Taking on the 1/200 Missouri...

[Channell]

OK, I'm back in business! After a few really miserable months of selling our old house, buying a new one and getting our family of 5 resettled, plus building a new model dungeon in the basement I can FINALLY start making scale plastic stuff again.

My last 2 major (unfinished) forum projects did not weather the move too well:



...The Bismarck got dropped and the Gato is missing a big piece of deck grating. Anyway, I've decided it would be a great time to just start fresh, so I'm putting aside my past projects for now, applying the lessons learned and am diving into the Trumpeter Missouri + Pontos set with all I've got.

My first task was to assess what Trumpy gave us so I bought a couple of plan sets from the Floating Drydock for both the Missouri and the Iowa. I got seriously scared when I compared the kit pieces to the Iowa deck plans... nothing matched up. The Missouri plans were an entirely different story; virtually everything above the waterline was a nearly perfect match (bear in mind the plans are 1/192 scale and somewhat larger because of it):











Even the much discussed bottom of the ship is really close... basically all except for the area around the hull skegs and outer propshafts. I'm not sure if the 'Mo and the Iowa were that different or if I've got a bad set of plans, but since I've got everything I need to do an obsessive 'Mo, I've abandoned my earlier plans to do a 1945 Iowa and am going to stick with the Missouri.

I made a few reverse hull cross-sections to help visualize what's wrong...

the first 7 or 8 sections are pretty close; they stack neatly over the stern:



But then this happens (Section locations are approximate and not measured out, FYI):









Anyway, my assessment is that fixing the bottom would be best done by cutting out that entire section below the waterline, throwing it in the garbage and then rebuilding that section from scratch using the plans and inserting it onto the kit.

Wow, that would be a lot of work! ... and all for an error nobody will notice, nor appreciate the work done to fix it.

But I don't want to just ignore it or online rivet counters will point their fingers and laugh at me from their high towers in model hell ... plus I ignored the problems with both the Bismarck and Arizona already and would like to do something about it!

Plan "B" is to do a waterline model, as everything above the waterline passes the "close enough for Jason" test shapewise.

So I've been indecisive for long enough and am getting model ship withdrawls... time to start. Tonight I glued the hull and deck together.



Taking a lesson from the Bismarck, I added some extra support to the crossbraces just in case I do the waterline option:



They wouldn't do any good otherwise, as the bases they are attached to would be cut off and they will not stay attached to the inside of the hull otherwise.

I pinned the bow section to the hull with solid evergreen round stock to offer extra strength should the bow get wacked or dropped or have to go through another move someday.



It's probably bordering on paranoid but it will give me some added insurance for little effort and make sure the seam never reappears after putty and sanding.

I have narrowed my timeframe for the 'Mo down to two options: 1944 around her shakedown cruise or 1945 just before the surrender ceremony. If I go waterline, I'll do a seascape and really push for as much realism as possible. If I do a full hull, she'll be more along the lines of a builder's model on a nice wood display base.

And so it begins...

[Goodwood]

"And so it begins..."

Sounds like a line from an epic movie or RPG...in any case, I expect this story will be just as thrilling!

My take on the rivet counters is this: most of them aren't the ones building these monsters. Especially the more vocal of that group: I mean, the more a person gripes on forums, the less time that person would have to spend ultra-detailing and ultra-correcting their magnum opus, right?

[kylewoody]

I like your logic Sean! Git er done Jason, she'll be impressive!

Kyle

[Channell]

Me? Finish something? Well, one can dream I suppose.

[Fliger747]

The hull sections you cut out are an un reduced 1:192? Interesting indeed, thanks for showing for us.
My scratch ship is 1:192, actually surprising that there is more difference in scale than one might think.

Have fun, great project..... Tom

[Ronald47]

Well Jason, you got yourself a good project! I'm on

[LE BOSCO]

good back to business Jason
Nicolas

[Channell]

Thanks for the encouragement, everybody!

Well, I am going for broke and making a wild attempt at fixing the stern. If it doesn't pan out, I figure I can always go the waterline route.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tW6clbnS8wg

[kawubke]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6PJtidgkhc

[Fliger747]

Jason

Please make a photo record of the mods to the stern. It will be a well anticipated subject and a learning experience for what goes well and what might not.

God luck! T

[BB62vet]

Jason,

I just caught this topic/thread as I was about to log off. Do keep us posted (I sent you a PM) on this hull work. I'm E-X-T-R-E-M-E-L-Y interested in what you do and so forth. FYI - your reverse section cuts is exactly what I was describing doing also.

Good luck with whatever decision you make on the model - full or w.l.

Later,

Hank

[Channell]

Update:

I've been tinkering away after work the past few nights and I finally found a solution to Trumpeter's accuracy woes I also picked up a little friend for the 'Mo; a 1/200 Gato kit:



I didn't want to go all the way and totally scratch out the stern (otherwise, what's the point of buying a kit in the first place?) so I thought I could try to cheat and reshape it by sanding the thick hull and building it up with green and auto body putty.

Well, it didn't work. Here's the carnage:



I spent several hours attempting to implement the Missouri Accurization Strategic System (MO ASS ) but the kit stern is just too far off from the plans for clever acronyms and mounds of putty to work well. I actually sanded clear through the hull and still couldn't get close to the hull shape on the outboard props. According to my cross-sections, the skegs shouldn't be parallel as they are in kit form either; on the real thing, they are flared out (narrow end astern). Auto body putty is also very difficult to shape in small areas without making a big mess so I was just getting nowhere by gobbing it all over.

