Mike Gebhards has been building a model of the USS Missouri since 2000. He bought the plan book for the WW II battlship for $450.

Paintstaking work was required to build the miniature turrets for the ship. Balsa wood was used in much of the construction. Individual planks were used to build the ship's deck.

Mike, who is a Vietnam War veteran, plans to donate the ship model to a navy museum in South Carolina. The USS Missouri is 887 feet long and was comissioned on June 11, 1944 and was instrumental in winning the war in the Pacific. The Japanese surrender took place on its deck on September 2, 1945. It is now decommisioned and anchored at Long Beach Harbor.