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December 7, 1941
Sunday Routine...
Editor Note
All sailors love Sunday routine. It is the one day of the week you do not have to get up at 0600. You can sleep in then head up to the galley for a later breakfast then spend the day relaxing. During my own time in the Navy we loved Sunday routine. It was a sad fact that engineering was normally immune from the luxury of a day off, but we did get in some free time.
On Sunday routine if you were in the duty section you had to stay onboard your ship and stand watch if you were assigned. Those who were assigned in-port fire duty would gather to make they knew where to go incase of a fire. If you did not have an assignment you could sleep, watch a movie, read, write, or spend some time in the crew’s rec room playing cards.
No doubt those men stationed in Pearl Harbor during the fall of 1941 were looking forward to Sunday routine on December 7th. Many of these men were either just getting back to their ships or were just finishing breakfast. Sunday in paradise, what could be better? Those in port were happy they were not on the carriers, after all they were at sea.
The Marines dressed in their best and the ships bands assembled on the fantails to signal morning colors at 0800. A warm breeze filled the air and for many of the young men Hawaii was paradise.
Jim Adams, MSW Editor
The Project...
This is a diorama I built many years ago in bits and pieces over a five-year period. It sits on 4 x 8 foot sheet of plywood and is approximately 1/700 scale. The frame is built from scrap lumber. Since my budget was essentially zero, the buildings, cranes and dockside equipment were made from household articles whenever possible, with purchased items added in as I could afford them.
The battleships are all cheapie USS Arizona’s, each modified to show the configuration of each ship at the moment of attack. Auxiliary vessels are scratch built with detail pieces added from leftover kit parts.
The wall “posters” are mostly public domain black-and-white archival photos that I have colored in with artists pencils to give the illusion of color photography.
The water is crumpled aluminum foil and spray paint. The landscaping materials were left over from a massive slot car set that no longer exists.
As I moved down the road in construction I became aware of historical inaccuracy. So, I corrected and improved as I went along, rather than tearing down and starting over.
I called it quits on this project about ten years ago and it will be “as is” forever!
Chuck Bauer
About the Author
FROM: MINNESOTA, UNITED STATES
Early in my business life I traveled to many US Defense Department installations, including naval shipyards and construction facilities. I built models as a kid, took 40 years off and started up again in 2007. Since then I have seen a lot of good models and learned a lot about model building by att...
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