1/200 Scale Group Build from 2015-17

[tegunn]

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[tegunn]

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[tegunn]

and finally..

[tegunn]

Also, if you are ever wondering what that typically small blob of plastic is on some turrets of US BB models, it's a practice gun(s). Early days(WW1) they mounted them over the barrels like the IJN ships in WW2 such as here on the USS Delaware. This should be helpful if you are modeling a ship in 1/96th or larger..

[tegunn]

Here's the more common U.S. example. These photos are from the Kittel collection found on http://www.usstexasbb35.com

[tegunn]

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[tegunn]

firing...

[Mgunns]

Hello Tegun:

You are moving right along on this project. I am working on the hull and will be moving on to the deck. Your deck looks great. Did you do anything with it? Stain? Paint? What did you use to glue it down?
I like the sighting guns on the turret tops. Looks great.

[tegunn]

Thank you Mark. The deck is the way it came from Artwox. It has an adhesive on the back. The jury is still out out this type of adhesion. I'm not sure if the glue hardens/cures as time goes on, or will I have to worry about it raising up in places. I am considering removing from the O2 level where the casemate guns are located. I'm pretty sure it's linoleum there anyway, plus it will be less likely to cause buckling if I remove it. Way out in the future is a scratch-built Texas which I will use the Scaledecks.com . They don't use any glue on theirs though the selection for specific kits is limited mostly to the Revell sailing ships. They do have blank sheets which I plan to use. I scratch-built the training guns on the turrets. I had to be careful to keep it as close to scale as possible. These would be great P.E. candidates.

This reminds me of a term we need to create for modelers. The term should describe the moment in time when you decide after searching for a part, to spend another 30 minutes making another part to replace the one that zinged off from your tweezers..

[Mgunns]

Thanks Tegun:

I have a deck that came with the model I bought off ebay. It has no adhesive. I saw on this forum where a modeler uses Liquitex Gel Medium as an adhesive. I have used Gel Medium and I know it gets as hard as concrete, I am thinking of going with that.
Your model is coming along nicely. I have to post some pics of mine, I have some progress to show albeit not much. I work a full time job and a second part time job so time is at a premium and progress slow albeit steady. I am using Kit, WEM and Eduard PE. I should finish up the mainmast tonight to include some preliminary rigging, and I can move on to the hull and work on that.
Thanks for sharing your work.

[Mgunns]

Okay: I am doing my Arizona in about the January to March 1941 time frame. I am using the Stillwell book and the Squadron in Action book for references. The Squadron book is a good bench side reference but for in depth the Stillwell book is the best, that with NAVSOURCE and Jeff's pages have been real helpful. I started this build in about November by doing the boats. I work two jobs so progress has been slow but steady. I have been using Jeff Sharp's build for ideas and got the Eduard boat set and used the PE boat cradles. Here is the "admirals" Barge.

And one of the regular barges. I didn't know what color to paint the admirals or the others, but based on what I had seen on ships I had been on and the time frame, I went with a black hull for the admirals and grey for the others. This is a practice one. As I have two of these kits, one I bought off ebay was incomplete so I had to get another.



I then proceeded to do the others "nested" in their cradles. For attachment purposes I used EZ line secured to the cradle with a clove hitch and super glue.



It probably isn't totally accurate, but it works for me at this scale; looks tidy, better than thread, and looks like the boats are secured.

[Mgunns]

After the boats were finished I moved on to the weapons. I bought the Trumpeter upgrade set which included barrels for the 5" and I bought the Master set for the 14" barrels.
This is one of the casemate guns. I won't spend a lot of time detailing these as they will be in the casemates. I will probably pick out some details with oils, but that will be about it. The Trumpeter barrels fit real nice and look good. The plastic ones would have looked fine as well, but the brass ones are round and just look a bit better.


I got the WEM PE set for the Arizona and there are some nice features to that. For the AA guns they provide the railings, the gunners bicycle seats, seat backs and cranks.



Per Jeff Sharp, I took out the shells as they wouldn't have been set unless in actual use.

I moved on to the .50 Water cooled Machine guns. WEM provides the ammo boxes, and two different gunner braces. I went with the back brace and sights.



Here you see two of the guns fixed to the stack which is a model in it's own right. I trimmed off two of the rings on the stack and used the Eduard PE wrap around, the railings are WEM.



As mentioned, I used the Master barrels for the turrets. The "things" on top of the turret, (I assume they are line) are from the Eduard PE set. I painted the turrets slightly lighter than the rest of the ship. The photo's of the ship in Puget sound show the turrets slightly lighter. I don't think it is the lighting, but actual paint. Either way, I doubt that they are that much lighter to notice. I painted the tops Tamiya red, the rest is Testors MM Light ghost gray.

The Turret top with the catapult on it is painted Testors MM gunship gray.

The catapult is a combination of kit and WEM PE.

[Mgunns]

Moving on to the stack. I cut off two of the rings and replaced with the Eduard PE. I used the kit provided window frames as I couldn't see the advantage of using the PE. I trimmed off the molded on ladders and replaced with PE. I did use the PE Grill work, I think it was the Eduard.






I drilled out a couple of holes and used eyelets for the rigging when time comes to fix the stack. I painted the stack Testors model master Light Ghost Gray and I used Tamiya Nato black for the top of the stack and then dry brushed with Testors Model Master Gunship Gray.

[Mgunns]

As Jeff pointed out in his build log, the projection booth needs some work. After seeing what he did and scoping out pictures I came up with this:



I have a card of HGW PE 1/32nd Bezels for aircraft instrument panels and found four that fit my needs perfectly. I made an attempt at speakers on the top and called it good. It's better than what it was.

I then went to the Boat cranes. I used the Eduard PE and kit parts for this venture.





I then assembled the Aircraft crane using the Eduard and some kit parts.





The rigging is EZ line.

[Mgunns]

Okay, thanks for staying with me here, a couple more and then done for tonight.

The catapults. I started the catapults figuring I would just use the kit parts. But; I bought the Eduard Catapult set as the WEM set just didn't have the stuff I wanted. So, I had to mix and match with the Eduard. This is the fantail catapult with a mix of Eduard, Kit and imagination:










This is the turret cat with WEM and the kit parts.







As you can see, I drilled out the ends to more closely match the actual catapult. I may have gotten carried away with too many holes, but; what can I say?

And this is little bugger is the aircraft launch cradle. Pretty neat little device.

[Mgunns]

Moving on to the main mast, I used a combination of Kit PE, WEM PE and Eduard PE. I started out with the platforms using kit and WEM PE.









I then got the Eduard PE off eBay. It is really a good set, I wish in hind set I would have bought the Eduard set for this kit. It is much more complete. I didn't scrape off the undersides of the platforms or the tops and replace with the Eduard PE, I don't think it has that much of an impact and I didn't want to fiddle with it. Suffice it I wanted the ladder that goes up the tripod leg.









And the guns in the fighting top "birdbath".


Jeff Sharp points out that the shape of the birdbath is wrong and he makes the corrections. I opted to leave it alone as I don't think it is that critical when taken in with the whole of the ship once completed.

For the netting I used the material for it that WEM provided and I had some extra flight deck netting from an older GMM PE Set for CVN 65 in 1/350. I trimmed it up and used it for netting to good affect. I also added a hatch in the bird bath. Again, I used Testors Model Master Gunship gray for the decks. I am pretty pleased with the progress and the way that it is turning out.


Thanks for stopping by.

[tegunn]

Looking really good Mark!

[aaube]

I see you guys have been busy! Nice job on them Arizona's!

Alain