Revell

1/426 USS Arizona and Historical Book

Kit Number: 85-6882

First Look by  Mark Andrews , IPMS# 33206

MSRP: $28.98 USD Contents: 133 Injected Plastic parts, Decals, 48 Page Book December 7, 1941 will always be etched into our memories much like many other very important dates. There have been oodles of books and papers written on the subject anywhere from direct accounts to theories and straight fiction. Therefore I won't go into any history and just review the kit and book in hand. Revell has re-released their tried and true 1/426 USS Arizona kit once again and has now included a Pearl Harbor historical book by the renowned author Bert Kinzey of "In Detail and Scale" fame. A note on the box indicates that it is one of only 5,000 kits produced in this run with the book. The model is the same mold that has been in production for many years. I found a copyright on the bottom of one of the deck parts that read 1958. For the age of the molds there is not much flash and a fair amount of detail. On its own, it builds up into a fairly decent model of a pre-war USS Arizona. With scratch building and aftermarket photoetch, a highly accurate and detailed model can be produced. The star in this box is the new book by Bert Kinzey titled; Pearl Harbor Awakening the Sleeping Giant. It is a 43 page mostly color book with maps, color plates and time lines of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Many of the photos have been published elsewhere, but there are some I have not seen before. There are quite a few color drawings and plates that show all the Japanese aircraft types and their markings from each carrier. There is a two page attack organization summary that lists each wave with the aircraft used in each group, the group commanders, aircraft weapons and their intended targets. There are several color maps that indicate the flight paths of the torpedo bombers and the dive bombers. A map of the harbor and a listing of every ship that was present during the attack along with its position is well done. The end of the book delves into the mistakes and losses of the Japanese Navy. There is a chart of all of the Japanese naval ships that participated in the Pearl Harbor attack and where they were sunk later in the war. The last 3 pages are photos and a brief description of how Pearl Harbor looks today. Photos of the Arizona Memorial and the USS Missouri dominate these pages. Overall this is a must-have kit if nothing else for the book alone. Much of the info and photos are published elsewhere, they are all condensed down into a very easy to use reference guide that is a must for the bookshelf next to the building desk. Modelers of Japanese aircraft will find this book very valuable in building aircraft from the attack. I have included a couple of pages as a sample of the detail this book goes into. Thanks go out to Revell-Monogram for the sample kit.

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