Arizona update

I've been working on the Arizona and made a little progress. I did end up repainting the decks in  lighter color. I've also been painting the superstructure but think it's getting redone as well. There has been a lot of controversy over what color scheme the Arizona was in on Dec. 7, but documentary evidence from just after the attack and some found in the National Archives in the form of an order from Admiral Husband Kimmel give a strong push to her being painted Sea Blue ("Mediterranean Blue" in Kimmel's order) with the tops of her number 1, 2, and 4 turrets being insignia red. Prior to that she would have worn Dark Gray on her hull and Light Gray on her upperworks. Given that by the time Kimmel's order was issued she carried OS2U Kingfisher spotter planes and the kit gives you O2U Corsair biplane scouts I'll go with the earlier paint scheme.

Here are pics of how the model stands now:

Overview

 

The fore and aft masts aren't glued yet, still need to paint them first. That aft mast was a real bugger to get built! Three legs, two platforms, and the aft fire direction tower all trying to slip out of place and not line up right. It took me an hour to get it done!

Paint comparison

 

It's hard to tell but on that last photo there are three distinct shades of gray paint. I've run into a problem in that the gray paints I have are either too  dark or too light. The paint on the #3 turret barbette is almost right and I'd use it if it weren't gloss - I just don't feel like trying to hit all the necessary surfaces with dullcoat after painting them. The gray on the upper deck and that on the vertical surfaces on the aft deck are just too darned dark.  Guess it's time for another trip to the hobby shop. Oh, darn....