1/700 USS Oklahoma BB-37 (H.G. Watkins)
|
by Paul Helfrich |
1/700 USS Oklahoma BB-37 (H.G. Watkins)
This is the 1977 H.G. Watkins paper kit in 1/350 scale of the USS Oklahoma,
BB-37. I built the ship with the idea of showing her under attack by Japanese
torpedoes at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Along with the Arizona,
the Oklahoma was one of two battleships so badly damaged at Pearl Harbor
that they never returned to service, but the Oklahoma is not nearly as
well known. I built my model with the 400+ brave sailors in mind who went
down with the ship when she capsized.
Turning to the model - it had a few issues. The boat deck was too long
for the hull and I suspect it may have been a duplicate part from an Arizona
kit. The two ships are close, but far from exactly the same. The funnel
also seemed to more closely resemble the Arizona's. Also, the boat cranes
turned out to be a little taller than they should be. The torpedo explosions
are modeling clay around a styrene rod core. Texture was added with
CelluClay - "wet" look with ModPodge - and color with various shades of
white, seafoam, and green paint.
The project took me about 9 months to complete - working off and on
with several other simultaneous builds.
