The Ship Model Forum

by **MartinJQuinn** » Sat Nov 29, 2025 9:56 am

My guess is that it would be a minimum of two pieces, that meet in the middle.

Nice work, BTW.

by **mconnelley** » Fri Nov 28, 2025 7:30 pm

Hello:

Here's a zoom in on another famous photo, and to me it looks more like one piece where it passes aft of the main mast. It's a bit tricky with the overhang from the turret catapult.

It also looks like there are a number of cut-outs along the perimeter of the awning. I can't tell if that's because there were cut-outs along the perimeter of the awning of if there is something in the foreground that doesn't show well in the photos but blocks part of the edge of the awning in the photo.

Here's another view from Oct 1941. It doesn't help to address the question of whether the awning was split in the middle, but it is a different perspective.

Cheers
Mike

by **Jeff Sharp** » Fri Nov 28, 2025 5:57 pm

Sometimes photographs can be deceiving. What’s causing the appearance of two awnings is the overhang of the back of turret #3 along with its aircraft catapult and also the rangefinder platform from the mainmast hanging over as well.

by **FFG-7** » Fri Nov 28, 2025 4:21 pm

this shows a gap so 2 pieces. http://navsource.net/archives/01/043/014303a.jpg

by **mconnelley** » Fri Nov 28, 2025 3:20 pm

Hello:

Regarding the nested rafts, I'm going to try to make a CAD model and 3D print a bunch of them at once. Making one wasn't too bad, but I need almost 30 of them. More on that if I can get the parts made.

In other news, Arizona is getting closer to paint. I've got the deck edge railings on, which includes the parts that support the awnings. I took this from the Tom's set for Oklahoma and Nevada, since their Arizona set didn't have the awning supports. However, on Dec 7th Arizona had awnings up but Nevada and Oklahoma didn't. I mocked up some awnings by just cutting out approximate shapes from paper. I haven't decided how I want to implement the awnings on the model...either sheet plastic, sheet brass, or something else.

I also haven't figured out how the amidships awning was rigged. It might have been one piece, spanning from one side of the ship to the other, passing between the main mast and turret 3. Or maybe it was two pieces, with a gap on the centerline of the ship.

There are a few things to add to the main mast of Oklahoma and Nevada, and then *I think* we'd be ready for primer.

Cheers
Mike

by **FFG-7** » Sun Oct 12, 2025 9:17 pm

is the wire on the outside or inside? I would use either a scribe or a pointed blade to be used as a scribe to scribe between the outer raft & inner raft to give more detail depth between the 2 rafts

by **mconnelley** » Sun Oct 12, 2025 8:08 pm

I'm pretty happy that I *FINALLY* figured out how to make a nested pair of rafts. I haven't been able to find this among aftermarket parts. As an example, I include a picture of Maryland showing the rafts on the two forward turrets.

This is my third attempt. I took a 3D printed raft, and wrapped 0.5 mm copper wire around it. I was able to eventually get a good fit. Here it is with a first coat of primer, resting on the side of a turret. I like how it turned out. I'm not so fond of how long it took me to make this one, and that I have a lot more to make.

Mike

by **mconnelley** » Sun Oct 12, 2025 7:57 pm

FFG-7 wrote:did you use a chisel blade to remove the old gun tubs?

First, I used my sprue cutter to cut the raised wall around the edge of the gun tub. I then found that the floor of the tub was a bit above the rest of the deck, yet cast into the deck. I used my Dremel and a grinding burr to grind down most of the floor. The last step was to use a chisel blade to smooth out the deck to be flat and flush with the surrounding deck. Next I'll do a little scribing of the planks.

Mike

by **FFG-7** » Sat Oct 11, 2025 6:44 pm

did you use a chisel blade to remove the old gun tubs?

by **mconnelley** » Sat Oct 11, 2025 5:02 pm

I've been working on new gun tubs for the quarter deck of Nevada and Oklahoma.

The first picture shows my initial attempt. Overall it's ok, but the rib detail is from a 1/350 PE set and is a bit clunkier than I'd like.

The second picture shows what I've settled on doing. From left to right:
1) Just bare brass wall on a plastic disk, and a short pedestal.
2) As in the above photo, with the PE rib that looks too thick.
3) Used 0.2 mm copper wire for the top rib, and then 0.2 mm sheet plastic for the sides that wrap around the bottom. with a first coat of primer to see what it all looks like together.
4) With just the 0.2 mm copper wire in place, before the ribs go on.

I like the look with the 0.2 mm details. It's thicker than it should be if it were true to scale, but gets the point across without looking too clunky.

