by Roger Torgeson
1/350 USS West Virginia BB-45 (Iron Shipwright)
This 1/350 resin kit of the USS Tennessee as West Virginia was started in October 2006 and was finished early May 2007, in time for the 2007 Seattle Model Show.
As the basic kit can be alternately built as West Virginia in 1944, a ship not often seen in model form, I had to build it. While the West Virginia at first glance looks like a rebuilt Tennessee class, there are a number of differences, some obvious and a some more subtle. Having the Colorado Class Battleship book by Jarostaw Palasek, the 1/400 drawings that are part of the book, a very nice drawing by Alan Raven from the January/February 1985 issues of Ships in Scale and a number of photos of the ship I was able to identify, convert or scratch build the necessary changes. L’Arsenal replacement parts were used wereever I could as well as numerous Tamiya 1/350 Missouri items. A combination of kit supplied and GMM PE was used. The Measure 32/7D camouflage was painted using the Model Master Marine acryl paints.
