WIP: Tamiya BB-63 Missouri 1:700

[Zerro]

Greetings Everyone,

I am Brian and this is my first post on this forums. I'm still relatively new and a novice to model building. I've built two cars so far and my next project is the Missouri. I've glanced over other members' builds and I am quite amazed at the detail you people go into. I just hope that my end result will be the same.

So I bought the Tamiya 1:700 version of the ship because so far they've seemed like a good brand, I like their instructions, and I like how everything has a color code. My only regret is that I now I wish I had gotten the 1:350... Oh well maybe next time.

So far all I've done is open the box, looked over the instructions, and soaked the pieces in a Simple Green solution. I'm taking this one slower so I can research model ship building techniques. Also I'm waiting for the paints to arrive (hopefully sometime tomorrow).

The Box:


The Plastic Trees:


Instructions Side 1:


Instructions Side 2:


Paint Code (I will be doing the basic design as I don't have the skill to do camoflauge masking):

[Guest]

Greetings once again. So around 12am I got the urge to start building the model so I went down to the basement. I figured since most of the body will be all the same color, that I would start production on the larger structures and spray paint them that way. I hope that this will be an easier technique for me.

So here's what I've done so far:

The waterline is completed and waiting to be painted:


I made 4 of these gun directors. I'm so glad I didn't lose any of the pieces


Heres the rear funnel and structure.


I don't know how well you can see it but here is the front funnel assembly. I didn't really do too much work on the bridge assembly because I was thinking about spraying each piece individually, paint the decks, then assemble.

[Guest]

Quick update: Was washing my car this morning and the FedEx man arrived with the paints that I needed for the ship. Normally the guy arrives sometime after 5pm but today I guess it's my lucky day.

I started spraying the waterline, side hull, and all the guns and that's drying right now.

So I was doing some research online and it seems the decking for the Missouri is wood color instead of deck blue:





I do have Tamiya's XF-55 Deck Tan. It definately does look tan but I just don't think it looks like the right shade for the ship deck. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[taskforce48]

Looking good so far for your first ship! You seem to be going about it the right way, just remember that every modeler has a different approach, so you just have to find yours. Keep us updated.

Matt

[Quincy]

to the forum.







Bob Pink.

[NukeMM]

It appears that you have WWII configuration model and the photos of the ship that you show are of a modernized Missouri. That is the first reason for the difference in deck color.

I you're still going to go for a wood color and not deck blue, I brushed on Testors enamel Tan, thinned slightly, (might need two thinned coats) on my second Trumpeter 1/700 Modernized USS Iowa and then when it was dry I brushed on a thinned wash of Model Master Acrylic Leather brown.

Model Master Acrylic "Wood" might be a nice combination with the Leather wash.



The Iowa in the top of this pic is just the Tan without the Leather wash. I was dissatisfied with this kit and the whole model, so I did it over again as a full hull.

The Iowa in the bottom of this pic is the second one with the Leather wash.

[Russ2146]

As noted by Carl, you have a wartime configuration

See: http://www.shipcamouflage.com/usn_bb.htm and
http://www.shipcamouflage.com/measure_31.htm
http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-c ... 3--bb3.htm

[Guest]

Nice job, Carl.

I'll see what I can figure out with my deck. thanks for the help

[Zerro]

((Repost just in case if it didn't go through the first time because of internet problems))

greetings once again.

So I decided to go with deck blue or a mixture of Tamiya XF-50:5 + XF-2:2 or something along those lines. I didn't really accurately measure it too much since as I've read from other posts "it'll never come out the same again" doesn't bother me too much.

Ok so I completed spraying the water line, main hull, and all the other pieces.

I'm happy to say that I think my spray painting skill has improved. No more bubbly areas and no more heavy coats.

Unfortunately though my brushing technique still needs work, mainly on the large scale. All the deck paint was brushed on using both a #0 Round and a #4 Round. I kind of think it needs some work but I'd like to hear your thoughts. Oh yeah and shakie hands suck too :\ I kind wish that I had haze grey brush on paint to touch up some of the side walls of the ship.

Here's what I've gotten done so far. The main deck pieces aren't glued yet:

Waterline and hull being spray painted:


Superstructure pieces being spray painted:


Superstructure pieces being spray painted:


Some of the superstructure mostly assembled:


Dorsal view of the ship:


Fore section of the ship:


Midsection of the ship:


Aft section of the ship:


Midsection with superstructures attached but not glued:


Side view of the midsection:

[WI_Chris]

Looks like she's coming along great!

just a short gripe about the kit, i have both the Missouri and the Iowa and I think they are generally great kits... except for those damned Aztec steps, which are in areas that make them difficult to remove without gouging up the sides of the superstructure... maybe it's my clumsy hands.
Why do kit makers, despite the fact that everyone and their mother complains about them, insist on still molding the aztecs?

anyway, again, your build looks very nice and I'm excited to see how it comes out. She's a handsome ship... if a bit skinny.

