reviewed by Timothy Dike
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| Pitroad's Skywave line of ships and accessories has been
filling a void in our collections for over 20 year. This kit was introduced
a few years ago, and it broke new ground then with it's excellent molding
and accurate details. Much has been written about some of the shortcomings
in some of their earlier works, so it is only right to make light of some
of their greatest successes! I believe this kit is one of them. The USS
Cleveland is the lead ship of a new class of World War two light cruiser
that represents the lessons learned in earlier classes. The Cleveland's
were the most numerous of the US Navy light cruisers and this kit will
build the earlier "round bridge" style Cleveland class cruisers. Later
ships in this class were built with a square bridge, Pitroad also has a
kit of it in their USS Miami. |
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| The hull is nicely shaped and has some very fine deck lines scribed
into the surface. There is an insert for the bow decking, typical of a
lot of their ship kits. The ship is a little undersize in length and width
but this is barely noticeable. Parts fit together nicely and the modeler
will have very little puttying to get a good fit. The chocks are even molded
on the deck. |
Click on the
thumbnail images
below to enlarge
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| The superstructure parts are very nice, porthole, ladders, and other
details are cast on. Splinter shields are very thin and look good even
in this small scale. |
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| Two of the Skywave
E9 weapons sprue's are included for the guns and other fittings. I
like this approach as I get to accumulate a lot of extra parts for spares.
The 5" 38 cal dual gun turrets are the best available in plastic. The 6"
47 cal main guns are made up of three separate barrels and separate gun
sights. Cranes and catapults are very nice, but better replaced with photo
etched replacements. |
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| A generic decal set is provided with hull numbers and flags of many
Nations. |
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| Decals are also provided with the generic Skywave "stars and bars"
decals. Again more extra decals for your other projects as you will only
need a few of these! |
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| The instructions are well done, and consist of four pages.
There are a couple of exploded views showing where all the parts go and
even the beginner will have no problem assembling this kit. The last page
has Camouflage design sheets for CL-55 in MS 32, but this is actually MS-12
Mod that she wore in 1942. The pattern is correct it is just mislabeled.
The other ship is the Birmingham CL-62 in MS-33 /6d that she wore in 1944.
This one is correct and like the other one shows port and starboard elevation
with plan view. |
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Round Bridge Cleveland Class Ships:
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CL-55 USS Cleveland
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CL-56 Columbia
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CL-57 Montpelier
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CL-58 Denver
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CL-59 Santa Fe
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CL-62 Birmingham
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CL-63 Mobile
The back of the box includes a painting guide showing the USS Cleveland
in MS-22 drawing in 1/700 scale. |
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References:
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