At 'Em Arizona Fans!

[Channell]

OK, no more "guest"... I'm official now! Here's some more pics:











Can you tell I'm excited to be almost done!

I just need to finish up some detail painting on the motor launches, build the planes, add a few details, rigging and figure out a place to put the thing!

[Hippy Ed]

Look at da size of that thing!!

[mark_sch]

Looks great!!
Mark

[richtea]

Very nice build channell,
she looks a stunner.
Regards
Richard

[Channell]

Thanks for the kind words! To think it only took a couple hundred hours hidden in the basement hunched over hundreds of little plastic and metal pieces that I could barely see to get it into the world! .

[dsk]

Look great, Channell. Like me you couldn't resist trying to make "life-size" pics with the sky for background.

[dsk]

By the way.....

Did Trumpeter ever release spare 1/200 Kingfishers?

[ESzczesniak]

I remember someone posting some pictures inside the 5" casemates on the Arizona or a sister ship and was wondering if someone might be able to point towards them again. I'm trying to figure out if the floor inside these casemates should be hardwood or painted gray deck. When I looked at them way back when, I hadn't paid attention to that detail. Now I'm just about there on my 1/200 Arizona and need to figure it out. Thanks for any help.

[Tracy White]

There was disagreement on that. Most likely linoleum, but the exact shade was not determined. Based on this 1943 guide (secondary battery compartments) I'm guessing Deck Gray, but it's just a guess.

[ESzczesniak]

There was disagreement on that. Most likely linoleum, but the exact shade was not determined. Based on this 1943 guide (secondary battery compartments) I'm guessing Deck Gray, but it's just a guess.

Thanks once again. I think I'll go with the generic Deck Gray since seeing anything inside the casemates will be tough...even in 1/200 scale. The real question for me was something light colored like bare wood versus something dark colored like Deck Gray. Don't think too much else will be visible.

[dsk]

I painted the inside of mine dark brown (with the assumption that brown linoleum was used), but with the ship assembled you really can't see inside the casemates unless you shine a flashlight inside.

[Channell]

I painted the inside of mine dark brown (with the assumption that brown linoleum was used), but with the ship assembled you really can't see inside the casemates unless you shine a flashlight inside.

I was thinking the same thing but I looked at my above pics (painted the same as the rest of the deck) and they now stick out like sore thumbs to me.

Oh well, I'm basically done; I suppose it's time to stop obsessing over this hunk of plastic and start something new!

[Klems]

I've recently started my 1/200 Arizona along with the rest of you, and what a great kit she is! I usually build 1/96 RC models, but its kind of a pain to scratch build everything, so I'm taking a break for a bit. I will be converting her to RC, as she is perfect for it and installing the gear isn't too difficult.

This is more towards Tracy White, as I can see you've done a great deal of research into this area and I respect your opinion. I've spent the past couple months researching how I would like to paint her and finally decided on the January-May 1941 period when she was still in pre-war grey on all her vertical surfaces. Its the horizontal surfaces where my questions arise.

I read the part on the linoleum and that's a little hazy for me so I think I'm just going to do deck grey on all the decks that weren't wood.

In the Squadron book, the photos reveal in the late 1930's that her turret #2 had a dark grey top and a large "39" on top for spotting purposes. http://www.navsource.org/archives/01/013955a.jpg I'm not really a fan of the red tops and I actually really like this paint measure. Is there any evidence to support that when she came out of her last refit in Jaunary 1941, she had grey turret tops and possibly the "39" still on? Or even just the grey turret tops?

[Tracy White]

No, she had the red tops from at least 1938; I've posted this document, which was issued in August of 1938, and calls for red. But hey, it's your model, who's to say you can't paint it that way?

[Dana Bell]

In September 1937 Arizona reported that the tops of turrets 2 and 4 had been painted red as ordered. Newly discovered documents show the turret color orders were issued a year earlier than previously thought and that the omitted Turret 1.

Cheers,



Dana

[BFR4570]

In the Squadron book, the photos reveal in the late 1930's that her turret #2 had a dark grey top and a large "39" on top for spotting purposes. http://www.navsource.org/archives/01/013955a.jpg I'm not really a fan of the red tops and I actually really like this paint measure. Is there any evidence to support that when she came out of her last refit in Jaunary 1941, she had grey turret tops and possibly the "39" still on? Or even just the grey turret tops?

In looking at this photo, a few things stand out for me. The tops of #2 & #4 turrets do appear to be darker than the #1 turret (which would fit with the post above about only turrets #2 & #4 being painted), but since this is a black & white photo, that does not mean they were a darker gray. They appear to be consistent with other photos where the turrets were known to be red.

A second aspect of this photo that stands out is the top of the Mainmast, as opposed to the top of the Foremast. While both have the sunlight at the same angle, the top of the Mainmast appears considerably darker than the Foremast does. I attribute this to the Mainmast being in the path of any smoke generated while underway. Am I offbase?

The third thing I noticed is that the canvas covers on all the 5"/51's gun deck are open. While the guns would interfere with being able to see the interior deck of these openings, I also note that the three entryways to this deck are also open. These would provide an unobstructed view of the decks immediately inside these hatches. If you model this ship with the canvas raised on the 5"/51's, then it would be reasonable to also have these entryways open. If you choose to use the brown linoleum (or even the Deck Gray), this would add just a touch more color and interest to the model, IMHO.

[casiterite]

I don't know if this has been covered already, but can anyone please tell me how fast Arizonas turrests rotate at to swing into action?

The reason I ask is that I have aquired the 1/200 Trumpeter kit, and I was going to convert her to RC, and would like to fit moving turrets. Be nice to know how fast they rotate so that I can achieve something realistic for the period.

Thanks

John

[Cliffy B]

Ask and you shall receive!

http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_14-45_mk10.htm

Rate of Elevation: About 4 degrees per second
Rate of Train: About 2 degrees per second

[Seeadler290]

Ask and you shall receive!

http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_14-45_mk10.htm

Rate of Elevation: About 4 degrees per second
Rate of Train: About 2 degrees per second

Great question and fascinating answer! It really puts perspective on the futility of KM Tirpitz using his main armament for anti-aircraft work during raids as recorded. One shot only would have been possible IF perfectly anticipated/timed, ...and what are the chances of that?

[BFR4570]

Ask and you shall receive!

http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_14-45_mk10.htm

Rate of Elevation: About 4 degrees per second
Rate of Train: About 2 degrees per second

Great question and fascinating answer! It really puts perspective on the futility of KM Tirpitz using his main armament for anti-aircraft work during raids as recorded. One shot only would have been possible IF perfectly anticipated/timed, ...and what are the chances of that?

Plus the fact that it would be extremely hazardous for the regular anti-aircraft gun crews to do their jobs while a ship's Main Batteries are firing. Blowback off those babies is brutal. The only survivors would be those inside enclosed turrets.

So the 14"/45's would take 45 seconds to train a turret to full perpendicular! No wonder naval gunnery was among the least accurate in those days. Hard to hit moving targets when you have to take into account how long it will take to get your gun lined up with where you think the target will be at the time you will be able to fire it! Were the 16"/50's faster to rotate?