The Ship Model Forum

Hi folks,

First off, I'm a greenhorn here - what you call a newbie or whatever. This is my first of what I hope to be many posts in the coming months (Years?). Yes, I'm jumping into the deep end of the pool without a life vest by tackling this beast but, as I'll explain in a minute, it really isn't as bad as you might think.

I may be a slight bit premature here in starting this, because I won't be buying the kit for a week or two yet, but since I wanted this log to start at the very beginning, I'll call this "Part 1 - Preliminary Research" and talk about what led up to my choice to select this model.

First, a bit of introduction as to who I am. My name is Larry Steiner and I live in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I'm a retired electrical/controls/computer engineer who gave up my 60 hour a week job 8 years ago. I'm 73 years old, married to the same woman for 49 years, no children but we have 2 small cairn terrors (Oops, I mean terriers), both of whom are rescue dogs. My hobbies are photography (I have a Canon DSLR and am a member of the Grand Rapids Camera Club), computers (building & repairing), gardening, and remodeling our home (My wife has the mother of all "Honey-Do" lists!) And also, since I'm a foamer, I also run Microsoft Train Simulator on my computer. What, you mean to tell me you don't know what a foamer is? It's a person who foams at the mouth at the sight of a train!

OK, I'm sure you are wondering what the @^%$*& is this greenhorn doing starting on this monster of a kit? Well, I built tons of kits as a kid and when I was in college I built Revell's Cutty Sark and the Thermopylae, both fully rigged. Then, about 15 years ago, I bought the Scarab 38KV kit from Dumas boats. For those of you who don't know, this is a radio controlled model of a 38 ft Wellcraft Scarab racing boat. Those of you who remember 'Miami Vice" - well, this was Don Johnson's boat. It took me several years and a couple thousand dollars, but I did turn this into the Miami Vice boat. It was 60 inches in length, powered by a 15 CC gas/nitro racing engine, and topped out at about 35 MPH (actual). I know this is supposed to be the start of a build log of a battlewagon, but I'd like to take a minute and show you a few pics of this Scarab I built. Frankly, I'm quite proud of it.







As you can see, I painted it exactly like the Miami Vice boat. In the next post I'll show you a few more pics and then get into my thoughts on why I'm tackling this "Monster Mo".

Later, friends,

_________________
Larry Steiner


Completed: 1:200 USS Missouri (Monster Mo)
Next project: Definitely NOT another big ship!!

Hello & welcome,Larry.Nice Scarab.

Scott

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K494 HMCS Arnprior
Royal Canadian Navy

Larry, welcome aboard! Your Scarab is very impressive. I'd like to see some footage of her running at speed. And so you'll have your nomenclature right, around here it isn't "greenhorn", its "newbie" or "noob".

I surely don't disagree with you that you have elected to jump into the deep end of the pool with no life jacket! But, from what you have told us about your accomplishments in your hobbies, I suspect you might well pull this off, so I'll spare you my usual advice about starting with a destroyer, or something a bit more manageable.

I can't tell you fast enough that you have come to a great place populated by great folks who are anxious to share their experience and knowledge. If you find yourself with a question you can't seem to find the answer to in your research, or need to know a technique for an unfamiliar task (have you met Mr. P.E. yet?), just post a shout out and those in the know will come running.

A little advice of my own. Get yourself a pair of ceramic tipped tweezers. I got mine at my local Vape shop, but you can order them on line as well. CA doesn't stick to ceramic and since I bought mine a couple of weeks ago after just stumbling across a pair, I've had great success with them.

I'll be following your build with interest. I've resisted the temptation to dive into the 1/200 world, but so far resisted it. Truth told, given their cost, the cost of the detail up sets and the space it takes to display them, I'm waiting for a 1/200 U.S.S. Enterprise (CV-6) for my one and only foray into that world.

Bob Melvin

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Give me a fast ship, for I would like to get out of harm's way!

Evening, Folks,

At the end of my last post I said I’d show you what was “under the hood” of my Scarab. Lets, take a look and then we’ll get to the real purpose of this thread – Battle Wagons, or more specifically, the “Monster Mo”, as I’ve named this beast.

Here’s the Scarab with the cockpit off. A couple things of note: I found this guy out east who made me an electric on-board starter for the engine. It connected to the output shaft of the engine by means of a belt-driven one-way clutch gear and was powered by 24 “C” size rechargeable Ni-Cads. You can see the cases for these batteries on either side of the inside of the hull. Not only did they power the starter, they also added just enough weight so that the stern sat down in the water at just the right depth.





