FIRST OF ALL I WOULD LIKE TO THANK YOU ALL FOR THE HELP AND THE TIPS.
I AM WILLING TO POST MANY MANY PICTURES FROM THE KIT BEFORE AND DURING THE BUILDING PROCESS...
FROM THE THINGS THAT YOU WROTE I CAN ONLY GET MORE KEEN IN STARTING THE BUILD AND MUCH MORE CONFUSED ... I THINK I WILL MANAGE AS TIME GOES BY..
I HAVE ACQUIRED ENOYGH BIBLIOGRAPHY AND MANY DESIGNS, SCETCHES AND PHOTOS.
I AM THINKING OF MAKING MANY ALTERATIONS TO THE LAYOUT OF THE MODEL AS IT IS "SPARSILY" EQUIPED AND DESIGNED.
NY THE WAY I AM LOOKING FOR PARTS FOR REPLACING THE GUN BARELS THAT ARE NOT WELL SHAPED AND OTHER CAST PARTS. I JAVE MANY LEFT OVERS FROM PREVIOUS BUILDS OF AMERICAN BATTLESHIPS OF WWII BUT I COULD WELL USE ETRA KITS AND PARTS. ANY SUGGESTIONS???
MOST OF THE MATERIALS NEEDED WILL PROPABLY BE PURCHASED FROM THE INERNET .. THINKING OF THE COST MAKES ME CRAZY.. I HAVE ALLREADY SPENT 500$ FOR THE KIT AND AN EXTRA 180$ FOR CUSTOMS. BUT I AM WILLING TO MAKE THIS MY MASTERPIECE.
THANKS AGAIN GUYS.
NIKOS (NICK)
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(GREAT IS THE NATION THAT MASTERS THE SEAS)
I got bored working on the 40mm tubs, so I started looking at the directors. I picked up some L'Arsenal Mk37s (thanks Tony) which are fabulous - I'm sure everyone here already knows that. I added a few antennae from the YMW PE set and I think they are ready for installation. On to the Mk28s... I started cleaning up the white metal kit-supplied parts and the more I did, the less I felt good about them. I decided to make some up from "scratch" - meaning the basic structure and some of the details are stock styrene, with some PE from various sources (including the YMW kit). Curiously, I've only found two really good photos of WW2-era main gun directors, and I've spent a good amount of time looking around on the 'Net.
Can someone recommend one or two *good* books on Iowa class - meaning books with nice detail refence photos? I have "Iowa at War" (not a fan of this series) and the "Battleships in Action Part II" books.
Wow. This thread is really taking off since it was started long ago by GrizzlyBear. Never would I have imagined that a "never were" subject like the Montana would get that much interest. When this thread got started long ago, I thought I would be the only modeler to ever try to tackle this ship type. But now that Randy and GTDEATH13 have joined the Montana ranks, I will be watching this thread with much anticipation for many more weeks and months to come. Thanks, guys.
If anyone wants to see a model of what the Montana could have actually looked like in her original configuration, then check this gallery pic: http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html
This is by far the best looking model of the Montana in her original configuration that's been built.......and in 1/700th scale too! Lots of good pics there to use as reference.
And just out of curiosity, has anyone heard from GrizzlyBear? I wonder whatever happened to him and the Montana he was planning on doing? Hmmmmm.
Can someone recommend one or two *good* books on Iowa class - meaning books with nice detail refence photos? I have "Iowa at War" (not a fan of this series) and the "Battleships in Action Part II" books.
YOU CAN TRY THE "BATTLESHIP MISSOURI" BY PAUL STILLWELL (ISBN 1-55750-780-5) AND "IOWA CLASS BATTLESHIPS" BY MALCOLM MUIR (ISBN 0-7137-1732-7) THE FIRST BOOK HAS WONDERFUL PHOTOS. THE SECOND IS COMPREHENSIVE ENOUGH. YOU SHOULD ALSO CHECK THE ON LINE PHOTOLIBRARY OF THE US NAVY SITE. CANT REMEMBER THE LINK BUT IT IS NOT TOO DIFFICULT TO FIND IT.
NIKOS (NICK)
???? ?? ??? ???????? ??????
(GREAT IS THE NATION THAT MASTERS THE SEAS)
Have you tried cluttering things up with different arrangements of 40mm and 20mm mounts? I'm planning on stuffing them into every nook and cranny I can find. I believe Friedman even suggests she'd have completed without her aircraft handling hardware in favor of devoting the weight to AA.
Randy, try not to take this the wrong way, but.........I think putting the boats amidships that high up on that deckhouse structure would not look good. If I'm not too mistaken, did you mention in the past that you were building this ship if it had been completed and entered late in WWII? If so, the Montana would not have had that many ship's boats I don't think. Instead, the boats amidships and also the boat crane would have been replaced with more 20mm and 40mm guns. I think a lot of battleships had removed most of their ship's boats late in WWII due to them possibly getting damaged during Kamikaze attacks or the fact that if the ship went down, you wouldn't have a lot of time to get the boats in the water to save a lot of crew. I'm taking guesses on all this, but maybe other modelers can chip in with more info. If you want to put something on top of that amidships deckhouse, I would favor more 20 or 40mm guns. If you want, try putting 2 or 3 boats at the back similiar to what I did with my ship. The aircraft crane can be used to lower/raise the boats into the water.
