Starting up this thread in preparation for the next 2 projects. Both myself and Tom Cromwell will be building the IOWA class units for next years Nats. Tom is having his IOWA shipped in from Ontario. We'll both be building them simultaneously roughly. We hope to attend NATS in 2011 with both ships as Allies. Tom was trying to make it to Nats this year but the schedule he has won't allow it this year. He's also bringing down Nagato too for refurbishment. I have on order from Strike a deck for Tom and my Bismarck superstructure replacement and deck/subdeck for Tirpitz is on it's way. Look forward to building these Allie behemoths.
The IOWA has arrived from Kingston Ontario and needs to be unpacked. The Sintra deck will be removed in favor of the new deck from Strike.
Did not mean to thread hijack too much so sorry.. Stokamoto I was looking at the pictures of some of your builds on photobucket. The one that was interesting to me was the VU pictures. The turrets look to be cast are they? s243.photobucket.com/albums/ff65/runabout1/ If so where did you get them?
We unpacked the IOWA from it's carboard coffin today and it was quite packed with peanut popcorn. We took my hull and Tom's and took side by side comparison's of both ships. I still have other pics to load but this is what we got so far. ...
Tom drew up a check list on the plan to build these simultaneously . Goal is to get them up and running for sea trials by end of summer and then during the winter outfit them with their armament and co2 systems.
Hey All, By way of introduction I'm Tom and I have been building and battling under the command of Admiral Stokes for the last decade or so. Finally, after years of being fleet mates and build buddies we are working on twin projects with which we will finally be able to rules the waves! I will be posting my progress on the Iowa in this thread as Curt posts his progress on the Missouri. As things stand my Iowa is a bit ahead in its progress. The hull has been cut out, some of the armor is in and the shafts are installed. There was a deck installed which I decided was not of a high enough quality to warrant keeping so it was removed. This morning I spent an hour removing the armor that was installed and began cleaning up the resin and general mess left over from the previous deck in preparation for the installation of a Strike Models deck kit. With about another hour or so of work the hull should be ready for the deck and the next stage to the build will begin. regards, Tom
Surprisingly they both fit in Tom's Mustang with room to spare. They are not as heavy or as bulky as Yamato. Bismarck feels like nothing to me after lugging Yamato around. The Iowa is not much longer but narrower than Bismarck and only a few pounds heavier. I bruised my ribs carrying Yamato on more than one occasion. The big ships require more effort to load up and carry but proper lifting techniques and taking care rounding corners and loading in the car is required. I use to carry Yamato and Bis in my small Hyundai Excel Hatchback and currently use a 4 door Hyundai Accent compact to transport the ships. I had Roma, Yamato, Warspite and Prinz Eugen(VU) loaded up in that car on an angle. Got them in along with the tool box and 8ft table and portable barbecue. What I need to launch is that cool launch wagon the guys used at last years IRCWCC NATS.
Well that is some really good detail shots of the inside of the Strike Models hull, I have been wanting to see that. It looks good, however it is (obviously) missing the skegs. Is that a big deal to most people? My first thought is I would want them on it.
I was hoping they would come with the skegs too but some people prefer not to have them on as they may want to make their own.
Quick update on Iowa. Her deck and sub deck have been tacked in place with CA glue. I decided to try cutting out the hatches before resining the deck in place as I have done in the past as an experiment more than anything else. I have decided to use 3 hatches. One for A and B turret, one under the superstructure and one for C turret, the motors, pump(s) and rudder assembly. I have already cut out the centre hatch. Pictures to come in the future. I began by using a exacto knife and scored into the wood using a straight edge as a guide. This yielding goo results but was very hard on my hands. After completing one long side of the hatch I took a break and experimented with a small circular metal blade attachment on my dremel. Results of using this blade on some scrap wood looked good and I decided to try it on the deck. Results were pretty good though I had to be careful not to let the blade bind. Another small issue was that unless the blade was perfectly vertical it had a tendency to warp. However, using multiple passes and a little patience the centre hatch turned out very well. I hope to get the other two hatches finished by the end of the week and t resin the deck this weekend or next week. Once the deck is complete I will be moving on to the superstructure. While there is no doubt that the strike models structure is a great starting point I plan on modifying it to better fit the two sets of plans Curt and are using for reference. These boats will eventually sport the same level of detailing as Curt's Bismarck (see his thread in this same club section if you haven't already). More on this later. Well that is all I have completed so far. Curt and I hope to get together sometime in the next little while and work on getting his Missouri marked and cut. Before I go I have a quick question for everyone who is looking at these build: how would you arm an Iowa class. I think the most common (and Curt's plan) is to go with sidemount duals, tripple sterns and a pump. I find that I often am too aggressive and with a mind toward taking this boat to NATS sometime in the future I plan on going with three sets of duals and two pumps. What is everyone's opinion on these two options? Tom
