by Guido Hopp
| Ever since Trumpeter started its campaign
to dethrone Tamyia as the leader in 1/350 injection mould ship kits by
launching their series of US WWII carriers, our expectations ran high on
future releases. For the last 2 years we have seen them issuing carrier
after carrier, the line only broken by the Liberty Ship kit. Long we have
waited, but finally we get to see Big Guns in 1/350 scale.
Trumpeter 1/350 USS North Carolina BB-55 is coming in the usual sturdy cardboard box adorned by our own Mike Donegan’s artwork, a short summary of BB-55’s history, a couple of model shots and 2 colour profiles. The box promises 634 parts for a model 635mm long and 95mm wide. |
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| Upon opening the box, we find the contents tidily arranged
and packed into several plastic bags. The hull, split at the waterline
in the usual Trumpeter manner, is stored in a cradle for transport protection.
A total of eleven frames, three main deck sections, a stand, two hull parts, a waterline plate, a colour profile/painting guide and a 24 page instruction book find their place comfortably. I mention this, because I hate those packing designs that won’t allow you to look at your kit’s parts and never be able to store them properly back into the box without being a packing engineer. First I thought there were no decals provided as they are not mentioned in the parts list and I couldn’t see any inside the box. Actually they are stapled to the inner side of the box, well hidden behind the cardboard cradle for the hull. |
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| Frames A to E mainly contain superstructure elements. | |||||
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Frame A holds upper decks and sprue B most of the finely detailed vertical surfaces of the superstructures. Frame C comprises of foremast parts and details. (Someone please tell
Trumpeter that battleships do not have islands. It seems they are mentally
not quite finished building carriers).
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| Frame D holds very finely cast splinter shield for the small AA embankments. Propeller shafts and rudders can be found here, too. |  |
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| Frame E is dominated by the Level 1 surface of the superstructure. |  |
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| Frames F to H mainly contain weaponry and equipment. 2 sets of frame F hold the main artillery and some detail. |  |
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| Frame G (2x) is dedicated to the 5-in. middle artillery, rafts, cranes and catapults. |  |
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| Frame H (2x) holds a Kingfisher, 40mm quads, 20mm singles, on-deck detail and equipment and plenty of ammo lockers. |  |
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The instruction booklet is well designs and laid out. I
have not checked for inconsistencies, yet, but there seem to be no obvious
flaws. The painting sheet, shows us all of the spectacular camouflage BB-55
wore.
As can be expected from an injection mould kit, radar, cranes and catapults won’t do. As well, one will have to put a lot of effort cleaning up the small parts: Most of them have 2 connections to the frames. I will certainly replace most of the AA weaponry by L’Arsenal’s fine products. As well, Steve Nutall’s fine brass barrels will greatly enhance the looks, too. I am very curious, who of the usual suspects will cross the finish line first to supply us with their PE sets. |
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| Frankly speaking, I don’t know jack about
US BBs. So I won’t comment on accuracy here. This I shall leave to countless
specialists of this board.
You and I will certainly have a lot of fun with this new kit. What I
love most about Trumpeters approach is that there are almost no details
mould to the decks. This allows speedy painting, without the usual masking
orgy.
Guido Hopp
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