The Ship Model Forum

The Iowa class battlships carried the Paravanes just aft of the forward 40mm gun tubs, I would say that this would have been the same if the Montana's had been built.

The Montana's design was pretty much set by late 1941 with some design work continuing into 1943, a lot of the turret components were already orderd and being made prior to the ships being cancelled, the materials that were completed were maintained as spares for the Iowa class, it was common to start the turrets prior to starting the hull.

I came upon some Montana stuff back in the 1980's when I was working in the battleship program. there were memos and sketches of the ships that more closely followed the Iowa design, remember in late 1942 the Iowas were being reconfigured in the way of the bridge design and AA fit.
The structure for the 3 quad 40 mounts that were on either side midships were anchored on the original boat crane foundation which is still mostly intact on the ships today.

This is by far the closest I have seen a model done that would have been what the Montana would have looked like when she emerged from the shipyard, I think that the 20mm galleries that were on the main deck amidships would have been removed during her post shakedown availability. Those guns would have been untenable when the 5" battery was in action.

Again...excelent rendition of the Montana

Thanks for the compliment, W.L. You're probably right. The 20mm guns would be in a bad spot so close to the 5" guns. Oh well. It wasn't easy building this ship as I didn't have much research and so forth to go on since the ship was never actually built. After reading various drawings, books, etc., I guess I just took a pinch of this and a pinch of that, and hoped everything would turn out ok. But like I said before, every Montana that is built in the future will be different. Everybody will have a different interpretation of how she looked. I like a bit of variety. It spices up the modeling world.

A seriously cool build!! Nice work - and perseverance - EJM!

_________________
Martin

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." John Wayne

Ship Model Gallery

Abram: Any luck on finding those paravanes?

EJM, I haven't had a chance to look yet, been so busy with work and school ending for the semester. I'll look this weekend though

_________________
-Abram
ModelWarships Gallery Page
Joslin Models Facebook Page

Just got one today. My buddy Tony Bunch pointed me to this forum, so I thought if anyone is interested...

Yes, definitley

_________________
"It is best to remain silent and let others assume you are dumb than to speak up and remove all doubt"

http://nssavannah.wordpress.com/

I'll second what Avery said. Please post. I'd like to see.

As promised, here's a link to photos I took of "What's in the box" in Yankee Modelworks' Montana. Enjoy, and let me know if you'd like a specific shot of something.

-Randy

http://www.digivision.com/rsm/MontanaPg1.htm

Randy, those pics just blow me away. Wow! Seeing that kit just makes mine look so inferior now. I think I'll go put mine in the closet now. LOL! But of course, mine was built pretty much before YMW had even come out with theirs. That kit is sweet, but $500 for one is too steep for me. I'll have to pass. Besides, the white metal parts (especially the gun barrels) is not up to par.

I love the seal point!

EJM - your work is awesome, all the more so *BECAUSE* there was no kit around.

I agree: the price is steep. However the kit is available for considerably less (I paid less than 4 out the door) if you hunt around.

I also agree: the barrels are (no offense to YMW) quite honestly a waste of postage for a kit of this caliber.

Foeth - thanks. We have four cats, Leo is our first siamese (not counting those we had as kids) and he is a riot. At only 9 months he's akready my clear favorite.

I am impressed. I may not find myself a fan in looks of most of the USN warships, but of all, Montana is definately one of the ships I would consider building. Just for a round number, EJM, how much did it cost you for the resin hull? I doubt I'd have the finances for even that much, but I'd love to see a number before I completely rule it out. Could be, that for me, Montana becomes a pipe dream of a build, until somebody puts out a kit in 1/700 (which might be around the time hell freezes over).

_________________
Die Panzerschiffe - Putting the Heavy in Heavy Cruiser since 1940.

It's not Overkill, it's Insurance.

If you think my plastic is crazy, check out my Line Art!
http://s37.photobucket.com/albums/e58/S ... %20Images/

What do you mean favorite? How could you prefer one over another

_________________
"It is best to remain silent and let others assume you are dumb than to speak up and remove all doubt"

http://nssavannah.wordpress.com/

I don't remember what it cost for my best friend to get the resin hull from Chris Eddy. The details of that were just between him and my friend.
Also, there is a link in a post I made back on Page 9 of this thread with a pic of the 1/700 USS Montana kit from Mike Bartel at IHP. Not sure if the kit is still available though. Anybody know?

In other news.........I'm attempting to try my hand again at adding photoetch ladders and stairs. My first time doing that stuff several weeks ago resulted in nearly a dozen stairs getting ruined. But now I'm back at it again. I guess I'm a glutton for punishment, eh? I also bought some product called "Blacken-It" at my local hobby store to try and blacken jewlery chain to use as anchor chain. I'll see how well that goes tonight. Progress on the base seems to be going ok according to a friend who is making it. The display case won't be started till January though.

How could I not?

According to IHP's website, yes, Monty is still available, but, like the rest of their Apprentice kits, is special order, and takes 2-4 weeks.

_________________
De quoi s'agit-il?

It's slightly off topic. More Siamese overhere Cats vs Photoetch.

Fortunately my cats prefer to keep on my good side.....either that or they have yet to discover my shelves

_________________
"It is best to remain silent and let others assume you are dumb than to speak up and remove all doubt"

http://nssavannah.wordpress.com/

I decided to do a trial fit of all the resin pieces (ok, that's not true: I'm nowhere near ready for trial fits: I just wanted to see how this beastie would look with some of the bigger pieces in place).

Photos here: http://www.digivision.com/rsm/MontanaPg2.htm