Luke R. Bucci, PhD
Reviews By Author
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WWII 1/700 IJN Catapults PhotoetchPublished:
Bottom Line: Very accurate and finely detailed WW2 IJN catapults for cruisers and capital ships with cradles and trolleys. Four catapults per set. As good as or better than other photoetch IJN catapult sets, but has some assembly issues. WW2 Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) Aircraft CatapultsCatapults were added to all IJN cruisers, including heavy, light and training classes, before and during WW2. IJN catapult nomenclature was place of manufacture, type and model. Ten catapult types were used on IJN warships. They ranged in length from 17.0 – 44.0 meters long, but most were 19.4 meters long. The German engineer Ernst Heinkel designed the initial catapults for the IJN, and by 1930, the IJN was using compressed air catapults (named Kure Type No. 1 Model… more |
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USS Maryland 1941Published:
Finally, a long-awaited need is met! – an injection-molded 1/700 styrene plastic kit of the USS Maryland at Pearl Harbor (December 1941), in correct appearance. A good value, an easy build, and a fine-looking model with some photo etch. USS Maryland BB46The USS Maryland (nicknamed Fighting Mary or Old Mary by her crew) was the second ship of the three-ship Colorado class, one of the Big 5 (including the very similar Tennessee and California, the last US battleship classes built before naval treaties expired before World War II). She was laid down in 1917, launched in 1920, and commissioned in 1921. When built, they were regarded among the most powerful warships in the world, mounting eight 16-… more |
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Battlecruiser – Fast Battleship Haruna – Super Drawings in 3DPublished:
Bottom LineAn ultimate and highly detailed modeler’s guide to building IJN Haruna in late 1944 fit. Targeted to 1/350 scale, but suitable for all other scales. Kagero has produced over a dozen books on WW2 warships that use computer graphics in 3D to provide superb detail. This latest book on the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) battlecruiser/fast battleship Haruna is once again an ultimate resource for knowing what the ship looked like in late 1944. Other time periods are not depicted. This book is an ideal companion to 1/350 kits of the Haruna (Fujimi), but is also an ultimate guide to other scales. I do not know exactly how or where the authors found their reference material, but in my experience, their rendition looks perfectly accurate. Judging from their… more |
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Italian 381mm/50 (15”) Model 1934 Gun BarrelsPublished:
Bottom LinePerfect to-scale 15” (381mm) barrels for Littorio WW2 Italian warship class The Italian 381mm/50 (15”) gun barrels, 1934 Model, were the largest produced in Italy, with 40 being manufactured. They were designed by Ansaldo in 1934 for the Littorio battleships, but most were made by OTO. They were mounted in triple turrets, three turrets per ship. These guns were considered as excellent as, and had better penetrating power than, similar guns from other countries. Rate of fire was 45 seconds and muzzle velocity was 850 m/s. Range was over 42,000 meters. Dispersion of shot was a chronic problem for the Italian Navy, and was due more to faulty ammunition than to gun performance. The PartsEach set comes in a small plastic bag… more |
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Italian 152mm/55 (6”) Model 1936 Gun BarrelsPublished:
Bottom Line: Perfect to-scale 6” (152mm) barrels for Littorio and Garibaldi WW2 Italian warship classes The latest secondary, or anti-torpedo boat, armament for new construction (Littorio battleship and Garibaldi light cruiser classes) was the 1936 model 152mm/55 caliber gun. This new gun was derived from the earlier 1926 and 1929 versions in use on then-current Regia Marina light cruisers. Two different versions were made – a monobloc construction by the original designer, Ansaldo, and heat-forced tubular element construction from OTO (used only in Vittorio Veneto and Roma battleships). Twin and triple turrets with independent cradles for each gun were made. Rate of fire was one round every 14 seconds. The guns were… more |
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Italian 90mm/50 Model 1 AA Gun BarrelsPublished:
History In the mid-1930s, Italy began design studies for a new naval antiaircraft gun to replace the 100mm/40 mounts, which was too slow to elevate and track modern aircraft. After calibres from 6-127 mm were evaluated, Regia Marina opted for a compromise between firepower, rate of fire, and system weight. Ansaldo did the initial design work and developed the 90mm/50 Ansaldo 1938, OTO 1939 model heavy antiaircraft gun and stabilized mount. Performance was similar to the famed German 88mm, and these guns remained in service for many years after WW2. These guns were installed in the Littori class battleships and the reconstructed battleships Andrea Dorea and Duilio. Plans for fitting out other ships were never carried out. Although the… more |
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Model Art Modeling Magazine, #44, Summer 2012Published:
Model Art No. 44 is devoted to Super Dreadnoughts – battleships from the beginning (HMS Dreadnought in 1907) to the US Navy’s Iowa class (the last operational dreadnought). As usual, in this issue there is extensive historical information along with kit builds of examples. The magazine itself is A4 size – somewhat longer and less wide than standard US 8.5 x 11 inches. There is a centerfold with the full-sized cover art of the Yamato firing a full broadside and Tamiya’s 1/350 Yamato model. The coverage starts with a 14-page pictorial on Zvezda’s 1/350 HMS Dreadnought, the battleship that lended its name to describe the world’s most powerful weapon at that time. A beautiful kit, with pages of how to build the kit. Next up is the ultimate Super Dreadnought – Tamiya’s 1/350… more |
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Model Art Modeling Magazine, #848, July 2012Published:
ModelArt No. 848 July 2012 monthly update features modeling tools and supplies. As always, the format is close to 7x10 inches in size, and the printing and reproduction quality are excellent. Model Art’s text is almost entirely in the Japanese language, and most feature photos are in color. The usual sections follow and are listed by their topic:
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IJN Katata and Hozu, Chinese River GunboatsPublished:
Bottom LineA nicely detailed kit of an obscure topic – WW2 Japanese Navy Chinese river gunboats. HistoryIJN Katata and Hozu were from the four-ship Seta class, assembled in China in 1923. They weighed 400 tons and were capable of 16 knots. During the 1920s and until the Sino-Japanese war, these ships practiced gunboat diplomacy on the major rivers and in ports in China. They participated in the China Incidents of 1937-1938. In 1940, their armament was upgraded to two single 3 inch guns and 13.2mm machine guns, later replaced by 25mm mounts. Main armament was mounted in shields fore and aft, and AA guns were in tubs on the roof and machine guns in windows. When WW2 started, they changed their livery from traditional gunboat white… more |
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Model Art Plamo Manual, #8, August 2012Published:
Plamo Manuals are How-To guides for building specific types of models from Model Art in Japan, a prolific publisher of high-quality periodicals on current modeling subjects. This issue (Plamo Manual No. 8) is devoted to converting aircraft models. The theme is to take a currently available aircraft kit and convert it to another version of the real-life aircraft for which no kit is available (or is out of production). For each conversion, pages of small color and B&W photos show how to make the changes needed to change a kit into something else. The text is almost entirely in Japanese, but the photos are self-explanatory. This issue of Plamo Manual also shows how to make certain structures from scratch. Thus, advanced modelers would enjoy this issue, and… more |