At 'Em Arizona Fans!

[Guest]

Tracy,
I have the same body plan out of the ship's data-a photographic history book and was wondering how you determine where the body plan station lines correspond to the outboard profile and overhead view frame #s. I am trying to accurize the hull on both the Revell 1/720 and 1/426 scale kits. The former a waterline version and the latter a full hull version.
Steve

[Tracy White]

I had completely spaced on the possibility of using a contour gauge until a couple of days ago. Below are comparisons to the same plan cut-outs as I did before.

As I mentioned before, the lower "corner" of this area is too wide; you can see where the hull doesn't cut in enough above and then curves too far out. This is just ahead of the blister, and would complicate re-contouring the blister:

Frame 15

This is Frame 22 1/2, just after the blister begins, maybe 3/4" on the model. It's lined up with the top vertical bulkhead just below the edge of the deck, and you can see how it's missing the jog in, which sets off a whole problem in shape. Notice that the Trumpeter blister is much more slab-shaped and leans out where it should be more serpentine. The fact that so much white is visible in this area means that the blister is much too fat in this area and extends too far down.

Frame 22 1/2 - Just after forward edge of Blister

Here's the last of them... Frame 30, or just about where barbette #1 starts. Note again how much white space there is (I did offset just by a bit so that the full shape of the plans is visible), indicating once again that the blister is too fat. But also see how the contour gauge crosses over the plans at the bottom; this means that the blister doesn't extend down enough. My contour gauge wasn't "deep" enough to really explore this area, but you get the gist of it.

Anyone wanting to correct this is going to have a lot of work ahead of them. If I didn't have a set of Keith's brass props I'd be inclined to just do her waterline.....

Frame 30

[Tracy White]

I have the same body plan out of the ship's data-a photographic history book and was wondering how you determine where the body plan station lines correspond to the outboard profile and overhead view frame #s. I am trying to accurize the hull on both the Revell 1/720 and 1/426 scale kits. The former a waterline version and the latter a full hull version.

The plans I have been working off here are the Floating Drydock 1/192 set; they have frame numbers on most of the views so it's fairly easy to match the sections with the side view to see where it is precisely. The one exception to that has been the fact that the artist miss-numbered the side view and you have to compensate for that mentally.

[Bondoman]

Well, in the industry that's called a visual aid! Very informative.
Tracy- that's the Trumpeter hull, correct?

[mark_sch]

I think when I build my 1/200 kit. I will leave the hull alone.
Mark

[Tracy White]

Tracy- that's the Trumpeter hull, correct?

Trumpeter 1/200th, yes, I haven't cut out the 350th templates yet for the Banner/Mini Hobby Models releases

[dsk]

Honestly, I'm going to leave this sort of quest for uber-accuracy to those whom the pursuit of modeling perfection hasn't yet reached its zenith. I think my ship looks plenty accurate enough as it is.

[Tracy White]

Well, that's just it. I knew that she looked vaguely too fat below the waterline, but I completely missed the problems above the blister; I think that overall it looks good, even though they should have caught the problems with the hull shape. I know that this is an expensive kit for many, but really, given the costs of the fiberglass hulls that were the only thing going in this size for a while, this is a cheap kit, and it shows in areas. It's a good kit above the hull, below is more problematic, and most people won't notice, so "your mileage may vary."

[dsk]

Just curious, is Don Preul's model at the AZ Memorial spot-on for dimensional accuracy? Did he scratch build it using the Floating Drydock's plans or did he use other resources?

[Tracy White]

He had other plans and resources.

[smokey2]

greetings all, I have read all the post here and I just join here. I recently bought the 1/200 USS Arizona and going to start working on it. I have a few questions for the experts. Is there anything wrong with the Trumpeter kit to build it straight from the box? Has anyone found out if we can get one more of the kingfisher aircraft from Trumpeter or will someone else come out with them? I have seen one photo where it looks like only two aircraft were on board and someone said there should be three. Also I see there is limited detail sets for this kit. Can someone point me in the right direction as to what I might need. I see that Trumpeter has a upgrade kit, and White Ensign has two detail sets along with KA models has a deluxe kit. Of the detail sets which one's would I need. I'm sure I will have lots of questions as I go along. Thanks Dan

[BFR4570]

greetings all, I have read all the post here and I just join here. I recently bought the 1/200 USS Arizona and going to start working on it. I have a few questions for the experts. Is there anything wrong with the Trumpeter kit to build it straight from the box? Has anyone found out if we can get one more of the kingfisher aircraft from Trumpeter or will someone else come out with them? I have seen one photo where it looks like only two aircraft were on board and someone said there should be three. Also I see there is limited detail sets for this kit. Can someone point me in the right direction as to what I might need. I see that Trumpeter has a upgrade kit, and White Ensign has two detail sets along with KA models has a deluxe kit. Of the detail sets which one's would I need. I'm sure I will have lots of questions as I go along. Thanks Dan

Welcome aboard Dan! I am not an expert, but I think I can answer some of your questions. Or maybe confuse you even more! There is another thread in this forum devoted to this model. It is called "Unboxing Arizona". Here is a link to it. IMHO I believe this model to be the most accurate PLASTIC model produced to this point. However, it is NOT error free. You will have to decide how accurate you want this model to be when you are finished!

