I just found one of these today (at an automotive swap meet, of all places) and got it away from the seller for $5. The only things missing are one battery terminal (easy fix, I have sheet brass), any decals that were provided, and three of the AA turrets/gun barrels. Has anyone built one of these? Any comments/suggestions? Are there any aftermarket detail parts available?

Anyone?

Bueller?
Bueller?
Bueller?

Can anyone point me to a reference I can use for a painting guide? I think I'm going for the general Sept. 2, 1945 appearance (but I might paint the deck natural wood instead of blue). I also need a reference for the markings and flags.

Any suggestions on how to re-create the rigging that runs between some of the towers?

Some of the kit parts seem a bit off, like the main radar dish (which I believe was supposed to be round and a bit spider-webby. German and Japanese detail kits are available in 1/450 - would they have any parts that would be close enough for this project?

Hasegawa certainly didn't want anyone to have an easy time with this thing - none of the sub-assmblies have locating pins. Freehand gluing the floats onto the planes is NOT fun.

I don't really know anything about Hasegawa's kits, but from the other Japanese-mastered kits that I've seen, this Missouri kit has some inexplicable weirdness: lots of casting flash (I've heard that their other 1/450 ships have the same problem - must have been badly made molds, this one was boxed in July '81) and the inclusion of three Curtiss SC-1 Seahawks (the instructions show using all three). The problem there is that the Iowas only carried three planes when they were running Vought Kingfishers - when the SC-1s were onloaded in January 1945, the spare plane was eliminated. Oh well...I glued the struts on one backwards... :drunk: