I decided to go forward with my 1/200 Missouri, after having it moth balled for awhile.

I think I need to get the hull and bulkheads painted before adding the wooden deck and other details. For example, the bullet shaped objects attached to various bulkheads. I'm sorry to say, I don't even know what they are.

However, the painting guide from trumpeter is pretty pathetic, and the instructions don't call out colors for various details.

is there a good reference for the Missouri, or any other Iowa class, that calls out specific model colors?

Thanks, Dave

detail painting. Not a whole lot of colors there. Maybe go with some whites and different shades of grey. Life bouys are big enough you can put some red cross stripes on them.

Short answer: 5-N Navy Blue, 5-H Haze Gray, and 20-B Deck Blue.

Pedantic answer: The box art portrays her in Camouflage Measure 22, which was Navy Blue and Haze Gray. One thing to keep in mind is that the Haze Gray that was used for most of the war was slightly different than the Haze Gray used today.

Starting in 1941, the Navy came out with new paints that used a purple-blue tinting paste that was mixed into a white base in different ratios to get different colors. Up until things were reformulated in late 1944/early 1945, Navy Blue and Haze Gray were just different ratios of the same two ingredients.

By late 1944, they had come to realize that it was the TONE that mattered, and not the color so much. Think about how some modelers like to paint for "scale effect" and mute the colors to simulate the appearance of the ship in "scale range" where the colors would be more muted. So, as linked to above, the Navy reformulated the paints to be neutral and issued orders to the Pacific Fleet at the end of February 1945 to begin painting in those colors.

So, it is POSSIBLE that Missouri was painted in the new, neutral colors, but it is not LIKELY. Supply chains being what they were, it would take time for the old paints to be used up and the new ones to make their way out. Ships were also not permitted to carry paints on board (see paragraph 5) for safety reason, so it was only when a ship was in port for a good amount of time that paint would be requisitioned for the crew to have a paint party.

Color shots of Missouri during the surrender ceremony clearly show Deck Blue and not the Deck Gray that was called out with the change to neutral-colored camouflage paints.

ModelMasters carries 5-N Navy Blue and 5-H Haze Gray in their both their acrylic and enamel line, but curiously no 20-B Deck Blue in acrylic, just enamel (also named "20-B Weather Deck Blue" which isn't precisely what the Navy called it).

AK Interactive has a paint set, but I'm not sure how one goes about getting individual bottles.

Great answer, thanks. MM Haze Gray on the way.

What about areas with no decking, like the gun positions (picture).

Would it be a total sin to use the tan decking? I did in a moment of insanity order both decking sets from Pontos. I just find the blue too blue, it looses any detail. see small piece below. I only did the small piece, because I find the Pomtos decking very hard to remove from the total, leaving the backing intact. It's very heavy plastic.

If I did the tan deck, would that change the answer above?