Steve wrote:
I referred only to the 1941 Trumpeter 1/700 plastic kit that was announced a long time ago and is still carried on the upcoming plastic ship kit releases on this forum. IMHO this kit is a Trumpeter "never will be" having been dropped a while ago by the Steven's Hobby Trumpeter kit listing. Apologies to all the resin kit builders.
I always thought that was an odd listing, Colorado not being at Pearl on 12/7 and all. However, given the part break-down, the extra pair of 5"/51s each kit comes with, and the way you have to open up holes in the aft deck for the 3"/1.1" tubs, it seems to me that the kit designers gave some thought to a 1930s, maybe even 1920s fit. Take, say, the Tennessee kit (which is already missing the superstructure 3" tubs), package it with a new midship deck that lacks splinter shields, a pair of SOC Seagulls in lieu of Kingfishers, and you have a 1938 Tennessee kit to sell.
Back for a moment to where this conversation was going: A Midship Models 1941 Colorado won't help with the bulge issue, as it doesn't have any. You'd be just as well served (and save money) by taking a Trumpeter '41 West Virginia kit and adding bulges to it. Even if a Trumpeter 1941 Colorado were ever released (and was accurate), was never active in '41 with a bulged hull; and if they released her in a bulged '42 fit, they'd almost certainly just use the same overbulged hull rather than make a new one.
Unless there's another kit out there that we haven't discussed yet, your choices for a '42 Colorado are as follows:
Reshape the bulge on an overbulged Trumpeter, HP, or Loose Cannon kit.
Add a bulge to an unbulged Trumpeter or Midship kit.
Live with the overbulged Trumpeter, HP, or Loose Cannon kit.
- Sean F.