Tonight I gave up half-way through; it was just gonna be more work than I want to spent on it for no real return on the effort so I decided to go with "plan B" instead.

Despite being so huge, the 'Mo was actually really easy to waterline (with the deck and bow pieces already attached and the bow section securely pinned into place, mind you!). The boot top runs right through the drain scuttle vents (if that's what they're called?) which makes a handy guide so it was simply a matter of taping a pencil to an upside down small cup that was shimmed to the right height and running a line around the hull below the vents while the hull sat level on a large smooth table top. Next I ran a piece of tape around the pencil line and chopped the bottom off with a dremel multipurpose cutter bit, being careful to stay about 1/4 inch away from the tape.

After that, I removed the jagged edge with a dremel sanding drum and cleaned it up with coarse grit sandpaper. It took maybe 2 hours to do, although there is still some work to be done for the hull to sit perfectly flat.









Because the hull is so thick, there really isn't any need for extra supports or modifications for strength apart from a couple of crossbeams to screw the hull into a base. I am also thinking it would work well to glue relatively thick styrene sheets across the bottom of the entire hull, trim around the hull, fill any gaps around the waterline and have it as a stand-alone display.

Anyway, let me know if it looks right or not. I've been comparing the hull to pictures but I'm still not 100% sure.

I'm trying tow figure out a plan for imitating the weld seams/plates and gussets. It will be A LOT easier now that most of the hull is gone.

[Goodwood]

Well Jason, at least you finally managed to answer The $64,000,000 Question regarding this kit...so that's an accomplishment, at least!

She's looking good so far as I can tell.

[BB62vet]

Jason,

You've done a really outstanding job, so far. Kudos on the decision and I must admit - it DOES look better than the alternative.

Once I've determined the appropriate linear spacing (horiz.) and vertical spacing for the bow eye bolts (2 rows) I will post that info on my build. Hull plating at this point is has not been determined.

Hank

[Fliger747]

Gents:

Very interesting indeed. For major hull recontouring I highly recommend using Bondo auto body filler as opposed to putty, the object isn't so different than collision repair! Easy stuff to work and it sets quite quickly. It does look nice as a waterline model!

Will be very interested at seeing Hanks rendition of the padeyes along the bow plates, haven't attempted those as yet.... Pretty microscopic at this scale. I suppose a PE solution could exist, using the top of a PE stanchion?

BTW, really like the table and chairs! T

[Channell]

Update:

I've got the fire so I'm trying to roll with it and get stuff done.

I'm in the rough stages of trying to recreate the drain channels and round rolled edge that rings the top of the Missouri's hull. Here's what I'm trying to get, as seen on the Iowa:






Trumpeter did make a little bit of effort here; at least the hull edges rise higher the deck but they leave much to be desired.

Thankfully Pontos thought of the channels at least; they left the space open on the replacement deck and included PE for the channels themselves, including even the scupper drains!

That's great and all, but when installed as intended the channels end up even with the deck and kit hull edge hardly resembles the real thing at all.

My attempted solution was to first cut the hull even with the deck, then putty and sand the edges for a smooth surface, being careful to maintain a right angle with the deck and sides of the hull.

Next I glued strips of .010 X .030 Evergreen Styrene along the edge standing straight up, followed by .020 round stock. There is still plenty of fiddling and clean up to do but here's what I've got so far:













I plan to pass on the PE channels so I have the right depth; when they are all sanded out and painted I think they'll look pretty good.

I've gotta say I don't really like the pre-stained Pontos deck; it's really the wrong color and it's very rough and grainy looking. I think I can sand it a bit smoother and paint it myself; I'll let y'all know how that goes.

BTW Fliger, I did use Bondo (as well as some green putty) when I tried to reshape the bottom of the hull; if anyone is more ambitious than me it might be possible to reshape the hull this way, but I really think building a drop-in scratchbuilt replacement section would be the easier way to go.

We like the table too; my wife picked it out. What's moving if you don't buy some expensive furniture to go with your new place?

[Channell]

...and here's some pics with the main deck sanded and installed:









The decks sanded nicely (with 1000 grit), becoming very smooth and still not loosing detail. A light touch with the airbrush and Deck Blue paint should make them very realistic looking. I put them on before paint because I had some problem with my KA deck lifting on my Bismarck and because I got a better look hand-painting the various deck equipment bases and hatches anyway (the paint filled the tiny gap between the deck and the molded detail).

Just an FYI, but the laser cuts did not go all the way through on my Pontos deck. I'm not sure if it's an error or if that's just how Pontos rolls (I've never used their decks before) but it took quite a while with an exacto knife to cut everything out. Oh well, at least I didn't have to measure anything!

[BB62vet]

Jason,

Very nice, so far - by the way. what set of plans did you use for your hull section cut outs?

Thanks,

Hank

[Channell]

Jason,

Very nice, so far - by the way. what set of plans did you use for your hull section cut outs?

Thanks,

Hank

Thanks Hank! I got #TFW-BB63 in 1/192 scale.

[BB62vet]

Thanks, Jason!