Trumpter 1/200 BB-39 Arizona Preview

Reviewed by Tracy White

"Remember Pearl Harbor!" was a rallying cry for the United States during the second warld war, and a good portion of the the infamy President Roosevelt alluded to during his infamous speech on December 8th was due to the high loss of life on the battleship Arizona. It is for this reason and to annoy Royal Navy fans that Trumpter has brought another Arizona kit to market, and they have done so in "large" fashion with the release of their 1/200th 1941 BB-39 Arizona.

We have been lucky enough to come across some photos of an assembled test shot and are presenting an early preview of this kit and what fans and modelers might expect. Regrettably, we only have photos of the aft tripod (mainmast) and surrounding area, but it offers a tantilizing glimpse into this future wallet blockbuster.

It is clear from these photos that Trumpter is planning on offering pieces to do both a 1935 and 1941 version out of the box, the first "2-in-1 battleship" release I am aware of. Time will tell how well the engineering is for the necessary changes.
 
Here we see the mainmast fighting top. Note the hatches on top of the first level; this is the first model to include these. The positionable windows are all posed down in this view; what is not apparent is that these windows can be posed either all up or all down; there is no option for individual poses without some surgery. The individual platforms look well done, with the proper lightening holes at the edges and finely-molded inclined ladders and railing.
 
This shows the 1935 version mainmast again, looking at the undersides of the platforms. Trumpter certainly spent some time detailing these areas, but the pipes and tubing look a little overscale to me. There is some evidence of flash as well on the parts, but as this is a test shot we wil have to wait and see how present it is on the final release. Note the opening in the second platform for the inclined ladder; according to drawings I have this is about two scale feet too far aft for Arizona, so rivet counters take note! The 1941 parts should include a different platform for the searchlights, with maintenance platforms hanging underneath.
 
Visible in this shot is the port leg of the base of the aft tripod, showing the practice loader and some of the details of the ship's boats. It is unknown how much of the boat details are photo-etch versus plastic, but they look very nice. Just to the right of the practice loader on the deck is a molding defect that I hope is related to this being a test shot. Following Dragon's lead, Trumpter will be including sailors in various poses, some of which you have here. Can you spot the loafer?
 
This shot demonstrates the 5"/51 gun with a set of crew to populate it...Note the same poses as the practice loader. The lack of splinter shields show this to be from the 1935 version parts. Note that the ready service ammunition box is closed, which is somewhat at odds with the poses, but if Trumpter doesn't include parts to open one or two of them I presume an aftermarket company will b emore than happy to add it to whatever super-sets we are due to see.
 
Here is the 5"/25 gun and mount sans crew. The fuze setting station and elevation station look to be very well detailed. The crispness of the railings make me think that replicating some of the rope and knot artwork that was still present on US Navy ships at this time would be possible, or at least give an aftermarket company inspiration for a new line of products!
 

*Note* as a final note, no, nothing new has come out about the much anticipated release of this model. Some of us are getting as tired of you asking as you are of waiting.

Note: Some of the photographs are from Paul Stillwell's excellent "Battleship Arizona," in particularly the third and fifth photos, which are credited to United Press / Bettmann Photos and the University of Arizona Library, respectively. This is non-commercial parody folks.