Well I have been pondering buying the Trumpeter 1/200 USS Iowa for the past week. I want this exact ship to be my main show piece sitting atop of my other models on my bookcase. At this point I have only completed one model. Being my Trumpeter 1/350 HMS Queen Elizabeth, and am currently working on the Tamiya 1/350 HMS King George V.
Sitting on the shelf already I have the ICM German Konig WWI battleship/dreadknought. And although the 1/200 Iowa is on the top of my list, I feel that I need to sharpen my skills a little better before I jump into something like that.
Another ship I have been looking for is the 1/350 USS North Carolina. But it has been out of stock every time I looked. When finally, I found it back in stock at megahobby, and jumped on it.
So the Trumpeter 1/350 USS North Carolina will be added to my stash to built some time in the future. Probably once I finish the Konig for the German Ships GB.
That’s a good step up. Trumpeter never settles for one part when twenty will do, so it helps to be familiar with that (a feature I dislike).
I really enjoyed my first Trumpeter model that I did. Looking forward to this one. I am actually planning a trip to visit the USS N.C. museum later this year. And with it being one of the most highly decorated battleships of WWII and surviving a torpedo strike, I feel like rebuilding this little piece of history will be quite a pleasure.
You will want to bookmark several of the builds on YouTube, but, several need a grain of salt. Like the Midwest Hobby build of Missouri, where he persists in using a dark gray instead of Deck Blue; it’s his kit to build, but it’s tough to watch the 20 something videos and not notice. He does show some good technique for laying the real wood decks down. He also points out some glaring errors in Trumpy’s destructions (like that’s really all that surprising, sigh).
New Jersey offers a bunch of choices of fitment, too. What with deployments in WWII, KW, VN, and DS/DS (the latter would be the most complex, for needing new commo stuff, harpoon launchers and the like).
VN service would allow not installing the elebenty dozen 20mm mounts, but would need removing most of their tubs and correcting the decking. KW service allows skipping bending all the floater net baskets, as those were found to be pointless in 1944, but not removed until 46-47. KW paint scheme would be Haze Gray and Deck Gray, so pretty simple. Our member here Model Monkey has a number of 1/200 3D printed accessories for KW & VN and later fit.
If you can avoid it, don’t do NJ in Measure 33–unless you like buying Navy Blue by the gallon [:)] (And masking all the Pure White counter-shading locations would make a person crazy.)
Both Pontos and Artvox make Blue Wood decks for the Iowa class ships. There are a bunch of upgrade bits for them, as well.
You want the aftermarket propellers, too, much nicer in brass than the plastic ones.
Do note that this beast is right at four foot long when built. I’d use “keel blocks” rather than stanchions to put this on a base (if just to control the height). Best news: No rigging, other than flag halyards.
So I have a stash of tamiya paints and have been using them on all of my models so far. But tamiya doesnt have a deck blue. And my North Carolina calls for the same deck blue as the Iowa class.
So it looks like from the pics of the trumpeter paint instructions (havent received the kit yet) that it calls for mixing field blue and flat white to get the deck blue color. But I would rather buy an actual deck blue paint to avoid mixing.
Can anyone recommend a paint company that actually sells a deck blue?
There are a number.
AK makes a set that has all you need.
I just bought both American and Royal Navy sets. I haven’t used them yet, but once I do, I’ll let you know how they work.
I believe, GM, you recommended the AK paints in another thread somewhere, so I took your recommendation! [Y]
Those AK paints are the bomb, you will not be disappointed.
I see two different USN and British navy paint sets by AK. One says something about being made with a company named Meng. The other looks like it is strictly made by AK.
Which one of the 2 do you guys prefer?
Got it. Thank you. That kit has been ordered.
Another question. Are these Ak paints good for an airbrush right from the bottle? Or should they still be cut down with some thinner?
I just took the leap and ordered myself an airbrush set
Nice. That’s the paint scheme she’s preserved in–you can get tons of good photos off her f/b page, too.
Right, as far as the hull camo it seems to look the same as my kit depicts. Only thing I am wondering is on the actual USS NC now, as a museum, the decking looks unpainted as a standard wooden deck. But the instrucitons call for the deck blue. So which one is it?
I also just bought the USN paint kit from AK, with their thinner for it. For those that dont know, I just ordered my first airbrush kit. I practiced a little bit on a friends and was immediately hooked. Ordered mine the next day.
I still have my 1st model, the lindberg hood. I figure this cheap model will be a great way to practice my airbrushing.
As soon as I finish my KGV I think I will start working on my North Carolina for the American Ships GB. Since we have some time before the German ships GB starts.
BB-55 is a very significant ship.
We talked about her on a previous thread. It’s a complicated story, but the Washington Naval Treaty started it in 1922 as a way to limit the Naval arms race that appeared to be the primary means of war forces.
The London Treaty and the Second London Treaty followed, each modifying the limitations on sizes and armament of ships.
A quick and worthwhile review of the succession of classes of USN capital ships, in particular battleships; is a study in International Relations at it’s best and worst.
I don’t recall and the Cap’n will know; but there were as many as four or fives classes of BB’s at Pearl Harbor on 12.7.41 for instance.
The NC’s worked a way to substitute 16 inch for 14 naval rifles.
While maintaining speed, displacement and armor.
I have researched a little bit. Seems the North Carolina class was first in the “fast” battleship classes. Following were the Iowa Class BB’s if I recall correctly. Also fashioned with the 16 inch guns in 3 turrets of 3 guns.
Good knowledge, insert the South Dakotas between. Those were essentially the same spec.s, but shorter in order to make the armored center section a greater proportion of the overall ship.
So i recently ordered AK5000 and AK5020 sets from the manufacturer. I couldnt find (at the time) both sets from the same seller. I have sprayed them w/ no thinner fine. BUT, a few of the bottles dont have the bottle tip fully inserted and when i shake to mix and open the cap, the paint is all splattered in the cap. I cant seem to get them to set fully in the bottle. Also, kinda weird here, i dont shake them a lot, then put a few drops in the palette and then i can watch the stuff start to bubble a little. And, last night, i needed a drop or 2 to touch up and when i dopped 2-3 dots in the tray, the color actually started to separate… Weird. But the colors look good!
