USN Battleship - Size of Boot Topping

[Wedgie01]

Interested to hear from any forum members with information on the 'size' of the black boot topping used on US Navy Battleships, specifically of the WW1/WW2 era, such as USS Arizona, Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas and such.

Wishing to find the actual height of the topping to translate it into 1/200 and 1/350 scales to accurise my model paint schemes.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Wedgie01]

For those who may be interested, I took my first excursion into ChatGPT to see if this new fancy AI thingy could help with my query, and guess what?

From ChatGPT: "The boot topping on the USS Arizona (BB-39) was approximately 6 to 8 feet high. This measurement varied slightly depending on the ship’s load condition (fuel, ammunition, and supplies)."

"USS Arizona’s Boot Topping Details:
• Location: It was the band between the anti-fouling red bottom hull paint and the gray upper hull.
• Color: Typically painted in black, as was standard for U.S. Navy ships during that era.
• Purpose: Helped reduce marine growth, marked the waterline, and provided a clean transition between the hull colours."

So, based on this data, I've gone down the middle. Selecting 7 feet, the topping in 1/200 scale works out at 0.42 inches or 10.7 mm, rounded.

I have to say, I'm impressed.