Trumpeter 1/200 USS Iowa

[BB62vet]

Hank, thank you very much for that, very informative.
I think, like the hull, I'll just chalk this up to another thing I'll have to live with this time, I'm guessing from your draughtsman comment, you'd go the CAD and 3D printing route to get a correctly shaped tub?
One thing I'd love to do is a 1/200 1980s New Jersey but having seen what it took for you to get a Vietnam NJ, I'm under no illusions as to how much work that would take!
John

John,
I wouldn't leave it incorrect - with the time/money you've got invested at this stage - go ahead and make a scratchbuilt bow tub out of sheet styrene and styrene I-beams - that material is available online. You can build it separate and add it after you've got it fabricated - then perhaps use plastic putty & sanding to form the rounded lower "bulb" that attaches to the hull.

Hope this helps,

Hank

[johndon]

The aft section of the Pontos wooden deck is in place, a perfect fit with no adjustments required. A few of the deck details placed on for effect:

[johndon]

I think that anything see from above would be painted/stained deck blue.

Yes, it would but as I stated a few posts ago, I prefer the plain wooden deck to the blue one.

[johndon]

what about everything else like the life rafts, crane bases & the stern 40mm gun tubs?

They are all blue (Tamiya X5F0 Field Blue to be exact). Have a look at the following photo, the catapult is in primer (black) but you can see that the life rafts, turret top etc, are a different colour (blue).

[johndon]

If you'll pardon the horrendous pun, Iowa is now fully 'decked out', at least as far as the main deck level is concerned:





Next job is start adding some of the low level deck details fore and aft although, as I don't yet have a case for her, I'll not be added much of the PE detail as I don't want to have to try and dust that...

[johndon]

The aft deck is starting get busy with a combination of Trumpeter and Pontos parts. I do need to make a couple of changes though as I've found that the Trumpeter instructions have you put a couple of vents in places where there should be hatches (provided by Pontos).

The items on deck are blue but my camera seems to have a hard time distinguishing it from black sometimes...

[Fliger747]

I've know Hank ever since he started on his 1960's NJ, over a decade ago. We all decide a level to which we want to pursue a project. I sort of wheedled Hank into doing the NJ hull mods on the Trumpy kit, that was even more work than I would have guessed. Perhaps not the satisfying fine detail that most of us enjoy, but now that she has been long finished and has won awards, he is very pleased he took the detour. The bow tub is a prominent feature of the model. When Hank did his NJ, neither of us knew how to "spel" 3D. Not that difficult to cobble up from simple plastic materials, you could do like one our best scratch builders here, Willie and use Yogurt containers.

I'm not a rivet counter by any definition so am not making a judgment and won't comment further, but every time you look at the model and see the bow tub you built, there will be a little internal warming and pleasure. Something that made this uniquely your creation.

Something to consider.

Best wishes: Tom

[johndon]

Thanks again for the input Tom, it is appreciated. A new bow tub is not out of the question but, at the minute, I have bigger issues as the wooden deck aft of the turret is, unfortunately, starting to lift in a number of places so I need to come up with a strategy to fix that first...

[BB62vet]

Thanks again for the input Tom, it is appreciated. A new bow tub is not out of the question but, at the minute, I have bigger issues as the wooden deck aft of the turret is, unfortunately, starting to lift in a number of places so I need to come up with a strategy to fix that first...

John - I have faced similar decking problems and this is the solution I came up with -

You've adhered the Pontos deck (I'm assuming, correct??) to the kit deck - did you first sand the plastic kit deck at all? If so, that does help prevent this. However, if not - it's not the end of the world!!

My deck developed small blisters or bubbles where it was coming up. So, I took a scalpel with #11 blade and carefully slit the blister open - FORE & AFT, NOT side to side. Then, with a toothpick and CA glue, put a drop or so into the bubble/blister and using a small, flat burnisher (something like a 1/4" wide chisel blade) carefully pressing the blister down - again FORE & AFT, and flattening this raised area - once or twice should get the wood back into place and stay there. You might take some of the scrap decking and set up a little test area off the model to do this to get the essence of what I've described.

These blisters started happening about 6 months after a laid my decking down - perhaps from spots on the plastic underneath that either didn't get any initial CA glue or where the decking adhesive was dried up and never adhered properly - don't know. But, this method has proved very successful with my model.

After a day of setting up, go back and if there's any shiny glue residue, take a small, narrow piece of sandpaper (I make sandiing pads from 1/8" thk. x 1/4" wide x 1/2" long boxwood strips and CA them to a short stick @ 45� and then adhere fine sandpaper with CA to the pad) and lightly sand the now flattened blister area to remove any of the residue. It may leave a slightly lighter area, but no ship's deck is perfectly one color regardless of so-called "museum quality" modeling.

