1/700 Pearl Harbor Diorama

[Captain pugwash]

Great to see you are moveing on with this stupendus Diorama.

Now look sharp

Great work Jeff.

[Jeff Sharp]

Ok, it's been a LONG while since I've done any work on this beast! I had to build a separate room in my basement to house it along with a couple of other models. Now I can finally do some more work on it. In light of the recent overhead pic of Nevada that Rick E. Davis posted over on the Nevada class CASF page, it appears that Nevada had two different colored turret tops on her #1 and #2 turrets. I made the change on my Nevada to reflect what I'm seeing in that photo.

[JimVarnellABH2USN]

Looking really great Jeff, I for one can appreciate the work involved in making this work of art.

[boomstick68]

Really impressive.

[pingjockey]

Looks great!

[Chuck Bauer]

Thanks for the update. It's nice to see it all again.
Beautiful.

[BB62vet]

Jeff,

Well, I gave credit to the wrong modeler - You have done a wonderful job on this - simply astonishing!!! Kudos on a job well done!!! I posted a credit for this on SeanF's NEVADA page when I should have placed it here.

The water level photos are especially nice, almost looks real!

Hank

[Mgunns]

I hadn't seen this before. Looking good Jeff. As Hank mentioned, the water is especially realistic and in certain light looks like the real thing. Once again your attention to detail and accuracy has produced and continues to produce an interesting Diorama.

[Jeff Sharp]

Thanks guys! The area on Ford Island between California and Neosho still needs a bunch of detail work. One thing in this area that had me stumped for years is what I believe now to be a barge launch. It appears that a bunch of barges were lined up on land and lifted by a crane to the water as needed. I could be way off with this guess. Any help solving this would be much appreciated.

[JimVarnellABH2USN]

Thanks guys! The area on Ford Island between California and Neosho still needs a bunch of detail work. One thing in this area that had me stumped for years is what I believe now to be a barge launch. It appears that a bunch of barges were lined up on land and lifted by a crane to the water as needed. I could be way off with this guess. Any help solving this would be much appreciated.

Jeff,

The area you are referring to was in deed a barge launch, it was still there up until they started construction for the USS Missouri berth. of coarse it was in active but it was still there, when I was there in 1992 we actually took launch craft there to get supplies for the ship, it was kind of spooky looking seeing all the rotten pylons and rusted plates used in the earth works there. They still had two old barges on land in the same area being cut up.

[Jeff Sharp]

Thanks Jim. Do you recall if the storage area was like a dry dock? Meaning that it was dugout below ground level. Or did the barges just sit on the ground?

[JimVarnellABH2USN]

Thanks Jim. Do you recall if the storage area was like a dry dock? Meaning that it was dugout below ground level. Or did the barges just sit on the ground?

Jeff it was dug out some, but the barges that where there when I was, they where sitting on the ground at surface level, the overall area was recessed about 6 to 8 feet, a lot had filled in over the years, and almost all of it was sand, but with some coral in there as well. I guess it would be like a shell type back fill. Hope this helps you buddy.

[JimVarnellABH2USN]

Jeff I was just reviewing some pictures of Pearl Harbor just prior to 1941, it appears that the slip area was actually going to be used as a PBY launch ramp as well, remember Ford Island had an airfield on it back then, and they had three PBY ramps, the one your dealing with was an auxillary ramp but also used as a barge launch. Also, it appears to be a small sloop pier there as well, I saw craft there like Captain and Adm. barges tie up there in on of the pics. It looked like maybe three barges could tie up there end to end so it might have been maybe 50 feet or so long. Again hope this helps you bud.

[Jeff Sharp]

Thanks again Jim! That is a huge help!

[Jeff Sharp]

One of the cool things about this project is that as new evidence presents itself, I can implement it into my Dio.
Here is the latest look I believe the West Virginia was sporting. I believe she was in a state of transition with her aft two turrets, the forward stack, and the port-side boat crane wearing Sea blue paint.



It is a strange look but a unique one. If interested in how I came up with this look, check out the discussion here.

http://members.boardhost.com/Warship/ms ... 33975.html

In grayscale, it all blends in nicely and can be easily overlooked.



Plus I repainted Arizona's aft turrets Sea Blue.

[Jeff Sharp]

Here is a sneak peek at PH Dio part two:







Still a LONG way to go on this one but it's nice to see it all mapped out.

[JimVarnellABH2USN]

Wow Jeff thr plan is shaping up nicely, following with much interest.

[Ronald47]

Me too, Jim

Jeff, great work, looks good

[MartinJQuinn]

Wow - ambitious and impressive. Nice work.

[Jeff Sharp]

Thanks guys! This one is going to require quite a bit of kit bashing to get all the ships that were there during the attack.
Believe it or not but all three of my Brooklyn class cruisers are painted Sea Blue but photographed just as dark as the dark gray ships also in the photos.