I found this kit in a Hobby Lobby.  Having no experience with Kangnam, I wanted to give it a try.I had built several other ships in 1/600 scale, and I was attracted to the photos of the finished model on the box and the low price.

 

What I found in the kit (insert IowaKit here) was a very basic model, reminding me of the Lindberg kits.  In fact, this hull even had what appeared to be an outline for a battery box, suggesting that a powered version is out there.  This could account for the lack of detail, however, the model shown in the photos on the side of the box was not built from this kit.

 

I ordered from Gold Medal Models a PE set (Naval ship, 1/600 scale), which proved to be very helpful.  I also used a few parts from their 1/500 Naval ship set, and items from both my parts box and Plastruct material (insert USSIowa&PE here).

 

The World's Great Battleships by Robert Jackson provided me with some good shots of the Iowa class ships.

I began construction by sanding off mold parting lines and filling imperfections on the hull with Squadron White Putty. When these were sanded, I primed the parts with Krylon gray primer (including the PE parts.  Then I masked the hull and sprayed the lower portion with Krylon dark red satin enamel. (insert Ptd hull, anchors here).  Three hawse ports on the bow (left, right, and center) were cut from Plastruct tube and cemented on.  Two anchors from Smokey Mountain Model Supply were then installed.

 

The hull above the waterline was painted with Ceramcoat Bridgeport Grey, thinned with Modelmaster Acryl Thinner.  This paint was used for all vertical surfaces on the model.  I also used thinned Ceramcoat colors for the painted decks (Pewter Grey) and the wooden decks (Golden Brown).  The blue-gray areas ahead of the flight deck were painted with a mix of English Navy Blue and Pewter to gain the shade used in the box art(insert Ptd decks here).

 

On my big capital ship models, I like to do the turrets early-on, and attach them without the under-deck collars, making them removable.  This allows me to take them off for work and attach the deck to the hull early in construction.  These turrets came with holes in their roofs for attaching projecting beams.  I think these are used to suspend hoists used in loading projectiles into the magazines.  They appear in some pictures and not in others, apparently being removable.  I installed one on "A" turret and filled the rest of the holes with putty.  I also installed the rangefinder periscopes on all but the "A" turret, and filled the mounting spots for them on "A" turret with Plastruct styrene and putty.  The turret faces have PE ladders added between and outboard of the gun barrels, and a PE door was glued to the right rear face of the turrets. (Insert Turret Details here.)  The main turrets were painted as follows: gun houses and barrels Bridgeport Grey, turret roofs Pewter Grey, rear portion of barrels and areas around gun slots flat black, barrel tips copper.(Insert Iowa AB turrets here.)

 

The 5" secondary turrets needed some flash cleanup.  Gun travel slots, promenent on the real ship, were not represented on the model parts, so have to be painted on both above and below the gun barrels with flat black paint.  Barrel tips were painted black.

 

The bridge windows were painted in black, and PE doors were added to the superstructure sides according to the box art.(Insert Initial Deck assy. & Initial PE here.)

 

The radars were added to the mainmast from the PE set.  The dishes were made from the "Custom Installation" parts and the horns were made from dish mounts from the 1/500 set.  The dishes were then trimmed to the correct shape. (Insert Radars before trimming and Radars Complete here.)

 

The SPQ-9 Target Acquisition Radar was absent from the kit.  I made one using a piece of scrap plastic for a tower, a small plastic disc for a base, and a 6mm plastic airgun shot for the dome.(Insert OH View showing radars & Ready for PE here.)

 

I tried cutting off and repositioning the helicopter blades, but the result was not good, the blades were too thick.  I corrected this on the finished model by making new blades from Plastruct .005 Styrene.(Insert Aircraft on Quarterdeck here.)

 

The biggest omission in this kit was the lack of the Harpoon Missle launchers.  They should set on a separate deck alongside of the rear stack, ahead of the Tomahawk launchers.  Unfortunately, there is not room left to accurately construct the needed deck.

As a compromise, I raided my parts box for two pair of Zhendefu Harpoon launchers, and installed them ahead of the Tomahawk box launchers. (Insert Missle Launchers here.)

 

The balance of the assembly was in adding details.  The boottop on the hull was made by applying 3M auto pinstripe black tape. This is then flatcoated, as are the hull numbers.  PE railings and rigging were added, along with paper flags (not included in kit)

The ship's boats were equipped with life rings from the PE set, and additional life rings were added to the deck railings.  Flagstaffs front and rear were made from wire, and antennas were made from thinner wire.  Additional parts for the forward antenna were made from Plastruct rod.(Insert Iowa StbBow here.)

 

A chainfall for the A turret was made with a piece from the 1/500 PE set. Boat booms were made from Plastruct rod and PE rigging (insert Iowa StbStern here).

 That concludes this project. (Insert Iowa Portside here.)Capt. Les