Oh that is fantastic work so far Julian. Cannot wait to see more.....Cheers Mark

Thank you Mark
Just a small update here:
Signal yards have been fitted to forward mast, this is the WEM PE which once again turns out to be a bit tougher:

Also putting on the first unshaded coat of blue to the superstructure:

cheers,
Julian

Great work Julian, as always! You painting is magnificient, especially the decks and turrets!

Cheers!
Stefan

Hello Julian, You have another outstanding build underway. I particularly like the way you painted the deck. Those secondary guns look great. The old Revell "four piper" Destroyer kit is listed as 1/240, I wonder how well those guns would work on her? They would sure be a major improvement. Then the question would be how to obtain a few? I can't see the point robbing a $200 kit to improve a $15 one. Al

Thank you very much Stefan, very nice of you to say so. I am not too sure about the shade of blue but it is a bit late to head back now so this it what it will be (point of no return etc, etc. etc.)
Thank you too Al, glad to see you popping in. I think you mean this effect for the Revell 4 stacker:

Yes, the detailing is extremely good for 1/200th and I think that in a pinch you could get away with replacing the main 5"battery but as you say, the cost is staggering. Maybe you contact Trumpeter and see if they would do a sale of the sprues? On my Fletcher build Revell were very helpful and were prepared to sell two hull halves so I could try the oil canning effect. I backed down here though considering it a "bridge too far" for my skills and "state of the art"
How is the MAS coming on?
cheers,
Julian

Julian, You're right, it might be worth dropping Trumpeter a line to see if they are willing to part with the necessary sprue(s). Were the parts needed for the secondary battery all on one sprue, or several different ones? The MAS is coming along nicely. I just painted the red and white diagonal stripes on the foredeck. They needed a little touch up, but came out really nice and I'm very happy with the results. There is a lot of masking, as I'm sure you know. So that is slowing things down a bit, but I am making good progress on painting the hull. Al

I'll check out which and how many sprues you need Al. Try and get it up tomorrow.
Masking the MAS? You bet I remember Especially after Allan pointed out I needed to mask more deck to get the correct number of stripes I can't remember a model that "ate" more Tamiya tape than the MAS
Allan did a nice feature on his MAS, still love the scratch built interior, ( and especially the "thunderbox", that is a classic )
cheers,
Julian

June 27th update:
Working on the superstructure and forward mast:





Also painted the flag bins and rolled up flags:

Cheers,
Julian

Thank you for your e-mail Julian, and for last great updates.

Hope this is not the last battleship in 1:200 from Trumpeter

Hi Wojtek, thanks, hope you can work out what I tried to explain in the mail
Regards,
Julian

Finishing up my 1/200 Arizona build, should be done today. Have to let everybody know that if you use the kit supplied photoetch railing on the upper structure, there will not be enough for the lower main deck. I had to purchase Tom's Modelworks 1/192 railing to complete it. Oh well, it was and is a great fun build. Did not use any other photoetch other that the Trumpeter update set

Hi Derek, thanks for the heads-up on the railings. I am using the WEM PE set with the Trumpeter upgrade as spare/back-up so I should be in the clear as far as that problem you mention is concerned. Will you be posting any pictures?
Cheers,
Julian

Will post pictures soon

July 1st update:
Work still proceeding on railings, ladders and superstructure. Fit is amazing, not a single problem so far:








Julian

July 3rd update:
Superstructure and rangefinders:






Certainly getting the effect I wanted Starting to look like a battleship as well now
Cheers,
Julian

July 8th update:
The first sub-assembly is just about done now. I have finished the superstructure, have started adding the boat and tender cradles and all hatches, skylights and lockers are fitted. I have chosen which colour the the mastheads will be and I will explain why I strayed from the beaten path and looked for a lot of flak from the more riveting members of the forum .Lets start off with these snaps:








Okido, nothing controversial so far, just a normal, accepted rendition of the Arizona.
I have chosen Navy grey as the colour for the masthead stations as I cannot believe that a colour a stark as white would be chosen. Snaps:

Now a quick Paint Shop Pro experience:

Changed to a black and white image:

And of course the real deal, Pearl 1941:

Seems more plausible as the colour used than "Dead white". I will probably be branded as a heretic for this blasphemy but that is going to be my USS Arizona
I have also had my first experience with EZ-line, ( a big thanks to Mark Partis from Oz for pointing this stuff out to me and a big thanks to Paul of Little-cars in the UK for supplying the article in record time ). EZ-line is magic, don't know how I managed to rig ships without the stuff. Here are the flag lines on my Arizona:


That is about all for this week, have to teach a friend how to bake real bread this weekend, ( and help open his new kitchen ).
Next week I have taken a couple of days off so should make some more progress.
cheers,
Julian

Looking really good and she is looking more and more 'alive' with each update.

Seems like your choice to forego the white top is a good one (also judging by the image). And if I ever get a ship built to the point where I have to rig, it seems EZ-line might be something to be considered...

Cheers,

Harm

Bedankt Harm !

Awsome !! Thanks for new photos Julian... Great job !!

Hello Julian, you sure are making real progress, She indeed is starting to look like a battle ship, albeit a sunken one! I do think your decision to forgo using white is the correct one. The grey does make more sense to me. It can be so hard judging color values from a photograph, even a color photograph. Light, length of exposure, and processing can all affect a photographic print. A photo can really be misleading sometimes. I have seen two different photos of the exact same subject appear like two different shades of color. So,Carry on. I am really enjoying your build and I am anticipating the next installment. Al

Good morning Wojtek,
Nice to hear from you again and glad you like the build.
My sincere apologies for the behaviour of one of our Dutch politicians in Brussels who is evidently too stupid to have learned of the sacrifices the Polish forces that escaped to Britain made when helping to liberate Europe. I hope you realise that not all Dutch people are like him.
regards,
Julian

Good morning Al,
Thank you, yes, she does look rather "stunted"at the moment. Work has started on the main deck and upper hull though. I have sprayed the base coat of Vallejo Deck Buff already so that it can dry completely before I put the matt varnish on.
Cheers,
Julian

A couple of points. Taking a color image and changing to grayscale WILL NOT give you the same appearance as a black and white film exposure and should not be used in any sort of "real" debate or attempt at proofing a theory.

That said, white is not the correct color for the fighting tops; the camouflage measures in that version of SHIPS-2 all called for "5-L Light Gray" above the top of the stacks. It was similar to the pre-war gray, but used different ingredients. The modern Haze gray is darker than it by a noticeable amount, but not as much as, say, the difference between it and ocean gray (which is closer to the modern gunship gray). So your color change is more correct than what Trumpeter would have you do.

Trumpeter's paint call outs on this kit are all sorts of wrong.

Good morning Tracy,
Actually I was expecting you to drop in at some time along this build
I am not trying to tweak history and my toying with Photo shop is not intended as serious proof. All I am saying is that stark white would be a poor choice in "real life"
I think I have mentioned a couple of times in my blogs that I build to relax and have some fun, so I don't need convincing that accuracy on my builds is at an all time low I know that
It is nice to hear that gray is the correct colour even if I have the wrong shade.
I am following a couple of other "Arizona" threads you are participating in with great interest. Any plans to post some photos of your build online?
Cheers,
Julian

Yes, when I start. I owe someone a Gambier Bay build first, so I'm restricting myself from starting Arizona until I get the bird farm done.

Doesn't mean that I can't at least play and plot though

The note about dropping the color wasn't actually aimed at you, but at future readers who might not know otherwise.