I hope I'm not boring anybody with these posts, but I enjoy the process of posting info, now that I know how to load images into them, so I will just keep moving along with my Iowa build. I welcome any comments, and I will gladly answer any questions. I have been following some threads, especially Dan Cooper's Dandalo, with interest! I think scratchbuilding is the most rewarding modelling I have ever done, and I hope sharing techniques and stealing some will make it better!
Well, here goes. After I have a wooden armature for the hull and it has been coated with epoxy, I rough it up with some coarse sandpaper to give it some tooth for the layer of Bondo body filler that goes over the top. The Bondo is great because you can sand it to a very smooth finish. The whole outer surface of the hull is completely covered in about 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch of Bondo. Once that is completed, the prop shafts are postitioned and secured with epoxy. I use body putty to deal with the small imperfections in the hull and around the shafts and their supports. You can see the red body putty in many of the pictures that I have taken of the build.
Incidentally, I buy all my running gear at Battlersconnection.com. I used to make it all, but these guys have really good quality stuff even for scale projects.
After sanding things pretty smooth, I check the hull for the correct shape using cardboard templates cut from the plans. I get my plans at Marylandsilver.com, and they copy them straight from the National Archives. When I am content with the shape of the hull, it gets a coat of flat white automotive primer from a can. I then begin to build the gun sponsons on the hull. These are made primarily of aspen, and are cyano-ed and screwed to the hull with screws I get from the local hardware store. The CA just holds the sponsons in place until you can screw them down. It holds OK against Bondo, but I like to be sure, hence the screws. The sponsons are then sheeted with sheet styrene, given styrene armored doors and hinges. Eyelets serve as scuttles, and I use various sizes. On the armored casemate covers in the pictures, the larger eyelets will serve to accept the gun barrels when I make them.
I then build the various hull structures and add hawse holes (from Model Expo in this case), torpedo tubes etc. The final shape of the prow and forefoot has not yet been achieve, but it is close.
More as I progress. Thanks!
"You may fire when ready, Gridley!"