Tamiya 1/350 USS Missouri 1991 version

Jeff,

My pleasure! I got both the Pontos New Jersey and Missouri sets for Christmas this year and I love them! They are complete with photoetch parts, wood decks, resin superstructure and fittings,and brass barrels for the 16" and 5" guns.

Bill

Thanks, Bill, I will certainly do so.  As you can see from the old warhorse, she could stand one of those nice makeovers! LOL!  

New radars and sensors, nice barrells, antennae, etc.  Thanks for the reference.

Sincerely,

Jeff

Jeff,

Check out the new Pontos detail set for the Tamiya New Jersey. It is excellent!

Bill

It is a great time to be a model builder, particularly in 1/350 scale. Lots of vessels out there and mpore and more coming out. I'm involved with an ambitious project to build compplete, modern Carrier Strike Groups for the six major sea faring nations (US, UK, France, Russia, China, and Japan) but will build Spain, Italy, Australia and Brazil when model kits become available.

Modern 1/350 Scale Carrier Strike Groups (CSGs)

I have included my USS New Jersey, BB-621980s conversion that I built almost 25 years ago which I will make a part of a US ARG I will put together. I have the review for the New Jersey listed on that site.

I have been recently conteplating getting a new, more modern PE set for her as when I built it in the late 80s, the best PE I could find was basically a rail set and they were fairly plain compared to today's sets.

Here's a couple of pictures of her:

Mike,

I will have to check them out. I also intend to use the Veteran Models Phalanx CIWS.

Bill

If you model the refit Iowa put a dent in the left side of the #2 turret. It was there when I toured the Iowa shortly after the accident in the #2 turret. And are you going to replace the armoured Tomahawk launchers with the Veteran Models ones?

Mike,

Granted. But, I am almost finished with my 1943 New Jersey; I used the old Tom's Modelworks conversion set.  That was a straightforward conversion because Tom's included all the resin parts necessary. Unfortunately, they don't make that set anymore.  Yankee Modelworks had an Iowa conversion set, but I do not know whether that was the open bridge as she was built or the closed bridge of 1945.

The Korean War Wisconsin should also be a simple conversion that basically involves the removal of all 20mm AA guns and most of the 40mm Bofors, then scratchbuild a more intricate mainmast, remove the catapults and their supporting structures.  I'm sure that there are other details to change in the basic Missouri kit, but I haven't looked at that one fully yet.

I also haven't looked fully at adapting either the Missouri or New Jersy kit into the 1968 New Jersey; it will probably be an exercise in kitbashing!

With the release of the new kit of the 1991 Missouri, I can now build both the New Jersey as recommissioned in 1984, and any of the other Iowa's upon their decommissioning.

Anyway, it is a great time time to model the Iowa class, as it is a great time to be a ship modeller in general!

Bill

I think the Korean War wisconsin would be easier to do.

Mike,

I'll check them out, although the Pontos set includes them as well. Thanks for the recommendation!

I am glad that Tamiya did come out with this kit; I have a series of Iowa's that I am building, beginning with a conversion of the Tamiya USS Missouri into the open-bridge Iowa (with the 1.1" AA guns on turret #2) and the open-bridge New Jersey (40mm Bofors AA on turret #2), the end of war Missouri, and the Tamiya  New Jersey, now, Missouri. I am also planning a conversion of the Missouri into a Korean War Wisconsin.

I know that this is an ambitious project, but I have a dedicated room in my house that I have set up as a naval history museum of sorts. My wife has allowed me to use our fully finished basement as my "museum", and I have 1/350 scale ships mounted on wall shelves and cases arranged in a timeline around the room. I will have one section for the Iowa class.

Bill

Funny thing is that whatever detail was on the bulkheads would have been removed and replaced with PE anyways. As for the stairs and railings a generic set would work as the stairs and railings were WWII vintage anyways. But you would benifit from the Master Models 5" and 16" gun barrel replacements as one set of 16" barrels does come with the blast bags and I think so does one of the 5" gun barrel sets too.

Mike,

Unfortunately, no.  However, I misspoke when I said that the photoetch included railings. There is one small sheet that includes parts for the bow-mounted "Christmas Tree" antenna, two bulkheads, parts for the helo deck extensions, and several parts for the life rafts and radars. There are no railings.

The kit is crisply molded as we expect from Tamiya, but it will benefit from the Pontos set of detail parts as well. I was just hoping that Tamiya would have omitted the Aztec stairs and that they would have added some detail to the bulkheads.

I do think that it is a nice addition to their 1/350 series and am looking forward to the build!

Bill

Does it come with replacement barrels for the 16" and 5" guns?

The kit also depicts her with the SATCOM domes.  I just thought that some of you might like to know.