This volume of the Osprey New Vanguard series highlights perhaps the most enduring class of fighting ships of the 20^th century. Considering that transformation in warships during the last 70 years, the longevity of the Iowa class battleships is noteworthy and a testament to their design and construction.

The book is basically divided in to two sections. The first deals with design and construction of the four units of the class (U.S.S Iowa, U.S.S. New Jersey, U.S.S Wisconsin and U.S.S. Missouri) with particular emphasis on how design parameters of previous battleships (of both U.S and foreign navies) as defined by the Washington Naval Treaty influenced the development of the Iowas. These considerations had a direct bearing on such things as armament, protection and speed. The author also goes into some detail describing the brains of these heavyweights – the fire control systems. The use of radar as well as aircraft for gunfire spotting is also detailed here.

Editors note: The reviewer has included Cyber-Hobby Models Photo-etched Railing Upgrade Set for “Scharnhorst” Kit Number CHC-3880 ($19.95) with this review.

The Dragon 1/350 scale model of the German Battleship Scharnhorst is one impressive kit, not only in the size of the model itself but the enormous number of parts. The large box was stuffed full with 28 individually bag sprues, 5 photo-etched frets, an upper hull, a lower hull, a plastic base, a decal sheet, and an instruction sheet. If that was not enough, there wis also a supplemental photo-etched set of railings and other miscellaneous items provided by Dragon that was used as part of this build.

Please read the in box review (published earlier) for the history and a parts break down of this interesting kit.

The kit goes together without any problems. I followed the construction sequence as recommended with the following exceptions. I left the clear glazing (windows) off until final assembly. This made painting the bridge and deck house area a lot easier and I also left the life rings off until final detail due to them being an orange color and hard to paint with them installed.

I decided to do the MAS 563 version because of the colorful paint scheme. I followed the recommended painting instructions and guide. Model Masters paint was used almost exclusively. Light Ghost was used for the majority of the hull and fittings and Gunship grey for the deck. I painted the aerial recognition stripes on the bow before adding any deck detail.

Brief History

(taken from the photographic reference manual provided in kit).

Original conceived in 1915, as a little torpedo boat early prototypes were a failure due to the heavy weight of the torpedo. Soon afterwards, Italy entered WWI and more of the boats were ordered. Development never ceased, and by the end of WWI over 244 MAS's were in service. The first true torpedo MAS gained considerable fame by sinking the Austrian Battleships Wien and Szent Istvan.

Development of the boats continued thru the 20's and 30's. Speed was essential and improvements were made to the hull and more powerful engines installed. Finally the much sought after 40 knots was achieved in MAS 424 in 1928. Three 500 hp Isotta Fraschini Asso engines powered the boat.

This will be a box-review of Round 2/ Polar Lights' Batboat, from the classic “Adam West Years-of-Batman”. Round 2 has been giving us great stuff, and this is no exception! They have taken the old molds and tweaked them: then providing great decals and informative and easy instructions. The box and artwork are nicely done as well.

The breakdown of the parts is simple: 13 chrome pics, a great decal sheet, a full hull, a stand and 25 blue colored plastic pieces that make up the rest of the boat. Adam and Burt are also included in the box! The box and artwork are nicely done as well!

No paint codes are mentioned but colors are. Follow them closely and you will be rewarded. The clear parts for the windscreen are a bit thick, but workable. If you want to have fun, give one of these a try. A beginner could actually build this and not paint it, but it should be done-up to bring this boat to life!