35.2'
Those are some nice video's, and that is about the level of "how far do you want to get in to this" that I'm aiming for. Though I DO have the benefit of using newer and fancier technology.
Mine too will be having the battery-powered electric motors on the 4 screws. One of the biggest attractions as a ship for me, is all the mechanical animation that is possible because of the 'actual' stuff that ship did. So much of the "outboard profile" is a moving part, in one manner or another. As opposed to most other ships that draws attention to others like missile carriers, aircraft carriers, and such. A floating 'bunch of facets' or a 'flat-top' doesn't interest me much.
But then you add to the mix, my machining history, touch on some gunsmithing and whatnot, then look at all the different things that can move/fire/launch and whatnot..... 80% of the fun of this project is simply the 'making/doing' of these different tangents.
When it's all said and done, it'll be on the water with the local Model Boat Builders Club as they have some good-sized sailing events. There are a few other members involved whom have 'good-sized' models and whatnot, but they are of considerably smaller ships. The level of detail that these guys get into though, and the depth of accuracy can be quite 'intrinsic'. Their tag-line for certain sticklers to detail are "rivet-counters".
As I stated previous though, any 'commercial' hull for these Iowa class ships are either made out of fiberglass or plastic. And there isn't a single company yet that has done so that was actually accurate. This is because the 'plastic molds' themselves need to fit certain parameters, so the company's just say 'good enough'. Then anyone who has made a fiberglass hull has pretty-much used a plastic one as a form. The 'rivet-counters' all complain about wrong widths at certain areas, wrong heights, as well as inaccurate details in the aft sections. For a simple example, there isn't any out there offered with a docking keel. Most don't know what that is. But that's ok.
Now, to take the principle of this, as well as the actual 'plate plan' from the '40s and actually hammer-out each individual plate to create the hull will be a bit of a 'feat' in itself. And that is the challenge.
This is not a race-boat or anything, so when it is afloat the only thing it will be doing is 'moving slow'. But there will be so much going on 'topside' where anyone around should get a bit of a show. It's not the destination, but the journey. A lot of the bridge structure will be made out of styrene and one day I may get myself a 3D printer, but that's down the road. And for what it's worth, my build is of the 80's refit, so it'll have the Tomahawks and Hellfire(?) missiles. And CIWS.
Thanks for the vid's though, they were definitely interesting. I especially like the steam turbine, and appreciate it's potential.