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Shelf Oddity 1/700
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| Reviewed
May 2024
by Dan Kaplan |
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| BACKGROUND | |||||||||||
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Like all navies, the US
Navy has utilized a variety of open, motorized, small ship’s boats aboard
its capital ships to carry men and equipment. These two examples were wooden
hulled and prevalent for a good portion of the 20th century.
Construction was often contracted out to numerous small, private yards
such as the Peterson Boat Works of WI.
(see: https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nhhc-series/nh-series/19-N-24000/19-N-24315.html ) I’m not certain that either wooden type is still in use, though 50’ utility boats are still very common within the fleet and similar in appearance. This link takes you to a 1967 US Navy catalog of its small boats. See numbers 071 (40’ motor launch) and 087 (50’ motor launch) for the particulars on each type: https://maritime.org/doc/boatcat/index.php Shelf Oddity offers both these craft as part of its line of 1/700 US Navy naval accessories. |
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| REVIEW SAMPLES | |||||||||||
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These pieces are 3D printed
in a dark gray resin. Each print raft contains two boats and the print
rafts themselves are packed within a small, clear plastic clamshell case.
Each boat is sharply detailed with raised thwart seating, wood plank footing,
fuel tanks and an engine casing. Print lines appear minimal.
As always, some care must be taken in the removal of the boat from the print raft. Removing a print raft sidewall will make access to the attachment points far easier. No instructions are included. Instead, one goes to the Shelf Oddity website and find the item for further details and suggestions on handling. 40’ boats: https://shelfoddity.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=20_67&product_id=286 50’ boats: https://shelfoddity.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=20_67&product_id=290 |
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| FINAL THOUGHTS | |||||||||||
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These boats are extremely well
done and a welcome addition to any 1/700 USN capital ship kit. A comparison
with similar boats from Trumpeter’s line of USN Standard Battleships shows
Shelf Oddity’s version to be far superior. They are also very comparable
to the offerings by ProtoExpert3D as supplied to Tom’s ModelWorks 1/700
USS Nevada 1941 and USS Oklahoma kits.
These boats are: Highly recommended. At the current exchange rate, the set costs approximately US$6.54. The item #s is SO700189 and SO700190. Both can be purchased directly from the Shelf Oddity website: https://www.shelfoddity.com/ Many thanks to Shelf Oddity for providing a review set. |
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