by Ron Smith
1/350 USS Honolulu CL-48 December 41 (Yankee Modelworks)
This is my best guess as to the USS Honolulu's fit on or around 12/07/1941. We know that in early November she was in Ms1 with the tubs for the 1.1" guns on her bridge but mounting 3"-50's there and she lacked the 1.1" tubs at the aft end of her superstructure. She also mounted eight .50 caliber machine guns at that time and kept them until after her January/Februray 1942 refit at Mare Island. During most of November she was moored while she received minor refit, including the aft 1.1" tubs. We know she pulled into Mare Island January 1942 in Ms1A (overall 5-S sea blue, including the decks), with turrets 2 and 4 marked as per fleet orders (CruDiv 9 two narrow willow green stripes forward, division flagship red rectangle aft) and mounting all four 1.1" guns. According to work records two of her 1.1" guns were taken from USS Helena and mounted at Pearl Harbor before she heads to Mare Island. Other records on the status of the King Board AA improvements to the fleet show she had unpowered 1.1" mounts with no directors until October 1942.
The kit is from Classic Warships, now manufactured by Midship and sold by Yankee Modelworks. I did some minor mods such as adding the skylookout tubs in various places and minor splinter shield changes. I mounted the base of a L'Arsenal 3"-50 in the starboard bridge tub and the bases of the kit's 1.1" gun in the aft tubs (they do not have the barrel assemblies). On December 7, 1941 she expended only 5" and .50 ammunition which tells us her 3" and 1.1" mounts were not in operable condition. Photos of other ships taken 12/10/1941 during an aerial survey of damage to the base and fleet show 3" and 1.1" bases, less barrels, in place on various ships. USS Pennsylvania for example has all her 1.1" mount bases in place but no barrel assemblies mounted.
I had no problems with the kit. The masts are as usual scratchbuilt from brass rod. The skylookout tubs were made from aluminum tubing with styrene bottoms. Rigging is a mix of stainless steel music wire for the standing and silk suture for the running and antenna leads with stainless steel suture twisted to form the insulators. Paints are MM Acryl, Vallejo for details and an oil wash to pop the details a little.
