| HISTORY |
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USS Iowa
(BB-61) of the United States Navy was the lead ship of the Iowa-class
of battleships. She is the fourth ship in the United States Navy to be
named after the state of Iowa. Owing to the cancellation of the Montana-class
battleships, Iowa is the last lead ship of any class of United States
battleships and was the only ship of her class to serve in the Atlantic
Ocean during World War II.
During World War II, she carried President Franklin D. Roosevelt across
the Atlantic to Mers El Kébir, Algeria, en route to a conference
of vital importance in 1943 in Tehran with Prime Minister Winston Churchill
of the United Kingdom and Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union. When
transferred to the Pacific Fleet in 1944, Iowa shelled beachheads
at Kwajalein and Eniwetok in advance of Allied amphibious landings and
screened aircraft carriers operating in the Marshall Islands. She also
served as the Third Fleet flagship, flying Admiral William F. Halsey's
flag at the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay.
During the Korean War, Iowa was involved in raids on the North
Korean coast, after which she was decommissioned into the United States
Navy reserve fleets, better known as the "mothball fleet." She was reactivated
in 1984 as part of the 600-ship Navy plan and operated in both the Atlantic
and Pacific Fleets to counter the recently expanded Soviet Navy. In April
1989, an explosion of undetermined origin wrecked her No. 2 gun turret,
killing 47 sailors.
Iowa was decommissioned for the last time in October 1990 after
19 total years of active service, and was initially stricken from the Naval
Vessel Register (NVR) in 1995, before being reinstated from 1999 to 2006
to comply with federal laws that required retention and maintenance of
two Iowa-class battleships. In 2011 Iowa was donated to the Los
Angeles–based non-profit Pacific Battleship Center and was permanently
moved to Berth 87 at the Port of Los Angeles in 2012, where she was opened
to the public as the USS Iowa Museum.
For more information on Iowa's
history, check out her
Wikipedia
page, where this history was taken from. |
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| The
HobbyBoss USS Iowa
The HobbyBoss 1/350 USS Iowa comes is a
large, sturdy cardboard box. On the box top is a painting of Iowa
at sea, somewhere in the Pacific, sailing into the setting sun. Upon
opening the box, you'll find the hull sectioned off inside it's own compartment,
upside down, inside a large plastic bag. There is also a piece of
foam along the end of one side of the box, to protect the bow. The one
piece main deck is also inside this bag, while sitting on top of the hull
in this section of the box are some superstructure parts. The rest
of the parts are in the other part of the box, which is divided in thirds
by a cardboard piece that covers some of the smaller sprues.
The model depicts Iowa circa 1944, when
she was operating in the Pacific, escorting Task Force 38/58. Many
of the sprues on this box are marked 86516, which means they are shared
with HobbyBoss's previously released USS Missouri. This
is the second 1/350 World War II Iowa release in injection molded
plastic, the first being the Blue Ridge/Very Fire Models kit. |
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| SPRUE
A - HULL |
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| The hull, which scale out pretty much perfectly
in length and beam, is one piece, and comes with molded on hull plating.
The hull plating runs town to the turn of the hull, where it stops.
While I can't vouch for 100% accuracy, comparing the hull to photos of
the USS New Jersey in dry-dock, it's a reasonable facsimile.
The ends of the prominent skegs are molded as separate
parts (Sprue F). There is a small representation of a paravane skeg
on the stem of the ship. The bilge keels are molded separately, but
the hull does not have the prominent keel on the bottom of the hull.
The draft marks, at both the bow and stern, are oddly represented as recessed
holes in the hull, while there are also very prominent nubs of plastic
around the bottom of the hull, which are left over from the injection molded
process. One, on the starboard side, is particularly pronounced.
Easy to clean up, but somewhat annoying.
Inside the hull, running almost the whole length
the model, there vertical bracing, to help support the deck. |
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| Here are some comparisons of the Hobby
Boss hull to the hull of both the Tamiya Missouri and the Joy Yard Missouri. |
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| SPRUE
B - DECK |
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| The main deck is one piece.
There is visible planking, with offset butt ends. There isn't a lot
of detail molded to the deck - most of it gets attached later - but what
is there looks good. |
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| SPRUE
C |
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| There are two separate pieces that
make up "sprue" C: C1 & C2. Both of these are part of the
superstructure.
C1 - this is the largest of the two parts.
Planking is the same as the main deck, albeit shorter in length.
Detail on the bulkheads is plentiful, and looks good. There are stubs
on the bottom of both parts that will have to be removed and sanded flush
before assembly. The bulkheads on the aft end of this part are molded
separately.
C2 - same general comments as above. |
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| SPRUE
D |
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| While shown on the parts manifest
as one sprue, this is actually comes as three small sprues in the
box, consisting of a a director tower, part of the forward tower and another
level of the superstructure. There is nice raised details on these
parts. |
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| SPRUE
E |
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| This sprue has platforms, parts for the funnels,
funnel caps, plus the ends of the skegs for the inboard props (which are
2 parts each). Overall detail is good, with tread plating on the
decks of one of the platforms. The raised rivets around the outboard
sides of the skegs is overstated and should be removed (see view of NJ's
skeg in drydock).
