What-If Montana-class BB-67

[Sauragnmon]

Herr Jan, I believe you have framed my point exactly. All the parts needing to be replaced, or heavily worked on. Randy's tale is rather definitive. I've heard Mike's product is quite good, and it's definately something I'm considering. The sole issue is accomodating the cost. Soon enough, I'll be doing that though. In the mean time, I have other build plans in hand, and projects in line.

[rtheriaque]

I'm still waiting on my Montana from IHP. I have a ton of stuff waiting for it: two full Tamiya Missouri kits, two sheets of GMM Fast BB photo etch, a Trumpy North Carolina kit, and two Dragon Pennsylvania kits (5" and directors). I'll be sure to prune that list down to what I actually used after the build...

[GTDEATH13]

I decided to start working on my Montana. I started from the main turrets. I hava attached some pics of them so you can see them as they were contained in the YM set. In my opinion i have to find a new set of turrets. The resin parts are well out of shape and detail. Does anyone know were can I find such a set?? e.g. un upgrade for the Iowa class bbs... I have already bought 16/50 gun barrels from BMK.
The best turret set I have come up so far is from Revell's modernised New Jersey kit. Ihave biult trumpy's alabama and north carolina and mini hobbie's missouri. I have some parts left over but they do not match one another. Any suggestions???

[GTDEATH13]

Three more pics

[GTDEATH13]

The barrels can be easily straightened. Do you think I should try working with the resin bodies or just leave them and find an upgrade set??

It is very disappointin though to spend so much money on a kit and not meet up with the lowest standards. I will post more pics from the YM kit when I get going...

[rtheriaque]

I got my 700 scale Montana from IHP today. I'm totally blown away- I was prepared to use only the hull, but all of the castings are clean and crisp. She's stunningly large- it should be interesting to see how she looks in my lineup of US WWII. By eyeballing it, Montana is to Iowa as Iowa is to SoDak.

[GTDEATH13]

I got my 700 scale Montana from IHP today. I'm totally blown away- I was prepared to use only the hull, but all of the castings are clean and crisp. She's stunningly large- it should be interesting to see how she looks in my lineup of US WWII. By eyeballing it, Montana is to Iowa as Iowa is to SoDak.

Enjoy... The size of her is indeed overwhelming...

[ArizonaBB39]

Nikos,

If you want to replace the main turrets you could get some from the Tamiya USS Missouri kit. Either ask around here if anyone has extras or you can order the parts sprue from Tamiya and get extra goodies with it. Just a thought! (since it looks to me like the YMW turrets are just resin casts of a completed Tamiya turret)

[RandyM]

Agreed - while I have yet to do a "rivet-for-rivet" comparison, the YMW parts appear to be recast tamiya turrets (which might be an entirely different type of concern ).

[EJM]

Been a while since I posted here. How's it going, everyone? Anyway, I uploaded all my pictures I took when I went to the IPMS Mad City Modelers contest in Madison, WI on March 1st.

[GTDEATH13]

Been a while since I posted here. How's it going, everyone? Anyway, I uploaded all my pictures I took when I went to the IPMS Mad City Modelers contest in Madison, WI on March 1st.

Hope to get as well as you...

[GTDEATH13]

Because a rolling stone gothers no moss... I have not even started building the thing and already thinking what to do next,I am looking for plans for this class as well as the Iowa class.

Does anyone know were I can order some from??? Regardless the scale, something bigger than 1/350 would be fine.


I would also appreciate your suggestions. Scratcbuilding a Montana in what scale? 1/96 1/100 1/144 or 1/200.. For what scale do you think I will find aftermarket parts that can save me the trouble of scratcbuilding everything?? Take also into consideration that i will propably build two ships. A WW2 version and a modernised one.

[Sauragnmon]

I don't see why you'd want to go larger... you've already put out this much money on the project, don't write it off entirely. At the very least, you've gotten yourself, well, something to build up from. Yes, ok, quality sucked the big on on what you did get, but if you work it as a waterline, and put all the serious work into it, you can, at the end of the project, say you conquered it. If you're looking to work on aftermarket parts, you've already put out money on aftermarkets for the 350 build. Are you really going to sign off that much money and do nothing with it? Were it 700 scale, it wouldn't be as bad, so what, it's $200 total, but you've put out what, 600-800 total? I could partially rebuild my computer for that much. But that's just my thoughts. You could save yourself a lot of work and do a modernized 350 scale from the YMW one, perhaps pattern a hull off the model, and build your WW2 model off it. Just tossing some thoughts out.

