SPA Modeler

With the Mitsubishi F-2B finally out of the way, I decided to jump in on a ship kit my sister bought for me at a garage sale in Ohio for $2. I've started a work on it for a short time last night - not much to show on my progress.

The kit:




The size of the kit. It is about 3 1/2 inches wide, 21ish inches long.



Hull comes in 2 parts...



This kit may have been a reissued kit from an older Arizona kit. At one point, it had a battery pack option to turn this to a motorized version to float and propel on water. Notice the battery box insert for 4 AA batteries on the lower hull.

Oh wow - a battleship! Cool - according to scalemates she dates back to 2001 Banner Models? new release and forward to a 2022 Eduard release so there may be some extras available.

Make sure you add the batteries.

Here some inspiration… it’s USS Oklahoma or USS Nevada, the class previous to USS Arizona, but that is how she looked before warpaint was applied…

good stuff, Tom. I know that you will do it justice.

Thanks Lyle. This one be a bit easier to build because:

It's 1/350 scale, not 1/700 scale

Easy on the eyes when it comes time to do the rigging.

And finally.... I can go big or go home!

I managed to sling a coat of primer on just before noon today. That's just the majority of it except for the turrents, tower fiddly parts, boats, etc... I'll hit those hopefully by tonight.

The 2 piece hull sections...



Guns, cranes, sub decks, and other fiddly bits....

Looking good Tom.

Are you planning to build her in her 1930’s fit or Pearl Harbor fit? If you’re planning to do her December 7th fit, you’ll need to alter the masts on the foreword fighting top to a lattice style, instead of the poles in the kit.



From 1930 rebuild until late 1940



Late 1940/early 1941 overhaul new lattice configuration

I'm doing it OOB 1941... Ain't got the patience to alter anything.

Well, I’ve been researching her colors prior to her sinking on December 7th, 1941. I was going to go with 5-N Navy Blue but it wasn’t she was not painted in her wartime Navy Blue colors yet. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Navy ordered all ships painted in wartime colors of 5-N Navy Blue.

Now the dilemma… I’m leaning towards either 5-O Ocean Grey or 5-H Haze Grey. This would put her around the end of July 1941.

https://www.sovereignhobbies.co.uk/page ... our-scheme

So my question is was the Arizona painted in Ocean grey or Haze grey prior to her sinking?

I also found an interesting tidbit of the Arizona - the tops of her turrets 1, 2, and 4 were painted Insignia Red.

Any advice will be appreciated.