The second thing to note is that I had the engine exhaust routed through a muffler and then to a manifold made from copper water pipe that exited through the 4 exhaust pipes at the stern. Plus, I also soldered nipples onto this manifold and ran the engine cooling water out these same 4 exhaust pipes, just like the real boat. Not to brag, but the effect was awesome!



The paint job took forever. The hull has 4 coats of Sherwin Williams Emron automotive lacquer, hand rubbed between coats. On top of this is 3 coats of S-W automotive clear-coat lacquer, hand rubbed and polished to a mirror shine.



OK, so much for my Scarab. Now onto this upcoming project. Why did I pick this particular ship? Well, I’ve always been fascinated with large scale models, not just ships, but all kinds. For years I was going to build a huge RC plane, but never got around to it because I’m not coordinated enough to fly something like that. A few years ago this traveling model of the White House was at our local museum and I spent hours admiring the intricate detail. I love detail. That’s probably why I put so much detail into my Scarab. It was big enough that I could add all kinds of stuff to it – the starter, wet exhaust, cockpit detail, etc.

A nearby city (Kalamazoo, Michigan) has this air museum called the Kalamazoo Air Zoo, and for the past two years the Grand Rapids Camera Club has spent an evening down there where it was closed to the public and we could wander at will and photograph the aircraft without tons of little kids getting in the way. It has mostly aircraft, but for some reason, back towards the rear of the hall, there is a large scale model of the USS Wisconsin (BB-64). This is an awesome model, done by a professional, and both times our camera club has visited, I’ve taken dozens of pictures of it. I would say the model is close to 1/150 scale. It’s breathtaking, and both times I’ve thought “Wouldn’t it be fun to build something like that?”.

Well, being retired, I’m on a fixed income and with the kit itself plus the two Pontos detail sets would set me back somewhere around $800, this was pretty much a dream. Until recently. I recently came into some money that, according to my wonder wife, was mine because I earned it (repairing friends computers) and now this dream of mine is turning into a reality. I already have lots of tools from building my Scarab, and I doubt that this ship will require $450 worth of automotive lacquer (Yep, that’s right! Emron is EXPENSIVE!!!!!)

Like a lot of you, my eyes ain’t what they used to be, so in my muddled brain I reasoned that the bigger scale, the easier it would be to work with. If the PE items on this ship are tiny, imagine what they’d be like if they were half this size! Yikes! So in a nutshell, that’s why I ended up tackling this monster. Where will I put it when it’s done? Who knows. Maybe I’ll donate it to the local museum. All I know is that for me, I’m going to have the time of my life building this sucker!

That's it for this time. Next post I'll discuss what I'm doing now while I wait for the vendor to get this kit in stock.

Have a great evening, folks -

_________________
Larry Steiner


Completed: 1:200 USS Missouri (Monster Mo)
Next project: Definitely NOT another big ship!!

Gee, I don't know what happened to the two missing photos, but they still exist on my computer!





Here they are!

_________________
Larry Steiner


Completed: 1:200 USS Missouri (Monster Mo)
Next project: Definitely NOT another big ship!!

Neat Scarab Larry:

I am not into RC but I can sure appreciate the effort and craftsmanship that went into this model. The finish is truly outstanding.
Good luck with the 1/200 Missouri. I have been muddling my through the 1/200 USS Arizona. I doubt I will ever tackle anything this large again, to unwieldly. That being written, if I did find one under the tree this December, I would have to build it. I will be following along as you work through your build.
Best of luck

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Mark
Master Gunnery Sergeant USMC (Ret.)
http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html

On the bench:

1/200 USS Enterprise, CV-6

She's a big, scary monster... that's for sure!

I've managed to finish the 1/200 Arizona and about 90% of the 1/200 Bismarck before it was trashed during a move but finishing the Missouri/Iowa is the "Holy Grail" of plastic model kit building in my opinion. I'm excited to watch your progress on this beast... my Iowa project is on ice at the moment but I'll be building something here in the near future. Best wishes on your build and I'll be following along!

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-Jason Channell

Current Project: 1/200 Bismarck

Thanks, fellas, for the compliments on my Scarab. It boosts my "EGO-Meter" a couple dozen notches. But that was then and this is now. I'm anxious to get started on this new aspect of modeling. I'm gonna try real hard to make you guys proud of me, but NOT at the expense of having fun and enjoying myself!

_________________
Larry Steiner


Completed: 1:200 USS Missouri (Monster Mo)
Next project: Definitely NOT another big ship!!

