1/200 Arizona to Pennsylvania Conversion

[gott_cha]

Mark those are great updates. Glad to see you got the damage taken care of and moved on with the progress of building. I'm sure loving the AC crane and stern cat. The additional pulley on the stern crane really brings it to life...as she was very different. It truly is the "little" things that set the girls apart. Good catch on the #3 turret and Cat detail. The added bracing there at the turret glacis looks spot on!
The Kingfishers , very smooth looking and good color contrast between them and the turret.

Looking forward to see what you come up with on correcting the torpedo blister.
Until then !

[BB62vet]

Mark,

Turret 3 and the Kingfishers & Cat all look great! I think you've captured the details exceedingly well. I'll be following this closely.

Hank

[tegunn]

Keep it up Mark! Good, clean work. Any suggestions of making open canopies on the Kingfishers? So far I'm thinking the thermaform route as always. I've found a source since Squadron quit selling theirs.

[gott_cha]

Mark!
Hey friend..how goes it on Pennsy this week...any updates to share yet?

[Mgunns]

Thanks for stopping by and the comments:

@tegunn: Randy: Thermoforming would be more to scale. I cut the sections out and left them open. The cockpit portion slid back over the turtle deck and the radio operator position slid into the rear. I left them off as they would have been out of scale. On Pennsy, I left them alone.

@ Hank: Took about a week on the Kingfishers, decals are from various sources to include the GMM Sheet for WWII Aircraft in 1/350, kit and the decals from the RIICH Kingfisher set.

@ Gottcha: I assembled the hull last night. Sanding will commence as will the added armor belt. I think I got it figured out as to how to do the aft armor belt "notch;" aviation fuel line, stations and port hole abatement complete.







I cut the anchor hawse out, sanded down the cut marks, added the plates with sheet plastic, turned the original ones upside down and opened up the hole for the chain and anchor. It isn't real pretty now, but once painted it will look like this only in measure 1 5-D. I need to work on the flange.



I will post more when I get the hull armor belt on and painted.

Progress is slow but steady.

Thanks all for stopping by, scoping it out and your comments.

[Mgunns]

Okay, more work on the hull. The Pennsylvania's torpedo transitioned back into the hull with a distinctive "notch". In the image below you can see this, Arizona was a smooth transition.


I really struggled to come up with a plan for this. One option was to do a waterline, but I wanted a full hull display, what to do.

I started with Evergreen Strip and added width to the too narrow kit torpedo blister. This added about 1/16th of an inch which in my eye made it pretty much in scale.




I used sheet plastic to blend in the bow areas, narrow Evergreen strip for the strakes as seen in the photo below.



And sanded the area to more closely resemble the actual hull. I also added a "sponson" for the aviation fuel line out of spare PE.






I am fairly happy with it for now. I am getting to the point with this where I want to move on, so work will continue apace.

I also finished the turrets.

In this dramatic photo of the Pennsylvania in dry dock, you can see that the forward turret tops are white. Pennsylvania was the third ship in Battle Division Two and the turret tops of #1 & #2 were painted white, #3 was non skid grey, although there is much discussion if this is correct, and #4 was painted true blue. Turrets #2 & #3 had periscopes on them so I made them out of rod, beads and scraps of sheet plastic. I think they look the part and will add some interest to the forward part of the ship once the model is completed.

I also added some rod on the back to resemble some sort of piping, scraped and sanded off the vent access panels and added the Eduard Supplied "stuff" (Rope?) and the spotting gun mounts to the top of the #1 and #4 turrets.

[Jeff Sharp]

Very nice Mark! One quick note about Pennsy's spotting rifles. They were positioned off to the left side of the turret top unlike Arizona's which were in the middle of the turret top behind the center gun.

[Mgunns]

Hi Jeff: Thanks for stopping by and your comments. DRAT! I will have to rethink the spotting rifle mounts. They were a major pain to put one. HMMMMMMMMMMM!

[Jeff Sharp]

Not a big deal. Only a total dork like me would notice something like that.

[BB62vet]

Mark,

The hull and turrets are really sharp! I'm keeping track of the hull modifications so I can apply that to my build when I get to it. Very impressive, indeed!

Hank

[Mgunns]

Not a big deal. Only a total dork like me would notice something like that.

Dork nothwithstanding, I value your input and comments. I may just leave them. They were really fiddly to get on.

Thanks again.

[Mgunns]

Mark,

The hull and turrets are really sharp! I'm keeping track of the hull modifications so I can apply that to my build when I get to it. Very impressive, indeed!

Hank

Thanks Hank for stopping by. Yes, as you are planning a waterline version, it would be a fairly simple operation. Randy the "tegunn" did that with his waterlined Arizona and it looks pretty snappy.

[gott_cha]

Oh yeah the T-Blister step came out looking nice Mark..good job and good eye.
Nice job on the av-gas line...I had to go back and look over the High-Res pics from early 42 at M I yard to notice the Bow area detail where the line starts and the gentle curve/offset you incorporated...Looks spot on.

The Turrets look good without the Bloomers.

Can't wait for MOAR

[Mgunns]

Oh yeah the T-Blister step came out looking nice Mark..good job and good eye.
Nice job on the av-gas line...I had to go back and look over the High-Res pics from early 42 at M I yard to notice the Bow area detail where the line starts and the gentle curve/offset you incorporated...Looks spot on.

The Turrets look good without the Bloomers.

Can't wait for MOAR

Thanks Mark:

Got the wooden deck on tonight, now on to the fittings, more pics once I make some progress.

[hondaman117]

As usual, looking good!

I'm preparing to give the hull of my Arizona the same treatment that you just did to Pennsy. I've already got some Evergreen stock that I'm planning on using, but out of curiosity what size did you use for the strakes? Once I've got those on the hull I think she's ready for her first round of paint.

I'm planning on stopping by Hobby Depot this weekend as I'll be in town to get some paint and other items I need to keep moving. I've decided on Vallejo 70898 for my paint. It's a little darker than some people would use for 5S, but I think the ship doesn't look right if it's too blue.

I'll give you a call later this week, I'm going to make sure I set aside some time to meet up if you'd like to this weekend.

Cheers!

[tegunn]

As usual, looking good!

I'm planning on stopping by Hobby Depot this weekend as I'll be in town to get some paint and other items I need to keep moving. I've decided on Vallejo 70898 for my paint. It's a little darker than some people would use for 5S, but I think the ship doesn't look right if it's too blue


Cheers!

Hondaman, give the small jar Testors of flat sea blue. It's really close to 5s. Look at the 1/200 build thread at my Arizona. I am quite pleased! The Testors Model Master Flat Sea Blue is a tad grayer...

[Mgunns]

Hi Nelson: I used Evergreen #8104 011 X043 doubled up for the strakes. Yes it is a bit over scale but it fits with the rest of the model. For the Torpedo bulges I used Evergreen #149 .040 X .250. He has it at Hobby Depot.
Working Retail at the Harley Dealer I have to work the weekends. See my P.M.

Thanks for stopping by.

[tegunn]

Mark, everything is looking quite excellent! Keep plugging away at it! After this one you could build a 1944-45 Pennsy...

[Mgunns]

Thanks for stopping by Randy, I don't foresee another one of these beasts for quite some time.

[Goodwood]

Mark, everything is looking quite excellent! Keep plugging away at it! After this one you could build a 1944-45 Pennsy...

If I had a ton of money to blow on all the 3D-printed modifications, etc. as well as some actual shop space, I'd consider it...