Many thanks for your observations Evert-Jan. As always you are spot-on. Now that I’ve had time to build most of the model, I have the following list of issues (some major/some minor). I’ll start from the bottom up:
1. Deck: As EJ says, the planking is a bit “lacking,” in that it doesn’t extend all the way to the barbette (there is a blank “ring” around the barbette) and it omits the borders and nibbing to port and starboard. I suppose someone could extend the planks and etch the border pieces in. One could also lay a new deck with plastic strip I suppose. See the image below.
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2. Vents, et al: as EJ noted, the mushroom vent is not tall enough…for wartime. It’s height is okay if you wish to build her at some earlier point in the 1930s. The mushroom vent is a bit oddly shaped though and lacks detail (mesh opening, etc.). I think it would be easy to correct. As EJ also noted, there is another mushroom vent missing, but I think this would be fairly easy to create. As for the tall rectangular vents, these are pretty decent though the securing bands are very thick (should be easy to flatten or replace them).
3. Barbette: As mentioned previously, this is the single biggest problem of the kit. It’s a teensy bit large when compared to the AOTS drawings, but maybe by a foot (height and width). Most folks could ignore this. The most serious issue with the barbette is the aforementioned “lip” that protrudes out around the bottom of the barbette. There was no such thing on Hood’s “B” barbette. If I had to venture a guess, I would think that Takom probably mistakenly assumed there was a lip based on the fact that some of the upright, rectangular vents flare out towards the bottom. Anyway, this will take some major surgery to mend. I suppose one could attempt to recreate the barbette with some other material.
4. Gun house structure: Overall, it looks like a Hood turret with the dimensions and shape being very close. I’m not sure the roof angle is exactly like those on Hood, but it’s close. The same applies to the faceplate between the gun openings. The scopes/devices in the three front windows are a bit large and prominent, but again, this is no show stopper.
5. Guns/blast bags: these seem okay to me. I suppose they could benefit from some extra detail around the muzzles (if building a pre-war Hood). Rifling and/or Chough and anchor tampions would have been a nice feature to have.
6. Gun house director “wing”: overall, these are pretty close though not 100% accurate. They lack some key details as well. Starting at the outside and working inboard:
A. End caps: the end caps of the directors are a bit off in shape. The inner section of these caps were rounded on the front/aft ends…they are slightly rounded rectangles on the kit. There are three protrusions missing from the end caps (one at the top and two below). These three items are easily added with plastic strip.
B. Direction sight hood (the thing in the front/centre of the director wing): this is generally correct in shape (though not exact), but it’s biggest problem is that it’s very thick and chunky. It could be much more refined.
C. Missing periscope and viewport: Hood’s turrets featured a small periscope and another viewport just to port of the aforementioned sight hood. These are missing from this model. I doubt anyone would notice this if building the 1941 version as the UP platform would cover this area. Those of you building an earlier version of Hood, could easily add these features.
D. Vents on rear bulkhead of gunhouse: Takom does include these vents, but they do not wrap under the gun house/turret like they did on the actual ship. This could be remedied with some plastic strip.
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7. Other missing details: When compared to other Takom turret kits (particularly the Yamato and Bismarck main turrets), this one is pretty basic. They omitted some of the small vents around the barbette and breakwater. They failed to provide mesh for the UP projector. There is no lower rear escape hatch (easily added). As EJ mentioned, they also forgot to include the two raised sections of UP splintershield…something that’s been well documented for going on 20 years now!
Final Overall Impressions: though a wee bit toylike, I think that if built as-is, many people would be perfectly happy with it. Despite the errors, at the end of the day, it DOES look like Hood’s “B” turret (and it is a pretty “different” type of model). So, for folks who don’t care about absolute precision it’s just fine.
For those who want accuracy, you simply have to weigh whether or not you want to do the work to “accurize” it; I do believe this could be made into something special with the right approach. As for me, Big-time Hood fan though I may be, I’m hesitant to put too much time into this one and will likely just build it as it is (1937 of course) with only minor corrections/additions.
We hope to put a basic review with detail suggestions on the HMS Hood Association site soon. I will likely complete my basic build first.
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