At 'Em Arizona Fans!

[Joe Meredith]

Yes it does.

thanks very much

[ArizonaBB39]

Hey guys, did any of you here score that 1921 AZ that FelixC was selling? Good score if you did, got to it before I did!

[ArizonaBB39]

Just a note, this weekend only the Squadron USS Arizona book is on sale (along with all of the Squadron books)

http://www.squadron.com/product-p/ss34001.htm

[Cliffy B]

Just a note, this weekend only the Squadron USS Arizona book is on sale (along with all of the Squadron books)

http://www.squadron.com/product-p/ss34001.htm

Be mindful of the price!!! I got their e-mail about the book sale earlier today and was putting together an order. Halfway through the order all of the sale prices suddenly doubled! Be careful...

[ESzczesniak]

I suppose this is a somewhat random post. Nonetheless, yesterday, December 7th, 2012, a date which will live in little infamy, was a big day for my Trumpeter 1/200 U.S.S. Arizona. Reaching such a day on the Pearl Harbor anniversery was merely a coincidence, but appreciated nonetheless. She has been nearly 10 months in the making with little work on other projects (a rarity for me). While she is not complete, the last of the major steps were finished yesterday. I must say, I am happy with the build and shocked by progress. At no point did I reach major road blocks and virtually every portion was completed quicker than I had estimated. The build included 1) the kit, 2) KA Models deluxe set, 3) GA models propellars, and 4) Master Models Gun Barrels. Here is where she stands now:



She will sit for 4-5 days while all the paints and glues thoroughly dry before a global flat coat. After that, remaining items are:
1. Shiny objects (4 propellars, 2 ships bells, unmasking the searchlights)
2. Mounting to her permanent base
3. OS2U Kingfishers
4. Rigging and flags

Here's a picture of her permanent home:



I must say, while I chose this base expecting it to compliment the ship well, I didn't realize how well it would end up complimenting the ship. Formal pictures with clear depth of fields, clean backgrounds, filters for color balance and so forth will follow once she is actually complete. However, I thought I'd share my moment of small triumpth with the Arizona fans of this thread.

[Jon C Ryckert]

Very nice build ES. Looking forward to seeing more when you finally wrap it up.

[ArizonaBB39]

Excellent work!!!!

[dsk]

Great looking build! Are you going to show us a few close-ups or make us wait in agony for the whole thing to be complete first?

By the way I did the same thing project-wise with my Trumpy Arizona. I "ceremonially" glued the first couple of parts in place on Pearl Harbor Day 2010 (while Tora Tora Tora played on the DVD), then as I finally came close to finishing it nearly a year later I waited until Pearl Harbor Day 2011 to attach the last couple of parts, again in ceremionial fashion, and again while watching TTT.

The only thing I still haven't done on mine is the rigging. I've never rigged a model ship before, and I'm too afraid of messing something up or my big fat arm knocking the whole mess onto the floor.

[ESzczesniak]

Thank you all for the compliments.

Great looking build! Are you going to show us a few close-ups or make us wait in agony for the whole thing to be complete first? ...

For better or worse, probably. The colors on all of these pictures I've taken are bleached and washed out. This is driving me crazy, as she looks far more crisp and stately in person. I've had the same issues with the 1/48 aircraft I normally build and finally got things taken care of with a paired filter/light set and a mini photobox. The problem is this ship is too large to fit in that mini photobox and is going to require a fair bit of trial and error find a new light/filter pair (I don't have studio lights, so it's a matter of working with normal room lights with special bulbs) and a way of diffusing the light for the shadows. Given that it is likely only a couple weeks before full completion, I'm likely to wait for this and make one definitive set of photos.

[dsk]

Just do like what a ot of folks have done and simply take pics outdoors. The kit is large enough that you could play around with backgrounds and make a pretty realistic-looking backdrop.

[ESzczesniak]

I recall there was a disucssion somewhere regarding the colors of the Arizona's Kingfishers (thought it was in this thread actually). However, I can't seem to find it at the moment. Can anyone point me in the direction? I'm trying to determine the colors to paint these for mid-1941 after she was painted in to 5-D. Looks like white undersides with intermediate blue tops, but could be sea blue tops.

[Tracy White]

From http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/avchr5.htm

1940

DECEMBER 30--The Bureau of Aeronautics directed that fleet aircraft be painted in non-specular colors. Ship-based aircraft were to be light gray all over; patrol planes were to be light gray except for surfaces seen from above which were to be blue gray.

1941

OCTOBER 13--The Bureau of Aeronautics directed that all fleet aircraft be painted non-specular light gray except for surfaces seen above which were to be blue-gray. In late December, this color scheme was extended to shore based airplanes except trainers.

Arizona's kingfishers were were not patrol, but I'm showing that the lightest color would have not been white.

[ESzczesniak]

From http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/avchr5.htm

1940

DECEMBER 30--The Bureau of Aeronautics directed that fleet aircraft be painted in non-specular colors. Ship-based aircraft were to be light gray all over; patrol planes were to be light gray except for surfaces seen from above which were to be blue gray.

1941

OCTOBER 13--The Bureau of Aeronautics directed that all fleet aircraft be painted non-specular light gray except for surfaces seen above which were to be blue-gray. In late December, this color scheme was extended to shore based airplanes except trainers.

Arizona's kingfishers were were not patrol, but I'm showing that the lightest color would have not been white.

What are your thoughts on this picture then:

http://ww2db.com/image.php?image_id=6127

According to the caption, this is from September, 6, 1941 on board the Arizona. On a black and white picture, I guess I can never be sure, but this looks white to me. Of course, that assumes the caption is correct.

Just to be fair, there is this picture on the same site:

http://ww2db.com/image.php?image_id=6126

It is supposedly the same date and here looks more gray.

[Tracy White]

Yes it is. Compare the "white" on the airplane to the "white" on the sailors though.

[ESzczesniak]

Yes it is. Compare the "white" on the airplane to the "white" on the sailors though.

Good point, fair enough.

[Tracy White]

Couple things... I should have said "yes, they are" as I was trying to say that they were on the same date.

Also, another factor that would make the light gray look lighter is the fact that the lower surfaces of the aircraft are wet.

[Dana Bell]

Tracy's right that the bottom color, despite appearances, is Light Gray (not white).

The reason the photos show the upper surfaces in Blue Gray before October 1941 was a local decision. The US Fleet and BuAer directed the overall camouflage schemes, but Pacific Fleet expanded the use of Blue Gray on ship-board aircraft in July 1941. When higher authorities saw the new orders, those orders were thought to be a mistake and some time elapsed before everyone straigntened things out. The October orders were a reaction to what was already happening rather than an attempt to introduce a new color scheme.

It's not the first or last time that that one organization went off on its own, leaving the paperwork to catch up later!

Cheers,


Dana

[Tracy White]

Hi Dana... I owe you an e-mail and it's on my my list for this morning.

Giving another example to back what Dana said, the air group of Lexington painted their rudder stripes on in late December, yet the order to do so was issued in January of the next year (January 5th, also on the link I dropped above).

[ESzczesniak]

Well, here's another fairly random questions. How often would the Arizona have had her Kingfishers aboard in mid-1941? I'm less than thrilled with the way these two Kingfishers have turned out. They're not awful and will do if need be, but don't do the rest of the model justice. I need to contemplate how to correct these. One of my options is to just leave them off if they weren't on boards too frequently. Otherwise, anyone know where I can get some decals for these so I can strip the paint and start over?

[Tracy White]

Well, they weren't aboard usually when at Pearl Harbor... they were flown or taxied to Ford Island for maintenance and upkeep.