1/200 USS Iowa 1943

[Channell]

Alright, I'm reorganizing and prioritizing my chaotic model desk; as of now I am shelving and/or canning my other unfinished projects to focus on just two; a 1/72 IXC U-Boat and a subject that is near and dear to my heart and my all-time most favorite ship, the USS Iowa. I thought I'd bring y'all along too, if you're brave enough to follow one of my threads.

I know there was lots of interest in my Bismarck projects; I still intend to do an obsessively accurized and detailed 1/200 Bissy but for now I'm sending it all back to the box for my own reasons. One day they will return!

I also had a waterlined 1/200 Missouri in the works; rather than continue on I'm canceling it altogether while it's still on the ways. Hey, if the US Navy can drop unfinished ships, so can I! Honestly, if I had known an open bridge Iowa version of the kit was coming, I would have waited another year anyway.

So here I am a few hundred bucks poorer, a much larger parts bin, an expanded skill set, the onset of a long winter and fire in my belly to chase that elusive dream of a large-scale hyper-detailed jaw dropping crazy ambitious project.



Here's the plan:

I hope to faithfully replicate the USS Iowa as she appeared just before (or during) her voyage with President Roosevelt to the Tehran Conference in 1943. The model will be full-hull, utilize many aftermarket parts (so far that includes the Pontos USS Missouri and KA USS Iowa sets, G Factor Props, Veteran Model 40mm quad bofors). I am also going to fix as many of Trumpeter's errors as I can identify; the big one being the shape of the hull itself. I'm still trying to decide if I want to attempt the Iowa with it's special accommodations for Roosevelt; documentation is scarce but it could be interesting. Anyway, we'll see.

On the plus side, I have a head-start on the AA guns, having gotten pretty far on them for the 'Mo already:









I'll need to modify the 20mm shields for the Iowa, but it shouldn't be too difficult to snip off a couple tiny triangles and get the right shape.

The hull is gonna be a bigger challenge but changes are already underway. Using plans from Floating Drydock, I resized the cross-sections to be 95% of 1/200 scale, cut out the offending section of the kit hull and am in the process of rebuilding it according to the plans:





Next comes wood planking "old school" style and then a coat of auto body putty to blend it back into a (hopefully) seamless and accurately shaped stern.

More to come!

[James M]

So looking forward to this build. I've been wondering what this kit looks like.
Your building it during the same time frame as my 1/96 Iowa. I have a ton of photos and detail information if you need it.
She has a lot of small minor details that are different than her sisters.

James

[Goodwood]

Does this mean you're getting rid of your half-started Mo kit? If so...might you consider entertaining some bids?

Edit: Great idea for fixing the banana boat issues!

[BB62vet]

Jason,

I'll be following this build, as well. I'm still debating the hull issues - so, your build may work out well in the long run as I keep track of your progress.

[Fliger747]

Jason

You might review some of comments on these brand of prop in fine scale on line.

Cheers. T

[Timmy C]

Jason

You might review some of comments on these brand of prop in fine scale on line.

Cheers. T

We have a few of them reviewed here as well:
http://www.modelwarships.com/reviews/mi ... eview.html
http://www.modelwarships.com/reviews/mi ... eview.html

[boomstick68]

Looking forward to more of your large scale engineering. Top notch work.

[sgtryan13]

You're nuts! I like it. I cant say enough bad about the g factor brass props I have thrown in the trash. Lots of cleanup and messy casts.

[Channell]

Yea, I should have known. I bought G factor props for my U-Boat on a whim and they were actually pretty good but they aren't so great this time around. Useable with some work but it might have been better to just stick with the kit props, especially for the price.



The KA set on the other hand is pretty damn nice, especially with a hefty Black Friday discount.

