USS Arizona ready for rigging

#1 riceballtrp

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Posted 16 January 2012 - 04:23 AM

Almost done. Base, scout planes and rigging to go.
Posted Image

#2 BrockyTaz

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Posted 16 January 2012 - 04:59 PM

Great job!

I take it this is the Dragon 1/700 kit?

#3 riceballtrp

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Posted 16 January 2012 - 05:53 PM

BrockyTaz, on 16 January 2012 - 04:59 PM, said:

Great job!

I take it this is the Dragon 1/700 kit?

The Dragon kit with the PE set. I guess it's coming out again this year as a special kit with a "Kate" torpedo bomber.

#4 Daniel_B

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Posted 17 January 2012 - 02:53 AM

Looks awesome! :jaw-dropping:

#5 Wizard_rkt

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Posted 17 January 2012 - 04:21 AM

Why are the tops of the turrets painted red?

I'm sure it is accurate, but up until this year, I never knew they were red-topped.

What was the reasoning (Please don't say it was to give the Vals a great target to hit....I already thought of that.) behind it?

#6 riceballtrp

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Posted 17 January 2012 - 04:33 AM

Admiral Kimmel called his battleships the "Rainbow 5". The BB's had a solid color on their turrets to denote battle groups and battle leaders. Arizona had all 3  turrets painted red to denote her specific battle group as well as her being the group leader. No two BB's had the exact same colors on their turrets and their scout planes had their tails painted to match the turrets as well. The color helped the spotter planes identify which ship was which while airborne. 

#7 Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy

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Posted 02 April 2012 - 07:28 PM

I used to know USS Arizona survivor Glenn Lane, who flew in the ship's scout planes. He said the red tops were primarily for aerial identification for the aviators. He described how difficult it could be, in a bumpy, vibrating aircraft, to identify battleships with similar appearances in varying weather or lighting conditions. Since the Arizona usually operated with the Oklahoma and Nevada, 2 of which are sister ships and the third VERY similar, the chances for landing by the wrong ship for hoisting aboard were apparently pretty great.

Forward turrets identfied the BB division (red was division 1, white was division 2, etc) and turret 4 identified the ship within the division. Red was for the flagship, white for #2, blue for #3. So since the Arizona was flagship of BatDiv One, the forwards were red for the division, #4 red for being the flagship. Pennsylvania was flagship of BatDiv Two; therefore she had white on turrets 1 & 2, and red on #4 as the flagship.

This post has been edited by Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy: 04 April 2012 - 07:37 PM