At 'Em Arizona Fans!

[Franz]

Dave,

Thanks for the information.

Is there some resource I'm missing or am I just not seeing the data in the plans? I hate bugging people with questions that may have been answered earlier in this forum.

Thanks again for the help.

Franz

[Franz]

So I used a scale converter I found on the following link:
http://www.scalemodelersworld.com/onlin ... -tool.html

I used Stillwells overall beam width (106' 2 3/4") which I converted to decimal of 106.23 feet. For 1/200 scale the converter came up with 6.37 inches. I converted this to roughly 6 3/8 inch wide in 1/200 scale(I don't have anything to measure in decimals of an inch or foot).

If these calculations are correct the next step is to figure out some way of printing out the cross section so the overall width matches 6 3/8 inches when it's printed out. I've tried using Windows Paint, but it's proving too difficult to zero in on the right print setting. Has anyone been through this before? If I can find some way to zero in on it for this cross section I could then use the same process for all the other plans.

Am I making this too hard or should I just take a digital copy of the plans to a print shop and have them create 1/200 scale plans for me?

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Franz

[BB62vet]

Franz,

I've PM'd you re. your printing request.

[Franz]

HMS III,

Thanks for looking at my request. I'm also a nu bee at these message boards so I have a dumb question. What does PM'd mean?

Again excuse my ignorance.

Franz

[BB62vet]

Franz,

PM'd - sent you a "Private Message" - look up at the upper left of the page where it says "Logout...."new messages" - if there is a "1" you should click on that and open/respond to the message.

OK - here is a 1931 photo of BB-39 in the yard that shows the planked hull indention on the port side:

So, something was going on there, who knows what or why????????

Hank

[Franz]

Thanks Hank, I responded back.

As for the planking I found at least one other photo than the one your showing and the original one I found it on that looks like wood decking was present. The problem is all these photos are from the early 30's I didn't find it on any later photos and of course that whole area was destroyed in the blast so there is no way of finding any info from post Pearl Harbor photos.

Anyone who decides to do the model in immediate post modernization form has a lot of detail they can add to the model with a good number of highly detailed photos to look at. Best of all no controversy as to what color she was!

Franz

[Joe Sroda]

Hello Everyone,
First post here. I just read thru the entire forum and am amazed at the talent and skill posted here. I have a question that I am sure someone here knows. I have seen pictures of a small object on top of Arizona's turrets identified as a Spotting Gun. Early in her career it was mounted on the middle cannon and later was moved to the top of the turret. Does anyone know what this was used for? Seems a lil small and short ranged to send even a small spotting round 20 some miles out as the big guns.
But it has me curious just how it was used. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks Joe

[Franz]

Hi Joe,

To answer your question these were small sub-caliber guns on the turret. They were used as part of target practice to save ammunition. Quoting from Stillwell's book page 74 "While the turret crew went through the usual drills, as did the fire-control party, the small one-pounder gun simulated the firing of the 14-inch turret guns." I don't think these were actually used against targets.
Hope this helps.


One other point, originally Arizona's 14 inch guns could only elevate 15 degrees giving her a range of approximately 10 miles. (Stillwell page 15).

Franz

[Joe Sroda]

Franz,
Thanks that answered my question. Much appreciated.
Joe

[tegunn]

Yes, there was a lot of turret gun crew training required up to the point of "pulling the trigger". Here's a close-up of a training similator on the USS Texas. It saved barrel wear. Target practice came later....

[Franz]

I've started working on the top part of the hull on the model.

I've removed the inside bulkhead they added for the RC model. I do plan to put in a deck to replace the hole just like Jeff Sharp did on his build.

I've removed the molded in ladders on the 7 rectangular access hatches to the lower decks. I plan to put in plastic sheet to represent the lower deck under these hatches and use PE ladders in place of the molded in ladders. I still need to get some narrow sanding sticks to smooth off the inside of these hatches.

As we have a lot going on I don't have a permanent place to work on the model. I'm doing what I can with what I have.

Franz

[Franz]

I've come across a problem now that I've been taking a closer look at the upper hull.

On the model and on the ship there is a lip at the top edge of the hull. The problem is that on the model it is level with the deck while on the ship it is level with the top of the blister that is on the opposite side of the scuppers from the deck edge.

As this is kind of hard to visualize I've attached 3 pictures.

The first shows the ship and the blister with the lip at the top of it.
The second shows the model with the lip even with the flat part of the outer hull and the detailed deck that is even with it.
The third picture shows a side by side of the original plan of the ship with one that I modified to show how the model looks by actual comparison.


I have some thoughts on how I might fix this, but for now I just wanted to lay out the issue in this post. I'll follow up with another post on how I think I will fix it.

Franz

[Wedgie01]

Hi Franz,

I tackled that on by running a bead of plastic strip around the deck edges.

download/file.php?id=102903&mode=view

Check out my build under the Works in Progress forum. I haven't made much progress of late due to moving house and an early retirement, but I had got to that part prior.

Cheers,
Steve

[Franz]

Hi Steve,

You have made more progress than me. I'm kind of in the same situation as far as household distractions.

I do intend to run a flat strip of plastic around the deck edge after I remove the lip on the model. I will then re-add the lip to the top of the strip.

The above is only part of the solution I am coming up with. The scraping off of the lip does reduce the width of the scuppers by about 1/32nd of an inch. The second part of the solution is getting that width back in the scuppers.

I have some thoughts on the fix for the width of the scuppers, but I'm still working through the details.

Thanks for the link and advise.

Franz

[Franz]

Steve,

One other thing that I could use help with are how you got the locations and measurements for the blister strakes. You gave a shout out to hondaman117 for his tips. Can you pass those along?

Thanks

Franz

[EntropyParlous]

Did USS Arizona equiped 1.1''/75 cal. quad AA guns in her lifetime?

[Wedgie01]

Hi Franz,

This is the link to Hondaman's build. I've referenced a number of his modifications in my build.

viewtopic.php?t=162471

Hope this is of assistance.

Cheers,
Steve

[PetrOs]

Is there any info which boats did the Arizona carry at Pearl Harbor?

[Franz]

Steve.

I really appreciate the link to Hondaman's build. The strakes look really well laid out in his photo's.

Thanks again!

Franz

[Franz]

PetrOs

I know I've seen a ships boat in one of the movies taken post attack that indicated it was from Arizona, I've also seen a picture of an officers Gig in front of Arizona while she was still burning. I could not make out what ship she was from.

I'm betting, though I have no proof, that Arizona still had her full compliment of boats (i.e. what comes with the model).

I believe this because the ships were still in transition from a peace time navy to a war time navy. The only additions to the Arizona at this point were the tubs for the AA guns that had not yet been mounted the radar mount and the crows nest. Looking at her sister ship you can see as more of an AA suit was added with heavier gun directors (with a huge increase in weight and space taken up) ships boats were left off while the number of lighter life rafts was increased.

After looking over my photos I could not find any better proof.

I'm betting somewhere there is a record of what was allocated to the ship as of that time buried in the archives.

Franz