Highlights from Osprey’s website: “Designed and produced under the regulations of the Washington Naval Treaty, the heavy cruisers of the Pensacola, Northampton, Portland, New Orleans and Wichita classes were exercises in compromise. While they possessed very heavy armament – the Pensacolas, for example, carrying a main battery of ten 8” guns – this came at the cost of protection – armor was the same thickness as a gun cruiser, and incapable of protecting the vessels from enemy 8” fire. As the classes evolved, these flaws began to be corrected, with the main battery being reduced, and increased protection being added to the vital areas of the ship. Despite these drawbacks, the pre-war heavy cruiser classes served with distinction throughout World War II.”

This volume does a good job of informing the largely uninitiated (that would be this reviewer) about the difficulties of designing these large warships and the consequences of the decisions made.

Master Model has a knack for making impossibly small upgraded detail “kits” that are assembled from turned-metal parts and photoetch (PE). Previous highlights included the 1/72 scale six-barreled M61 Vulcan machine gun found in most modern US fighters, and the 1/72 GAU-8 Avenger gun tip, found at the business end of an A-10.

Now, Master has somewhat outdone themselves with two “kit” versions of the aircraft-carried WWII Mark 13 torpedo…in 1/350 scale:

Master Model has turned out quite a few turned-metal parts in the last few years. They’ve recently sighted in on some common US Navy guns with three new turned-metal barrel upgrade sets as part of their Sea Master line of products:

• SM-700-37- 1/700 USN 16in/50 Mark 7 barrels (9 pcs) - Iowa and Montana battleship classes- $7.00
• SM-700-38 - 1/700 USN 14in/45 (12 pcs) - New York (B-34), Nevada (B-36) and Pennsylvania (B-38) classes - fits to USS Arizona model - $7.00
• SM-700-39 - 1/700 USN 5in/51 (22 pcs) - many USN warships - fits to USS Arizona model - $5.50

Both the 16” and 14” barrel sets are an excellent replacement for kit parts. The barrels are hollow and the shapes appear dead on. The 5in/51 barrels are fantastic, but they will require a modeler of extreme skill and determination to use thanks to their small, but accurate, size in 1/700 scale.

New from Jim Corley and Nautilus Models is a wood replacement deck for Revell's 1/72 Type IXc U-boat. If you have never purchased a Nautilus set of decking, it is actual wood decking (like the U-boats had) that is laser engraved to the correct pattern and with add-ons like resin parts and laser cut vinyl to complete the detailing.

Many ship modelers have been puzzled as to precisely why this World War 2 era heavy cruiser has never seen plastic. Belfast currently resides in London, permanently berthed as a museum and memorial. Her status as intact leaves a few decisions Trumpeter made with this kit rather puzzling.

This kit comes packaged as many Trumpeter kits these days, with foam protecting styrene particularly vulnerable to damage. I saw no flash and injection points are all well hidden. Molding is extremely crisp, and many details will not need photo etch replacements. The hatches are WWII era British, which is a nice detail. Both her AA and pom poms are good, especially for plastic. The PE set that covers some fine details is also nice, though I wish a manufacturer would include some railings.