1/350 scale USS Wisconsin BBG-64 Missile & Railgun Battleship

[seadude]

For the last few weeks, I've been planning and beginning to build two 1/350 scale battleship projects. Both of which are Iowa class what if builds.
The main one I want to talk about is building a what if future Iowa battleship, circa 2020's or beyond.

I started painting the main hull and used Vallejo Model Air Color paints. The hull is blue below the waterline based on an actual experimental anti-fouling paint that the TICONDEROGA class cruiser USS Port Royal once had for testing purposes. The color should be "slightly" darker, but I couldn't find the right paint to use, so I went with Vallejo Model Air Color #71.089 Light Sea Blue.

This blue hulled Iowa BB will have a heavily modified Arleigh Burke type superstructure added to it. Since it will be a "future battleship", I am hoping to have 2 (or 3) railgun turrets in place of the older 16"/50 gun turrets. I also want to have possibly 2 anti-missile, etc. laser systems (One fore and one aft.) similar to the experimental system that the US Navy ship USS Ponce tested on board as well.

But having railguns and laser systems means that these things need a lot of power to operate. More than what the regular old fashioned boilers and systems on an Iowa BB can provide. So........I need to go nuclear propulsion/systems. But, that means there's no need for the two Arleigh Burke type smokestack funnels. And that's going to be a pain to cut off and such.    Or.....I thought about maybe if this ship had a CONAS (Combined Nuclear & Steam) system similar to what the Soviet KIROV battlecruisers have? Possibly keep the first funnel behind the bridge structure as is to vent smoke and gases, etc.. But then, what do I do with the second funnel? I thought about maybe modifying the second funnel into some sort of large missile launcher similar to what the Space Battleship Yamato had? (See picture below with yellow circled item.)

So, what do I do with the funnels?
1. Keep funnels as is and have regular boilers and propulsion systems.
2. Cut both funnels off and go nuclear?
3. Go CONAS and have forward funnel for venting of smoke, gases, etc., and modify aft funnel into large missile launcher aka Space Battleship Yamato?
4. Other idea?

[scooter]

My two cents- CONAS, and cut of the forward funnel, and vent out the aft funnel.

[lenny100]

go  conas and use the forward funnel as the base of a large forward mast, got the same kit myself and turning it into a large soviet super battleship based on the iron man novel by john watson. using a slava class upperworks with some of the original Iowa also

[sandiego89]

Gas turbines for the extra kilowats.  Keep the funnels. 

Gas turbines can provide a good deal or surge power, and are well proven. 

[zenrat]

I don't know what to suggest regarding your questions, but that blue is very striking.  It looks great.
It's what people will notice first and then go, "but hang about, there's more going here than just a paint change..."

[Weaver]

Why not go CONAS and leave the aft superstructure off entirely? It's basically just a funnel with two f/c radar platforms and one weapon platform on the back. If it doesn't have SARH SAMs then it doesn't need the f/c radars anyway.

[Old Wombat]

How about CoNAS, keeping the aft funnel & increasing the size of the forward funnel into a sensor tower as per the RN Type 45 (Daring-class) destroyers or USN Zumwalt-class.

[Scotaidh]

Go nuclear, but keep the funnels, using them as towers for your laser emplacements.

[seadude]

Long time, no see. How's it going, folks?  Thought I'd show some progress on a what if future hybrid battleship project I'm currently working on.
Hopefully, the link will work and take you to pics of my build. The pictures are self explanatory with descriptions of what I am doing.
https://imgur.com/gallery/VCk0Gk4
I hope to have this model done sometime late summer or early fall in time for some contests later this year.
Comments, questions, and critiques are welcome.
P.S. - I'm using the 1/350 scale hull from a TAMIYA New Jersey battleship and 1/350 scale parts from an Arleigh Burke destroyer.

[Old Wombat]

Ooh, 1/350 ships!

Good to see you back, seadude!

Build looking impressive, so far!

[seadude]

Thanks.

One thing I am looking for suggestions on is how to build up the spot where the laser defense system is supposed to go in this picture.
https://i.imgur.com/jczP6iA.jpg
I wanted it to be in the same spot where the aft Mk.37 director was. But when I started building all the angled surfaces with styrene sheet, I think I screwed up that particular spot. And now I need to figure out how to build it up.

[Old Wombat]

When you say "build up the spot where the laser defense system is supposed to go", is your intent to raise the entirety of the current section higher or just to raise the mounting point of the LDS?



The latter should be quite easy; just a length of styrene tube should do the trick.

The former, I fear, may be close to impossible without a complete re-do of the entire aft section of the superstructure.

[NARSES2]

Good to see you back with such an impressive beast 

[seadude]

When you say "build up the spot where the laser defense system is supposed to go", is your intent to raise the entirety of the current section higher or just to raise the mounting point of the LDS?

The latter should be quite easy; just a length of styrene tube should do the trick.

The former, I fear, may be close to impossible without a complete re-do of the entire aft section of the superstructure.

I think I've got it fixed now. I'll try to have a new pic ready later this week for you to see.

[Old Wombat]