I recently got a nice deal on a Trumpeter 1/200 Arizona. I’m planning on building the model and converting it to sail as well.
I know about all the heated back and forth about how the ship looked on Dec. 7th. I’m not really interested in that. I want to portray the ship earlier in 1941 as she looked when out on maneuvers and gunnery practice that year.
Is there a good modeling book or reference that would cover things pre-Pearl Harbor attack? Does anyone know what the accuracy cutoff would be for the Trumpeter model before December? For example, this photo is supposed to be from sometime in 1940/41 and the ship doesn’t have it’s MK 33 directors yet.
This December 7th? Hope you do a build thread as I’d like to watch that. I don’t have any references as I don’t do ships but am looking forward to this challenge!
I went ahead and changed the title…I don’t even plan to start on the thing until sometime next year. I’m just trying to get some research together and figure out how the ship was painted before that date.
That photo was probably taken in July of 1939, with ARIZONA departing the San Francisco Bay area. The bridge in the photo is the San Francisco - Oakland Bay bridge, with San Francisco in the background. July '39 was the last time ARIZONA was there.
ARIZONA acquired the Mk33 directors, as well as the bird bath, 5"/25 gun shields, and the 1.1" gun tubs during the 1940 / 41 yard period in Bremerton.
Contact Jeff Herne at Scale Colors paint (Info@ScaleColors.net) At the recent IPMS Nats, Jeff gave a presentation on the Fleet colors during the summer/fall of 41. Interesting findings.
Thanks for that information. I figure that the ship probably wasn’t greatly changed in later 1941 and I’d be clear to paint it as it was around May to October 1941 (Oklahoma collision) but I’ll have to do some more research.
I appreciate the contact information. Hopefully he can provide some insight. I’m used to there being some mock up images of different paint schemes for a vessel throughout their service career, but all I ever see on Arizona is December 1941 colors.
I have had the experience of doing two of these monsters! The First was in the Medium Blue grey our ships carried BEFORE 1941! Yes. there has been much speculation on her colors that day! Admiral King was noted to drag his feet on these things. Because I guess he figured if the paint ain’t peeling, I’ll get it done before next sortie!
I painted the other in a nice dark medium grey with a light overspray of faded Sea Blue. More for color effect than accuracy. She was in transition, as a lot of our ships were in 40-41. I just decided to do what I seemed right. Well, My customers were satified anyway, so that’s what counts!