Jeffcsr wrote:
Wow, I thought I would be clever and take a Hasegawa 1/700 South Dakota and a Trumpeter 1/700 Washington and kit-bash a full hull Sodak... These 2 have no similarity at all around the hull. The Hasegawa Sodak hull is far wider than any other 1/700 BB kit I have in comparison. Is Hasegawa's shape correct ? I was expecting to merely shorten the Washington Hull and insert the notched belt detail and install the Sodak Superstructure, but that's not going to cut it. Any links or "How -To's" in doing such a conversion?
Hi Jeff,
The two hulls are not even close. The South Dakota and North Carolina classes had the same displacement and the same beam, but different lengths. That means that the hull broadens faster and goes deeper to make up the same internal volume. The stern form was totally different. Because of the shorter length for vitals, the South Dakota's had a unique shape aft. The beam held at full width until a lot closer to the stern. Underwater, the skegs were on the outboard shafts, while the North Carolina's had them on the inboards. South Dakota's inboard props were further forward than the outboards. It would be easier to scratch build your lower hull or modify the old (crappy) Revell 1/720 hull bottom.
As for the Hasegawa kit, it has issues. I have tried for years to correct them, but have not gotten an acceptable result to date. Trumpy has announced 1/700 South Dakota's as a future release. They might become available quicker than you could modify the North Carolina hull bottom to fit the Hasegawa South Dakota.