By Clifton Simmons
1/96 USS Tennessee BB-43 (Scratchbuilt)
My name is Clifton Simmons and I am a new modeler to the world of warships of World War II. I am the historian for the U.S.S. TENNESSEE BB-43 Reunion Association and after searching all over the U.S. for a 1/96 scale model of BB-43 in her 1944 version, I decided to build it myself.
About the model:
The main structure is styrene, aluminum, brass, wire and fiberglass. The OS2U is from Loose Cannon Productions with the rest scratchbuilt. The decking is Evergreen styrene sheets sanded and stained to look like wood. The whaleboats are scratchbuilt as well. The base is 3/4-inch cabinet plywood stained with the water being latex craft paint covered with 6 coats of polyurethane. The plans for the ship came from the National Archives and the Floating Drydock and I used over 800 photos of the ship, 400 of which came from my personal collection. I had the plexi case custom made for it and it appeared on the NBC nightly news! The vets loved it!
It took 5 years total with three years of that going just for research at the National Archives and the veteran's private photo collections. The model is on display at the Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, Texas. I am currently building a 1/96 scale U.S.S. ENTERPRISE CV-6 for the same museum. Next after that is a 1/350 scale battleship row diorama on the morning of Dec7, 1941 just before the attack.
If you have any questions please feel free to email me.
