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Mark Krumrey
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1/200 Pennsylvania using Trumpeter 1/200 Arizona Kit

October 6, 2019 · in Ships · 18 · 3.8K

Pennsylvania survived the attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, due in part to it being in dry dock. The model represents Pennsylvania in the time frame from August 1941 up to 7 December 1941. During this time, it was painted in Measure 1 which was all approximately vertical surfaces above the stack painted in 5L Light Gray, all horizontal surfaces, except wood decks were painted in 5D Dark Gray.

The basis for the kit is the Trumpeter 1/200 USS Arizona, from this to model Pennsylvania many modifications and additions to the kit had to be made including the following:

SUPERSTRUCTURE, STACK, VENTS, and BOAT CRANES: 3D printed from “Model Monkey” through Shapeways.

THREE INCH 50’s Forward: 3D Printed from “Distefan” through Shapeways

CARLEY FLOATS: Hawkins 751511 through Shapeways.

EXTRA KINGFISHER: Riich 1/200 Kingfisher set

GUN BARRELS: Master Barrels for the 1/200 Arizona

PARAVANES: North Star Models/modified kit and AK/MKI Photo Etch

SCRATCHBUILT: Main mast, Machine Gun Platform on foremast, foremast platforms and searchlight platform, boat crane reduction gear platforms, projector booth platform, aircraft refueling line with two stations, widened torpedo blister using the Chesley drawing scaled to 1/200 for dimensions and shape.

Aircraft catapult support on #3 turret was enhanced with styrene strip from Evergreen Plastic.

Anchor hawse reshaped to more accurately reflect the actual ship.

Photo etch used throughout the build was from Eduard: railings, searchlight details, boats, gun directors and some doors, AK/MKI: chain railings, wood deck and boats Tom’s Modelworks for the CXAM-1 “Bedspring” radar that Pennsylvania had installed and doors.

Evergreen rod was used for supports on the Super structure using the photos from Mare Island March 1942.

Evergreen strip was used for the strakes on the hull below the water line, based on the photo of Pennsylvania in drydock in about 1944.

Brass wire was used to enhance the gun directors on the superstructure and provide the railings in front of the 5” casemate guns, another feature unique Pennsylvania.

Beads were used for the periscope bases on #2 Turret and the drive shafts on the Boat Cranes.

All the doors and details were removed from the transverse bulkhead from the main deck to the 01 level and replaced with Photo Etch doors in the correct location and electrical boxes and conduit added accordingly.

As the kit reflects Arizona, the access hatches on the 14” turrets had to be removed as Pennsylvania did not have these.

I started this build in November of 2015 in Wisconsin, and finished it at our new home in San Tan Valley Arizona in April of 2017, after making repairs to the superstructure that were sustained during the move.

I used Tamiya Acrylics XF24 for the 5D and a mix to match Color Coats 5L Light Gray; Tamiya TS33 Aerosol Dull Red for the water line and Tamiya XF69 Nato Black for the boot topping.

Reader reactions:
10  Awesome

32 additional images. Click to enlarge.


18 responses

  1. Stellar work, my friend...really top-notch stuff 🙂

  2. Looks like the real thing - especially the shots under the cloudy sky. Great job & nice photography.

  3. 🙂 … Greetings … 🙂 :
    Very good and commendable modeling Mark, very good sharp and use of all the PE used.
    Your photography is not wrongly put on use, nice pictures … good one.

  4. Wow, just wow.

  5. Mark, Very nicely done! That is superb work and a great tribute to a great ship.

    Residing in Pennsylvania I've had the pleasure to see two of her restored 14inch barrels at the Military museum in Boalsburg, Pa.
    And her bell that is located at Penn State University.

    If interested, here are links to both artifacts:
    https://www.psu.edu/ur/about/markers/others/bell.html
    http://www.personal.psu.edu/glm7/m486.htm

    My personal pics (sorry the pics are large):


    • Thanks Gary for sending along those links and scoping out the build. I was always interested in Pennsylvania. As a survivor, sister ship to AZ, battle history etc.. With the advent of 3D Modeling available I had to do it. I was and am happy with it.

  6. Well done!
    Great photography too.

  7. Thanks Ulf for checking it out.

  8. Amazing build! My uncle served on the Pennsylvania as a quartermaster after the attack on Pearl, some where along the way he picked up the some what dubious nick name 'rackets' .

  9. Beautiful work. You took full advantage of this larger scale. Super work on the modifications.

  10. Mark, this is outstanding work. Your ship looks like you could put it in the water and it would sail away on its own. Use of 3D printed parts really increases the level of realism, but from what little I know of 3D printed parts the price must be astronomical. In the end, it all looks like it was all worth it. Great job!

    • Thanks Robert, Tom and George. Yes the 3D parts weren't cheap, but as you say, worth it in the end. It was the only way to get a close to accurate Pennsylvania in the 1941 fit. There were still a lot of mods that had to be done to more closely accurately portray Pennsylvania. The Arizona was a Pennsylvania class ship but they weren't identical twins. Lots of differences. To the untrained eye they look the same but once you start scoping out the details, lots of differences.

  11. That's amazing work, Mark! Using the cinder blocks for comparison, the model must be over 5 feet long, right? (about 1.8 m)

    You've done the ship very proud. I wish I knew more about ships so I could understand the terminology better, but in ANY terms, this is a fantastic build! @mkrumrey

    Bravo!

    • Thanks for looking in and your comments. The model is about an inch shy of 3 feet. Compared to the Iowa's they were quite small at about 650' compared to the over 800' of the Iowas.

  12. Very nice! Love the extras you put into it.

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