Hi folks,

Well, I got an E-mail from the place I’m getting my kit from and they said they were expecting more stock to arrive mid to late September, so it looks like I’ve got a little while to wait yet. While I do, I’ve got a couple questions to ask, and I’ll also try to indicate what I’m doing to get ready to tackle the “Monster Mo”.

Question #1: What’s the best way to post photos? So far I’ve been reducing them in size and inserting them right into the post. Is it better to DL them to a web site and then link to that site in the post? I’ve noticed that keeping the size under 150K, especially ones with a lot of detail, is quite hard and requires a lot of reduction. I have an account with both Flickr and PhotoBucket. Should I use one of these or continue on as I have been doing?

Question #2: Does anyone know of a really good reference with a lot of color detail photos, of the Missouri during the end of WWII? I’ve already ordered a book called “Super Drawings in 3D – The Battleship USS Missouri” from Amazon. IT’s supposed to contain more than 100 color photos of the exterior of the ship and the reviews indicate it’s a great reference. It’s scheduled to arrive right about the time I order my kit.



In the meantime, I’ve been collecting all the information I can find. I’m going through these forums one at a time reading everything I can find that looks pertinent. I’ve practically inhaled the “Tips and Tricks” forum and every time I find a piece of useful information, I file it under a folder I made especially for this build. I have a screen capture program called “SnagIt” that is invaluable for this type of thing. It’s not free ($49.99 from Techsmith.com) but it’s fantastic for taking screen shots. I think I’ve captured just about every one of the pictures Kelly Quirk posted regarding his build. Also, in the ‘Manufacturer’s and Supplier’s section, there’s a great thread with a lot of detail photos about the Pontos Detal-Up set for this ship. In addition to that, there are a couple threads on this ship at another site http://www.britmodeller.com.

If you’re planning on using the Pontos detail set, I might recommend you go to their website and download a copy of their instruction set for this kit. The pages download as PDF files and once downloaded you can save them to your hard drive. One big benefit of doing this is that once you do this, you can blow the images up to whatever size you want and either print them (using a screen capture) or show them oversize on your monitor. They’re hard enough to understand as it is, let alone being so small you need Superman’s eyes to see the detail!

Once I find how to best post photos, I’ll show you some shots of the professionally built model of the USS Wisconsin at the Kalamazoo Air Zoo. It’s an awesome model!

_________________
Larry Steiner


Completed: 1:200 USS Missouri (Monster Mo)
Next project: Definitely NOT another big ship!!

Larry, I admire your courage for taking on this beast. I have noticed on not only this forum but on others I visit from time to time, that there are a lot more 1/200 build threads started than there are completed. Some, in fact, seem to die quite early deaths. Based on your Scarab I'm certain this isn't the case with you, but I suspect that some modelers buy one of these monsters thinking that "bigger scale = easier build". Ain't so, McGee. I learned with Revell's 1/144 Fletcher that big brings with it it own particular set of headaches, especially if you want big and accuate. After all, big means that the errors, either the kits or your's, are bigger as well. But, I look forward to watching your progress and fully expect that this is one that will be seen through to completion.

One suggestion I might make, and I may have said this above, is that if you don't already have some, get yourself a pair of ceramic tipped tweezers. I got mine at my local Vape shop, but you can order them on line as well. CA doesn't stick to ceramic and since I bought mine a couple of weeks ago after just stumbling across a pair, I've had great success with them. If you get some CA on them, just wipe it off before it dries, or if it has dried, a paper towel with a bit of acetone on it will clean them right up. Makes working with PE, at least in 1/350, the scale I build in for the most part, much easier.

Good luck on your build and I'm looking forward to watching and doubtless learning from you.

Bob

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Give me a fast ship, for I would like to get out of harm's way!

Howdy Bob,

Yeah, I've noticed that as well. A lot of build threads just sort of peter out along the way and leave you hanging as to whether or not the ship ever gets completed. Well, I intend to finish this beast! Can you imagine what my wife would say after I spent that much $$$ and DIDN'T finish it???? You don't even want to go there!

The two big things building the Scarab taught me was patience and the ability to improvise. And, that if you screw up, get out the fiberglass (or putty), cover over your mistake, and start over. No doubt I will make mistakes, but the way I look at it is that this is a hobby, and I intend to have fun. Even now, I'm having a blast researching these forums and learning all sorts of interesting and useful information.

