Design Study #8

[Papercut]

I look forward to this. I am a big fan of the Iowa Class BB's, and am a little in tune to the Montanan Class. They would have been real Sea Monsters much like the Yamatto, but alas, I believe the US Navy understood by this time, no matter how big, no match for aircraft! I did a study and found that the type gun to be used was also considered for the Iowa Class but was felt @ time over kill. That was until they discovered the massive guns of the Yamatto. I hope you continue with and make this beast available. There have been many designs that did not get off the drawing boards that would make for some interesting builds.:DRick

[lancer525]

Okay, I'm now back home and at my desktop, so here's a couple of photos I hope will tantalize you all...

This first photo was of a circa 1941 preliminary model, not long after the class was proposed.



This second photo was taken in October of 1944, over a year after the class was cancelled, and after the design class model was built by the Navy. As I mentioned before, they had little or no need to add the 4-gun turrets, so this model does not show that configuration. Also I do have a design sketch that shows 2-gun turrets, presumably to get 8 of the 18"/47cal rifles aboard the ship. I don't know about you guys, but I think that 8 - 18" guns is pretty heavy firepower when compared to 9 - 16" guns.



And last, but not least, this is the partial hull I test built a few weeks ago, before I really committed to do this all the way.



Just so you know, it's laying crosswise on a Queen size bed.

Not bad for my first hull build, if I do say so myself.

[Retired_for_now]

Looks good! The stations/frames/formers are all you need for a scratch built hull - wish I had a quick 'n easy way to pull the flattened shapes of the plates. You could still "plank" it up and then trace the resulting shapes and scan them in to make a kit.

Yogi

[eibwarrior]

Great to see you're going public Charles.

Here's some "primer" for the masses. Test build shots of the quadruple turret and the hull form work.

Let the fun begin!

[shrike]

Quad gun mounts.
Does this mean it gets 1.333333 Cher/Turret?

[lancer525]

Shrike, this is precisely one of the things I feared from the beginning. And if it had come from anyone other than you, I'd be worried. But since it's you, I'll just say that I am completely and totally ignorant of the term, and ask you to explain what the heck "Cher/Turret" means!

I don't think I've ever seen that term applied to naval rifles in my life.

[shrike]

You're going to hate me for this.

[lancer525]

No, I don't hate you, but when did that happen? What is my Navy coming to?

On second thought...

I might just add that little detail. I do have an order of 1/200 architectural figures coming from Germany, and there's bound to be a female one I could modify into this. Would be an interesting touch, wouldn't it?

[shrike]

1JUL89, Long Beach, Pier D Link and Link (about 80% down, just before Desert Shield)

[shrike]

On a slightly more serious note, I wonder what would have happened had Gerald Bull had 18" guns to play with for the Project HARP experiments.

I'll be quiet now