1/200 Arizona finally DONE!

[Jeff Sharp]

Sweet! Where can I see pics of these things?

[Tracy White]

Playing around a little bit with B&W photography.

Are you using the same film and processing they did in the 1930s and 40s? Otherwise, this is a false exercise, sorry to say.

[Jeff Sharp]

this is a false exercise, sorry to say.

I agree that it's a stretch and not comparing apples to apples, but fun none the less to try to see if I can come up with any noticable difference. I'll start comparing different deck shots from the film. That might gives us a little something more.

[Channell]

Sweet! Where can I see pics of these things?

Here:

http://www.eduard.com/store/Eduard/Phot ... 1-200.html

Looks like they are doing the whole ship like their Bismarck set.

[Jeff Sharp]

Ugh! More money into this thing! These do look very cool! Thanks for the heads up.

[Jeff Sharp]

9/17/18 update. Further research has revealed that there were three degaussing cables at the bow and stern routing just past the #2 and #3 barrettes respectively. Midships only had one cable per side. Check out CASF Arizona starting at page 101 for further details.

After a spring break vacation, time now to get back to work on Zona.

Tonight I started by laying the starboard side degaussing cables. I decided to go with two cables side by side.

At the bow I drilled a hole in the deck at about frame 5 just above the hawse and fed the cables through.




At the break in the deck I simply followed the arc of the hull.


And finally, at the stern I drilled another hole at about frame 146 just aft of the crane operating stand.




All that's needed now is a little filler in the holes and some touch up paint here and there, then put the chocks back in place.
Thanks again Jon for the heads up. I love it!

[Jon C Ryckert]

No problem Jeff.
But I think you may have it wrong around frame 88. If you look at the wreck pic I took in 2004, the cables enter the forecastle deck before frame 88 around the aft end of the 5"/51 gun enclosure. Can you give me a couple of days so that I may be able to give a more clearer explanation? It looks like in some pics that when the cables enter certain decks, that there is some pipe that they enter through, almost like a conduit and it may be possible that they were sealed with some type of rubber/canvas boot similar to what you may find on your house's roof. Just guessing on my part though. Like I said, please give me a day or two to give you a better idea of what I am talking about.

[Jeff Sharp]

I think you may have it wrong around frame 88.

Hi Jon,
I was interpreting point #3 here that Tracy found at the archieves as to how it was supposed to be:
download/file.php?id=72659&mode=view
Do you supposed they had to deviate from this directive and sink it through the deck to reduce the arc the cables made if done this way?

[Jeff Sharp]

I corrected the cables at the break in the deck. If I'm seeing the photos that Jon posted of this area correctly over on the CASF thread, then this is how it was on the ship.

[Jon C Ryckert]

Jeff,
Lookin good! That is what I came up with to. I looked at the pictures of Penn during the 1942 refit and this is the best one I could find. Doesn't show much but it does give a good idea as to where the cables enter the hull on the upper deck. I do wonder if the cables were mounted to the curved shell plating one above the other instead of side by side as you have done. We'll probably never know. Really enjoying your build. BTW, this picture was cropped.

[Jeff Sharp]

After a bit of a break, I'm getting antsy to dive back into this project.
Doing some research on the Flag bridge now. Here's a couple of my initial observations:
First, the Flag deck is much lighter than the anchor plates which are very dark (almost black). The sailors black shoes help a great deal here.

Assuming that the plates are painted deck gray, the flag bridge deck was not this dark.



Given this info and the color shots of the other two ships I posted above showing linoleum on their flag bridges I think I'm going to paint this deck level linoleum.

One thing that needs to be fixed is this small platform that extends out from the searchlight platform.


This platform was for signal flagging. A sailor would stand here with two flags in hand.
Problem is, it was not a simple half circle shape as the kit depicts. It also extended around the back side of the searchlight platform as seen here.


This allowed room for a flag man and a telescope man as seen here.




And, according to the shadows in this image, the small platform was mesh.

[Tracy White]

the small platform was mesh.

Not mesh. Steel with holes drilled in it. Same method used on carrier catwalks.

[Jeff Sharp]

Not mesh. Steel with holes drilled in it.

Drilled? How did the lucky sailor get that duty?

[Tracy White]

Yard worker.

It was pretty much custom fabricated, even on the carrier catwalks as well. The drilled sections were only where there wasn't a support underneath that it was welded to as well as gun galleries where there was more weight (and thus more welding and need for structure). I have no idea if it was drilled or stamped, actually, and what process was used to mark and remove material.

[Jeff Sharp]

Look what I just got today. These are some awesome stud link chains from Pat Matthews! Now I can super detail the bow finally. This is his 13.5 link chain. So far I love the look and the price of these things.

[Tracy White]

Very tasty looking! How do they fit into the wildcats?

[Jeff Sharp]

How do they fit into the wildcats?

I haven't removed the old chains yet but I see no reason why they won't fit in there nicely. I have to get some black acrylic paint as recommended then I'll post some pics with them in place.
Also, earlier we discussed whether there should be two or three chains and anchors on her. I had no doubt that this film showed a starboard side and a middle chain for sure. I was able to capture this shot of the port side wildcat that also shows a stud link chain.


So I now believe she had three anchors at the time of this filming.

For those of you thinking about purchasing this chain, I'm a little concerned that there is barely enough here for all three anchors. You will definitely have to buy two if you want to put one anchor in the water like I was planning on doing.

[Jeff Sharp]

Ok, here's a couple of pics of the chains in place. As suspected, there is not quite enough to attach three anchors to. I had to use about 5 or 6 links of the old chain per anchor inside the hawse to make it work. I still want to put one anchor in the water so I may breakdown and buy another chain.

[MartinJQuinn]

Great stuff, Jeff. I love your attention to detail, and all the extras you are adding.

[LE BOSCO]

just like martin, your attention to detail ,is really exemplary
congrats
Nicolas