Building a Tamiya Missouri with Super-detailing

**USSWisconsin** · 07 Dec 11,, 01:42

Wow - and Mk37 emitter screens too !!!

I love these incomplete views, without all the superficial stuff in place - it really helps me gain a sense of perspective on this ship. I have lots of drawings of battleships without the secondaries and AA guns in place - I think I like this stage of of the build as much as the completed version - it would make a great slide show. It helps me imagine watching the ships being built in real life,

This is a wonderful side bar to my battleship studies - showing all the hidden detail behind the commonly seen parts.

**Builder 2010** · 07 Dec 11,, 02:48

Me too. I like seeing it come together piece by piece. I enjoy posting every day as much as I think people like reading it. I like to look back to Spring and see how I struggle with the railings on the gun turrets and wondering "how the hell am I going to build the complicated stuff", but you do it one piece at a time. I reconstructed a four-masted sailing barque. It was originally built many years before from a very poor craftsman. He used tooth picks for the backstay spreaders and tin cans for the mast tops. He has shellaced all the rigging and it had all rotted off. I was comissioned to re-rig it. It turned out to be a completed reconstruction with the only original pieces being the masts and the hull. The rest was all scratchbuilt. I got a nice commission for it and it is in the board room of a Philadelphia-area yacht club. I didn't have the camera or the internet and didn't capture all the steps I went through. When you look at the finished model it is amazing to imagine how did you rig that. You just do it one string at a time until you're finished.

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And I don't inject anything to manage shaky hands, I just find ways to support the wrists and fingers to manage the vibrations.

**Gun Grape** · 07 Dec 11,, 03:58

Those Mk-37s look much harder to assemble than the Toms ones I used on my Fletcher (Van Valkenburg) build.

The half round actually makes it look "more Correct"

Note, she had the Mk-37 Mod 11 director (No Mount Capts Hatch) vice the Mod 17 of the Iowa class.

From my last visit to the Alabama.

**Chunder** · 07 Dec 11,, 09:59

Two things about that Gun Grape.

#1 lucky bugger being able to visit porn like that

#2, it looks as though those gun turrets could swipe that tank for 6 (home run in yank terms) to the left and not even notice!

**USSWisconsin** · 07 Dec 11,, 18:36

It looks like they had to train the gun on that tank away from the ship - you wouldn't want a battleship to feel like you were were pointing your pea shooter at her - those 16" rifles would make it hard to find any peices...

**Gun Grape** · 08 Dec 11,, 04:02

Originally Posted by Chunder

Two things about that Gun Grape.

#1 lucky bugger being able to visit porn like that

#2, it looks as though those gun turrets could swipe that tank for 6 (home run in yank terms) to the left and not even notice!

#1, I live about 160 miles from the USS Alabama. And about 100 miles from the Naval Aviation Museum. I use to live about 25 miles from the USS North Carolina

**Builder 2010** · 09 Dec 11,, 01:02

Enough of this chit-chat, we've got a battleship to build.

Today I started the 20mm's. It took 2 hours to build 1. That's 1 out of 34 (remember 6 are not being used in those flanking tubs). That's right, 1 gun, 2 hours! This is one time that I CANNOT BLAME THE PE. It was all my doing.

Long ago I decided not to use the tripod PE mounts that were included in the Eduard set. They would be completely unmanageable. And believe me, I am an expert in evaluating PE unmanageability. So I've first tried to just use the kit's guns but replace the thick plastic splinter shields with the nicely etched Eduard PE ones. They don't fit around the plastic gun. They have a tiny little tab that keys into a notch on the PE gun.

So I decided to use the conical bases from the kit with the PE guns and splinter shields. This requires cutting the guns from their bases, truing up the base's end, drilling the end with a 0.020" hole to accept the little mounting lug on the PE gun, CAing the gun and the then fastening the very fragile splinter shield.

The first one went well, until I attempted to reshape the mounting pin on the base after it got deformed when I was squeezing in a needle-nosed plier while drilling it. While holding the part the tweezer went "POING" and the complete gun assembly went flying into the workbench somewhere. Well, we all know where! Into the freak'n alternate universe. That's where!

Number two was completed. I wised up and left a big chunk of sprue on the plastic part so I could grip the hell out of it without deforming the mounting pin. This was a good idea. It was all done and touch up painted, and I was wrestling getting the lid off the alcohol bottle while holding the pliers with the completed gun. Somehow, I must have bumped the gun and when I went to separate it from the extra sprue, it was all deformed and the gun was a wreck. Scratch two!

Number three was a charm. Nothing deformed, nothing broke. I actually got to mount it on the model. 1 down... 33 to go. I imagine I'll do one in 15 minutes when I get in a groove so that's just a couple of days work. We'll see...

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The gun is actually folded to give it more depth. It is also cool that you can split the shoulder rests so they actually look like the real ones. The splinter shield actually has reinforcement bars etched into the back. Details, details...too bad you can't see it without a microsope.

**Builder 2010** · 11 Dec 11,, 17:27

Just a quick update:
I'm now able to complete a 20mm gun set in about 10 minutes. I'm doing this by using:
1. a curved-tip hemostat thus freeing my hands from having to constantly apply pressure. It has prevented guns from pinging off tweezers.
2. Xuron needle-nosed pliers to grip the folded PE gun which permits forming the shoulder rests AND wiggling the part to get it into the hole drilled in the plastic base
3. medium viscosity CA to hold the parts together. After inserting the gun into the base, I add some CA accelerator to cure it instantly, and to prepare the joint for the splinter shield to come.

I've completed 10 so far. Only 24 more to go. May get some more done today.

**Doktor** · 11 Dec 11,, 17:42

Originally Posted by Builder 2010

I'm now able to complete a 20mm gun set in about 10 minutes.

If the war industry could match your production the war would've been over sooner

**Builder 2010** · 12 Dec 11,, 03:07

I don't know... we did pretty good in WWII. Lately, I'm not as certain, especially with our hardware having electronics made in China. How the hell did that happen?

**USSWisconsin** · 18 Dec 11,, 08:04

I'd love to see more if you have anything to show us.

**Builder 2010** · 18 Dec 11,, 17:23

I'm making guns, guns, guns. I've just completed #17 and only 17 more to go. Boring! I've got it down to about 5 minutes per gun. I'm going to try and photograph my hands actually doing the work on this tiny stuff. By the end of next week I'll have the 20s done and have a decision on next steps. There's basically these steps to accomplish:

Mount all guns and MK 51 gun directors
Add some weathering to superstructure to bring out some details like ventilator grills and porthole covers
Attach main deck rail
Add anchors and weather
Masting and radars (Ugh!)
Propellor Shafts and props
Rigging
Weathering hull...very lightly
Decals
Done!

So the question is: When should the guns be installed vis a vis the masting, main rails, etc.? Both the guns and the masting/rigging are equally delicate and bumping one while attempting the other is courting disaster.

I'm also trying to find a home for the finished ship that's better for it than around my house. If that happens, I may buys Tom's modelworks fret that has the correct catapults. If it's just for me, then the incorrect catapults are no big deal, but if it's displayed in a public place of importance, then it should be correct.

**Doktor** · 18 Dec 11,, 17:25

Making some reserve guns while on track can't be a bad idea.

Just to make sure you wont tempt Murphy

**Builder 2010** · 18 Dec 11,, 17:38

What? More Guns! I was going to make exactly 34 and tempt the fates...

**Doktor** · 18 Dec 11,, 17:42

You have been warned

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