EJM wrote:I think putting the boats amidships that high up on that deckhouse structure would not look good.
I agree. I'd put some 20mm gun galleries there. You'll have to find a spot for a few boats, considering she would probably been snagged by some Admiral as a flagship.
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
Thanks for the comments everyone, as usual. EJM, how could I take things wrong when asking for an opinion? And I'm glad I asked, because I think I've been swayed away from the concept of the boats on an elevated deck. FWIW, ship's boats generally are not thought of as emergency life-saving devices: they're used as shuttles. But you're right EJM, the operation of getting a boat off the deck and into the water is not a fast one, even when on the quick-acting davits.
I think I'm going to look at adding another pair of 40mm, maybe some new directors, and possibly some 20s to the top of the new deckhouse. Thanks again.
RandyM wrote:Curiously, I've only found two really good photos of WW2-era main gun directors, and I've spent a good amount of time looking around on the 'Net.
Randy, you've probably already seen these but just in case you haven't here are some Mk-38 Director photos for you. Floating Drydock has excellent drawings available as well.
Attachments
Above: USS Missouri with early radar type
Above: USS Iowa with early radar type
Above: USS New Jersey with late (hooded) radar type
Last edited by Anonymous on Fri Feb 01, 2008 4:07 pm, edited 4 times in total.
AWESOME Steve, thanks very much. Some of those photos are new to me and very helpful.
I have some new work which needs opinions... I scuttled (no pun) the boat deck and built up some new 40mm tubs, photos at the link below. A question I now have is, did each 40mm quad gun tub have its own director, or were multiple tubs ganged to a single director?
here are some photos of my interpretation of the USS Montana (BB-67).
The first shows how i "filled" the space between the two funnels with 40 mm Bofors and 20 mm Oerlikon Twins.
The two others show an entire view of the ship.
So far the Montana is about 95% complete, some details will have to be added to 01 and 02 level bulkheads, one
or two whalers stowed on the quarterdeck, the swinging booms on port and starboard and the rigging has to be completed.
I would like to hear some opinions about my interpretation of the Montana Class.
Randy, your work keeps impressing me day after day after week after week! Way to go!
A question I now have is, did each 40mm quad gun tub have its own director, or were multiple tubs ganged to a single director?
I'm pretty sure each 40mm gun tub had it's own director. However, IIRC, the IOWA class had a few extra scattered around in case some directors were damaged or I think the 5" guns could be controlled or whatever by the directors if needed. I know I read it somewhere, but I don't remember where? Anyone else have more info. on this?
Jan, your interpretation of a Montana just blows me away. Awesome! I like the arrangement of the 40mm between the funnels. Good work!
the swinging booms on port and starboard
I don't understand what you mentioned about swinging booms? Do you have any info. on this?
I have to say, I like the center blockhouse idea. Randy, yours wins my preference, I never liked that pit between the stacks that Iowa has. I couldn't get over that. Though I think, when I get to mine, I'll go a notch further and stretch the center blockhouse all the way between the stacks, and do something similar to the other plan, with a battery of 20mm guns below the two 40mm sets on each side. That would look interesting, I think.
Die Panzerschiffe - Putting the Heavy in Heavy Cruiser since 1940.
Thank you all for the kind words concerning my Montana build.
Randy,
each 40mm mount, be it quad or twin, has its own Mk 51 gun director. There are usually several "spare" gun
directors distributed all over the superstructure in case one or another mount is disabled. In order to keep
up the directed gunfire. Normally the 5" turrets are directed by their corresponding Mk 37 gun directors, but
in case they are disabled each 5" turret has its own "emergency" gun director, similar to a Mk 51 director.
These directors are hidden and also protected by the hoods on the turret roofs.
EJM,
the above mentioned swinging booms are equipment parts to accomodate the ship�s boats or other traffic
boats. The boats are fastened here with lines allowing them to swim with the current. This method is used when
the ship at roads when the traffic boats are needed to do the personnel transfer or else. Each boom is attached
to the ship�s hull underneath the kingpost ( marked by circle on photo DSC_0357_1 ). The kingpost must be erected
manually and does stabilize the boom when it is swung out to its working position. In the stowed position the
boom swings forward and is secured to the hull.
P.S. a nice example of a japanese swinging boom can be seen on Peter Van Buren�s beautiful Nagato in the battle-
ship section of the picture gallery ( photos "nagato-21" and "nagato-27" ).
I hope that helps.
Since i am almost done with my Yankee Modelworks Montana and anyone has questions about what aftermarket
parts like gun barrels or other stuff i can recommend or what problems and difficulties lay ahead, feel free to ask.
I would be pleased to help you avoid the problems that i already have solved.
Jan
Attachments
Starboard view of the bridge and citadel area
Starboard view of the quarterdeck
Example of swinging booms (Ship: 1/350 Iron Shipwright USS Washington build by Bernd Villhauer)
Thanks, guys. 
I like the arrangement of the 40mm between the funnels. Good work! 