The Banner/Mini Hobby Models 1:350 scale USS Arizona is, for better or worse, the only game in town for an injection-molded kit. There are specific areas of the model that, to put it mildly, need improvement. One of those areas is the funnel, which is poorly done and downright inaccurate. Model Monkey comes to the rescue with a beautiful 3D printed replacement for the kit’s funnel that is based both official U.S. Navy plans and Alan B. Chesley scale modeling plans. The upgrade represents Arizona’s funnel from 1936 until her sinking on December 7, 1941.
The 3D printed part includes steam pipes, the incinerator exhaust vent pipe and ship’s whistle, most of which are missing from the kit part. The replacement funnel also has more accurate searchlight control platforms and machine gun platform. And the pièce de résistance in my opinion is the commonly overlooked and omitted platform on the lower front face of the funnel. It is shown in the Chesley drawings and it is correctly included in printed part. The machine gun platform in a separate part and a dry fit shows a very good fit. When working with Model Monkey products, it is imperative to wash the parts with mild detergent to release Shapeways printing agent and to sun cure them for about a couple of hours (or place them under a UV light for a shorter period of time) before painting.
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