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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
This Report 3 covers the completion of the build from Steps 49 through 64.
As stated in the previous two reports, the fit of plastic parts was excellent. Issues encountered involved the handling and attachment of small plastic and thin PE parts, particularly where there is little if any gluing surface, and with lack of detail in the instructions. None of the issues are deal killers. Each can be handled if you are aware of them in advance and plan accordingly.
Overall, the thinness of the PE caused some headaches, as it was easy to damage or bend some parts out of shape in the routine handling and cutting of the parts off the sheets.
Examples
Venner Milewski Jr. has undertaken the monumental task in cataloging each and every US Navy vessel commissioned since 1883, the year congressional funding was approved for America’s first four steel warships. His encyclopedic work is titled Fighting Ships of the U.S. Navy 1883-2019. Milewski Jr.’s compilation provides the physical details of each ship, its specifications, propulsion, armament, etc. as well as the important milestones of its service life. Most of the articles include at least one, and sometimes as many as four high quality photographs of the vessel described. To date, four multi-part volumes have been published, with each part focused on a specific time period. Volume One addressed aircraft carriers while Volume Two covered battleships and New Navy monitors. Volume Three depicts cruisers and command ships.
