1/350 Tamiya/Pontos Uss Missouri (Operation desert storm)

[Koppalakki]

Had a bit of a break! But now it's time to get the wheels rollin'!
In the mean while I did some lighter straight out of the box armor modelling to get me going.



But now it's time for battle stations!

This time we're crunching the new pontos missouri set for the 1991 fit before decommisioning!
Getting the pontos set this week as I made the mistake of ordering the wrong set first!

But work has begun already!

First the hull was cleaned of the parting lines and details. Well, not much details on this one!
After that thorough sanding and fixing all the little damages on the surface.

Next step was to mask the hull plating. It's by no means 100% correct but definetly better than the naked hull!
After masking, the hull was sprayed with Mr surfacer 500. After that some other details with masking tape were added.
After this Mr surfacer 1200 was lightly sprayed on top. You can see this on the upper parts of the hull. You can also see how the effect will look.
Not too strong but like reference pictures show, it's definetly visible.

Still some drain pipes etc. to be added, which are provided with the pontos set.




On these parts you can see the over sprayed mr surfacer 1200!




And a word about the mr surfacer! I think I broke the secrets! The magic ingredient I was missing Mr retarder!
A couple of drops of this and the primer is perfect! So a short recap.
Mr surfacer (no matter what grain) + Mr leveling thinner + Mr retarder thinned down to milk consistency.
No drying too fast, even better leveling ability and extremly smooth surface while being super fine.
Best primer hands down!

[ModelMonkey]

Beautiful! The Leopard and Missouri!

[Koppalakki]

Boom boom another day passing by!

To help me align all the details I used masking tape to show where the boot topping would end.

Then the details were added.





I used gators white glue to get them on. It allows time for positioning and gives a bit more mass to the thin PE parts.

Next some holes were drilled with 0.5mm and 0.4mm bits. The 0.4mm ones were then filled with 0.4mm styrene rod.



Also the flight deck netting location holes drilles aswell. Pontos provides a nice jig for that and is easy to get them all aligned and in proper places.

Dry fitted the net, fits perfectly!



The bow deck was first cleaned of all the details then glued down. After leveling it with sanding paper some more medium CA into the seam and sanded clean.



And some overall photos.

[medicmike]

Looking good. Can't wait to watch this one unfold

[Koppalakki]

Me neither!

but work must go on!

Last details on the hull in place and aft deck glued down. Primer on the hull.





Deck fit was decent on the seams, just normal clean up procedure. Some locator holes filled and all the details removed.

PE decks glued in place.





The old tubs for the bofors in the aft had horrible seams and they didn't meet the rest of the hull at all.

Liberal application of medium CA and a lot of sanding and voila! Rest of the PE details added.





Before I get the middle deck in place there's a lot of detail removal and PE part joining on the superstructure that I need to finish.

It looks like I need to finish the aft and middle part of the superstructure but the bridge area can be done in it's own sub assembly so I can eliminate all the seams.

[BB62vet]

Re. your last photos -

The turned down corrugated items on the old 40mm tubs - they need to go - they weren't there in the NEW JERSEY's 1981-82 refit. Here's a photo of her in 1999 in storage in Philadelphia, PA prior to her becoming a museum:

Hope this helps,

[Koppalakki]

Hi,

I'm doing her (Missouri) as in 1991 in the gulf and she had them on.

[Koppalakki]

Some progress on the middle deck piece.

I used a combination of CA and Gator grip white glue on the various PE parts. Gator was used to glue the PE plates on. Then some CA on the edges that needed to be blended into the plastic. Still more detailing to go on but no further structures are needed before I can attach this to the rest of the hull. All the other pieces can be finished separately in their own sub assemblies.

[Koppalakki]

More details added on the middle part. At this point I decided to glue it in. I started gluing the aft section first. Let it dry firmly!
After this I moved about 4 cm at a time joining the deck with the hull using Tamiyas extra thin glue. I tried to kept them as level as I could so sanding would be easier.
After curing seams were sanded and all the mistakes filled with CA and sanded away.




The boat area has a "shield" on the decks edge that needed to be seamless. Carefull restoration and done!



And some shot of the bow area with some primer to check the seams.



For some reason the Pontos set doesn't provide the right boom on the aft part so I scratch build one for both sides.




Next step to add some deck details and then it's off to painting the hull which will be a big undertaking aswell!

[Koppalakki]

Another day spent!

Finished and primed the DCG Antenna. Thought this was gonna be an easy small build :default_wallbash:

The damn thing almost had 100 pieces! Aligning everything was a PITA! I used gator grip glue to help me with drying time when aligning.

