U.S. Navy Battleship BB-63 Missouri Tamiya 1/700

This is my first time making a plastic model of a warship other than Japan. This is the US Navy battleship Missouri of Tamiya. To be precise, when I was in elementary school, I remember making the aircraft carrier Enterprise with brush paint about 40 years ago, the result was only painted with a brush, so I remember it was not at all. I don’t even remember the scale. This is the first time that a foreign warship has been made seriously.

Is the bottom black? There were 2 pieces of ballast. First of all, I’m worried about fitting the parts in the future because I’m going to stick both sides of the ship together.

This time, there are various luxurious sets of Ship Yard Works such as deck seal, etched parts, masking sheet, and brass main gun barrel, so I would like to use them.

The etched parts are fine and there are many, but I will try to use them as much as possible. The etched material seems soft and easy to work with.
(2022/04/12)

A quick look at the description of the etched parts showed that there were not many original parts to be scraped. If I just add the etched parts, the impression is that even though there are many parts, the work is not so difficult. It was suddenly difficult to scrape off 10 ladders from the left and right sides of the structure near the central bridge.

I bought etched parts and deck seals eagerly, but the deck of the battleship Missouri looks like a deep blue. I liked the finish of the deck seal which made use of the wood grain, so I was a little disappointed. But will the deck seal mold work even if it is colored? There seems to be some mold in the Tamiya parts, so you might not need to use it. But I think this deck seal is finer than plastic mold.

The wooden deck sticker does not make use of the wood grain because it is painted, so it is better to assemble more and more. As a big problem, I can’t think of the order of painting the large three-color camouflage 32/22D paint.

Deck stickers are prepared very finely. There was also something like a small piece. I use aqueous acrylic liquid to wipe the deck to remove oil stains and dry it just in case. To increase the stickiness as much as possible.
(2022/04/14)

Even if it is a large etched part, I can’t see the end unless I continue to adhere to it without hesitation. The appearance of the model changes rapidly, so I think we can keep motivation. I have to work on the next part without losing my mind if I fail. However, the parts are quite precise, so it feels good. But actually, it takes a lot of time, so I need to proceed steadily.

The exterior of the bridge structure looks like a complete renovation. There are many etched parts to attach to the outside, and countless additional hatches to glue after attaching them. It sounds like the renovation of a house. It’s a lot of work, but if the kit is left as it is, it’s too plain, so it might be just right. It gives a feeling of doing it.

About 2 ~ 3 pieces would be fine, but it would take a lot of work to make 10 turrets of secondary guns and many etched parts. Looking at it this way, only Tamiya’s kit can be finished very easily.

There are many etched parts for the main gun and the turret, and the gun barrel is made of brass, so it seems to have been modified. The plastic parts are cut off at the root, a hole is drilled, and brass parts are inserted and bonded.
(2022/04/19)

Countless secondary guns and dual anti-aircraft guns and single anti-aircraft guns are placed on the deck, so they are installed.

I am making a catapult for a reconnaissance plane. It is more delicate than the Fujimi etched parts that I have made several times in the past. It is difficult because there are many parts and it is easy to break.
(2022/04/22)

This is a crane installed at the stern. This is also a little complicated. If we have dealt with a few etched parts in the past, we can understand it.

Radar is shaped like a wok, it is composed of many parts, and it is difficult to assemble because I don’t understand it well even after reading the instructions. I hope the shape will be more or less like that. If this part is put together well, I think it will be a good accent for the whole battleship model.

It’s hard to see because the parts of the bridge overlap with the main gun behind. Whether it was an anti-aircraft radar or a fire control device, there were many etched parts that were difficult to assemble, but I managed to stick them together. I think this is enough precision.
(2022/04/24)

Catapults and cranes installed on the stern were also glued. I used a lot of instant glue around here.

Now that I’ve put it all together, I can’t touch many parts easily anymore. It is not allowed to carry objects or move objects over the warship. In case of an accident, there is a high probability that it will be damaged… Be prepared for cat attacks. I have to make my cat not interested.

Also, there was the installation of anchorage chains and handrails, and the assembly of carrier-based aircraft. There is still a lot of work to be done, but it feels like it’s almost done. Come to think of it, I left a 38(t) tank unattended on the way, so I think I should start with that.
(2022/04/29)

Propeller parts for the carrier-based aircraft were not included in the Tamiya kit or the separately sold etched parts. I thought there was no choice because it was a 1/700 scale, but at first, I tried making it with shredded plastic sheets. It was too big and not so good. After all, I glued four very thin brass wires to each one. It has four propellers. It was a little disappointing that the shape could not be reproduced in detail.

It’s been a long time since I started to make it, but the deck sticker hasn’t peeled up. I think one of the reasons is using instant glue to fix it in various places.

The anchorage chain may be a little over-scale, but I used the one that is included in the modification kit of Ship Yard Works.

How about painting the stern while masking it because it is quite complicated and structured? That sounds difficult.

A commemorative photo was taken from the bow before painting. I changed the pole of the bow to metal wire because it seems to be weak to attach the antenna if it is plastic. 0.3 mm still seems weak, so I used a 0.5 mm one though it may be a little thick.

There are some places where it is difficult to install ladders after adhering handrails, so I have to consider the order of adhering parts to some extent. Well, if I think about it, it may not be possible to glue a shipboard structure to a hull and then glue a finely etched part. In the past, when the battleship Yamashiro was built, The etched parts were glued together to make the bridge, and later they were glued to the fuselage.

I realized that the assembly was about to be completed, but the Tamiya assembly manual said that the secondary gun and the anti-aircraft gun were facing forward or backward, so I glued them together without thinking too much. It’s cool and normal to be on the side. But if there is an enemy in front, all the cannons may face forward, so this is OK. Since it is completely bonded, it is extremely risky to change the direction since it has finely etched parts.

It may be the wrong way to build a ship model, but I put it all together. It is because the deck seal is also supposed to be painted.

The assembly is now complete. I think I will put up an antenna after painting. But I worked hard to build a lot of etched parts, I can finish it without painting. However, I think it will be painted properly.
(2022/05/03)

After the metal primer was painted, the ship’s bottom color, flat black, was painted. Metal primer is hard to do with brush painting, so I sprayed it all with the airbrush.

After that, I painted the broadside midnight blue and masked it. So far it has been troublesome but not so difficult.

From the deck color to the painting, or rather, almost all the parts visible from above are dark blue. In Tamiya’s manual, there was an instruction to mix various colors. I painted it with Cleos Gloss Sea Blue. And also the camouflage color of the carrier-based aircraft. I think I can adjust the gloss later. The masking process was troublesome and the work stopped here.
(2022/05/19)

Since there is a masking sheet for the wooden deck, I think I will do the basic painting of the battleship body after masking the deck first. It is hoped that the details will be brushed and carried out with as little effort as possible.

I sprayed the color of a U.S. Navy warship with an airbrush. This is terrible. I thought it was pretty simple, but the color is different when you look at it from above and from the side. It’s different in complexity from painting the top and bottom of an airplane.

I was thinking of masking it roughly and painting small areas with brushing. I thought it would be easy to wipe off the dark blue deck color with an enamel thinner if I use a Tamiya enamel sea blue brush paint. But the sea blue of Tamiya was a little greenish, and the more I painted it, the more uneven it was. It’s hard to paint, and thinning it with thinner won’t cover it up, and it takes a lot of work to paint over small areas, which also makes it look uneven. In the end, it was better to paint with a brush using a retarder with Creos paint. I don’t really want to paint with lacquer paint because it has a strong thinner smell.
(2022/05/26)