On the minus side, the decks of the of 20mm gun
tubs on this sprue are planked, which is incorrect. The planking
will need to be filled. |
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| SPRUE
F |
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| You'll find gun tubs, splinter shields,
bulkheads - with nice detail - and other parts. Like sprue E, the
20mm gun tubs are erroneously planked. |
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| SPRUE
G |
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| Here are the bilge keels, more splinter
shields, an anchor and assorted small parts. |
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| SPRUE
H |
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| Along with more gun tubes, there is
the armored conning tower and base, windows for the lower bridge and more
small parts. Overall, detail is good. |
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| SPRUE
J |
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| Large braces for the inside of the
hull, as well as a name plate, are on this sprue |
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| SPRUE
K (X3) |
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| These three sprues consist of parts
for the main battery turrets. The turrets look correct, according
to drawings, and have good detail, though the rivet pattern on the top
of the turrets tops appears to be incorrect, for you rivet counters.
The backs of all three turrets show bracing to support the floater net
baskets, but not all three turrets had this, according to drawings.
The turrets are noticeably smaller than the oversized
Tamiya turrets, but I did not measure them to check if they are 100% in
scale.
There are plastic blast bags included in the kit,
but the shape doesn't match the real thing. You also have the choice
of the plastic main battery barrels on these sprues, or turned metal barrels,
which are found in a separate bag. |
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| SPRUE
L (X2) |
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| These sprues have the 40mm gun top
for the top of turret 3 (so you'll have an extra), the props, rudders,
shafts, funnel grills and more, including winches, chocks, the insides
of the whaleboats and the catapults. Surprisingly, the catapults
are only available as plastic parts - no photo-etch versions are included.
As the plastic versions are pedestrian, at best, I'd ditch them for either
photo-etch or 3D printed replacements. |
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| SPRUE
M (X5) |
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| These 5 sprues come in two bags -
3 sprues in one bag, 2 in another. On them you'll find the 5 inch
gun mounts and barrels, the 40mm guns, 20mm guns, ready ammo boxes, rafts,
bollards, more chocks and Mk 51 directors. This may be the weakest
sprue in the kit. I wasn't impressed with either the 40mm or 20mm
guns (which come with PE shields) |
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| SPRUE
Q |
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| There are two small sprues which make
up sprue Q. The larger of the two has a bridge platform and the Mk
37 directors, while the second has two deckhouses. The platform has
a pattern on the deck to represent raised wooden decking. |
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| SPRUE
R |
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| Here are some Iowa specific
parts, including platforms and gun tubs. |
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| AIRCRAFT |
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| There are a pair of OS2U
Kingfishers included, in the dreaded (at least to me) clear plastic.
I'm not impressed with them, and would replace them with 3D printed versions. |
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| ANCHOR
CHAIN |
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| There is anchor chain
included. It is not blackened. |
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| PHOTOETCH |
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| There are eight (8) photo-etch frets included.
Included are railings, aircraft handling crane, accommodation ladders,
floater net baskets, SK-1 radar, gun shields for the 20mm guns, and more. |
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| TURNED
METAL PARTS |
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| There is one small bag of turned metal
barrels, covering the main and secondary armament. |
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| DISPLAY
STAND |
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| A display stand is included with the
kit. |
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| DECAL |
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| There is one small decal sheet included
It has the US flag and USN jack, hull numbers, and the ships name, as well
as markings for the aircraft. |
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| INSTRUCTIONS |
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| The instructions are in booklet form,
and cover 36 pages, with a parts manifest and exploded view drawings covering
the build sequence. |
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| The painting instructions are on a separate,
color sheet. They show Iowa's late 1944
Measure
32/1B camouflage. While the box are seems to show Iowa in her
correct Haze Gray and Navy Blue colors, the instructions say to use Black
as the darker color. This is incorrect. |
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| CONCLUSIONS |
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| I do have some minor criticism of the kit, particularly
the planked 20mm gun tubs, the very ordinary injection molded catapult,
the recessed holes in the hull to represent the draft marks, and the lackluster
weapons sprue - especially the 20mm guns, which look woefully under-scale.
That being said, other the nubs on the lower hull, I found no flash or
obvious sink marks, and there is a lot of nice detail to be found.
Detail on the various bulkheads is really well done. There also is a robust
photo-etch set (but no catapults!), so all you need to build this model
is in the box (for the super detailers, Eduard has just released
a photo-etch set for this model). All in all, this is a solid kit,
which should build into a nice representation of the lead ship in her class.
Recommended.
This is HobbyBoss kit number 86517, the 1/350 USS
Iowa. The model currently sells for $299.99, and can be purchased
from Model
Rectifier Corporation - who I'd like to thank for this review sample.
This is an in-box review of the kit contents only.
Your mileage may vary. |
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