by Michael Potter » Fri Feb 12, 2016 11:59 pm
L'Arsenal kit 350 17 for a 1/350 USN SC-497 series subchaser has arrived. It is finely cast in full-hull (but without a stand) and includes PE of the mast, life rails, and ladders. Weapons include one 40mm gun, PE 20mm guns on pylon mountings only, and the radar dome.
The kit deckhouses appear molded too far aft by about 2mm, a noticeable variance in this small model. WW2 subchasers lacked the circular bulwark of the kit for the aft 20mm gun, and in fact the actual aft and amidships deckhouses and their attached platforms were shaped very differently from the kit. Either by a manufacturing defect or from the loose packaging of kit parts inside the box, one propeller blade was missing.
For a WW2 USN SC-497 series subchaser the kit needs but lacks: anchors; the signal lamp (as in l'Arsenal AC 350 64); the wherry with a stand and a davit; the antisubmarine armament of depth charge projectors, reloading equipment, depth charge tracks (as in l'Arsenal AC 350 67), and Mousetrap launchers for Hedgehog-type projectiles.
These structural variances, and the complete omission of antisubmarine ordnance and loading equipment beyond two tiny empty mortar spigots, are surprising, in particular for items that l'Arsenal offers separately. Even with substantial scratch-building effort, this kit cannot yield an authentic model of any USN SC-497 series subchaser that I have seen in drawings and photographs.
My order also contained one pack of l'Arsenal AC 350 55 1/350 single-mount Bofors guns, the same gun mount as in the subchaser kit. Again either from the loose packaging inside the shipping carton or from a shortfall in quality, two of the four guns arrived with the barrels broken off. The barrels are noticeably too long, a design flaw, which then contributes to warping. I recommend attaching brass barrels instead.
I have e-mailed l'Arsenal directly.
L'Arsenal kit 350 17 for a 1/350 USN SC-497 series subchaser has arrived. It is finely cast in full-hull (but without a stand) and includes PE of the mast, life rails, and ladders. Weapons include one 40mm gun, PE 20mm guns on pylon mountings only, and the radar dome.
The kit deckhouses appear molded too far aft by about 2mm, a noticeable variance in this small model. WW2 subchasers lacked the circular bulwark of the kit for the aft 20mm gun, and in fact the actual aft and amidships deckhouses and their attached platforms were shaped very differently from the kit. Either by a manufacturing defect or from the loose packaging of kit parts inside the box, one propeller blade was missing.
For a WW2 USN SC-497 series subchaser the kit needs but lacks: anchors; the signal lamp (as in l'Arsenal AC 350 64); the wherry with a stand and a davit; the antisubmarine armament of depth charge projectors, reloading equipment, depth charge tracks (as in l'Arsenal AC 350 67), and Mousetrap launchers for Hedgehog-type projectiles.
These structural variances, and the complete omission of antisubmarine ordnance and loading equipment beyond two tiny empty mortar spigots, are surprising, in particular for items that l'Arsenal offers separately. Even with substantial scratch-building effort, this kit cannot yield an authentic model of any USN SC-497 series subchaser that I have seen in drawings and photographs.
My order also contained one pack of l'Arsenal AC 350 55 1/350 single-mount Bofors guns, the same gun mount as in the subchaser kit. Again either from the loose packaging inside the shipping carton or from a shortfall in quality, two of the four guns arrived with the barrels broken off. The barrels are noticeably too long, a design flaw, which then contributes to warping. I recommend attaching brass barrels instead.
I have e-mailed l'Arsenal directly.