The hardest part was that the support beams have little plates that go inside them which then attaches to the main beams. You also need to align those small plates even with the deck so they sit in well. So you can use the deck as help, but glue them only into the beams and not the deck! Then have them stay on when you take the antenna base off the deck so you can fit the beams in! Phew! Not super happy how it turned up but it took the whole day to assemble so I guess we have to do!

After the basic construction of the Pontos set some extra details were added. Lights, loud speakers, wiring and some ladders and steps. I initally thought about going HAM and doing the ladders like they really are (individual grab handles) but the ones I had were a tad too big and didn't look good at all. So I just used 1/700 PE ladders to keep them fine.

It's a bit dull looking with only primer for now.

[Goodwood]

You are a bloody MACHINE, mate! I wish I had a tenth of your ingenuity and work ethic...

[Koppalakki]

You are a bloody MACHINE, mate! I wish I had a tenth of your ingenuity and work ethic...

Hey Goodwood!

Yea, I guess that's a good trait of personality! When I work on a project or what ever I tend to go all in! That's why I usually finish only 1 or 2 models a year as it usually takes about 3 months to finish one, then I take a 6 month break to go HAM on other things.
If I try to casually do something I just eventually get bored of it and it stays unfinished

[EpsilonZer0]

Currently building the same boat albeit with the Pontos "Battleship" upgrade set instead of the Advanced.

A few less pieces than the Advanced, but not less headaches. If anything I think the Advanced set made improvements to the callouts in the instructions.
There are quite a few details that do not even get mention in the "Battleship" instructions but are clearly present in the photographs. I looked over the IW, NJ, and WS sets and they are not mentioned there either.

I do like the extra PE plates of the Advanced that give the bulkheads more detail, but I didn't think it was worth the extra $$ it would set me back.
Time will tell if that was a mistake. Getting jealous already!

By the look of it you went ahead and glued the entire deck first thing. My strategy has followed Tamiya's guide more closely and I built and painted the decks in sections allowing me to freely paint and mount the hull to a plank of walnut from the beginning. I am curious to watch your progress as everyone has different building strategies and obstacles to overcome.

Your discone antenna is very impressive.
This is where I am currently and this thing was a SOB. I skipped some of those metal parts for the rafters to connect to and instead just used a bead of gap filling CA glue. Doesn't look nearly as pretty as yours. I did however run wires through those holes from the onset and created tension by pulling and applying a surgical spot of CA. Trying to thread a wire as thin as the fairest maidens hair through that thing resulted many expletives being thrown and three priests knocking at the door.

[silvershadow]

well done, love the details!

[Brett M]

Oooo can't wait to see how this one turns out. Every ship you've built has been a masterpiece and I'm sure this will be stunning.

[Koppalakki]

Oh I hope so too!

Some more action on the aft section.

More details added. Also the small wooden part on the stern, usually I leave the decks for last but it's a small section so I try some masking see how it works out!





Number 2 turret construction finished. Straight forward using the Pontos set. A lot of clean up needed on the tamiya parts (yes it's a pretty old kit).

Almost all the parts had parting lines running in the middle. Nothing little scraping action with a blade would not fix!

Also care was taken removing the seam between the PE top plate and the rest of plastic turret. After curing medium CA once again on top of the seam and yadda yadda some sandin and ta daa!











And turret number 1 completly painted and finished! The usual pre/post shading with Tamiyas and oils and pigments for weathering.

Metal parts with Alclad.









Then need to finish what's left on the hull so I can start a massive paint operation on the weekend!

[MartinJQuinn]

Damn, you work fast. That turret looks great.

[EpsilonZer0]

Jealous.

Forgot the Advanced Pontos came with turret bags for the brass barrels. In the standard Pontos set they expect you to cut the Tamiya barrels off the bags and then drill a hole at the precise angle to fit the brass barrel plug into the bag. I started with Turret 3 and the barrels are not at the same elevations. This is the one major complaint I have for the standard Pontos set.

[Koppalakki]

That's how we roll!

Did some testing with the deck. I applied some oils thinner with white spirit. Then some light sanding here and there to get a bit of toned down worn look.



And comparison for untreated one.



And some basic paint on the turret 2.





And for scale!

[Koppalakki]

And the 2nd turret finished!






And on their respective positions.




Might bring the 1st turret top more inline with 2nd ones weathering. Have to see when all the pieces lock together to see if it's too much of a contrast.