The Ship Model Forum

Dear all,

A late share as the model is almost finished, but I wanted to post it here

My version is the "classic" one, not the "deluxe" but it has some PE parts that makes it interesting


On some sites, the Montana is presented as the successor to the Iowa, but I'd say that's wrong, as they were designed around the same time (even earlier), but had different objectives and purposes...

A brief word on the armament planned for these battleships:

Mark 7 16-inch/50-calibre turrets

The 16-inch (406mm) 50-calibre gun is the main armament of the Iowa-class battleships and was intended to be the main armament of the Montana-class battleship, construction of which was cancelled.
The turrets were described as 'three-gun' rather than 'triple' because each gun could be raised independently.
The interior of the turrets was subdivided and designed to allow each gun to be loaded, raised and fired independently.

Contrary to popular belief, ships do not move perceptibly sideways when a broadside is fired; this is an illusion.
With the enormous mass of the ship and the damping effect of the water around the hull, the pressure wave generated by the shot is only felt as a slight change in lateral speed.
The surface of the sea on the side of the ship on which the guns are aimed is agitated by the blast from the guns, creating the illusion of movement in the photos.

5-inch 54-calibre turrets

These guns, originally designed for the Montana-class battleships and then for the aborted CL-154-class cruisers, were intended to replace the 5"/38-calibre secondary gun batteries then widely used by the US Navy.
They were used by the US Navy and, later, by the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force (irony be damned).

Let's get down to business with this great little kit.

I hesitated for a long time about doing it in waterline, but in the end the full hull option was chosen.

With the waterline in mind, I had taken some weights out of the rod box, which must have come from an old Yamato.











The main bridge is installed:



and we weight it down so that nothing moves

_________________
In 1:700 we trust

There are three kinds of people: the living, the dead and those who go to sea.

The Bofors quadruple...



Left veryfire


Right, trumpeter


In short, both are ugly...

All the DCA will probably be replaced by 3D...
Which may put the editing on hold at that point...

We attack the main tower with its PE, which is of good quality

_________________
In 1:700 we trust

There are three kinds of people: the living, the dead and those who go to sea.

We're continuing with the radars:

it's not big








Doubt before choice... full hull or waterline? The chimneys have also received their PE

_________________
In 1:700 we trust

There are three kinds of people: the living, the dead and those who go to sea.

Puttying the hull joints















And after a big sanding session, we apply the black primer.

_________________
In 1:700 we trust

There are three kinds of people: the living, the dead and those who go to sea.

We're starting to paint the deck, using Vallejo 71.444 wood deck.







Once dry, we pass a brown juice and a sepia

A special mention for the engraving of the deck: you'll notice that the battens are not aligned, but the separations are more or less random. This is an important detail because this kit is (to date) the only one to have this type of engraving, which is much more realistic for a warship.

For civilian ships (particularly liners), it's a question of aesthetics; the battens need to be standard sizes, not on a military ship...





Some strips are painted in lighter or darker shades to break up the uniformity of the paint. A veil of diluted paint will soften the contrast, so that it is just suggested.

_________________
In 1:700 we trust

There are three kinds of people: the living, the dead and those who go to sea.

we apply a coat of "Dark Blue" and start masking, again with Parafilm

_________________
In 1:700 we trust

There are three kinds of people: the living, the dead and those who go to sea.

Red on the hull



We remove the parafilm and make a small blank assembly









The hull is then painted according to the MS-22 scheme.

_________________
In 1:700 we trust

There are three kinds of people: the living, the dead and those who go to sea.

Well, after a long break, TRIUMPH's DCA 3D is on its way, so we're back to Montana.

What if I reused the base of my Hood Flyhawk?

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No, I'm joking, it'll be on tins

_________________
In 1:700 we trust

There are three kinds of people: the living, the dead and those who go to sea.

We're concentrating on the main tower, adding the last PE railings and a few other knick-knacks.



