Reviews of products for scale ship models, including submarines.

Review Author
Doug Hamilton
Published on
November 18, 2023
Company
AFV Club
Scale
1/350
MSRP
$38.50

Initially developed by the British and used heavily by US Forces, the Landing Craft Tank, or LCT was developed to give amphibious landings the added punch of armor early in an operation. Over 950 MK 6s were eventually built by the US and used any time an amphib operation needed to put ashore tanks. Both the Korean and Viet Nam wars saw LCT’s in action. With a displacement of 284 short tons, with a LOA of 119” and a beam of 32’ 8” these work horses had an incredible draft of 3’ 4” at the bow allowing them to put their cargo right on the beach. Powered by 3 225 HP Gray Marine diesel engines and three shafts delivered a maximum speed of 7 knots with a range of 700 nautical miles. The capacity was rated at 150 short tons of personal and cargo which included tanks, trucks, and towed artillery. The LCT’s protected themselves with two single mount 20MM Anti-aircraft guns and had a crew of 12.

Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
November 18, 2023
Company
ICM
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$13.00

ICM has provided this very midget Submarine for review, in 1/72 scale of the U-boat Type ‘Molch’. The Molch was a single seat ultra small submarine developed for costal operations. With serial production starting in July 1944 with around 393 were produced in the Bremen. They operated mainly in the Mediterranean and North Sea completing round 140 missions.

  • One Light grey Sprue
  • One Clear Sprue
  • Small Decal sheet
  • Instructions

The detail quality is excellent.

The Assembly is quick and easy.

Review Author
Luke R. Bucci, PhD
Published on
November 3, 2023
Company
Trumpeter
Scale
1/700
MSRP
$51.99

Thanks to MRC for the review kit and IPMSUSA for the opportunity to conduct and publish this review.

Bottom Line: 1/700 scale models of Royal Navy light cruisers built in WW I and repurposed as anti-aircraft (AA) cruisers in WW II have been long awaited as injection-molded plastic kits, and HMS Colombo is the latest arrival, and well done.

Review Author
Chris Vandegrift
Published on
October 15, 2023
Company
Trumpeter
Scale
1/350
MSRP
$299.99

Intro

I have to tell you that I bet there will be a couple jealous reviewers out there after they see this ship, wishing they had jumped on the review opportunity! The quality of this kit is really worth it, and it was an exciting ship to build based on the detail level and the overall engineering. Trumpeter has thought through a number of significant elements that make the build feel easier. For instance, thoughtful orientation of sprue gates such that almost no marring occurs on visible surfaces, and error proofing orientation by using 2 different sized alignment pins on parts. You’ll find top-notch photo-etch in the kit, easy to nip off the sprue and not so hardened that it breaks if you bend it the wrong way the first time and have to reverse the bend. Lastly you’ll have to decide if you want to go the H-39 route with the provided twin mount turrets, or the World of Wargaming triple mounts.

Review Author
Luke R. Bucci, PhD
Published on
October 15, 2023
Company
Tru-Color Paint
Scale
NA
MSRP
$42.95

Bottom Line: I am going to purchase other paints from Tru-Color Paints after my excellent experiences. Tru-Color Paint was founded in 2008 in Phoenix Az by Rick Galazzo & Scott Cohen. They have hundreds of paints, mostly for automobiles and railroad train hobbyists, but also military colors for aircraft, armament and ships. Starting in 2017, Tru-Color provides paints for German, Japanese, Royal Navy and US navies, from 1920s to modern era, but particularly WW2 colors. This review tries out the Royal Navy early WW2 basic warships colors in Set #1, TCP-13002. This is the first Royal Navy warship paint set from Tru-Color Paint, with more sets promised.

What You Get:

Review Author
Scott Hollingshead
Published on
October 8, 2023
Company
ICM
Scale
1:144
MSRP
$44.99

ICM is known for their production of detailed kits of various genres of military and civilian subjects. Even with the current events taking place in their home country Ukraine, the company continues to provide new offerings for modelers of nearly any interest. One of their latest releases is this 1/144 scale Kriegsfischkutter. I appreciated the detail available as well as the relatively compact size of the completed model. Modelers with some experience handling very small parts should enjoy this representation of a unique subject.

Book Author(s)
Kerry Jang
Review Author
Orlando Reyes
Published on
September 16, 2023
Company
Seaforth Publishing
MSRP
$28.95

The book is number 30 of the Shipcraft Series but the second one to cover period ships. It is divided into six parts and begins with the Historical Background of the ship, followed by Service History, Model Products, a Modeler's Showcase, Appearance and ends with Selected References.

The Historical Background begins with the “Articles of War” stating what a mutiny is. This is followed by a description of the HMS Bounty’s construction and purpose. An interesting bit of information that I found in the book is that the original name of the ship was Bethia. Several drawings show the configuration and locations of items based on the operational needs to be carried out. Once the ship’s configuration was decided upon, the name was changed to HMS Bounty.

Review Author
Bill Kluge
Published on
August 18, 2023
Company
Gallery Models
Scale
1/200
MSRP
$829.99

Now that the major subassemblies are complete, it was time to put the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together. I naively thought that it would all be downhill from here, even if it was a gently sloping downhill. I didn’t quite realize how many lengthy flat spots there would be along the way.

Book Author(s)
Chris McNab
Review Author
Bill Kluge
Published on
August 2, 2023
Company
Casemate Publishers
MSRP
$49.95

By the turn of the Twentieth Century, Great Britain was at the height of its industrial and colonial power, with the largest ironclad navy in the world. By 1904, Britain ruled the seas with 45 “pre-dreadnaught” battleships. Each of these carried a main armament usually consisting of four 12- or 13-inch main guns in two twin turrets (one forward and one aft) along with a number of lesser caliber weapons (6”, 12-pounder and 3-pounder) for close in defense. Other navies, primarily Germany, the United States, and after 1905 Japan followed on Great Britain’s heels. The stage was set for an abrupt alteration in the status quo, as industry, technology and the critical thinking of one man combined to change the face of naval power in the decades to come.

Book Author(s)
Les Brown
Review Author
Luke R. Bucci, PhD
Published on
July 22, 2023
Company
Pen and Sword Books Ltd
Scale
NA
MSRP
$28.95

Thanks to Casemate Publishers & IPMS/USA for the review copy!

Casemate Publishers presents ShipCraft 31, British Light Cruisers Leander, Amphion and Arethusa Classes by Les Brown from Seaforth Publishing. This heavily illustrated paperback is the ultimate single resource for building accurate models of WW2 British Light Cruisers with twin turret 6in main armaments – the Leander, Amphion and Arethusa classes. Class history, appearances of each ship over time, available model kits, model accessories, many photographs, camouflage examples, line drawings and color plates of finished models make a superb reference for these busy warships with many possibilities for modelers.