by Ed McDonald
1/350 USS New Jersey BB-62 (Tamiya)
This is USS New Jersey BB-62 as she appeared in late 1983 and early 1984.
This was built from Tamiya's 1/350 scale USS New Jersey BB-62 plastic kit, with Gold Medal Models modern Iowa class photoetch high detail set, Gold Medal Models WWII Iowa class standard and high detail sets plus numerous other Gold Medal Models generic detail photoetch sets. There are also numerous custom and from scratch enhancements in order to correct various problems or omissions in the Tamiya kit. The lack of a somewhat elevated helicopter deck in the model kit is just one example. Photographs of New Jersey as she exists today as a museum in Camden were invaluable in discovering and correcting these discrepancies.
Despite this, the Tamiya kit does makes an excellent starting point for the building of any modern Iowa classer. The inclusion of additional scratch detail not provided in the kit, as I have done, is of course, optional.
