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1/200 USS Arizona - Build Log

Joined
May 16, 2021
Messages
404
Points
168

Location
Newcastle, Australia
Trumpeter 1/200 USS Arizona - My History with this kit.

When quite young I saw the film 'Tora, Tora, Tora' in cinema, which initiated a long interest in the attack on Pearl Harbour, history resultant from that attack and, in particular, the life and fate of USS Arizona. As a service member, I had the pleasure of visiting Pearl on a number of occasions and tagged on visits to the Arizona whenever possible.
In 2012, after returning from such a visit, I conducted a regular trip to the local hobby store and was in awe to see the newly released Trumpeter 1/200 USS Arizona model taking pride of place. Needless to say that bad boy came home with me. I'd never built anything on that scale, and was still a 'build-from-kit', 'paint-by-hand' modeller.

Let's just say that, despite best intentions, I was very unhappy progressing this build; especially once I discovered after-market wooden decks and this amazing new PE thing. Not to mention the model was just 'big' and beyond my skills as a brush painter. Long story short, I shelved this build, saved my pennies, and purchased a second kit, along with a wooden decking kit and a bunch of PE additions. Also gathered a bunch of reference materials and researched the ship prior to even opening the box. Oh, also home schooled myself on air brushing; a skill I had no idea I couldn't live without. :)


This build went quite well, albeit slowly, as my retirement, relocation and, of course, COVID, all impacted my build timeline. I created a build log on the SoS forum and updated as things progressed. Overall, I was happy with my Arizona Redux, and was probably about 75% complete when, one night, my cat decided to conduct a nocturnal raid on the hobby room. He basically wrecked the aft tripod mast and surrounds to a point which I assessed as unrecoverable. Very saddened by this event, I moved onto other builds but just couldn't let the Arizona go.

So, here we are. It's early 2025 and I've just acquired my 3rd 1/200 Arizona kit. This log will hopefully see the build through to successful completion and proud display within my home.

Arizona Box.jpeg
Arizona Hull Box.jpg
 
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BB-39 USS Arizona Booklet of General Plans (1941) https://archive.org/details/bb39bogp1941
BB-39 USS Arizona Technical Drawings (1930) https://archive.org/details/bb39ga1930
Hi David,
Thanks for the links; already have the documents, but appreciate your thoughts in providing them.
Cheers,
Steve, I just ordered USS California in 1/200 scale from eBay. It’s a resin kit.
Hey Brian,
Very keen to hear your out-of-box review on the detail and quality of the kit. Good luck with it.
 
Let's Start Slow.....

I've started to work the two pieces of hull, sanding off seam lines, filling in a few small 'deformities' and removing some moulded features on the upper hull in preparation for the addition of PE upgrades from the Eduard 'Big Ed' kit.
Eduard PE Kit.jpg I



In parallel, have started building the 5" casemate guns and making some modifications to the casemate bulkheads. The kit pieces have a few moulding that, whilst placed correctly, are not representative of what was on board. The first bulkhead in the below image shows how the part comes off the spur; the second is post removal of watertight doors, gun weather shield doors, the completely inaccurate fire hoses and piping and the 'electrical boxes'.
Casmate Bulkhead-B4.jpeg
The next photo shows the one bulkhead with the PE doors and a kit based replacement for the electrical boxes; just needs some minor cleanup and priming. :)
The electrical junction was 'tedious' to create (old eyes, etc.) but when compared to the actual ship (photo), I think it's more representative than the original kit moulding.
Castmate_Box.jpeg
Casemate distro box.jpeg

 
Trumpeter kit…you might want to checkout the accuracy of the main structure before adding pe details. That casement detail photo is a nice reference.
Good luck
 
I'll be pulling up a chair and watching this build with much interest.
If you plan to depict the Grand Lady as she appeared on the Day of Infamy, perhaps these illustrations will be of some use to you.
I believe the beautiful model in the third photo is 1/350 scale. I'm afraid I don't know the identity of the model shipwright who built it.
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Trumpeter 1/200 USS Arizona - My History with this kit.

