ot all of them or just to the ones on the main deck? Seems to me it would be just the main deck as the upper deck hatches are somewhat out of the weather.

Thanks for the posts! This is way more fun building alongside someone. I guess I should post some photos of my work in a new thread. I will shoot a few photos with the iPhone and see how those turn out. If they are kinda iffy I will swipe the camera from work!

Matthew

[Jeff Sharp]

Did you add supports ot all of them or just to the ones on the main deck? Seems to me it would be just the main deck as the upper deck hatches are somewhat out of the weather.

Even the hatches on the boat deck had them. Not sure about the 2 directly under the flag bridge but all others definitely did.

Once again, I find myself distracted away from hatch detail. This time I'm focused on the movie projector house.

Here it is. Why is there a desk call bell on the roof? Ding! Ding! Plus, the portholes are all wrong.


Here is the proper pattern for the portholes. The fourth porthole is slightly hidden.


By 1941, there were two large speakers on top.


Here is my attempt to improve the look. No more call bell!

[MuseumGeek]

Jeff,
I know I have seen a picture of the projection booth with some sort of something on top. The bell sahpe was wrong, but there was something there, I think. Lemme dig and see if I can find that photo again and I will post it.

I took the easy way out on speakers and just used HO scale air horns. They are round and not square, but they look pretty good.

[Jeff Sharp]

This is the best view of the vent louvers. This is starboard side. On the left is the cut offed tripod leg. On the right is the small and large crane posts. And a view inside the passageway and the vent.

[MuseumGeek]

I added my louvers over the last two nights. They sure hid well in all the pictures I could find. Thanks for the info.

Check Stillwell, page 159 for a 1931 pic of the pro ejection booth. It sure looks like there is some sort of vent on top of it. It also shows a great view of the projection apertures. Page 199 is a far away shot but it MIGHT show a vent and page 253 sure shows something but since it is a pic after the attack, who knows what might be going on there.

Keep up the good work!

mrb

[Harpy]

Very nice. Will be eye candy when your finished. Love the decking.

[Jeff Sharp]

Time to do a little more rivet counting. Well, door counting that is. Going back (ONCE AGAIN) to the break in the deck, Trumpeter has 5 doors on the bulkhead. There should only be four doors. 1 on the port side and 3 on the starboard side.

Here is a couple of shots of the port side door. Notice also the position of the portholes.



Here is a shot of the starboard side. Notice these 2 doors between the crane post and the ladders had no space between them like the kit represents. They actually opened up as one large opening.


So here is what has to happen on the kit.