Help a Treadhead out! Iowa Class question.

Hamburgular wrote:

Hello all, I feel as though I am on a different planet as I am a treadhead and build mostly armor, however I have been hired to do a comission build for a former Captain who served on the USS Wisconsin during desert Storm. My question is I purchased a 1/700 Uss Missouri 1991 at hobby lobby for only 8.99 on clearance, I did this because as my lack of ship knowledge shows I assumed all Iowa class Ships are created equally, and all I would have to do is change out the decals from 63 to 64 easy fix. Am I wrong in thinking this or is there Something physically different about the  USS Wisconsin that the Trumpeter Missouri kit would not pass inspection.  Im just trying to  save myself from buying another  kit, I compared the boxart of the two ships and they look nearly identical, any help is appreciated thanks.

The most noticeable difference in 700 scale will be the pattern of the deck surfaces. Check out some overhead shots of the two ships from NavSource and you will see that the area of the wooden decks will differ quite a bit in the stern. That being said, most people don't care, however if your guy served on the ship he's going to know. WS

It also depends a lot on which era you're shooting for; there were quite a few obvious changes between the BB's of the '40's and the reactivated BB's of the '80's. One of the most obvious changes was the steady (and eventually total) removal of AA weapons; during WWII, all of the Iowa-class BB's had fairly heavy AA armament to protect it against late-war kamikaze attacks. When the ship went back to war in Korea, some of the AA weapons had been removed, since air attacks by the North Korean air force weren't terribly common; IIRC, they removed the AA weaponry (40mm Bofors?) from the tops of the turrets, but left the other AA weapons in place. By the time the Iowa's were recommissioned in the '80's, all of the AA weaponry had been removed (including some of the 5" gun turrets) to make way for Tomahawk launch boxes and Phalanx CIWS's; I don't know how many of the 5" guns were left, but there weren't many, since by now the BB's relied on their escorts for AA protection. Also, the stern 5" gun turrets were permanently removed in the '80's to make way for aviation fuel bladders for the on-board helo's the BB's had.

SoD Stitch wrote:

It also depends a lot on which era you're shooting for; there were quite a few obvious changes between the BB's of the '40's and the reactivated BB's of the '80's. One of the most obvious changes was the steady (and eventually total) removal of AA weapons; during WWII, all of the Iowa-class BB's had fairly heavy AA armament to protect it against late-war kamikaze attacks. When the ship went back to war in Korea, some of the AA weapons had been removed, since air attacks by the North Korean air force weren't terribly common; IIRC, they removed the AA weaponry (40mm Bofors?) from the tops of the turrets, but left the other AA weapons in place. By the time the Iowa's were recommissioned in the '80's, all of the AA weaponry had been removed (including some of the 5" gun turrets) to make way for Tomahawk launch boxes and Phalanx CIWS's; I don't know how many of the 5" guns were left, but there weren't many, since by now the BB's relied on their escorts for AA protection. Also, the stern 5" gun turrets were permanently removed in the '80's to make way for aviation fuel bladders for the on-board helo's the BB's had.

Im going for the Desert Storm era 90/91 in which he served as an officer aboard the ship, the Trumpeter 1/700 kit says USS Missouri 1991 so Ive compared photographs and it appears to have all the late model updates, after looking over comparative photos I think that the Trumpeter USS wisconsin and Missouri are the same kit, so it looks like I will be using my current kit with a decal change thanks for the help guys.  

Yes, Navsource.org is your friend. You can pick out little details in the photos that might not be included in the kit that can be easily scratch-added and can make all the difference in the world on the finished model.

SoD Stitch, they have 6 5" turrets, 3 on each side after modernization. they never had stern 5" guns just 2 quad 40mm aa at the stern tubs.

ddp59 wrote:

SoD Stitch, they have 6 5" turrets, 3 on each side after modernization. they never had stern 5" guns just 2 quad 40mm aa at the stern tubs.

You're right; I couldn't remember which guns they had on the stern. A guy on another forum I attend is an ex-BB machinist mate, so he knows the BB's pretty intimately. Some of the stories he has to tell are very informative.

The USS New Jersey is in it's final 90's form if that helps.  You can check her out on Battleship USS New Jersey BB-62 Index Page  Don't know if all the Iowa's were the same format or not.  I was on it a month ago.  Awesome tour!  The New Jersey was actually a little different than her sister ships as she was the longest BB ever built.  She was 6" longer on purpose, when built at the Philadelphia navy yard.

                                                                Chris                                              

i think the wisconsin is longer but that was after being repaired from a collision. the bow of the kentucky was used to fix her & made her longer then her 3 other completed sisters.