I saw a Tweet that someone was joking about, deservedly BTW.
“What ship was in the movie Titanic?”
It was the one that was sunk by a Japanese submarine pulling the US into the Vietnam war…
Where are you guys getting your history from, a modern textbook?
“What ship was in the movie Titanic?” Thats easy, it was the Poseidon.
Anyway, some small progress with adding more cotton, white, and getting ready to put on a coat of varnish.
Baby steps.
Trumpeter makes a great little Curtiss SOC Seagull.
That’s some really nice work there Scott! I hope mine, whenever I get around to it, looks half as good!
BTW: I think the ship in Titanic was the S.S. Lollipop.
She was a good ship… [:$]
Scott i love the wake, especially off the stern!
Thanks everyone.
The tinfoil really adds to the 3D effect. It still gives of translucents with the blues and greens painted over it. Lots of fun experimenting going on tonight with the cotton and varnish. Anyone know who might make 1/540 scale flying fish?
Not sure you would see it in 1/540, but you can try purposes possably.
Yeah, the foil is a game changer for me.
It looks great Scottrc. Nice work sir.
Looks great Scott. The foil really does look good!
Not sure about flying fish but I’d guess you could make some 1/540th dolphins and porposes…
Maybe even a giant sea turtle…
Wow, this GB is really fun to follow! Scott, I have to agree that your water effect looks really convincing.
I thought I would have something to show by now, but actually when I said I would start earlier this week that word “start” would also include research. A significant part of this week was researching the best photos and build reviews on the web. I’ve also been studying the stand alone instructions associated with both Tom’s and Eduard’s PE.
As I look closer at the kit I find that it looks very familuar and then it dawned on me. It is very close to the box scale Revell kit I built in the early 70’s. So I’m trying to use previous on-line builders knowledge, research, and what the existing kit has to offer. In that process I have found many issues with both the accuracy and fit of this model:
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bildge keels are incorrect on lower hull
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poor fit of the lower and upper hull
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poor fit of the 3 piece main deck
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poorly molded kingfisher aircraft
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missing the boat cradles
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over simplified deck details (example: gipsy wenches)
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main gun blast bags or no bags?
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hull armor belts leading edge wrong
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docking keels missing under lower hull
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incorrect 5" destroyer gun stations under superstructure
I could keep going, but I will identify the issues as the build moves forward.
Most of the detail issues will be fixed with the PE I already have, but some of it will have to be purchased or built from scratch. I already bought the 1/350 OS2U kingfisher aircraft in clear from Trumpter. The gipsy wenches on the deck by the main guns will have to be reworked or created.
I purchased three books to help me make some of the correct choices as I want to make the ship appear as the updated 1941 variant: a) The Battleship USS Arizona by Waldemar Goralski, b) Squadron At Sea, USS Arizona, c) USS Arizona Ship’s Data, Photo History. I hope these books will provide what I need (they are currently in the mail).
Now that I know the version (period) I want to build next is to determine if I want it to be a full hull or waterline model. Seeing some of the nice work here, and since I have never done an ocean scene, I am leaning toward the waterline version. The waterline kit would also eliminate all of the lower hull issues and it would most likely look better with the little people on it; what do you think?
According to the PE instructions I have a lot of plastic removal for water tight doors, ladders, stairs, verticle walls, etc. I have my trusty dremel, files, sanders, and hobby knives ready so once again, I hope to have photos soon…I promise.
Ben
Decided on the colors?[6][6][6][6][6][6]
An important one to add would be Battleship Arizona; an illustrated history by Stillwell.
Thank you for the book suggestion, I just ordered it…
As for the colors, I have heard of both the battleship gray, and a more recent discovery of the darker blue/gray:
According to new findings released 07dec2006, she was mediterannean blue with red turret tops to signy the float plane squadron
http://starbulletin.com/2006/12/07/news/story04.html
Are there any other paint schemes after the new upgrades, 1940 - 1941?
Ben
I found this in a very old FSM thread, by “waynec”:
Posted by waynec on Saturday, September 15, 2007 11:19 AM
update from nautical resaerch guild convention 151100sep07 cst.
just finished hearing talk on arizona color schemes from don pruel. he built the new model at the arizona memorial museum first displayed on 07dec2006. in early 41 she was 5D dark gray with 5L light gray tops. 5D dark gray is almost black. she was repainted in late 1941 when the navy got rid of 5D dark gray. on 07dec41 she was 5S sea blue with 5L tops, a black boot and antifouling red bottom. the tops of nos. 1, 2, 4 gun turrets were insignia red.
apparently the sailors called 5S sea blue mediterranean blue. floquil has a mediterannean blue but that is a british color and very blue. the color blue on the sited newspaper article is too light and too blue.
