kit review USS Missouri (or any Iowa class) 1/350 by Joy Yard

[Tigerdvr]

I just received the Joy Yard Missouri kit. A cursory inspection shows that the advertisement hype is
no exaggeration. Even the packaging is first class. The PE is in a separate box wrapped like a piece of jewelry.
The details are really outstanding. The instruction manual is full color and appears very complete. The directions
for bending a PE part specify which direction and how many degrees of bend to use.
I only hope I can do this kit justice, it will be a challenge in deed. I have to finish my Indianapolis first.

Here are some pictures to show some of the kit highlights.

Enjoy, Harley

 

[Egilman]

yep, between $200.00 & $220.00 US dollars....

 

Plastic kits have become almost as expensive as wood Kits......

 

But it is the culmination of where the plastic engineering has been going for a while now.... instead of a plastic & aftermarket paradigm, all the extras, (pe & brass barrels etc.) are now being included in the kits themselves....

 

Given another 10 years or so, I'm figuring that all plastic kits will have some multimedia contained within them..... maybe the prices will come down hopefully...

[Osmosis]

I wish I had the skill set required to do justice to one of these. I will be following this build with envy when you get started.

[VTHokiEE]

23 minutes ago, Osmosis said:

I wish I had the skill set required to do justice to one of these. I will be following this build with envy when you get started.

Me too, can’t wait to watch this take shape

[James H]

What a great looking kit, and the presentation is excellent too. Thanks for sharing. 

[Tigerdvr]

Just FYI, there is actually twice the amount of PE than the pictures show. Each sleeve shown has two pieces in it!

 

Cheers--

[Osmosis]

Just in case I should work up the courage to try something like this one day could you tell us where you got it it. I looked through joy-yards web site and could not find any pricing or ordering info.

 

Thanks

[JeffT]

wow. impressive kit.

[Egilman]

9 hours ago, Osmosis said:

Just in case I should work up the courage to try something like this one day could you tell us where you got it it. I looked through joy-yards web site and could not find any pricing or ordering info.

 

Thanks

Evil Bay or BNA has it... (or claims to have it)

[Osmosis]

I saw that but something about those listings seemed off. I don't know what but something said don't click here.

[Egilman]

Yeah me too, Personally, I will wait till it shows up at sprue bros or somewhere like that before pulling the trigger. (besides, I have the Tamiya Missouri in my stash already with extensive PE. explaining such a purchase to SWMBO would be problematic at best)

[Tigerdvr]

I purchased it from BNA in Australia. The regular dealers (Squadron, Sprue Brothers, MegaHobbies etc.) don't have it. There is supposed to be a upgrade kit with a wooden deck but I haven't located that yet. Besides the deck I would wonder what else might be "upgraded"

 

Enjoy

[FlyAndFight]

I thought that this kit was vapor-ware.  Glad to see that it is actually and finally being released.

 

I've always wanted a kit of the "Mighty Mo".   Will definitely be picking it up.

Thanks for the quick review, Tigerdvr!

[Tigerdvr]

33 minutes ago, FlyAndFight said:

I thought that this kit was vapor-ware.  Glad to see that it is actually and finally being released.

 

I've always wanted a kit of the "Mighty Mo".   Will definitely be picking it up.

Thanks for the quick review, Tigerdvr!

I'm just a few hours away from finishing Indianapolis then Mo gets all the attention.

[Nirvana]

I will definitely follow this build.
Please start!!!😄

[Tigerdvr]

UPDATE: As part of my preparation to start my Joy-Yard Missouri project, I learned that the manual has been updated. The update is available online.

I have compared the update to the original and have a list of the changes of which I found nine.

No guarantee that I caught all the changes but if someone else purchases this kit, my list of changes is available at a small fee (just kidding😊).

Be glad to share the info.

Cheers, Harley

 

[Arild Moland]

Harley, I began this kit a while back, and it is indeed awesome. Thanks also for the hint of an updated instruction manual. I had the railing along the main hull figured out from the box top, but I see that it is pointed out in the instructions now. Luckily I had it all sorted out, as it needs to be to get the bollards placed correctly.

