Tracy White

Aloha! I'm Researcher@Large, I *personally* have nothing new with regards to the fleet at Pearl at the time of the attack, but the Covid Pandemic and a few other curve balls have kept me away from archives for about four years. I have a trip on the books for early summer, so maybe I'll have some news by the time you're ready to lay paint? There has been some discussion about paint stocks and variations of schemes in a warship camouflage group on Facebook I'm not a member of (don't h ave an account). The general gist is this: because the production of 5-D Dark Gray was ordered stopped at the end of July, stocks were low by December and orders went out to decrease use of 5-D until sufficient stocks of the new 5-S Sea Blue and 5-O Ocean Gray were received. One of the other researchers involved in the 2005-ish research with me read an order from Admiral Kimmel over the phone to me that called for battleships to retain enoughpaint for one painting of the hull in 5-D from the waterline to the main deck, and then to perform touch ups as needed in 5-O or 5-S. I have not seen this memo with my own eyes and will not speak to it's veracity, but it would certainly creat an interesting situation for builders if we can verify it. Resin kits of that era I tend to think of like trees and the saying "the best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time to plant a tree is today." I have five (yes) Essex carriers in 1/350th and the planes to do the full air groups for all of them. 500 1/350 airplanes is a lot, even if some of them are overall glossy sea blue, so it's something where I randomly will take a box out and start two or three of them and just take another nibble so that when I get to it, it's not a massive burn out.

I thank you for looking at least!

Forgive my lack of familiarity with Royal Navy nomenclature, but it appears that Infini doesn't provide any extra detail for the open section (closed off on the Trumpeter kit) of the structure immediately forward of the main gun director on the bridge / compass platform. I have a couple of overhead shots (linked below) but no close ups. Does any one know of a close up or drawing that labels what the configuration of this space is? https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:HMS_Exeter_(68)#/media/File:Overhead_view_of_HMS_Exeter_(68)_in_the_Panama_Canal_Zone_in_the_1930s.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Exeter_(68)#/media/File:HMS_Exeter_(68)_at_anchor_in_Balboa_harbor_on_24_April_1934.jpg

This is true for US Navy ships as well. Their colour guides are rubbish.

Based on US Naval construction I would be very surprised if there weren't watertight doors in that passageway. Otherwise we have, it looks like, two doors to get out of the superstructure and on to the main deck - one on each side. I don't suppose anyone has a Royal Navy equivalent to a Booklet of General Plans or access to other plans that might confirm this?

Recently picked up one of these myself and started in on it. Noted that the *doors* on the side are missing. The hinges, handle, etc., are there, but the engraved lines for the actual doors are missing