Mike

by **mconnelley** » Thu Oct 09, 2025 3:27 pm

And here's the result:

by **mconnelley** » Thu Oct 09, 2025 3:26 pm

I've installed the yardarms on Nevada and Arizona. I first airbrushed them with a light gray primer before folding them, so that we wouldn't see shiny brass on the inside after it's folded. Folding was kind of tricky, to keep the sides flat and the edges sharp and not end up with some weird tube.

There is also the problem of alignment. The goal is to keep the narrow side down (i.e. get the roll angle right), get the two of them level with the fight top, and with the right 'V' angle, and have the yardarms on Nevada and Arizona identical. So I made a simple jig, that's just a piece of plastic card with a notch cut out that allows the foremast to hang on the bottom of the foretop. I drew two lines on the card where I want the yardarms to be. When the foremast is hanging in the jig, the jig gets the position (x,y,z) of the yardarm correct, helps to get the root right, and get the angle between the two correct.

Cheers
Mike

by **FFG-7** » Mon Oct 06, 2025 7:56 am

did you download the plans off the Ship Design Drawings that I might have linked before & if so then look at Sheet 3 - Outboard Profile as you can just see it there & maybe calculate the height to see if worthwhile at 1/700 scale.

by **mconnelley** » Mon Oct 06, 2025 12:19 am

Dang, you're right about the AA gun tub. I can't slip anything past you guys. On the kit, the tub is molded with the hull. I wish I'd noticed that before I put the railing on.

Here's a photo I found during the salvage, that clearly shows that the AA tub is a bit off of the deck. The quad 1.1" was never installed, so a 3" (?) gun is there instead.

Cheers
Mike

by **FFG-7** » Sun Oct 05, 2025 7:03 pm

Mike, were the gun tubs for the not installed quad 1.1" gun glued on the main deck or part of the original cast of the model as those 2 tubs are supposed to be slightly raised from the deck not flat on the deck?

by **mconnelley** » Sun Oct 05, 2025 6:04 pm

Hello:

This project was on the back burner for a bit, while I started working on the 1/350 Yamashiro, finished an 1/32 F-8, and started a 1/32 Tomcat. But I've brought them back onto the work bench.

The immediate goal is to get them into paint, and to do that I need to add a lot of the fine details that I'd like to have on before paint. Here's Oklahoma, and I've added the railing around the edge of the deck, and the yardarms on the fighting tops. I also gave the fore and main masts a shot of primer to get a better idea of what it'll look like.

Mike

by **Jeff Sharp** » Sat May 17, 2025 2:36 pm

mconnelley wrote:To the right is my Arizona paint mule (using the Dragon kit). The hull around the quarter deck is in Vallejo 70.900 French Mirage Blue, which is a close match to 5-S sea blue, which Arizona (and Tennessee, Maryland, and West Virginia) apparently had at the time of the attack.

Please don't! You're doing so good so far.

by **mconnelley** » Fri May 16, 2025 7:05 pm

One more thing:

Just got an order in from Blackcat Models. First, I'm quite jealous of the name, as I have a wonderful black cat myself. Second, their 5"/25 guns are fantastic. I dared to remove one of them from the print raft, to compare with the resin part. I suspect that the resin part was near the limit of what could be cast at the time. Technology has come a long way since then.

Mike

by **mconnelley** » Fri May 16, 2025 6:59 pm

And now for something completely different:

I've painted the tops of the turrets. From top to bottom we have Arizona, Nevada, and Oklahoma.

To the right is my Arizona paint mule (using the Dragon kit). The hull around the quarter deck is in Vallejo 70.900 French Mirage Blue, which is a close match to 5-S sea blue, which Arizona (and Tennessee, Maryland, and West Virginia) apparently had at the time of the attack. The turrets and superstructure are painted in Vallejo 70.836 London Gray which is a close match to 5-D but a bit lighter for scale effect. I like the look of the French Mirage Blue as 5-S, so I think I'll go with that.

Mike

by **mconnelley** » Fri May 16, 2025 6:53 pm

Hello:

I've finished adjusting the bow profiles for Arizona, Nevada, and Oklahoma.

For Nevada (or maybe it's Oklahoma) there was either a casting flaw or the tip of the bow broke off, so I filed the area flat and glued on a bit of sheet plastic with a liberal amount of superglue. Once that set, I filed it down, using drill bits like pin gauges to get the right depth to the curve.

Arizona needed a lot more help. I glued on bits of sheet plastic, slathered it in superglue, then slathered that in putty. A bunch of filing later and we have the final bow as seen here. I similarly used drill bits to get the right depth to the curve.

Mike

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