USS Arizona BB-39

For a small scale kit - this is an excellent choice to build. I built the Hobby Boss 1/350 scale Arizona kit 4 years ago and this kit is almost an exact Mini-Me of that kit. It has almost all the same parts, just half the size of the 1/350 kit - so there is plenty of detail to work with. Maybe too much detail as in the case of the observation decks. I will say that these decks went together better on this small kit than they did the Large kit. A kit this small is a bit of a challenge with my Gigantor hands, but it assembled easy enough that my vocabulary did not increase during construction. The only real ding I have of this kit is the decals - they are really tiny and are squished together so close on the sheet that cutting them out is almost impossible. They also have a tendency to break apart and not stick well. Using some Micro-Scale brush on decal film before application helped hold them together and a little white glue wash applied once they are in place, holds them where they need to be.

This was a fun build. I made it to donate to my American Legion Post in honor of my Dad, who was a WWII Navy Vet. I added several photo-etched details that I got here on Hobbylinc. My only complaint was the kit lacks the walk-around decking midships by the midship guns. I didn't notice this until I had added the decking or I would have reproduced it. It would be a simple matter of just adding a small piece of sheet styrene on either side to represent the deck.

The Hobby Boss Arizona kit was long a favourite acquisition for kit-bashing (one can recall the kit would list for $8.50 or thereabouts) and although far removed from the accuracy of resin kits, certainly in respects no worse than Dragon's Arizona, and with a price differential enabling one to upgrade quality. One annoyance is the distance between A and B barbettes, likely resulting from a bad reproduction or lack of quality control. At least you don't have the Dragon model with all four turrets distanced from the turret ring by several feet, which for a model selling overpriced is a hoot. One can refine the ship with aftermarket styrene and weaponry for a bettered product, although that separation of barbettes is unforgivable.