SPA Modeler

From what I’ve read, this is a rather contentious debate. The battleships were painted in MS-1 camouflage 5-D Dark Gray with 5-L tops above the funnel line, summer 1941.

https://www.shipcamouflage.com/measure_1.htm

Now the debate is that she had just been repainted with 5-S Sea Blue in place of the 5-D after being dry docked due to a collision with USS Oklahoma. Supposedly the latest research has traced that down in the past several years. Yes, Battleship Division 1, of which USS Arizona was flagship, had their turret tops in Red.



The different colors of the turret tops stand out in this photo taken during the attack shortly before she exploded

Prior to June 1941, she was in the standard prewar color of Navy Gray, a light gray, as was the rest of the fleet



Arizona is the battleship in the background here

Well, this clears everything up for me. Now I know what colors to use.

It's funny how HobbyBoss color guide listed top hull as Dark Sea Blue with towers above funnel line in White. Surprisingly, it did not show top of turrents 1, 2, & 4 to be painted red.

I often wondered if other battleships/cruisers/destroyers had their main turrent tops painted by Division during the Pacific war. I highly doubt it. It was an interesting tidbit I never knew but found out by accident.

There was a seminar on ship painting in WW2. Made it clear as mud for me, but I'm not a ship builder either.

Mike…. Neither am I. The Arizona is my 3rd ship model kit since my return to the hobby. I’m still on the hunt for 2 PT-109 vintage kits. One was a rather large scale kit with motorized parts. The other was a regular kit of the PT-109. Scale on both is unknown to my knowledge.

BlackSheep214 wrote: ↑Mon Aug 07, 2023 3:23 pm Well, this clears everything up for me. Now I know what colors to use.

It's funny how HobbyBoss color guide listed top hull as Dark Sea Blue with towers above funnel line in White. Surprisingly, it did not show top of turrents 1, 2, & 4 to be painted red.

I often wondered if other battleships/cruisers/destroyers had their main turrent tops painted by Division during the Pacific war. I highly doubt it. It was an interesting tidbit I never knew but found out by accident.

Never trust Hobbyboss color call outs. As far as 5-S Sea Blue goes, I think that either True North or True Colors paints makes the color in their line. I have the old Model Master Acryl colors for the 5-L, 5-D, and several of the other WWII colors. As far as the turret top division colors went, I believe that was discontinued but the Navy shortly after the Pearl Harbor attack. But it was fleet wide, or at least Pacific Fleet wide in the pre war period.

BlackSheep214 wrote: ↑Mon Aug 07, 2023 5:03 pm Mike…. Neither am I. The Arizona is my 3rd ship model kit since my return to the hobby. I’m still on the hunt for 2 PT-109 vintage kits. One was a rather large scale kit with motorized parts. The other was a regular kit of the PT-109. Scale on both is unknown to my knowledge.

The motorized PT boat kit sounds like the Lindberg kit. I know that they did one in 1/32 that was motorized, and that they had another smaller scale kit, possibly in 1/64. I never built either one of those. And of course there is the classic 1/72 Revell kit back from when JFK was in office, or their recent new tool kit, also in 1/72.

Hull is painted using Tamiya Hull Red

Ok, I’ll stop nitpicking soon…. Tamiya Hull Red is the Japanese IJN shade, not the USN shade, which was much more red in comparison.



Pearl Harbor survivor and Arizona sister ship, USS Pennsylvania in 1944. I wonder if Arizona had survived Pearl Harbor if she would have been rebuilt into a similar configuration?

Fine.... I'll sling a bit of red.

A second coat never hurts.

Yeah. I've been thinking slinging red on now that I have Hull red as a basecoat.