And here is more from “waynec” regarding the ships colors:
Posted by waynec on Saturday, October 27, 2007 4:42 PM
New color scheme pearl harbor ships (and i don’t remember where i got this)
BATDIV 1 – Red (solid)
BATDIV 2 – White (Solid)
BATDIV 3 – Blue (Solid)
BATDIV 4 – Black (Solid)
BATDIV 5 – Yellow (Solid)
CRUDIV 2 – Yellow (Double stripe)
CRUDIV 3 – Red (double stripe)
CRUDIV 4 – Blue (single stripe)
CRUDIV 5 – Yellow (single stripe)
CRUDIV 6 – Black (single stripe)
CRUDIV 7 – Green (single stripe)
CRUDIV 8 – Black (double stripe)
CRUDIV 9 – Green (double stripe)
Light Cruisers
USS Detroit & Raleigh – Blue (double stripe)
USS Richmond – Red (double stripe)
USS Augusta and Omaha – Red (single stripe)
In addition, battleships and cruisers were to paint the top of their after turret or enclosed mount to correspond with the section colors of their embarked aircraft. The colors were red, white, blue, black, green, and yellow for the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth sections (respectively).
Commander in Chief, U.S. Fleet
Admiral Husband E. “Mustapha” Kimmel
Battle Force (Task Force 1)
Vice Admiral William S. Pye
Battleships, Battle Force
RADM Walter S. Anderson
Battleship Division 1
RADM Issac C. Kidd
BB-36 Nevada (Nevada Class)-Captain Francis W. Scanland
BB-38 Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania Class)-Captain Charles M. “Saavy” Cooke, Jr.
BB-39 Arizona (Pennsylvania Class)-Captain Franklin Van Valkenburg
Battleship Division 2
BB-37 Oklahoma (Nevada Class)-Captain Howard D. “Ping” Bode
BB-43 Tennessee (Tennessee Class)
BB-44 California (Tennessee Class)-Captain Joel W. Bunkley
Battleship Division 4
RADM Walter S. Anderson
BB-46 Maryland (Colorado Class)-Captain D.C. Godwin
BB-48 West Virginia (Colorado Class)-Captain Mervyn Bennion
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Here is more paint information from Tracy White. The link below provides additional clarification on the ship and main gun colors (very interesting read).
Posted by Tracy White on Sunday, October 28, 2007 12:27 AM
Hi Guys. I’m one of the researchers that worked on the Arizona paint scheme, although I was more ancilatory… the true “Blue Crew” was originally Don Montgomery and Steve Wiper, with Don Preul and Ron Smith working on it when Don was hired to build the model and asked Ron to keep his eyes open as he researched.
That said, the “med blue” term came from one of the Kingfisher observers who was familiar with aircraft colors such as those of the RAF more so than the surface ship paint.
Regarding the comment about the “gun Deck” color; if you’re referring to the deck above the main deck that the boats and open mounts are on, this WAS wood and was not painted at any time in Arizona’s career. Otherwise, metal decking (such as those on levels above this) were to be painted 5-D or 5-S, depending on time frame.
I’ve got a couple other links of use for you.
The first will show you the turret markings. Arizona is a fluke in some regards as all of hers are the same color, but most of the others were not. The first two turrets denoted the division, and the #4 turret denoted which ship in the division it was. This way, spotters could tell which ship was theres when directing fire. Pennsy had two whites and a red. Cruisers did not have solid colors and the research on this has not been finished yet. Lines, squares, and circles were some of the patterns that were used in the same colors.
http://www.researcheratlarge.com/Ships/S19-7/PearlHarborBatDivMarkings.html
The second link is a bunch of Navy Ship camouflage documents I’ve scanned in and posted as HTML (Including Pearl Harbor ships), so if you want to do some more reading feel free; I’m adding to it as I can:
http://www.researcheratlarge.com/Ships/S19-7/
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Quite frankly, I am not completely sure if this hurts or helps me regarding the colors. Was the Arizona in the old, new, or in the process of receiving the updated paint scheme?
Also after looking at the other completed models (including the 1/200 kits), I will most likely have to add the lower hull to get a more accurate position of the boot line and to place her more accurately in motion while in the water.
Ben
Good info Ben,
Are you planning on before or after her fender bender with the Oklahoma in Oct 41?
Stupid question.
How do you guys get the brass cannons to line up like the plastic ones do? I’m having the hardest time trying them to line up in threes on the turret. I never had a problem with the tanks and I know the ships are different.
I’m just coming along slowly with all the other stuff I’ve been doing that takes time away from my models.
KC, I use CA and some bracing, IE a piece of sprue, paintbrush etc to prop them up. Make sure they are lined up and leave till dry. The nice thing about indivudal barrels is they can be placed in diffrent elevations, if displayed in a battle.
That depends on the ship. Arizona couldn’t do that, Missouri could.