Two Tiny Ships

The USS New Jersey and USS Essex by Aoshima

• USS New Jersey
• USS Essex

I like small models, so when I saw these two 1/2000 scale kits from Aoshima on the review list I quickly asked for them. Aoshima makes a whole series of ship kits in this scale, and I admit that I liked these review samples enough just upon opening the box that I went out and ordered a half-dozen more. The series includes American, English, and German subjects. There are unfortunately no Japanese ships included in this series so far.

Since the kits are so small, and are very similar, I’ll be reviewing the two sample kits side-by side.

These two kits represent a couple famous WWII US Naval subjects – the USS New Jersey BB-62 and the USS Essex CV-9.

This is Model Art Magazine’s special quarterly issue that focuses on naval subjects. As with the regular Model Art Magazine this is printed in Japanese with some English subtitles.

The feature article in the Autumn 2014 Vessel Model Special is on the IJN Battleship "Ise and "Hyuga". The article uses period photos and models to show the changes made to these battleships during the course of their life. If you are not familiar with either of these ships, the changes that were made was the inclusion of a flight deck to the rear of the ships. Included are several build articles and one scratch built 1/96 IJN Battleship Ise.

The Ship

Launched in April 1943 and commissioned four months later, USS Intrepid (CV-11) participated in numerous actions in the central and western Pacific from early 1944 until the end of the Pacific War, including Leyte Gulf and Okinawa. She was hit twice by kamikazes but was still on station at the end of hostilities. Intrepid underwent modernization twice during the 1950s, which enclosed her bow and gave her an angled flight deck. Reclassified as an Anti-submarine Carrier (CVS-11), Intrepid was the lead ship for the NASA’s Mercury Aurora 7 and the Gemini 3 splashdown recovery. From April 1966 to February 1969, she made three deployments to the waters off Vietnam. She ended her active career back in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, being decommissioned in 1974 with over 30 years of service. In August 1982, Intrepid was reopened as a museum ship in New York harbor.

Background

The Half Moon, captained by Englishman Henry Hudson under commission to the Dutch Republic, was charged with covertly finding a westerly passage to China in the early 1600s. In 1609, Half Moon sailed into what is now New York Harbor and later sailed and explored the mid-Atlantic region as far south as the Chesapeake Bay.

The Kit

Originally released by Pyro in the 1960s, Half Moon later found her way into the Lindberg Line portfolio, and finally into Round 2 Models’ fold in 2014 (still bearing the Lindberg brand). Comprised of 22 parts molded in white styrene on hefty sprue trees, instructions, and full color decals, this classic kit has weathered its 50-year life surprisingly well. Conspicuously absent, however, are ratlines and rigging diagrams. Although detail is coarse by modern standards, the basics are present for a decent beginner or nostalgia build.

Model Art Magazine is a monthly magazine that covers aircraft, armor, ships and car modeling. Model Art started releasing magazines in 1966 and has evolved from there over the past forty-six years. They also release many special releases during the year, as is the case of this issue.

This issue covers IJN Heavy Cruisers that were produced from 1922 - 1945. During this time period there were eighteen heavy cruisers built and these fell into six different classes. The classes being the Furutaka, Aoba, Myoko, Takao, Mogami and Tone.

The magazine is broken down into nine sections. Section one covers all eighteen of these cruisers. There are thirty-six pages devoted to them with black and white period photos and line drawings showing the updates and changes that took place through the cruisers life.