One of the most influential model ships in my personal history was a breathtaking 1/48 scale display model of the USS Mississippi (sister to the New Mexico) on display at my Navy boot camp in Great Lakes, Illinois around April or May 1966. The model was on display at the general services building which contained a small convenience shop (sometimes nicknamed a "gedunk" by sailors.)

I spent many hours drooling over this miniature dreadnought and did my level best to photograph it with my newly purchased Kodak Brownie camera using its built-in flash. The results were not the best as you can imagine.

This beautiful model was about 12 feet long and represented the ship after its 1930's overhaul and modernization. It even had a small horse-drawn artillery piece secured to the main deck next to the aft 14" gun turrets. The stud link anchor chain really caught my 19 year old eyes and led me to duplicate this particular feature on my 1/96 scale USS Long Beach model in the late 1970's.

Photos of this masterpiece appear in P. C. Coker's classic book "Building Warship Models" which was published in the 1970's. Any builder of a New Mexico-class BB would be well advised to look up this outstanding official U.S. Navy model.