ModelWarships reveiw

Military Model's 1/200 USS Gambier Bay

Reviewed by Timothy Dike

I am relatively new to paper models, but thanks to E-Papermodels.com I am leaning more about them. This one is from a company called Military Models. I would consider it one of the better ones that I have seen so far. This kit represents a late war Gambier Bay CVE-73.

The USS Gambier Bay was a member of the Casablanca class escort carrier. She was among the heroic Ships of Taffey 3 at the Battle of Samar. Gambier Bay was sunk October 25, 1944, when a superior Japanese surface fleet, including the battleship Yamato was allowed to close within gun range. The Gambier Bay and her escorts fought back with everything they had against all odds

The kit is depicted in her 32/15a Dazzle camouflage scheme that she wore in 1944. Don't worry about masking and painting as the parts are printed in the appropriate colors. The ship comes complete with a detailed hanger deck and air wing. This is a full hull model, but creating a waterline ship is as simple as cutting on the waterline!

Some of the pages of the kit are illustrated below, they are printed on heavy cardstock. I have heard many paper modelers say that it is best to laminate these pages onto heavier card to make them even more rigid. There is nothing to stop you from laminating it to styrene for the ultimate plastic scratchbuild.

The instructions are impressive. There are quite a few detail views showing all the various subassemblies on the ship. The text is in Polish, but all the parts are numbered and as the illustrations below show their placement is shown in detail.

The beauty of this type of model is that you can use a copier to reduce or enlarge the pages to produce most any scale of ship that you like.This kit could also double as a reference for a scratchbuilding project or even an existing plastic or resin kit.

This kit is priced at 25,90 EUR which is about $30.00 US a pretty good price for a 1/200 ship. Check out the e-papermodels.com website for even more ships and detailing accessories to enhance your kit.