 

Can you check the milled main gun barrel parts in your kit? I find that one of the barrels are a wee bit shorter than the rest, about a mm or so. Not much, but enough to notice, so I'm debating if I'm adding protective hoods to some of the barrel ends, or using the plastic part. I feel however that the plastic has an ever so slightly different profile than the brass part.

 

Look forward to see your progress on this. Build threads on this kit seems to be as rare as hens teeth.

 

Arild :)

[Tigerdvr]

Greetings Arid,

I started working on the kit a couple of days ago. I'm interested in your opinion on a couple of things. There are not a lot of others sharing the project with us yet. 

No problems mating the deck to the hull. I found the plastic parts to be soft or supple feeling material compared to other models. Joy-Yard brags 

about being able to mold tiny pieces and they prove that. I'm working the forward deck area. Those tiny capstans got my attention right away.

One must be careful when trimming because of the density of the plastic. What were your impressions?

Harley

[Arild Moland]

Yes, the plastic is rather delicate, and the amount of flash is surprising. There's a little bit of it that must be removed from just about everywhere, and sometimes it can be confusing what is flash, and what is actual detail. As you say the plastic is quite soft. I'm still finding minute traces of flash on the hull sides which needs removing. But, I've got say that the mould quality is quite impressive, and the amount of slide moulding required must have been staggering.

 

Btw, my part B has quite a bit of "warp" in it, ie it won't lay flat on its own. I figure it will settle when I glue the upper decks to it, applying some pressure.

 

Also, I found that the main deck got a bit flimsy in the middle after removing the sprues attached to it, so I added some supports from plastic card to make it sturdy again. Worked well.

Overall I think the fit and detail is mostly superb, with some exceptions. The range finders on the main turrets are a challenge. There's a frame around the opening in the finder that I found impossible to get to be nice, so I cut it out and am replacing it with pieces of a PE ladder I had in the spares box.

 

As you can tell, I have been fiddling with parts all over, but I will try to be disciplined and return my attention to the hull, and get this detailed and painted up before moving on. I'll follow this thread and chime in if I have something you would want to know.

 

Arild

[Tigerdvr]

What adhesive are you using plastic to plastic? If you have not put the breakwater on yet, it's miss-identified in the instructions. The manual says G72, it's should read E72.

Harley

[Arild Moland]

I use Tamiya Extra Thin QuickSetting, the one with the translucent green cap, for almost all my gluing these days, if I can hold the pieces together before applying glue to a joint. If I need to apply a bit of glue before placing a part, I use Tamiya Extra Thin, the one with the solid green cap. And every once in a blue moon, I use regular Tamiya glue, with the white cap. The Quicksetting stuff evaporates very fast, and leave hardly any residue at all. It is very similar to Mr Hobby Mr Cement S, which I like even more but which is harder to get where I live.

 

I haven't put the breakwater on yet, but I have cut if from the sprue to check how it would go along with the desk masking. I didn't notice the mis-labelling, as I went by its shape

 

I'm planning to be cruel to myself, and go for the 32/22D scheme, and I've modified the kit deck masks, and are going to produce masks for the hull sides. Time will tell how I'll tackle the superstructure.

 

Will you do the kit scheme? It will be my plan B.

[Tigerdvr]

I'll do the Ms21 or 22, I forget right now. I just built the first of the boat winches. I used my microscope to figure out

which way G81 goes on. This is making PE look easy. Going to clean up the assemblies after they are assembled so I have

something to hang onto.

Frankly I have mixed emotions on this kit so far. Hopefully things will smooth out, their are so many positive parts to it. 

[mtaylor]

I hope you do a build log in the Kit area.  I'd love to see what's being done.

[RGL]

It’s interesting how there is a few new multi media companies bringing out some great offerings now. Whilst they seem expensive it’s not that bad when you consider how many after after markets are required. With the advent of 3D printing some of the detail just blows my mind and it now is a PE / Printing aftermarket world which just supersedes Resin but the base plastic kits are still pretty damn good. 

