Revell 85-0302 USS Arizon Battleship Model Military Ship Kit 1:426 Scale 133-Piece Skill Level 4 Plastic Model Building Kit, Gray

"It makes me think that I'm building the Arizona itself. I'm the dry dock, and I'm building it."The words of my 9-year-old son, who pretty much put this together on his own. He has been fascinated with World War II for about a third of his life (since he was 6), and we even gave him a Pearl Harbor cake for his last birthday. As the school year is coming to an end, he decided that he wanted to begin putting the model together while I was out of town on a conference.This is an excellent reproduction of the Arizona. The turrets of the guns actually turn. Although several of the pieces are quite small, the instructions are very clear. Although he did need some assistance from his parents when it came to putting the hull together, my son was able to do an extremely passable job on his own.He loves it, and that's all that matters!

It's not an easy build, especially if you take the time to paint it. Lots of battleship grey. Look at historical photos and paint the ship. The complaints about the hull are correct if you don't take the time to glue it AND HOLD IT IN PLACE until it dries. It's an old vintage kit, so take the time to cut the burs off with an Exacto knife or something similar. Lots of small parts. You may have to cut some to make them fit. The date on the original mold is decades old. Keep that in mind.

My 12 year old loved this model. It was his first one. He did it almost entirely by himself within a few days.He is obsessed with the USS Arizona, and said the design is accurate to the real ship. We bought cement for it at a local craft store for a few bucks. The hull doesn't close up perfectly as others have said, but it still worked fine. Some of the pieces didn't fit that well, but my son said he figured it out fine. He used sandpaper to smooth out some pieces, so they'd fit better. He loved working on it. He bought this himself and said it was worth the money to him. He is already looking for another model to work on next.

Had fun building this with my son. Overall, he was able to do all but the hull assembly (which was a bear!). At least on ours, the two pieces were warped and did not want to fit together properly. Ended up using super glue and holding them together for almost an hour (contours didn't allow for clamps to be used). Otherwise, we had a great time with this.

This model kit consists of over 100 pieces. The design is very good. Nearly all pieces are of reasonable sizes, so it would have been ideal even for beginners.I say "would have" because the manufacturing quality is horrendous. Deformed pieces are common and feathers are everywhere. Trimming and in fact sculpting become a big part of the construction process, easily doubling the work load than had the quality been at Tamiya level.Fortunately, the plastic is soft enough to curve with relative ease. There are no thin wires in the kit, so unlike the case with 05038 1/144 U-BOOT TYP VIIC RVL05038, breakage is not a big problem. Fitting large pieces together, however, can be a real struggle. I eventually use a lighter to soften the plastic into the right shape and end up having to buy a second set after ruining the first one. This is obviously not something that young kids should be allowed to attempt.The documentation is weak and error-prone. The guns are not to scale. The design is of dubious historical accuracy. The main guns cannot maintain their elevations. But the main problem remains the poor manufacturing quality. If one can overlook or overcome this issue, the USS Arizona kit is a great project for novice or intermediate modelers.

This model is very detailed and easy to assemble. I did this model as a kid and now as an adult, I have found a great conversation piece. Like all Revell models the instructions were clear, and the paint scheme was easy. The only thing I would add is that I would have liked to have more decals for the model. I only had the name and American flags, but other than that, great model.

Used item, never opened. All the parts were there and undamaged. VERY pleasant experience! :D

Built it with a 10 yr old - we had a lot of fun, it's not too difficult. (hardest part for me was trying to read the tiny numbers on the parts - but that's true of all these types of models :))You don't need to paint it - it looks nice either way -- though that would add a nice realistic touch.I'd highly recommend Testors Liquid Cement for Plastic.