And thanks for the tip about the ceramic tipped tweezers. That sounds like a must-have piece of equipment. I definitely will pick up a pair or two. I had to cobble up several jigs and fixtures when I build the Scarab and I have no reason to believe that I won't be doing the same here. One nice thing about being an engineer - there's not a lot we can't do!

Take care and thanks for the vote of confidence. This kit is going to be a lot more fun sharing it with you people on this forum.

_________________
Larry Steiner


Completed: 1:200 USS Missouri (Monster Mo)
Next project: Definitely NOT another big ship!!

OK, I just spent a boatload of money!

Trumpeter 1/200 USS Missouri Kit: Ordered - Due to be shipped week of Sept 9
Pontos 1/200 USS Missouri 1945 Detail Kit: Ordered - Due to be shipped Sept 15 - 25
Pontos 1/200 USS Missouri Advanced Detail Kit: Ordered - Due to be shipped Sept 15 - 25

Ask me if I'm excited!!!

_________________
Larry Steiner


Completed: 1:200 USS Missouri (Monster Mo)
Next project: Definitely NOT another big ship!!

Larry, you are a man after my own philosophy. Go whole hog or stay at the house! I hope you'll post some pics of those goodies when they come in, especially those Pontos sets.

Bob

_________________
Give me a fast ship, for I would like to get out of harm's way!

A few days ago I told you I'd post some pictures of the professionally built model of the USS Wisconsin located at the Kalamazoo Air Zoo. Here are a few to show you some of the detail of this model. Frankly, the quality of builds I see here in many cases are just as good as this.

Bear in mind that I had to take these shots through a glass case, so in some cases you will see a glare. Sorry, but hey, you get what you pay for!!

Here's the link.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/steiners_ ... 7824565688

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Larry Steiner


Completed: 1:200 USS Missouri (Monster Mo)
Next project: Definitely NOT another big ship!!

I've wanted to visit the Air Zoo ever since I learned of its existence. Sadly, not being able to drive myself is something of an issue...

Good luck on your build!

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Sean Nash, ACG (aircraft camo gestapo)

On the ways:
1/200 Trumpeter HMS Nelson
1/700 Tamiya USS Yorktown CV-5

In the stash:
1/35 Italiari PT-109
1/35 Tamiya "Pibber" Patrol Boat
1/350 Trumpeter USS Yorktown CV-10

Larry,

Thanks for posting the link to the model of WISCONSIN. Quite impressive, indeed. I hope your build is equally enjoyable & successful!

Hank

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HMS III
Mocksville, NC
BB62 vet 68-69

Builder's yard:
USS STODDARD (DD-566) 66-68 1:144, Various Lg Scale FC Directors
Finished:
USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) 67-69 1:200
USN Sloop/Ship PEACOCK (1813) 1:48
ROYAL CAROLINE (1748) 1:47
AVS (1768) 1:48

Hi Sean,

Sorry you can't make it over to see it. I haven't posted the pictures from this year's Camera Club visit yet on Flickr, but I plan to do so very shortly. Once I do, I'll send you the link so you can see what it's all about. One nice thing about the club's night at the place is that they have models in period dress posing next to the planes! No, no bikinis - that's a bit much for us old fuddy duddies!

_________________
Larry Steiner


Completed: 1:200 USS Missouri (Monster Mo)
Next project: Definitely NOT another big ship!!

According to UPS tracking, my "Monster MO" is out for delivery! Getting kinda excited here!

Gee, this is stupid, a 73 year old man acting like a little kid waiting on his toy boat. BUT, my toy boats as a kit never cost that much! I guess the old saying is right: "The only difference between men and boys is the price of their toys"

The first thing I'm going to do is to take a boatload of pictures of the parts and post them on my Flickr account. That way, you gents (and ladies) can see whet this kit contains.

Have a great day, folks! I know I will!!!!!!

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Larry Steiner


Completed: 1:200 USS Missouri (Monster Mo)
Next project: Definitely NOT another big ship!!

Adults are just kids who have been around a bit longer.

Delivery day IS a good day though... looking forward to mo' madness.

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-Jason Channell

Current Project: 1/200 Bismarck

I remember being excited when my dad bought my brother and me models of the Revell Missouri and Franklin D. Roosevelt in the '50's. We couldn't wait to build them and play with them in the bathtub. The box art was and is still very evocative of the period. I have hinted to SWMBO that I would like to have a crack at the 1/200 Missouri. She laughed me to scorn!

_________________
Mark
Master Gunnery Sergeant USMC (Ret.)
http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html

On the bench:

1/200 USS Enterprise, CV-6