Out of all the models I’ve built in my lifetime so far, this is probably one of my favorites and most memorable/liked.
I built this not because I had relatives that died in that explosion or knew of anybody that died, but simply because I needed some other creative idea and didn’t want to build the turret straight from the box and have it look like all the other same turrets that people are building with their kits.
A few construction details:
Model kit used is the TAKOM 1/72 scale World War II USS Missouri Battleship 16” Gun Turret No.1 (Kit # 5015) which has been converted into a modern 1980’s USS Iowa battleship turret No.2.
- Main turret color: Vallejo # 70.615 Light Ghost Gray. Turret roof: Vallejo # 71.097 Gunship Gray and # 71.048 Engine Gray. Model base: TAMIYA TS-68 Wooden Deck Tan. Blast bags (Bloomers): Flat black. Recoil area (Slide) at back of barrels: Vallejo # 71.073 Metallic Black.
- Beam and Sheave (Above carley float life rafts on left side of turret in below picture.) has been moved to the right side of turret since the Iowa only had one beam and sheave on the right side of turret # 2.
- Light gray dome (Spare model part.) on top of turret roof at the front is a small radar unit that was used to measure the velocity of the rounds as they left the barrel.
- World War II era carley float life rafts on the left and right sides of turret, and the original World War II era floater net baskets at the back of the turret, were removed and not used.
- Extra ladders (Left and right side of turret.) were added with Plastruct HO scale # 90672 Styrene Ladders.
- It was decided not to create any damage to the front of the turret (or anywhere else) as what the real turret # 2 had during the April 1989 explosion as I felt this might upset or offend some people.
- Gun barrels are in the approximate raised or lowered positions as what the real turret had during the April 1989 USS Iowa turret # 2 explosion.
- Wooden engraved base built by www.basesbybill.com
- Contrary to popular belief, there was no American flag painted on top of the No.2 turret (which exploded) on the USS Iowa. It was on the No.1 turret instead.
To observers of this model, this whole display shows a “Before” and an " After" for lack of a better term. Having just the model turret only on the base itself looked a bit plain and boring in my mind.
First, I opted to leave the left and right gun barrels elevated and the center gun barrel lowered to represent the moment the explosion took place inside the turret. Seeing the barrels this way was an “iconic moment” both during the turret explosion and when the ship returned to Norfolk.
The “After” effect is having the model displayed similar (but not exact) to how the real Turret No.2 looks on board the USS Iowa museum ship in San Pedro, California. The After effect shows people on the deck paying their respects.
To add a bit more detail to the model turret and base, I made the starboard (Right) side of the turret appear similar to how the real turret is currently displayed aboard the USS Iowa museum ship in San Pedro, California.
- A small staircase was scratch built with styrene strip.
- The black stanchions are actually HO scale model railroad parking meters that were cut down to size.
- The large and small informational plaques under the starboard rangefinder hood are actual photos of the real plaques on the turret that were scaled down to an appropriate size on my computer, printed out, then attached under the rangefinder hood.
- The rope on top of the stairs is a small piece of tassel from a cap.
- The red and blue flowers are pieces from dollhouse accessories. But the white flowers didn’t exist as a dollhouse accessory, so I had to use tiny pieces of white cotton.
- The people are simply cheap 1/72 scale figures found at Hobby Lobby craft store.
