Reviewed by Timothy Dike |
| The five ships of the Somers Class were
a follow on to the Porter Class. The ships included the Somers, Warrington,
Sampson, Davis, and Jouett. They were similar to the Porters with the same
four twin 5" guns as built, but could easily be distinguished by their
single stack. The Sampson operated in both the Atlantic and Pacific spending
much of her time escorting ships to and from the war zone. Late in 1943
she began to operate in the South Pacific until transferring back to the
Atlantic fleet in 1944. She she sailed as the escort for troopship,
General Tasker H. Bliss, on the way to the Mediterranean. Incidentally
my pastor served on the Tasker Bliss during this time period. Sampson survived
the war and earned one battle star for World War II service.
Niko Model has been producing some pretty amazing ships. Their latest
is the first kit of a Somers class in many years. It is based on the 1943
mid war appearance of these tin cans where one of the original 4 twin 5"
turrets was removed as a weight saving measure and replaced with extra
40 mm anti aircraft guns. |
| HULL |
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| The hull is cast with much of the superstructure in place.
There is really nice surface detailing and the only problem with my sample
is the gun tub shield on the forward superstructure is broken. This is
minor to me and easily fixed by replacing it with a strip of brass. The
floors of the 40 mm gun tubs have a nice grate pattern cast on. The hull
appears to be spot on compared to my plans of the Somers class. |
click images
to enlarge
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| SUPERSTRUCTURE, WEAPONS, FITTINGS,
AND SMALL PARTS |
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| The bridge, like the hull is very well cast. The detail is good
and there is only a light bit of flash that needs to be removed. The upper
level of the bridge is cast with simulated canvas covered railing that
look very good. Make sure you paint this a slightly different shade to
help make it stand out. |
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| The funnels are nicely shaped and well cast. The 5" gun turrets include
separate gun barrels and plenty of surface detail. Notice the ammo boxes
on the aft superstructure platform. |
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| Small parts are very fine and delicate, so be careful when handling
them. Notice the accurate looking 5" practice loading machines. The ships
boats feature lots of detail, but I would consider replacing the rudder
with PE. 40 mm gun barrels are almost as thin as the new Loose Cannon ones.
At first glance the torpedo tubes appear rather plain, that is until you
see the photo etch below that gives them fantastic detailing. |
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| PHOTO ETCH |
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| A relief etch brass photo etch fret is included to add the fine details.
I have scanned it in B&W. Detailed yardarms, boat davits, 20 mm guns
with bases, and depth charge racks are just some of the nice items included.
A mast is made up of several slightly smaller parts that are laminated
to form a tapered mast. As mentioned above there are detail parts for the
torpedo tubes that include the doors, and plumbing and bracing parts. I
am anxious to see how these will look when finished, these might be the
best torpedo tube parts available in this scale. While these parts are
not as fine as some of the other aftermarket manufactures, the approach
to the detailing is very innovative. You will have to supply your own outer
railings, but most of us have plenty of those anyway. |
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| BUILDUP PHOTOS |
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| Here are some photo's of the built up kit supplied by Niko
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| INSTRUCTIONS |
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| The instructions are the front and back of an A-size sheet.
The actual ship kit is shown in photo's with notes showing where the parts
go. The subassemblies and photo etch folding instructions are shown as
well. These are not bad but not all that clear.. Camouflage is shown by
noting photos of the finish kit. However the pattern shown does not match
the photos and camo sheet of her on my AA-Military
Research Somers Class CD. If you are building this kit, you will want
to get the CD
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| CONCLUSIONS |
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A highly detailed and accurate kit of the Somers class. Almost everything
you needed is included. This kit was listed in
Pacific
Front Hobbies February 2006 update for $39.00 a great price for a highly
detailed kit like this with photoetch. They carry the entire Niko line
of ships and many more hard to find, high quality kits. |
