1/200 USS Iowa 1943

[BB62vet]

Jason,

As I mentioned over on CASF, you've outdone yourself!! I've just started filing on the lower bow area on my build; it's going to take a good bit of puttying/filing to get it down to size and then the final sanding.

I'll be interested in seeing how you do the hull plates, etc.

Hank

[Channell]

You'll be cursing me soon enough Hank... It took WAY too long and probably a dozen putty/sand/primer coats to get everything blended in enough to make the hull look it came out of the box that way.

Anyway, I'm gonna try the "tape & primer" method for the plates as well as using the Eduard PE gussets. Gotta admit, I'm scared... so scared that damn Bismarck climbed out of the stash and demanded to be worked on today instead. It's rough being me.

[Channell]

I know I've been quiet on this build for a while but it isn't dead... since my last post here I've put 20+ hours over several weekends into refining the shape and cleaning up my Iowa hull:















Chasing accuracy perfection is like chasing rainbows but it hasn't stopped me from trying. I may not yet be there but this is bumping up against the limit to what I can currently accomplish when it comes to accurizing the general lines of the Trumpeter kit.

I've been struggling to get the anchor hawsepipes right too, they are still a bit of a mess but I think I'm at least getting close:





Funny all these things that you don't even have to worry about on a smaller, less Trumpeter-ish kit but it still hasn't stopped being fun, despite being my biggest challenge yet in my modeling "career".

Anyway, I'm scared but next comes my attempt(s) to recreate the hull plating. I'll update y'all when I get something...

[BB62vet]

Jason,

Glad to hear/see an update on your Big I!! I think what you've got is commendable - the hull looks "right" - good job overall.

The butt plates - go by CliffyB/James M measurements taken last fall (posted a while back) and not the ones on the Eduard Instruction sheet. I think they will work out very well; perhaps installed last AFTER you put in the plate lines.

Good work, compadre'!

Hank

[Fliger747]

Jason:

Looking forward to your plating travails! Ummm, perhaps shouldn't have implied this was a bit like going to the colosseum? Doing the whole hull or something less ambitious? I can see the requests now to be sending Cliffy over the side in a weighted Bosun's chair (Scuba gear) and the end of a tape measure. So many ships have those weird looking two dimensional plating plans available looking ever so much like a flattened cat, but not the Iowa's, at least so far as has come to light. As always a major challenge to have it come off in scale and barely visible, but "there".

Cheers: Tom

[Channell]

Um, Cliffy... will you please pull the Wisky out of the water for me and take clear photos of both sides of the hull, say in 20 ft sections?

I must have missed the discussion on the Eduard gusset plates... are they the wrong size?

[Fliger747]

I believe the spacing along the hull length is the issue. The plates are applied at a frame spacing, which causes the distance along the hull plating to be greater as the hull fairs inward, especially along turrets one and two. Very useful that our correspondents measured the actual locations of these butt plates!

Cheers: T

[youngtiger1]

Jason, just saw this and I must say...totally awesome.

Mike

[Cliffy B]

We do have a bosun's chair but.... Yeah about that.... Hahaha