H.G. Watkins USS Oklahoma under attack - December 7, 1941

[paulhelfrich]

This is the 1977 H.G. Watkins 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.


I enhanced the model with brass gun barrels, photo etched railings, stretched sprue rigging, and Trumpeter styrene OS 2 Kingfishers.

The project took me about 9 months to complete - working off and on with several other simultaneous builds.

[vbsargent]

HOLY CRAP! Fantastic build, and wonderful diorama! I really like the way you modeled the water plumes from the torpedo strikes.

[jimkrauzlis]

Outstanding build!!

I, too, love the depiction of the torpedo plumes and would love to learn how you managed to model them...quite impressive!!f

Cheers!
Jim

[rgmarine]

Very nice clean work. Great presentation.

[CMDRTED]

Holy Smokes! This certainly is the best presentation of the older watkins kits. Did you rework the kit overall or did it have the basic detail and you did the add ons? Details man!

[Clashster]

I echo everyones comments! Amazing! Awesome work and diorama!

[paulhelfrich]

Originally Posted by jimkrauzlis

Outstanding build!!

I, too, love the depiction of the torpedo plumes and would love to learn how you managed to model them...quite impressive!!f

Cheers!
Jim

Thanks! The torpedo plumes are a core of styrene rod covered with modeling clay; then some CelluClay, ModPodge, and cotton fuzz. A variety of white, seafoam, and green paints were used as well. First time I've tried something like that.

[Rapidtox]

Just one expression:

WOW!!!

[paulhelfrich]

Originally Posted by CMDRTED

Holy Smokes! This certainly is the best presentation of the older watkins kits. Did you rework the kit overall or did it have the basic detail and you did the add ons? Details man!

Thanks! The add-ons were the photo-etch railings, catapults, and crane pieces; those all came from a Tom's Modelworks set for the USS Arizona. I used Styrene Kingfishers by Trumpeter (the Watkins kit came with paper biplanes, which wouldn't be correct for December 1941). Rather than rolled paper masts and yards, those are various combinations of brass and styrene rod.

Other than that, it's the Watkins kit. It probably does have a bit more printed detail than some of the others. Oh, and I should mentioned the Watkins pieces were all colored with either markers (hull) or colored pencil (decks).

I appreciate all the kind comments!

[Darwin]

It's nice to see the Watkin's kits come back to life. They make great starting points for redesigns and enlargements. USS Colorado BB-45 This links to my own Watkin's redo....unfortunately, I still haven't gotten up the entheusiasm to complete the build. You've done a great job with yours.