Next up is the radar... 12 PE coins for this one...









Let's move on to the directors, there are 4 to do, but it takes time to fold all this...









Taking shape

_________________
In 1:700 we trust

There are three kinds of people: the living, the dead and those who go to sea.

MK.37 firing directors for the main turret, straightening of certain PE parts and, as the model lacks certain details, use of the spares box.

_________________
In 1:700 we trust

There are three kinds of people: the living, the dead and those who go to sea.

rereading the subject ...



isn't there a bloody problem with this door?

and now that I've seen it, that's all I'm going to see...

so either we sand down the door, or we go and scratch up a little platform...

_________________
In 1:700 we trust

There are three kinds of people: the living, the dead and those who go to sea.

As I've just received my Bofors, I've assembled the first 6, which represents 1/4 of the endowment...

Easy to remove, easy to glue with cyano, but it's very small, very small, optivisor essential

_________________
In 1:700 we trust

There are three kinds of people: the living, the dead and those who go to sea.

We're working on creating the missing platform...

The rod box has served well, the brackets are from my 1/350 Fletcher!











We're taking advantage of the fact that the front superstructure is well advanced to start rigging with the installation of the halyards.



The 20mm oerlikons will continue, and the AA parts for the superstructure will all be fitted... There are still a bunch of them left on the main deck!







Then we're off to work on the main turrets, because yes, the little bofors and oerlikons are cute, but we want something heavy! 406mm family guns!





With macros as merciless as JR Ewing's, we're going to have to clean up the moulding lines a bit on these affuts...

_________________
In 1:700 we trust

There are three kinds of people: the living, the dead and those who go to sea.

We add the anchor chains







The superstructures are glued together, as are the railings, which are a bit of a challenge to assemble. Some of the railings tend to be a little too long, so you have to adjust them...

Even if they are not planned, we add staircases that come from generic PE sheets.











Then we start the rigging











And finally, the catapults, which are relatively easy to fold:

_________________
In 1:700 we trust

There are three kinds of people: the living, the dead and those who go to sea.

We're well advanced today: the railings are in place, the secondary armament is in place, and the quadruple bofors are finally all in place...

In short, all that's left is to fit the 38 simple oerlikons and the assembly will be complete, all that's left is a very light patina and you're ready to go!



























And a few overviews for the pleasure

_________________
In 1:700 we trust

There are three kinds of people: the living, the dead and those who go to sea.

we're approaching the final stages










Attacking seaplanes















The plaque with the name of the ship :

_________________
In 1:700 we trust

There are three kinds of people: the living, the dead and those who go to sea.

So that's it, we can say it's finished, all that's left is to install it on its tinsel lines.

_________________
In 1:700 we trust

There are three kinds of people: the living, the dead and those who go to sea.

She is looking good! You do nice and clean work!

Thanks Timothyo

Now it's time to tackle the base of this beautiful baby...

According to the docking plan, we have 426 studs... that's a lot, isn't it?





To fix everything in place, we glue a sheet of plastic card onto the wooden base, which is then scratched to help the glue and paint set in place:

_________________
In 1:700 we trust

There are three kinds of people: the living, the dead and those who go to sea.

summary of my adventures

glue the tins onto the paper template



You put in slow cyano and press... (the weight of words)





and it's clear that things didn't work out too well...
I can think of several reasons for this:
- my cyano not totally suitable, although I have my doubts
- my CP base was not scraped enough, so not very receptive to gluing
- the pressure exerted by the 4kg (I weighed) of books was not uniform



We're not getting discouraged and we're gluing the loose tins back together 1 by 1 ^^.



Viewed from the side, you can see just how monstrous the ship is compared to tins almost 2 metres high...



And as if my stories about glue weren't enough, when it came time to paint, an ugly joint appeared...
my CP had come unstuck from its wooden base...
Damned! I've got to start all over again!

_________________
In 1:700 we trust

There are three kinds of people: the living, the dead and those who go to sea.