My Missouri

Builder, you are very charitable in your assessment of my modeling talents.  I'm no where near your league.  But, your work and your very generous build thread will be very, very helpful to me when I start her.

Bob

Thanks Bob!

You're a fine modeler, and with the wisdom I've imparted about "what not to do" and "how to screw things up", you should have no problem building a world class Missouri. If I were to do it again, I would probably have tried Flyhawk's PE, and Tom's. I would have stayed away from Eduard. It caused way to much aggravation. I'll be able to breathe again once the rigging is done. I didn't photograph the first attempt with the stretched sprue, but it was not satisfactory. I'm hoping the E-Z Line method will work. It's actually a finer diameter than the stretched sprue was. Stretched sprue was averaging about 0.005" and the E-Z Line is 0.003". The main rail, while lots of PE parts, have no bends, therefore, the Eduard PE should work okay. It is a very finely engraved product and looks really good when it's not in pieces.

Builder, I followed your thread on the World Affairs Board with great interest.  I have the Mighty Mo in the stash, with the LionRoar super detail set.  I'm not sure when I'll get to her, I have three building now and a North Carolina to finish, then I'd really like to get to my 1/350 Hornet.  So many kits, so little time!

You've done a great job on your Missouri and from what I saw on the World Affairs Board overcame a lot of obstacles to achieve the fantastic result you have.  It has to be very satisfying to look at your work from all those years ago and compare it to what you have achieved now.  It shows you how far you have come as a modeler.  Congratulations on a job very well done.  Truly outstanding work, Builder.  I wish I thought my Missouri would come out looking half as good as yours has.

Bob

One of the nicest things about Eduard PE was the etched sidewalls of the superstructure. On my original MO I drilled out the portholes just on the lower front wall that was most obvious, but there were portholes and hatches on most of the other bulkheads too. Since building this part I was able to examine that Flyhawk set and, although it's much more expensive, it not only includes the bulkheads, but the vertical ladders are attached components that are simply folded over to rest in their correct locations. In the Eduard set, the ladders are all separate and there are lots of them. Positioning them is often a challenge.

Another question: to paint or not to paint PE prior to installation? I chose to paint first. For the most part, it's the right choice since the backsides of rails are now painted, where they wouldn't be easy to paint afterwards. I first soaked the frets in vinegar to give the paint something to hold onto. Then I primed with a solvent based primer before airbrushing with the Life Colors haze gray. The paint's held like crazy and holds CA pretty well also.

Don't get me wrong, there's been a lot of touch up... almost continuously. Every time I add something or do something, I've got touch up to do.

I believe they were. You then are one lucky son of gun. I've been on the Big J three times since it's been a museum across the river from downtown Philly. I've been on the USS Alabama, and on the USS Texas. But to see the ship when it was a functioning thing and at that view is wonderful.

I realize that I'm naive when I think how large the Iowa's components were because almost all major ocean going vessels are colossal when compared to the being that created them, but we don't ever get a chance to see their underworks very often. When we do, like these pictures, it never ceases to blow me away.

I just read the instructions on how to get pictures into the text and will try this again...

Here was the ship I built 26 years ago. The colors were all wrong, but I did take time to drill out the gun barrels, etc.

And here's the ship being built today:

The new guns are brass so to make the gun slides look better I glued aluminum foil on with Mircrolsol's aluminum foil adhesive, then colored it with some Tamiya transparent smoke color to make it have the golden tone from the lubricant used on the slides. I've left off some of the 20mm guns that will extend out of the ship's edges to keep from knocking them around while installing rigging and the main rails.

If you look closely you'll see a little line extending back from the turret hoist beam that's a backstay. This detail showing up on the plans in the Floating Drydock Missouri plan set. It's downloadable for free and is an invaluable resource when super-detailing this ship.

Here's another comparison shot showing the midships sections.

And here's a similar view of the new ship:

It looks like a completely different model... Note: that little appliance sitting on the main deck next to the ship's boat is the aforementioned Boat Davit Winch. I scratch built it out of styrene and some turned brass (the bull gear housing sticking out of the front). The first attempt was about 30% too big. The next attempt came out just right. There is a cable that feeds from the side of the winch to the davits, but it's so fine that at this scale would be invisible. So you all have to imagine you see it there.

Builder 2010,

Nice job on the model!

Re your pics while Missouri was in the yards, are those from the '86-'87 timeframe in Long Beach?  If so, I walked under her in drydock too!  Not too many folks get that perspective. 

Carl