When quite young I saw the film 'Tora, Tora, Tora' in cinema, which initiated a long interest in the attack on Pearl Harbour, history resultant from that attack and, in particular, the life and fate of USS Arizona. As a service member, I had the pleasure of visiting Pearl on a number of occasions and tagged on visits to the Arizona whenever possible.
In 2012, after returning from such a visit, I conducted a regular trip to the local hobby store and was in awe to see the newly released Trumpeter 1/200 USS Arizona model taking pride of place. Needless to say that bad boy came home with me. I'd never built anything on that scale, and was still a 'build-from-kit', 'paint-by-hand' modeller.

Let's just say that, despite best intentions, I was very unhappy progressing this build; especially once I discovered after-market wooden decks and this amazing new PE thing. Not to mention the model was just 'big' and beyond my skills as a brush painter. Long story short, I shelved this build, saved my pennies, and purchased a second kit, along with a wooden decking kit and a bunch of PE additions. Also gathered a bunch of reference materials and researched the ship prior to even opening the box. Oh, also home schooled myself on air brushing; a skill I had no idea I couldn't live without. :)


This build went quite well, albeit slowly, as my retirement, relocation and, of course, COVID, all impacted my build timeline. I created a build log on the SoS forum and updated as things progressed. Overall, I was happy with my Arizona Redux, and was probably about 75% complete when, one night, my cat decided to conduct a nocturnal raid on the hobby room. He basically wrecked the aft tripod mast and surrounds to a point which I assessed as unrecoverable. Very saddened by this event, I moved onto other builds but just couldn't let the Arizona go.

So, here we are. It's early 2025 and I've just acquired my 3rd 1/200 Arizona kit. This log will hopefully see the build through to successful completion and proud display within my home.

I, too, have this kit. One of my uncles, an EM1 is buried in the Pun ch Bow,l cemetary. Take small steps. Practicve on some other model,≥
 
I'll be pulling up a chair and watching this build with much interest.
If you plan to depict the Grand Lady as she appeared on the Day of Infamy, perhaps these illustrations will be of some use to you.
I believe the beautiful model in the third photo is 1/350 scale. I'm afraid I don't know the identity of the model shipwright who built it.
View attachment 505556
View attachment 505557
View attachment 505562
Hi there,
Thanks for sending me the above information. That model looks really good. If it's 1/350, those sailors must be so small to work with!
There has been/is so much controversy still about the her colour on the day; whether she was 5-S, 5-N or in the process of being repainted from one to the other. I've done a lot of research on the paint schemes, and have settled on the following:
  • All ship vertical surfaces, from top of hull boot-topping to the top of the funnel: 5-S Sea Blue (US 07).
  • All ship vertical surfaces above top of the funnel (includes masts and battle tops): 5-L Light Grey (US 03).
  • All steel decks and ship horizontal surfaces: 5-D Dark Gray (US 04).
  • All wooden decks: Teak (C 01).
  • Hull Boot-topping: Black (C 02).
  • Hull anti-fouling: Norfolk 65-A Antifouling Red (US 14).
  • Roof of turrets 1, 2 and 4: Insignia Red (ACUS 26).
  • OS2U Kingfisher aircraft: Non-specular Blue-Gray (ACUS 06) over Non-specular Light Gray (ACUS 05).
 
watchout for those 3d stacks as might be to tall. the ones i bought in 1/429 scale are 3mm too tall but can still use them once i correct them. on the main deck forward of #3 turret, are 2 metal plates on the deck, they are supposed to be covered in wood flush to the rest of the deck. you can just see 1 of those wood covered plates under the feet of the sailors on the right row in this links.
watchout what color blue you use to paint the model as the artwork blue posted above is to light, look at this link. http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=12942&start=2400

Bryian, what time period is your California model going to represent, Pearl Harbor or her rebuild?

Wedgie01,, just letting you know that there is 8 docking keels on that class not 6 as you had on previous model.

Sheet 16 - Inner Bottom.jpg
 
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Wedgie01,, just letting you know that there is 8 docking keels on that class not 6 as you had on previous model.
Thanks David. I had not seen that particular drawing before and based previous keels on a side profile drawing.
Magnifying the general drawing of the inner bottom it is clear there are: 2 x Forward Auxiliary Keels, 2 x Outboard Main Docking Keels, 2 x Inboard Main Docking Keels and 2 x After Auxiliary Docking Keels.
I'll do my best to determine where the start and finish of each keel is and place them on my build. :)
 
if you want the larger version of that drawing which is 615kb at 4518x1042 pixels compared to the site's 107kb at 1400x322 pixels then i need your email address.
 
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