The Ship Model Forum

Hi Jeff:

Yes, I see them now. They must have been taken down prior to 7 December. I am going to have to go back and figure out a way to attach those antenna leads. Great stuff, thanks for posting.

Yeah, I see no evidence of them from the post attack photos. Not sure if they burned away or they weren't there by that time.
Maybe they were removed at the same time that the range clocks were removed?

Given the fire damage to the boat deck it's very possible they burned free if they still existed. I've got some decent scans at home I'll look at and I think I seem to have at least a little paperwork about what work was done that fall by PHNY and Vestal, but that might be completely wrong. I'll try and take a look tonight or tomorrow.

Okay, this is what I have experimented so far:

What it is, is a piece of pretty rigid wire, a twisted copper eyelet in a brass tube slid onto the rigid wire. It is in the experimental stage so far, but I think I am on the right track. I have one more option that I will attempt and post if successful. What I would do would is cut the rigid wire to the 'correct' length, attach the EZ line to the bottom of the brass tube, run it through the antenna trunk and then super glue it to the wire that would go between the open space in the lower platform of the main mast, if that makes sense?
I have one more option and I will post more when I attempt that one. This is experimental to see if the eyelets would a. fit on the wire, and b. if I could fit the brass tube over the eyelet. The other option is to use the "Gaspatch" turnbuckle which has an opening on both ends. It isn't 'exact'; but it is an option.

Here is my initial attempt to replicate these lines. Even at this scale it's small enough to make you go cross eyed.

Hey Jeff, turns out I had a decent, workable shot in the salvage photos:

Looks like that will work. What did you use for the insulators. Maybe I am over engineering my array.

Thanks

Tracy White wrote:Hey Jeff, turns out I had a decent, workable shot in the salvage photos:

1942-7-24 Arizona Mainmast Fighting top.jpg

Thanks! This view also gives me a different look at that strange "antenna" coming off the fighting top about half way up on the starboard side. In this photo it is just above the written letter L.

Mgunns wrote:Looks like that will work. What did you use for the insulators. Maybe I am over engineering my array.

Thanks

I tried to keep it as simple as possible. I glued slightly larger styrene rod to my wire. Dabbed some white paint on the back side to cover up the wire. At this scale the wire is so thin you can't tell that the wire is not going through the middle of the styrene rod.

Ok is it me not seeing the wires in the photo. Did it burn away/get lost in the attack? What were the six wires for?

I know that I've run across a lot of post Pearl Harbor attack photos of the Pennsylvania. It should be very similar in the communication rigging. Photos of the early '42 refit shows many changes..unless there are some before pictures. I doubt the six leads on the AZ were removed before 12/7/41.

In the Photo of 24 July 42, you can see the horizontal bar that the insulators attached to which would indicate that they may have been there up to 7 Dec 41.

That is not the horizontal bar you see in that photo, it's the netting.
My guess is that these lines were not there on Dec 7 th.

Jeff,
Something was strung from that point. This is a crop from the Feb '42 salvage plan. One could surmise that either one or possibly two lines(off a spreader bar?) came from that point, being that where we know there were two lines on port/starboard on other lines, yet the drawing shows one.

Best post 7 Dec 41 picture I could find of the area of interest. Love them LIFE photographers!

You know I just noticed that there appears to be wires running from the lower legs of the mount running along the top of the lower set of windows...

Jeff Sharp wrote:

Tracy White wrote:Hey Jeff, turns out I had a decent, workable shot in the salvage photos:

The attachment 1942-7-24 Arizona Mainmast Fighting top.jpg is no longer available

Thanks! This view also gives me a different look at that strange "antenna" coming off the fighting top about half way up on the starboard side. In this photo it is just above the written letter L.

Do you mean this one?

tegunn wrote:Jeff,
Something was strung from that point. This is a crop from the Feb '42 salvage plan. One could surmise that either one or possibly two lines(off a spreader bar?) came from that point, being that where we know there were two lines on port/starboard on other lines, yet the drawing shows one.

This is not a Jan 42 plan. They simply used the plans they had from the Jan.41 refit to show the damage. Even the range clocks are on the plans.

Do you mean this one?[/quote]

Yes, that is the one I mean. The one on this model is not quite right though. I'll post some pics of the correct shape soon.

It appears to be "T" shaped in all the photos I've seen, though either it pivots at the base or it's just bent forward on the previous Life photo I just attached..