Banner Models 1/350 scale USS Arizona

Manufacturer: Banner Models, distributed by Marco Polo Import Inc., 532 S. Coralridge Place, City of Industry, CA 91746, 626-333-2328
www.marcopoloimport.com
Kit: No. 08801
Scale: 1/350
Price: $30
Comments: Injection-molded, 207 parts
Pros: Great hull shape, good detail parts, good conversion potential
Cons: Poor parts breakdown results in extended seam-filling work

For ship modelers who have built Revell's 1/426 scale model of the USS Arizona, the new Banner Models kit in a "real ship scale" might look familiar.


The kit is packaged well and the two-piece hull is split at the waterline; the lower hull is molded in red, while the upper hull and all other parts are molded in medium gray plastic. The decals are well done, but do not contain hull numbers for the Arizona. The kit instructions provide 14 steps that are easy to follow, and the three-dimensional drawings look great.


The main deck is divided into three pieces, and the raised plank detail mars easily - so be careful when handling these parts. Most superstructure layers are split into upper and lower halves instead of right and left sides. This is also the case for the forward and aft fighting tops.

The resulting seams run through the middle of the superstructure parts, and through the middle of many portholes. Cleaning up these seams is the biggest hurdle in the project. One solution is to cover each surface with .010" sheet styrene, then go back and drill out the portholes.


Banner put a lot of effort into producing the hull detail and ship fittings. The upper and lower hull fit tightly together and the torpedo bulge appears to be correct in cross-section, shape and length. The hull is also accurate in length and overall width, matching the 1978 Alan B. Chesley drawings of the Arizona almost perfectly. The side keels are too shallow and sweep up too high, but removing these and adding new ones is easy to do.


The rudder and the propellers are well done and the "V" struts look OK (but the round sections where the shafts slide through are too thick). The propeller shafts are straight and well molded.


The parts trees are free of flash, and the mold lines are barely visible. The 5" 25-caliber guns are molded as two separate parts - a base and a gun/breech - and they look good. The recoil cylinder is even in the correct location. The small boats and boat cranes are well detailed and the girder detail is intricate and well done.


The 14" turrets are well formed and have separate barrels which are perfectly round. However, the turrets' external ladders are poor. The range finders for the guns look accurate. The superstructure-level splinter shields have raised detail in the correct locations, but the shields for the 5" 25-caliber guns on the 01 level are too thick and have no surface detail. Gun tubs for the aft 1.1" quad guns should be slightly elevated above the deck. On Dec. 7, 1941, the tubs were there, but the guns had not been installed.


The anchors, capstans, mine-sweep floats and single machine guns for the main fighting top and the gun tubs on the smoke stack are crisply molded. However, the destroyer guns which emit from the 01 level aren't shaped right and lack detail. The Kingfisher aircraft appear flat, but the floats look good.


Some items are curiously absent. Missing are a small superstructure cabin behind the No. 3 turret, the prominent yards which angle out from the backside of the forward fighting top, cradles to stack the small boats, and the small radar platform and pedestal located on the top of the forward fighting top.


The smoke stack is about 1/16" too tall, causing the inclined ladders that rise from the back of the emergency cabin platform to the stack platform to sit incorrectly.


Banner's soft plastic sanded well, but when I drilled out portholes, the bit tended to cut slightly oblong holes. My fix was to chill the plastic in the freezer for 10 to 15 minutes before drilling.


The overall fit of the deck and superstructure parts is poor. I used sheet styrene and some half-round rod to fill or cover the gaps; this took many hours.


I reinforced all the main deck sections with .040" sheet styrene so they would not flex when I sanded out the seams. I had to add .015" sheet to some of the upper sections of the superstructure to make the sides flush.


I spent more than 100 hours on my Arizona, but I took no shortcuts fixing the fit problems. I recommend this kit for World War II ship enthusiasts. It has the additional potential to be converted into earlier versions of Arizona or provide the basis for a USS Pennsylvania.

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