Have fun!

Chris

[Zerro]

hey thanks Chris. I have the shakey hand syndrome too. I might have to go back to art school to brush up on brushing techniques

I think I might try the neutral grey to touch up the sides. It seems like it's very close to Haze Grey.

I started painted the turrets. Didn't seem as difficult as I thought it would be. I did one side last nignt and will probably do the other side later tonight. hopefully buy monday she will be fully assembled.

[Zerro]

Greetings once again. So I decided to do alittle custom work and drill portholes into the superstructure. I used Steve Larsen's 1/192 of the Missouri as a reference: viewtopic.php?f=13&t=20890 The aft section of the superstructure was the only part of the model that had indentations for the portholes. For the rest of the superstructure I pretty much just freehanded all of them. I kinda wish the kit had more detail along the side of the superstructure but I guess there's only so much that can be done on a 1/700. I felt I did a decent job and it does looke alittle better to me even though I think there are some sections where the portholes might be uneven.

I started out with a #75 drill bit since it seemed like the perfect size but part of the way through, I accidently broke it so I went down to the #76.

If you look closely, some of the deck paint has bled down along the walls. Since those pics were taken, I was able to touch it up alittle by spraying some of the spray paint into a container and brush it on. I think it looks better now. I also touched up other small sections on the hull.

Also I have assembled all the 5inch guns and started on the main guns. I just need to finish painting the barrels before I assemble them.

I also was thinking of of painting the bridge windows so that they wouldn't blend in with the rest of the structure. If anyone has any suggestions on a color I should use, it would be appreciated. Also any other custom work ideas would be appreciated.

Enjoy:

[Timmy C]

Black or dark grey is a good colour for windows. Coming along good!

[Zerro]

Greetings once again,

Well for my latest updates; I am nearing completion of the model.

All the turrets/guns are painted and assembled.
The decks and superstructures are glued into place.
All the life rafts are painted and glued into place.
I painted the bridge windows in dark grey.

I lost the port spotlight which I'm kinda disappointed about The spotlights were kinda a pain in the ass to mount since they were so tiny. The quadguns were kind of annoying to assemble since their were so many. Same with the life rafts since 1) they are so tiny 2) there are so many. Luckily I didn't lose any of those pieces though I do believe I will lose a couple of the machine guns when I cut them from the tree or try to glue them on.

Now right now I'm at a halt because I don't really know what I want to do with the turrets. Unfortunately they can't rotate where they are perched so they will have to be glued in. I was just curious as to where I should have the turrets aiming? Should I just have them aimed both forward/aft? Should I have them angled a little out towards sea or should I have them pointed directly starboard/port?

Thanks once again for any input. Here are some recent pics:

A view of all the turrets:


Another view of the turrets:


A side view of the ship and the unmounted turrets:


Another view of the turrets:


The fore section of the ship:


Midsection of the ship:


Aft section of the ship:


Side view of the superstructure displaying the portholes that I drilled:

[NukeMM]

Brian,

Its coming right along!!

The rows of guns remind me of a symphony............flutes in front and tubas in the back.

[Timmy C]

Good stuff! A suggestion: try lightly shaving the bridge window frames so that the light grey shows through - this will give them stronger character and impression of detail. For me, bridge windows are like the eyes of the ship, and like the eyes of a person, make or break the ship's beauty.

[Zerro]

hey thanks Tim and Carl.

The ship is almost complete. Just need to finish painting the sea planes and mounting them. Do the decals and that's pretty much it.

So how do I go about shaving the bridge windows the way that you recommend, Tim?

[Timmy C]

Drag the blade of your hobby knife VERY LIGHTLY from top to bottom - position your blade perpendicular to the window frame (so the blade is horizontal while the frames are vertical) and then angle your blade so that the angle is acute on the side that you are dragging towards (so if you were dragging from top to bottom, angle the blade so that it's less than 90 degrees below the blade).

Again, it's doing it very lightly!

If you mess up, you can do a little bit of careful touchup to fix it.

[Zerro]

Ok so start with this:


Angle the blade downwards slightly:


and just shave the windows until the little indentations turn from dark grey to haze grey/lighter grey??

[Timmy C]

That's it! Though you might want to do one frame at a time