USS Wisconsin in Miniature

Now on display at Norfolk's Nauticus, a scale model of the Battleship Wisconsin.  The model makers BaD Ship Models of Arizona have built and donated a 1/96 scale of the battleship, which has served as a floating museum in Downtown Norfolk for a decade now.

John Sabatini of Richmond is a retired Navy man who installed some of the lighting on the model and acted as the project's spokesman.  He tells me the project initially was going to involve a scale model of the Missouri, but the curators of the Missouri at Pearl Harbor went with another company.  In their search for another project, the people at BaD Ship Models realized the Wisconsin was one of the few battleships never to had a model made of it.

The model is made by hand almost entirely from wood.  The actual battleship measures 887 feet in length.  At 1/96th scale, that's about ten feet.  Even in miniature, the Wisconsin is big.

The model went on display in late May on the third floor of Nauticus, adjacent to the window overlooking the actual battleship.

For photos of the model building process and the finished product, visit www.BaDShipModels.com

Hear my interview with John Sabatini below.

Links:

Nauticus, the home of the Battleship Wisconsin