1:400 US Navy Battleship BB-63 Missouri Wooden Deck for Hapdong BB-63

The real subject

The battleship Missouri with hull number BB-63 was one of the four fast battleships of the Iowa class. She measured over two hundred and seventy meters, the main armament consisted of nine 406 mm guns in three turrets, and the US Navy returned to her repeatedly even after the Second World War, most recently after the modernization in the 1980s. The deck of the real ship was covered with wooden planks, and it is exactly this surface that paint imitates worst on a plastic model. In 1:400 scale the model comes out roughly seventy centimeters long.

What the set contains

A wooden deck, that is a wooden part with the deck surfaces cut out, which is glued onto the deck of the model. The grain is carried by the material itself, so laborious painting and glazing of the plastic falls away. The set is cut to the BB-63 kit from the Hapdong brand, so the outlines of the parts match that one.

Building tips

• Lay the deck down dry first and check how it sits on the outline of the model.
• Rid the plastic deck of dust and grease, so that the part holds reliably.
• Press down from the center out to the edges, so that the surface does not buckle anywhere.
• Mark the openings for the superstructures and the turrets before you fit the part permanently.
• Cut the surplus at the edge off with a sharp blade run along the edge of the hull.

Who it is for

The set is for builders of ship models for whom painted plastic is not enough on a deck and who want it made of real wood. In a smaller scale it also stands out well, because the deck makes up most of what is visible on the model from above. The kit, paints and glue are not included in the package, unless stated otherwise.