[RandyM]

EJM - CONGRATS on the award, very nicely done.

GT... are you thinking of not starting the YMW kit due to quality issues? If so, then the following is my *opinion* (offered freely, take it for what you paid for it)...

- the hull is very nicely done, and with a moderate amount of work can be made into a nice full-hull version (even less work for waterline),
- the turrets are certainly usable with required cleanup - just look at the photos of Jan's kit to see how nice they can be made to look,
- the superstructure is quite a letdown: it's almost as if a different modeler did the masters for these parts than for the hull. They can be used as-is (with required cleanup) but by doing so you are severly limiting the overall finished quality of your model. Also, YMW appears to have chosen to model the kit after the BuShip models, which from what I've gleaned are likely *not* accurate representations of the final configuration had the ship(s) been built,
- YMW should be embarrassed by the white metal parts. What's even more surprising to me is that they are offering them (ie., turrets with barrels, etc.) as "detail sets" for modelers looking to upgrade plastic kit parts - I don't think so.

So... I believe this kit - due to the above issues - should be sold for roughly half what YMW is asking. I think they do themselves a real dis-service by charging premium prices for a less-than-so-so kit (ie., I'll be much more careful when considering purchasing anything of theirs in the future). At the same time, I believe that if you want to build a Montana and can live with the price of this kit, it really does provide an excellent starting point for a large-scope project (but not so large as building one from scratch).

[GTDEATH13]

@ Randy and Sauragnmon:

I think you misunderstood my intentions. I am definately builidng my YMW Montana. I will not give it up. But I am already thinking what to do next. So that's why I am looking for plans, as well as to use them as reference for my 1/350 build. There is potential to the YMW kit but with a lot of patience (not a quality of mine) and hard work ( what I am intending to do ).

For the turrets I have not decided yet, propably will try to improve one of them and if I am not satisfied I will propably ask for some either from TAmiya or Revell.

I will build a full hull, that's for sure, since the hull is the kits biggest success.

[RandyM]

Ahhh - excellent. Then, you should check floatingdrydock.com - the list a set of plans (GB67) for Montana in 1/192, currently at $25.

Click the link below and scroll down to bottom of battleship section (which is first section on the page).

http://www.floatingdrydock.com/G.htm

[Sauragnmon]

Apparently, the YMW kit is redefining the Craftsman Kit designation, because you have to be a real craftsman just to get the damn thing to work out for you.

[janschu]

Hello Montana fans,

EJM - congratulations also from me, a very nice model!

Nikos - i think Randy is absolutely right. Although the YMW kit is too expensive concerning the poor quality
of certain parts like superstructure or the white metal parts, with the use of the available aftermarket
parts and scratchbuilding efforts this kit can surely be turned into a highlight.
In my opinion the 16 inch turrets are quite usable with some cleanup and sanding down that weird disc
at the bottom of the gunhouse right up to the ring that actually covers the barbette. I have no idea what
what the manufacturers had in mind with that disc, maybe neccessary for the casting process?
The kit�s 5 inch turrets are also nice. I did just some detailling by adding some hatches and view ports.
And of course the replacement of the provided metal barrels with Burkhardt�s (BMK) beautiful 16" and 5"
brass barrels!

Randy - How is your Montana build come along? Have you made any progress ( photos please!)?

Are you all building a WW II rendition of the Montana or is someone doing a modernized version, how the ship
might have looked in the 1980�s?

[RandyM]

Jan...

I have unfortunately not worked on the kit at all over the past three weeks, for several reasons:

- I finally got myself an Internet domain, and have been working on a website which will bring all my interests/hobbies under one roof. I'm not an HTML/JAVA/.NET guy at all, and some am cutting my teeth (Expression Web) on the whole thing. I hope to unleash this new site on you soon, at least to try out my Montana writeup/photos.

- As the weather became nice(r) again, my wife started giving me the evil eye when she noticed me at my workbench all weekend. So I've been busy with a large walkway project, and

- oh yeah, I do have to work from time to time

Once I get my website up and running (or at least the framework of it), I will turn back to actually building the darned thing.

[gtb -red]

EJM,CONGRATS wish I could build a BB as good as you man. I have a 1/350 Iowa and 1/350 Washington ready to be built. But building a 1/350 Montana from scratch is out of question for me. For all of you Montana builders DAMN GOOD WORK.