| History: (courtesy of
WikiPedia) |
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| USS New York (BB-34) was a United States Navy battleship,
the lead ship of her class. Named for New York State, she was designed
as the first ship to carry the 14 inch/45 caliber (356 mm) gun. Entering
service in 1914, she was part of the U.S. Navy force which was sent to
reinforce the British Grand Fleet in the North Sea near the end of World
War I. During that time, she was involved in at least two incidents with
German U-Boats, and is believed to have been the only U.S. ship to have
sunk one, during an accidental collision in October 1918. Following the
war, she was sent on a litany of training exercises and cruises in both
the Atlantic and the Pacific, and saw several overhauls to increase her
armament. She entered the Neutrality Patrol at the beginning of World War
II, and served as a convoy escort for ships to Iceland and Great Britain
in the early phase of the war. She saw her first combat against coastal
artillery during Operation Torch around Casablanca in North Africa, and
later became a training ship. Late in the war, she moved to the Pacific,
and provided artillery support for the invasion of Iwo Jima and later the
invasion of Okinawa. Returning to Pearl Harbor for repairs until the end
of the war, she was determined to be obsolete and was chosen to take part
in the Operation Crossroads nuclear weapon tests at Bikini Atoll in 1946.
She survived both explosions and the effects of radiation on the ship were
studied for several years. She was eventually sunk as a target in 1948.
She received three battle stars for her service |
| As usual, the kit comes in a heavy cardboard box, well
packed to keep the contents safe inside |
Click images
to enlarge |
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| The Hull: |
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| Quite possibly no kit's hull has drawn this much attention with exception
of Trumpeter's 1/350 USS Hornet. Trumpeter has departed their old waterline
casting style in favor of the Port and Starboard hull half method. Both
halves are molded very sharply with lots of minute detail, unlike their
Indianapolis kit they are not a mirror image of one another. Trumpeter
has given itself the reputation of poorly executed hulls, and unfortunately
this kit only adds fuel to the fire. Length and Beam actually match up
very well to my sources, the profile of the bow is right on and there is
only a slight variance in the sterns profile. Where they went wrong this
time is in the hull blister. According to my sources, the blister should
have about a 2' foot shelf at it's top, then slightly increase in width
as you approach the waterline. It looks like they took the maximum width
of the blister and extended it all the way to the top on this kit. This
creates a blister shelf that is about 6 1/2' feet wide, fine if you are
on the starboard side of the USS Saratoga, but not a New York class battleship.
The weld seams are also a nice touch, but massively out of scale and most
modelers will want to sand them down to more of a scale appearance. |
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| The Deck: |
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| The deck comes molded in two pieces, forward and aft. Good news is
that the seam should not be a problem as it will be covered by the midships
superstructure. These exhibit Trumpeters standard deck detail with individual
planks, although i feel they are not as prominent as in some of there other
releases. Bollards, Deck hatches, vents and other deck gear are nicely
molded on. All of the main deck level AA gun tubs are molded into the deck,
while these may save assembly time, it will be a challenge when painting.
Sheilds are nicely molded for injection plastic |
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| Sprue "E": |
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| Sprue E contains the name plate, sides of the midships casemate, Funnel,
bildge keels, props and other details. The Props are molded to counter
rotate. |
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| Sprue "K": |
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| Sprue K contains most of the major pieces to construct the Bridge of
the ship. These parts have nice detail and even have underside detail.
Only issue is some of them have some hefty ejection pin marks. How visible
will they be once assembled? I am not sure, |
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| Sprue "J": |
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| There are 5 "J" sprues included. These mostly with the business side
of a battlewagon, including the main battery, 40 and 20 MM's. The 40MM's
are average, the 20's aren't bad when mixed with their PE shields. The
main turrets are very nice and the barrels even are molded with the ends
hollow. |
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| "F1" |
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| This is a standalone part that makes up the bulk of the "01" deck.
It is very well molded with lots of detail molded in. I think it is pushing
the limits of the molding limits, one of the 40mm tubs is a little rough.
Nothing that can't be cleaned up with a little sanding. |
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| Sprue "H" |
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| There are 2 of these included, They include the 5/51's, Barbettes 2
and 4, Battery directors and the whaleboats. |
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| Sprue "D" |
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| Sprue D is the internal bulkheads for the hull, rudder
and superstructure parts.
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| Display Base |
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| A standard Trumpeter Display Base is included |
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| "G" & "L" Parts |
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| These parts were packaged underneath the display stand in individual
parts bags. They include the fighting tops and bridge levels. I like how
they are molded open, only some minor flash clean up is needed. |
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| "F2" |
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| This is another large piece only, it makes up the backhalf of the 01
deck. Again very nicely molded with lots of detail molded in. |
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| Photo Etch: |
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The kit comes with 4 frets of PE, 2 unique and 2 that are
the same.
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Fret A has railings, supports and the yardarm.
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Fret C is Radar's, Catapult and more railings.
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Fret D(x2) contains the 20mm shields, floater baskets, ladders and crane
arms.
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| Decals: |
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| Typical Trumpeter decals are included. The Hull numbers seem way too
large and an interesting feature is the name of the ship in gold, a feature
the ship wouldn't have had. |
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| Instructions: |
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| The kits comes with Trumpeter's standard style of instructions and
painting guide. The paint scheme looks close to the design sheet, but I
have not checked it against photos of the New York. |
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