Introduction
The USS Iowa is likely to be a popular subject due to it having served with the US Navy from World War 2 and also taken part during the first Gulf War. I believe she was the last capitol ship in service with the US Navy, during that time she underwent many changes. Eventually being armed with Cruise missiles as her main offensive weapons, while still retaining her 3 main gun turrets which housed 9 16 inch guns. This release from HobbyBoss is a 1/350th scale release of this formidable vessel in it’s WW2 layout.
Review
This offering from HobbyBoss arrives in a robust cardboard tray with a large partitioned area containing the hull and main deck, plus the main superstructure and a very large amount of photo etch. The lid is also cardboard, with a very nice artistic representation of the vessel at sea, preparing to launch an aircraft. The injection moulded parts are individually packaged, and so should arrive in perfect condition. There is also an encapsulated area containing the gun barrels and further elements of the superstructure.
The hull of the vessel and main deck are supplied in one piece mouldings, and on this example appears to be perfectly aligned as of this moment. The armoured belt and plates that make up the hull have been individually marked and in this scale I feel this is quite an impressive feature. In order to help maintain the correct alignment of the model, there are support struts that are affixed in the lower hull and these also support the main deck. The plastic elements of the model are very well detailed from the large parts of the superstructure down to the smallest moulded pieces, such as anti-aircraft guns and their protective walls. Ship models rarely grab my attention, but the historic history of this vessel and the very pleasing mouldings and content do make me appreciate what is on offer here.
The superstructure of the model appears to be accurately laid out when compared to reference that I have available to me in print and on-line, but I am by no means an expert on things that float. So I am not in a position to guarantee 100% accuracy. What I can say, is that the superstructure appears to my uneducated eye to accurately replicate the main details of the superstructure. Where I get a little bit stuck is with the placement of elements such as, rafts and finer features most of which I am unable to identify due to my limited knowledge. Something that is truly stunning on this release, for it’s detail is the smoke stacks, which have a surprising number of intricate elements added to them that make them of visual interest to me. Something that all modellers tackling this model is that they will have a need to be comfortable with the use of photo etch, both in terms of fine bending and the placement of easily distorted parts. This model provides 8 photo etched frets of a decent size, that even contains the ships rails which are obviously distributed all around the model - many of which will need to be shaped. A modeller who tackles ships regularly, advised me to use unassembled plastic parts as jigs for shaping curved areas, and I can see where that would be a big aide in tackling this model.
Looking more closely at fire power, many of the gun barrels are provided in turned aluminium. These included the 16 inch main guns and the 25 inch secondary guns. In addition to this offensive fire power you have 76 40mm anti-aircraft guns and 52 20mm anti-aircraft guns. While this is a battleship, I am kind of surprised not to find any torpedo mounts or such in this WW2 variant. The 16 inch gun barrels mount onto a plastic part and so have the ability to elevate and turrets rotate. Long range reconnaissance is provided by float equipped SB2U aircraft which launch from the aft of the vessel, with 2 launches available. A recovery crane is also present in this area, for bringing the aircraft back on board.
The instruction booklet is reasonably clear, considering the sheer size of this model. So other than the intricacies of assembly direction is good. Painting instructions are on a fold-out sheet and cover the vessel from both sides and above. Also covered here is the aircraft that requires painting. Finally the decals in the kit are one area of concern, due to the scale of the model and getting a decal down to a suitable level of thinness I do not believe to be possible, even painting the detail provided on the decals would be too thick for the aircraft.
Conclusion
I consider this offering from HobbyBoss to be a truly stunning model, that I personally am unable to pick fault with. The intricate nature of a ship model in this scale does require a steady hand and a good eye, and for the modeller to be especially comfortable with the use of photo etch as this material does play a very big part in the appeal and finished detail of this model.