The Ship Model Forum

Thx for the review. Always appreciated.

[quote]Note: I don't know why the pictures are all turned on their side, apologies.[/quote]

A common issue we encounter more and more these days, as more people use their phones to snap photos in the "portrait" orientation. On most devices, the camera's default orientation is actually landscape/horizontal, and whenever you take a photo in portrait, there's a little piece of data that's attached to the photo that says "I'm a portrait photo, please display me like one." Unfortunately, smartphones were developed well after the software for this forum was created, so this forum doesn't understand that little piece of data, so just shows the photos in their default horizontal/landscape position. The photos will show "properly" when you click to enlarge them, because at that point it's your much more modern web browser that's "reading" the data of the photo and showing it correctly.

eBay 3-D model purchase review of T-AO-205, USNS John Lewis

[b]Note:[/b] I don't know why the pictures are all turned on their side, apologies.

This is another of those one-off models you see advertised selling out of China. Again, it's a two month wait from the order date. I ordered my John Lewis in May. Again, like the other review I did for the Lewis & Clark, the packaging is done very well.

The real-world length and width are 746 feet by 106.5 feet.

The overall model length is 12.75 inches with a width of 1.75 inches. If the math is 'mathing' (and I hope ppl will check, :thanks: ) then the ship is very close to being scaled true to 1:700 with the actual overall length being correct at 12.79 inches. That's what about 1/8" too short? The width apparently matches closely at 1.82 inches. Again, very close.

Issues with the ship are fairly minimal. The most glaring is twofold. The bow on the model is too angular. The real ship has a blunter bow, a 'la the old Charleston class ammo ship bow. Second is the raised landing markings which will need to be sanded down. The other minimal issues are that the bunker like structure amid ship is too long and tall. Maybe the original plans called for such a structure on the main deck, but the real-world ship pics of the class show a much smaller housing. Lastly, the aft curvature just prior to the stern (see second to last image) is too "blocky" and should have more curvature. Sorry I don't know how to say it better other than look at the aft section of the ship and compare it to my picture.

The "island" or "block house" superstructure on the aft quarter of the model is fairly accurate in size and shape. I really didn't see much difference from the model and the pics I looked at on Nav Source. The model itself was crisp, no bubbles or warping. The secondary items such as hose reels, cranes, kingposts, etc. are equally well printed.

Overall, I'm satisfied with the model. The only question is when I will get to building her, lol. If you wish to know anything else about the model, fire away and ask. Thanks for reading guys! :wave_1: