by PetrolGator » Fri Oct 18, 2013 8:11 am
These ships (read: Blue Ridge's USN BB line) have been out for a little while and I haven't seen much in the way of a review or even a build up.
The Ship
USS Oklahoma was a Nevada-class battleship and the first of the USN "Standard Type" meant to operate as a battle line. She was also one of the first ships fitted with "all or nothing" protection that would become standard operating on all American dreadnoughts. Oklahoma was sunk at Pearl Harbor, having absorbed at least nine torpedo hits, rendering her far too badly damaged to be repaired and refurbished.
This ship has a special place in my heart. I grew up in a suburb of Oklahoma City, often being watched by my best friend's grandfather who was a US Army Air Corpsman on Ford Island at the time of the attack. I always simply knew John as "Grandpa" since I never had the chance to know mine. I remember John relaying the story of the attack, hanging on every word. It wasn't until I was older that the horror that represented that attack really hit me. John was one of the guys who helped pull American sailors out of the oil and fire polluted waters on December 7th and particularly remembered the feeling of helplessness when confronted by the capsized battlewagon that bore the name of his home state. Much of my love of WWII naval history can be credited to this man.
Oklahoma, almost defiantly, went down in the Pacific on the way to the breakers. Though I am sad that she does not number among the precious few ships we saved for preservation, I am glad that she did not end up as little more than scrap and razor blades. Recently, a 45 foot section of one of her two huge tripod masts was pulled from the harbor and given over to the state.
The Model
Blue Ridge models has packaged the Oklahoma in black foam, with her resin wafers, photo etch, and decals carefully sealed in clear plastic. My item came without any apparent breakage, and even included styrene rod to build her tripod mast supports. A cursory look reveals that everything appears well cast. The wafers themselves are a little stiff, so take care when removing kit parts from them. In my excitement, I chipped part of the lip from of two of the main gun turrets, which will require a bit of putty and reworking.
I want to specifically note a few things:
* Hatches look fantastic. I almost always replace kit provided parts with PE but that's wholly unnecessary here.
* PE gun barrels are Master Models products and are fantastic
* 5"/38 open mounts are... wow. I don't know what else to say.
* Shields for said mounts are brass strips. These won't be easy to mold but will be rewarding once placed. I'm going to add bracing to them from some strip styrene as well.... more on this later
* Brandon has included scale length diagrams and numbers so that you may cut appropriate lengths of rod for the tripod masts and bridge supports. I love the touch.
* Wood deck (Artwox?) is amazing, simply amazing. See my Maryland build for what one of these looks like installed.
I've removed a few bits of the superstructure to play with the fit. Everything looks to be about perfect even before sanding. Bubbles are minimized with almost all issues on the underside of parts. No detail or molding is affected. The only major sanding task will take place along the bottom of her waterline, removing the small amount of excess resin.
The only issues I found were with her 50 cal guns. I would go PE if you can. Five Star Models makes an excellent early USN AA fret that's pretty cheap.
I'll be taking pictures and posting them here once I get home. If you're a USN buff and dig these old battleships, do yourself a service and pick one up. For 125 bucks you get an excellent resin kit, photo etch, barrels, and a wood deck. You really don't need anything else.
I'll be building this along with my Graf Zeppelin shortly.
These ships (read: Blue Ridge's USN BB line) have been out for a little while and I haven't seen much in the way of a review or even a build up.
[u][b]The Ship[/b][/u]
[i]USS Oklahoma[/i] was a [i]Nevada[/i]-class battleship and the first of the USN "Standard Type" meant to operate as a battle line. She was also one of the first ships fitted with "all or nothing" protection that would become standard operating on all American dreadnoughts. [i]Oklahoma[/i] was sunk at Pearl Harbor, having absorbed at least nine torpedo hits, rendering her far too badly damaged to be repaired and refurbished.
This ship has a special place in my heart. I grew up in a suburb of Oklahoma City, often being watched by my best friend's grandfather who was a US Army Air Corpsman on Ford Island at the time of the attack. I always simply knew John as "Grandpa" since I never had the chance to know mine. I remember John relaying the story of the attack, hanging on every word. It wasn't until I was older that the horror that represented that attack really hit me. John was one of the guys who helped pull American sailors out of the oil and fire polluted waters on December 7th and particularly remembered the feeling of helplessness when confronted by the capsized battlewagon that bore the name of his home state. Much of my love of WWII naval history can be credited to this man.
[i]Oklahoma[/i], almost defiantly, went down in the Pacific on the way to the breakers. Though I am sad that she does not number among the precious few ships we saved for preservation, I am glad that she did not end up as little more than scrap and razor blades. Recently, a 45 foot section of one of her two huge tripod masts was pulled from the harbor and given over to the state.
[u][b]The Model[/b][/u]
Blue Ridge models has packaged the [i]Oklahoma[/i] in black foam, with her resin wafers, photo etch, and decals carefully sealed in clear plastic. My item came without any apparent breakage, and even included styrene rod to build her tripod mast supports. A cursory look reveals that everything appears well cast. The wafers themselves are a little stiff, so take care when removing kit parts from them. In my excitement, I chipped part of the lip from of two of the main gun turrets, which will require a bit of putty and reworking.
I want to specifically note a few things:
* Hatches look fantastic. I almost always replace kit provided parts with PE but that's wholly unnecessary here.
* PE gun barrels are Master Models products and are fantastic
* 5"/38 open mounts are... wow. I don't know what else to say.
* Shields for said mounts are brass strips. These won't be easy to mold but will be rewarding once placed. I'm going to add bracing to them from some strip styrene as well.... more on this later
* Brandon has included scale length diagrams and numbers so that you may cut appropriate lengths of rod for the tripod masts and bridge supports. I love the touch.
* Wood deck (Artwox?) is amazing, simply amazing. See my Maryland build for what one of these looks like installed.
I've removed a few bits of the superstructure to play with the fit. Everything looks to be about perfect even before sanding. Bubbles are minimized with almost all issues on the underside of parts. No detail or molding is affected. The only major sanding task will take place along the bottom of her waterline, removing the small amount of excess resin.
The only issues I found were with her 50 cal guns. I would go PE if you can. Five Star Models makes an excellent early USN AA fret that's pretty cheap.
I'll be taking pictures and posting them here once I get home. If you're a USN buff and dig these old battleships, do yourself a service and pick one up. For 125 bucks you get an excellent resin kit, photo etch, barrels, and a wood deck. You really don't need anything else.
I'll be building this along with my [i]Graf Zeppelin[/i] shortly.