1/350 USS Iowa BB 61

[Gordon Bjorklund]

I started this build April 19, 2005 and worked on it off and on until October 2, 2005 and then put it away on the shelf. I took it out again earlier this month and have been working away on it. I'm glad this build started when the Tamiya Missouri kit was $50.00 instead of $100.00.

This build consists of the following items.

Tamiya's USS Missouri kit #78008
Tom's Model Works' "Late 1943 Iowa conversion"
Gold Medal Models' "WWII Battleship Missouri" 350-4 PE
Gold Medal Models' "Gold Plus Missouri" 350-4A PE
The Floating Drydock's "Warship's Data 3 USS Iowa BB 61 A Pictorial History Publication
Polly S # F505334 Navy Blue 5N
Polly S # F505338 Deck Blue 20B
Testors MM Acryl #4245 Light Gray 5L
Testors MM Acryl #4243 Deck Blue 20B
Testors MM Acryl #4241 Navy Blue 5N
Testors MM Acryl #4228 Anti-Fouling Red
Testors MM Acryl Flat Black

The time period of this build is between June 10, 1944 and June 13, 1944. There are two pictures in the Warship's Data book with these dates. The center fold out page has a small color picture and on page 39 there is a B&W picture with the dates. I believe they are in the process of painting the ship. The stern colors are darker than the bow and that's how I'm going to model my Iowa.

The main deck is ready for painting.

[Timmy C]

Always nice to see a non-square bridge BB-61 class being built

[MartinJQuinn]

Very sharp - I like it!

[ArizonaBB39]

Gordon,

She looks wonderful so far, this version of the Iowa is on my 'to do list'

Keep us updated!

[Gordon Bjorklund]

Heres 's how she looks tonight. The decks and guns are painted. The resin parts are causing me some pain. They were primed four years ago with Tamiya's Spray Primer and it is now flacking off the parts. I've never had that problem before with Tamiya's primer. You can see where I've tried to remove it from some of the pieces.

I think the forward decks are to dark. I used Ocean Gray to lighten the Deck Blue. I think now it maybe should have been a lightened Ocean Gray.

[Gordon Bjorklund]

I stared working on the Iowa again after a 6 month stint of doing nothing on the "to do later" pile. I had problems with the primer and the paint cracking and flaking off of the resin parts. I sanded off all the paint and let the parts soak overnite in in Castrol Super Clean and then washed them in Dawn dishsoap. This morning I put a coat of Tamiya spray primer on the parts. Hopefully they won't crack again.

Progress resumes.

[Russ2146]

[Russ2146]