[Arild Moland]

Just a quick note to show that I haven't quit on this project just yet, and I'm sure Harley hasn't either. There's not a whole lot to add to what has been said about the kit already, other than that we've both found the instructions still to be lacking in some respects. Quite a few errors in the printed version was sorted in the online version, but there are still mislabelled parts etc, especially with the PE. Nothing that is impossible to figure out, but one needs to plan ahead and be patient. Some of the parts, both plastic and PE are crazy small. Joy Yard do supply spares both in plastic and PE for many of these, though.

 

I've been fiddling around painting the hull for a while. Next is masking off the top edge of the waterline, touch up the red, before finishing the waterline, followed up by more touch up. Slow going, but fun still.

 

 

Arild

[mtaylor]

Arild,

 

I'd suggest that you start a build log in the Kit area.  That let's us look over your shoulder and also gives you a way to get help.  

[Arild Moland]

I guess I ought to, but after years of build logs on our national IPMS forum, I haven't done any for a few years and must admit I enjoy not doing them at the moment. Also, I tend to switch projects every couple of months, so a build log would sit idle for prolonged periods of time.

 

I'll chime back in here if there's anything useful to share about the quality of the kit not already covered, but as far as I'm concerned I'd easily recommend it.

[Egilman]

Personally, I would like to see a build log, but that being said with the scale of the individual parts, pics might be problematic unless you have a high quality setup......

 

I"m looking at what has been presented and it confirms my first thought when first seeing it...

 

An injection molded monster.... and I thought the Tamiya Missouri was a lot of parts....

 

For complexity, This beats that hands down....

[Tigerdvr]

I am working on a report of my progress and observations with this kit. Arild and I have been corresponding about our experiences.

Beginners, IMHO, this kit is not intended for you. 

Hope to provide an updated report in a couple of days.

 

Regards, Harley

[Tigerdvr]

Review of WIP, Joy-Yard 1/350 USS Missouri

 

I have delayed starting a build log to concentrate on the kit itself. Maybe I should keep my mouth shut but I feel I must share some observations with folks that may be considering this kit.

 

Moderators, if this out of line I will understand any actions you deem appropriate.

 

First let me say this kit is my fourth plastic ship build since coming over from the wood world. Each of these builds has various PE levels and scratch build components. I have been involved in model building of one kind or another for decades.

Early on I found there were some errors in the instructions. Joy-Yard has provided an on-line version of their corrected manual. I found more errors that still existed in their updated version. Nothing unsurmountable, just unexpected.

 

It seems that we look at the kit features and then decide if we want aftermarket (AM) replacements. This kit is the opposite. There is so much detail that I, for one, have had to consider are the kit details worth the effort compared to similar AM offerings. I realize that is personal decision based on skill level. The 20mm Orlikons are an example. Eight pieces X 49 guns. The magazine is a separate plastic piece. Picture how small that is. I did a couple of samples and they are quite accurate.

 

I started making a list of the discrepancies and problems I ran into. It has become a constant puzzle of parts misidentified, on a different fret than the instructions call for, not shown on the instructions at all. ne has to spend time searching the manual because the pictures, while many in color, skip around and  if you expect to go 1,2,3,4, the manual shows 1,3,4,2, or 1,2, --, 4. If you compare the instructions to the picture of their completed model in the manual, they don’t match. I have excellent line drawings of the ship in the same time period as the model which look like their finished model is okay but disagrees with the manual.

 

I don’t intend on giving up on this yet but IMHO, Joy-Yard has obviously put a great deal of work into making this kit better than the others available. And while there are some very creditable features in this kit, the overall package just doesn’t cut it and isn’t worth the money. I could not, in good conscience, recommend the kit to a friend.

I have never written a review like this before and rather be raving about how great this kit is.

 

Again, this is just my opinion after two months of work on this kit.

 

Harley