Modeling Observation:
Using 3rd party decks on plastic kits is a convenient way to add a wooden deck without an extreme amount of hassle ( )- however, in most cases (not mine) you don't know how long that decking package has been sitting on a shelf and whether or not the adhesive is somewhat diminished and not as tacky as it should be - hence, these problems develop. In my particular case, I had custom ordered the decking kit from Pontos based on my own designs as the 1967-69 NEW JERSEY deck was not at that time standard with the other IOWA class ships. There were differences that I wanted incorporated - and they complied. However, it was almost a year after receiving the deck that I actually was at the point of applying the decking to the model. So, I can't say that my problems were caused by the manufacturer. More than likely the shelf time had a lot to do with how the deck adhesive worked AFTER it was laid down.

Hope this helps, -

Hank

[johndon]

Hank - Yes it's a Pontos deck (bought almost 6 years ago now), the plastic deck was roughed up lightly first and then given a good clean before the deck was stuck down. I'll try slitting the deck as you have suggested.

Thanks again.

John

[johndon]

I mentioned a few posts ago that I was considering going the 3d printed route for the 20mm guns rather than build the Pontos versions as I though the chances of me building 50+ of them without any errors were slim.

A couple of years ago I got some from Shapeways which I thought were very good but, last month, I ordered some from Micro Master in New Zealand which, after coming half way round the world, arrived this afternoon.

I've removed the print supports from one (but done no other clean up) and, within seconds, I'd made my mind up that printed was the way to go, there is absolutely no way I could make the Ponto ones up to look as good as these, I think they are stunning...







and with a ruler for scale:

[johndon]

Having done some other modelling for a couple of months, I returned to the Iowa last night and found that the aft deck looks like this.� I'm really disappointed as I was scrupulous in making sure that the plastic deck was completely clean free of any dust.� I'm sure it can be fixed albeit I'm concerned that once I start gluing parts down with super glue all that will happen is that the blisters will move elsewhere...

[NavyShooter]

Ouch. That's a severe disappointment. I hope it re-sticks properly for you.

NS

[Fliger747]

The Orilkons look pretty good. For my Alaska I had assembled all the Orlikons and Bofors from the Pontos offerings, kindly provided by Hank as left over from his newer rendition of New Jersey. A long process given the number. After I got into 3D I replaced every light AA item with ones of my own design and production. Mine lack the bags for the shell casings but have proven quite nice. I also replaced the MK 37 directors, the MK 51's and all the 5" dual mounts (Model Monkey) with my own. The possibilities with 3D have improved and some of the older parts are not state of the art any more. The MK 37's were about 10% (a lot) oversized for 1:192.

Enjoy your project! best regards: Tom

[BB62vet]

John,

Sorry to see the blistering in your deck. Much, MUCH more than I've ever had with my model. I think I described a few posts back how to try to remedy that situation. I would use a brand new scalpel blade to slit the decking - most desireable, of course, would be if you were able to peel back the deck as one piece from the stern and then reseal it and burnish it as you move aft with a rounded burnishing tool (straight edge, but rounded and smooth).

Good luck, hope this helps!

Hank

[johndon]

John,

Sorry to see the blistering in your deck. Much, MUCH more than I've ever had with my model. I think I described a few posts back how to try to remedy that situation. I would use a brand new scalpel blade to slit the decking - most desireable, of course, would be if you were able to peel back the deck as one piece from the stern and then reseal it and burnish it as you move aft with a rounded burnishing tool (straight edge, but rounded and smooth).

Good luck, hope this helps!

Hank

I'm going to go for the slitting and gluing method as, to get the deck off, I'd have to remove all the parts that I've already glued down. When originally fitted, the deck was well burnished yet still it failed.

Looking around on the web there are as many modellers who say that you need to use glue as well as there are those that say additional glue is unnecessary...

[johndon]

did you do a light sanding of the plastic deck before laying the wooden deck on it?

I did, just enough to take the shine off and to give it a bit of a 'key'. The deck was then thoroughly cleaned to remove any dust. The fore deck section hasn't lifted at all, just the aft.

[johndon]

I presume both came in same package because if not then age might be the problem? are you going to paint & stain the deck?

Yes, both parts of the deck came from the same package. No painting or staining, the deck will remain as it is, I know it is not accurate for the camo scheme that I'm doing but the truth is I just prefer the plain teak deck...

[johndon]

It's been a long time since I've done any work on the Iowa not least because I became completely disillusioned with it when the deck blistered so badly as shown in the photo on the previous page of this thread. having had a break from her during which time I build half a dozen 1/48 scale aircraft, a couple of days ago I decided that it was time to finally bite the bullet and try and do something with the deck.

So, armed with a scalpel and some thin superglue, I got to it and the deck now looks like this. A couple of small blisters yet to deal with but is looking so much better than it was...

[Fliger747]

Muffled screams are appropriate, not loud enough to have the neighbors call in the SWAT Team... I am wondering if differential expansion with temperature changes have caused the loosening. The stern being so much broader would exacerbate this. Be great to see further progress on your big project!

Good luck! Tom