Reviewed by Timothy Dike
March 2013
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The USS Intrepid CV-11 was commissioned August 16th 1943, a member of the Essex class. She was among the first Essex class to fight in the Pacific and was involved in many actions, even surviving multiple Kamikaze hits and fighting on. Her full history can be read in her DANFS page. After the war Intrepid was updated first to SCB-27C and then getting an angled deck as part of the SCB-125 Modernization in 1957. Her first deployment with the new angled deck was NATO's Operation "Strikeback". At the time the largest peacetime naval exercise ever. Later in December she conducted Operation "Crosswind", where it was proven that flight operations could be conducted regardless of if the carrier was steaming into the wind. In late 1961 Intrepid was redesignated CVS-11 and began a new role as an Anti Submarine Warfare role. In 1962 she acted as the recovery ship for the Mercury space capsule carrying Astronaut Scott Carpenter. In 1965 the Gemini flight carrying Lt. Comdr. John W. Young and Maj. Virgil I. Grissom was recovered by the ship and crew. Intrepid spent the early part of the sixties operating in the Atlantic.
When war broke out in South East Asia, she was freshly overhauled and joined
the 7th Pacific fleet operating off Viet Nam. Her A-4 Skyhawks and six
A-1 Skyraiders were sent on bombing runs in the North.
Intrepid was spared the scrappers torch and is today a museum ship moored
at Pier 86 at 46th Street on the West Side of Manhattan.
Yet another kit by MT Miniatures in their 1/700 line, this one has been
designed using Computer Aided Design (CAD) to make the master and the result
is a more accurate kit. She is depicted in her post SCB-125 modernization
with the angled flight deck.
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| HULL AND SUPERSTRUCTURE | |||||||||||||||||||||
| The hull is cast cast above the waterline as one solid piece with the flight deck and virtually all the parts. Only the aft gun platform and island need to be added. The deck features wood planking that is very fine and doesn't show well in the photos. Flash is minimal and is mostly confined to the edge of the waterline. Some light cleanup will be needed here and there, but with the majority of the hull and platforms cast as one, your assembly time will be very short. | Click images
to enlarge |
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| SUPERSTRUCTURE | |||||||||||||||||||||
| The superstructure is one piece and includes almost every thing cast on. There are some layer lines left over from the 3D printing process, but I'm not sure these will even show up when painted. A small resin blob on the bottom will need to be removed so the island sits flat, but otherwise the part is almost ready to paint. |  |
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| METAL PARTS | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Many of the parts in this kit are white metal castings. These include the aft gun tub insert, the deck elevators, crane, bow catapult cradles, mast and antenna and other miscellaneous parts. Some cleanup needed here, but the parts are usable. |  |
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| METAL AIRCRAFT AND VEHICLES | |||||||||||||||||||||
| An Air Wing consisting of a variety of aircraft from over the years is provided. Deck handling equipment is a nice touch. The parts are cast in white metal, and some are a bit flashy, but look correct in size and shape. I'm not sure the Fury and Skyhawks ever operated together, but it's good to have a choice of aircraft. |  |
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| PHOTOETCH | |||||||||||||||||||||
| A brass photo etch fret is provided with the deck elevator braces. Railings, and a radar antenna and yardarm are also included. |  |
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| DECALS | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Several decal sheet sections are provided with ship numbers, and deck markings. There is also deck edge warning stripes and Beware Jet Blast and Props included. |  |
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| INSTRUCTIONS | |||||||||||||||||||||
| The instructions are a single page in an exploded view format. Everything except the railing locations are shown. But you can refer to the included photo of the completed ship for that. |  |
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| BUILD UP PHOTOS | |||||||||||||||||||||
Photos from the manufacturer show what is possible with
this kit.
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| Conclusions: | |||||||||||||||||||||
There are plenty of Cold War ships on the market now in 700 scale. Now you have an angled deck Essex for them to escort. MT-Minitures delivers with this Modernized Essex that can be built into an attack or ASW carrier. For a change of pace you could even model her in her museum ship status with a deck load of display aircraft. This is MT Miniatures - #MTM021 1/700 USS Intrepid CV-11 (Resin kit)
for about 94.50 GBP plus shipping or about $143.00 US at today's exchange
rate. A fair price for a resin ship of this size.
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