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=62452

I don't know if extra planes will be available. Her compliment was three planes. How many she actually had at any particular time I will leave to those better informed. As for the detail sets, which one you should get will depend on what level of detail you wish to tackle, and how much you wish to spend. I have both the Trumpeter and WEM Detail Sets. The Trumpeter is the least expensive, and the smallest. The WEM is more complete, and more expensive at about $80.00 US. I have not seen the KA Set, but I have read that it is by far the most extensive set available. It even includes wooden decks. It is also the most expensive at $170+ to over $200 US. There are also other specific detail sets available, such as the four Propellers, or the wooden decks, and metal gun barrels for the main and secondary armaments. More than one manufacturer of each. I believe they are all mentioned in these two threads. As for building the kit straight from the box, you can certainly do that. It will be strictly up to you to determine what level of detail you wish to produce with this model. Read the "Unboxing Arizona" thread from front to back (sorry, it is almost as big as this thread) and you should have a good idea of what you are getting yourself in for, no matter what level of detail you decide to choose. Good luck on your build, Dan, and remember; there is a ton of information in this forum, and a whole bunch of people who are willing to help you thru any difficult sections! Try to post photos of your work-in-progress if you can!

[dsk]

Mine was mostly an out of the box build, and it was accurate enough that I didn't bother to do any rivet counting or major surgery on it. I did some very minor scratchbuilding in a couple places, but that was it. I finished mine before the White Ensign and KA models sets came out, but if I were to build it again I'd probably just use the WE. The wood deck and photoetch in the KA set looks great, but jeepers for the price of that and the kit I could probably go buy the USS Texas and have my very own Dreadnought! By the way, there are just two really serious issues with the kit, as far as building it is concerned. One, the hawsepipes are molded in a horizontal direction, so if you want to have the anchors go up into them you'll need to remove some material from both the hawespipe holes and anchors in order to get them to fit. Second, the brass PE from Trumpeter (both the stuff in the kit and the so-called "upgrade" set) is buttery-soft and a PAIN to work with. That's why I said I'd definitely get the WE set if I were going to do it all over again.

[smokey2]

hello everyone again. If I wasn't confused by reading all 50 pages here but just got done reading the 38 pages of unboxing the Arizona. I was wondering if anyone here can tell me the phone number for the nonprofit museum or gift store? I was going to see if they had a couple books. Dan

[OS1880]

The number for the bookstore is 1-888-485-1941. I just took a look at the online bookstore looks like they have loads pretaining to PH and the pacific.

[USS California BB44]

hello everyone again. If I wasn't confused by reading all 50 pages here but just got done reading the 38 pages of unboxing the Arizona. I was wondering if anyone here can tell me the phone number for the nonprofit museum or gift store? I was going to see if they had a couple books. Dan

They don't anymore. I was just there and they didn't even know the book I was referring to.

[dsk]

If you're referring to Paul Stillwell's book, there are several currently on Amazon at reasonable prices. Looks like the greedy ones didn't cash in after all.

[smokey2]

I was just on Hannants website and I see the have for all of us that want the missing kingfisher aircraft. It is a future release so it is anybody's guess as to when Trumpeter will release this but I wanted to share this with everyone. TU04201 1/200 scale Vought OS2U-1 Kingfisher aircraft. I know I will pick one up when they are out. Dan

[Bondoman]

I was just on Hannants website and I see the have for all of us that want the missing kingfisher aircraft. It is a future release so it is anybody's guess as to when Trumpeter will release this but I wanted to share this with everyone. TU04201 1/200 scale Vought OS2U-1 Kingfisher aircraft. I know I will pick one up when they are out. Dan

That makes sense- they're usually pretty good abt that. I got extra 1/350 Seagulls.
I would get the Kingfisher in it's own right. It would be a nice little challenge.

[Ensign Jay]

I heard that Fujimi are releasing the 1/200 Arizona next , we were told out here in Aus that Trumpeter would not be doing another production run. ? Will they ( Fujimi ) do their own 1/200 aircraft kits ?