KA finally figured out that packaging their stuff in a big envelope is a great way to deliver pre-damaged goods to their customers; it came in a proper box this time:



The PE and brass pieces are all wonderfully etched/detailed, and compliment the Pontos set nicely as both contain lots of parts that the other missed/omitted. The deck has smaller, accurately sized planks and has hardly any grain; it would be beautiful except that it doesn't account for the waterways/drain scuttles. Another minor problem is that the 20mm shields are the wrong shape; just FYI for anyone considering this set.







I'm excited to try to integrate these screwed flush porthole surrounds; As far as I know it's an Iowa-specific detail that stuck out to me on the real ship:





And here's something fun and and just a little bit discordant to see on a plastic battleship hull:



Am I building Old Ironsides or the pinnacle of battleship evolution? I'm not wasting lots of time with careful planking as it's only the base for the auto body putty, but I'm very happy with how smoothly the modification is going so far.

[Channell]

Does this mean you're getting rid of your half-started Mo kit? If so...might you consider entertaining some bids?

Edit: Great idea for fixing the banana boat issues!

Maybe. I was kinda thinking it would be a god base for a modern Iowa build, so I'm not incredibly anxious to get rid of it just yet, but everyone has their price.

And yea, I did lower the sweep of the stern slightly on purpose. That one's for you, Gaston!

[krgf15]

Now i'm hoping to see you do an all wood, plank-on-frame"what if" Iowa for some reason....

[Channell]

1/200 USS Montana? Oh my gosh, I've got all the accessories....

[BB62vet]

Jason wrote:

1/200 USS Montana? Oh my gosh, I've got all the accessories....

I've been thinking the same thing, only a late '60s version....

[Fliger747]

Jason:

Looking at the veteran 40 quad above there appears to be a sort of circular cable on the top, wondering what this is. I have access to a couple of real quads near my parents house and at some time in the not distant future could probably provide photos. Any way those are a tiny tour de force, I do know how small they are!

HMS Victory meets Iowa is going well!

Regards. Tom

[Channell]

Tom-

The are some kind of hose attachments on the real gun, my wild guess is compressed air, maybe to blow gasses out of the barrels or to control recoil? Anyway, they look to be rubber and don't seem to be on deactivated museum bofors very often.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iowa-class ... 194412.gif

Thanks all for the positive comments! As always, I welcome constructive criticism too; if you see something off or have any good ideas, feel free to chime in.

[Channell]

So looking forward to this build. I've been wondering what this kit looks like.
Your building it during the same time frame as my 1/96 Iowa. I have a ton of photos and detail information if you need it.
She has a lot of small minor details that are different than her sisters.

James

I'm gonna keep you in mind, James. I've been gathering a lot of resources myself but there is never too much information!

[Timmy C]

The hoses are for water-cooling - they connect to a pump that circulates coolant through the water jacket that surrounds the barrel. Page 75 of this Bofors manual shows the water connection and the jacket, though not the hoses themselves for some reason: http://www.forgottenweapons.com/wp-cont ... Mk%20I.pdf

[Channell]

The hoses are for water-cooling - they connect to a pump that circulates coolant through the water jacket that surrounds the barrel. Page 75 of this Bofors manual shows the water connection and the jacket, though not the hoses themselves for some reason: http://www.forgottenweapons.com/wp-cont ... Mk%20I.pdf

That makes a lot more sense! Thanks!

[BB62vet]

In regards to the water cooling jacket system - I'm guessing that it could have used a cooling solution of glycol+water as in many industrial cooling applications. The hoses were intentionally left out of that diagram for clarity - something we do in engineering drawings to show pertinent parts that may be obscured by other equipment.

I would guess that possibly a former GMG viewing this thread might be able to supply the answer.

Timmy C - thanks for posting the BoFors .pdf - good info!!!

[Fliger747]

I would guess that a glycol system was almost mandatory due to the need to achieve a higher boiling point and the use of the ships in below freezing temps as well. Many of the hoses appear to be routed inside the gun carriage though some are outside. Not a prominent feature of the mount! If I get a chance I'll look at a pair of quad 40's I have access to. Even if the hoses might be gone the fittings would remain.

Cheers. Tom