In August of 2010 I mentioned to my wife about this great model coming out by Trumpeter – the 1/200 scale model of the USS Arizona and that it was going to be a one time production. She said "why don't you order it?" So I did. Do I have a great wife or what?
Well I received it in the mail yesterday. As you can see from the picture it's big!! I'll be posting more info on it as time goes on. This one fantastic model tho – and will take a large amount of room to build – and a large amount of room to display. Truly a worthy and historical subject.
Now here is a little tidbit – my parents both grew up in small towns near each other in central Utah. They grew up with a guy who joined the Navy before WWII started. He was serving on the USS Arizona. The ship put in at San Francisco and he had leave so he went to visit his family in Utah. Well transportation being what it was he was late getting back to the ship and was listed as AWOL. The ship sailed for Hawaii before he got back on board so he was transferred to another spot (don't recall the details). Anyway – he was not on the ship on Dec 7, 1941 when the Japanese attacked even though he was still listed as being part of the crew. So for that reason his name is listed as lost in action on the marble plaque at the Arizona memorial. I just wish I could recall his name – I can't ask my parents either since they have both passed on.
This is the box it comes in – from Stevens International:
This is the box inside with a can of Campbell's soup to give it scale:
When you open the box this is what you see – it is very well packaged.
Starting with the long box on the top that contains the hull…
The long narrow box is next – it contains the instructions, painting guide illustration, and decals:
Under that the box on the left contains these parts:
This is the contents of the center box:
Finally this is the contents of the box on the right – it contains the clear parts (aircraft) as well as the photo etch and various other bits….
11/7/2010 A few observations on the Arizona – the model looks fantastic. There is no information however on where to place the railings, no detail on rigging the ship and the large color painting guide is pretty basic. I would have liked a little more information on detail painting and photo etch railing placement. That said I'm very pleased with the model. It will look fantastic next to my Nichimo 1/200 Yamato. You will defiantly need a case for this one – it's big. I should get the additional photo etch set in a few weeks. There are four sprues of 1/200 crew – unfortunately their poses leave a lot to be desired and the detail is not crisp at all. I won't be using them. As you can see in the above picture the main guns are provided in aluminum and have a recessed bore. All of the other barrels are in plastic and also have recessed bores. The additional photo etch set supplies all of the other barrels in brass which will be very nice. There were comments about the test shots of the model that were on the internet a few months ago. It seemed that the lower hull was longer or shorter (I forget) than the upper hull. That is not the case here – the upper hull and lower hulls match up perfectly. I haven't yet taken the hull out of the protective plastic – but I was still able to ascertain that the fit between the two is really excellent. I have a copy of "Battleship Arizona: An Illustrated History" by Paul Stillwell which is supposed to be a great source of information and detail for this model. It indeed has a great amount of information and a ton of photographs. I will need to determine if the Dec 7, 1941 version had red turret tops as is depicted on one side of the included color painting chart.
2/13/2011 I've taken about 50 more pictures of the kit and here they are…..
7/9/2011 I've received more photo etch – this is from White Ensign Models in England. I purchased the sets from Great Models. These look to be very nice and will really add a lot to the model. The instructions are the best I have seen for photo etch products!
7/30/2011 I have just received the crew for the Arizona – Preiser makes fantastic figure castings in many scales. I just found out that they make 1/200 scale figures too so I sent off for some. See the pics and judge for yourself. Of course these aren't a navy crew but with a little carving here and there and correct painting you won't know the difference. I used Preiser figures on my 1/200 Nichimo Yamato too – but there I used Z scale figures – that's 1/220 scale so they are all about 6 inches shorter. I couldn't find any 1/200 figures back then. Maybe that's ok since the Japanese are typically shorter. You certainly can't tell any difference on the model.
8/3/2011 I have just found a new website that is very interesting. It’s called SCALEDECKS.COM. They produce scale ship model decking in both wood and photographic paper and the deck for the 1/200 USS ARIZONA will be available in the next few weeks. The decking is reviewed in MODELWARSHIPS.COM and you can read more about it at these links:
http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=77275
http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=77976
They offer 4 finishes:Natural Teak, Natural Maple, Matte Photographic Paper and Tinted Wood.
The first two are actually a wood product. The decks don’t come with adheasive backing – you have to glue it yourself. The deck for the Arizona will be about $100. Kinda steep but you will get an amazing deck for it. I have no affiliation with this company – I just think their products are way cool.
Here is a pic of a Photographic Paper deck…
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