Reviews of products for scale ship models, including submarines.

Review Author
Frank Landrus
Published on
August 2, 2020
Company
Master Model
Scale
1/350
MSRP
$20.00

HMS Lord Nelson was a pre-dreadnought battleship launched 04-September-1906 and completed in 1908. Her sister ship in the class was HMS Agamemnon also launched 23-June-1906 and completed in 1908. The delays between launching and completion of both ships was due to the diversion of their 12” guns to the completion of HMS Dreadnought. She was the Royal Navy's last pre-dreadnought. The ship was flagship of the Channel Fleet when the First World War began in 1914. Lord Nelson was transferred to the Mediterranean Sea in early 1915 to participate in the Dardanelles Campaign. She remained there, becoming flagship of the Eastern Mediterranean Squadron, which was later re-designated the Aegean Squadron. After the Ottoman surrender in 1918 the ship moved to the Black Sea where she remained as flagship before returning to the United Kingdom in May 1919. Lord Nelson was placed into reserve upon her arrival and sold for scrap in June 1920.

Book Author(s)
Waldemar Goralski
Review Author
Luke R. Bucci, PhD
Published on
July 25, 2020
Company
Kagero Publishing
MSRP
$37.95

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

Waldemar Tubus Goralski is a prolific author of illustrated warship books for Kagero Publishing. He also makes exhibitions of his illustrations in Poland where visitors can virtually walk on ships. The late Piotr Forkasiewicz designed the ocean and battle settings (this virtual tour is not in this book). Waldemar is lucky to turn his passion into a career, igniting passions of many modelers around the world.

Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
July 11, 2020
Company
OKB Grigorov
Scale
1/700
MSRP
$17.00

OKB Grigorov has provided yet another very submarine in this case it’s the Italian Navy’s in the Enrico Toti Class Submarine. These were built in the 1960’s and were the first submarines designed and built in Italy since the second world war. They were designed as hunter killers and powered by a diesel-electric engine. They were very similar to the famous German type 205’s. They saw service from 1965 to 1993.

Inside the box are two resin parts and one Photo Etch Sheet

The detail quality is great; The parts are very delicate and need careful removal from the resin bases. There was no instruction sheet provided, this was not a problem as it was a simple build. The Assembly is quick and easy. The photoetch stand is an awesome addition to the kit.

The final part is painting. This is has joined my some navy of these great kits and I really enjoy building these and they make a wonderful display all lined up.

Review Author
Scott Hollingshead
Published on
July 9, 2020
Company
OKB Grigorov
Scale
1/700
MSRP
$9.09

The Enrico Toti (S506) was the lead boat in its namesake class of Italian submarines. The keel was laid in 1965, she was launched in 1967, commissioned in 1968, and was decommissioned in 1992. In 2005 the boat was moved by land to Milan, where she resides today in the Museum of Science and Technology “Leonardo da Vinci”. Called “pocket submarines” due to their diminutive size, the boats of this class were intended only to operate in the Mediterranean Sea, mostly to patrol the Channel of Sicily and participate in NATO exercises. The boat is 151.6 feet long, has a 15.4 feet beam, and has a draught of 18.7 feet. The two Fiat diesels provided power to the diesel-electric drive that would propel the boat at 14 knots surfaced, or 15 knots submerged. The crew consisted of 4 officers and 22 sailors, and she was armed with four 21-inch torpedo tubes.

Review Author
Dave Morrissette
Published on
June 29, 2020
Company
Brengun
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$10.00

One of the under recognized armaments for after market has been the depth charge. It is fairly simple to find missiles, bombs and other under wing things all very well done and in most scales but not so much depth charges. Brengun has issued a set (which looks like a rerelease of the Attack Hobby set) of the Mk. 54 Depth Charge in 1/72nd scale.

Looking at the set, you get two gray resin blocks which contain the depth charge body and the nose pin for the front arming propeller. There is also a photoetch fret containing 18 pieces, a set of decals and the instructions for assembly, painting and decaling the set.

Book Author(s)
Waldemar Goralski
Review Author
Marc K. Blackburn
Published on
May 16, 2020
Company
Kagero Publishing
MSRP
$24.95

Kagero, the prolific Polish publishing company, has released the newest addition to their series, Top Drawings. This is number 86, the German heavy cruiser, Prinz Eugen. Distributed by Casemate Publications, this 28 page paper book provides drawings and a color profile of the famous German cruiser. I imagine most of you know the ship’s history. It accompanied the Bismarck on its first and only voyage, accompanied the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau in their famous channel dash, and ended her career in the Baltic.

Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
May 4, 2020
Company
OKB Grigorov
Scale
1/700
MSRP
$17.00

OKB Grigorov has provided very nice Israeli Dolphin submarine which represent a diesel-electric submarine developed and constructed in Germany for the Israeli Navy. They were based on the export only German 209 class submarines. The Dolphin class entered service in May 1999 and are still active today.

  • seven small resin parts
  • two photoetch sheets
  • one resin submarine

The detail quality is great; The parts are very delicate parts that need careful removal from the resin bases.

There was no instruction sheet provided, this was not a problem as it was a simple build.

The assembly is quick and easy.

The resin stand is an awesome addition to the kit.

The final part is painting.

This is my forth one of these great kits and I really enjoy building these and they make a wonderful display all lined up.

Review Author
Doug Hamilton
Published on
April 19, 2020
Company
Atlantis Model Company
Scale
1/320
MSRP
$21.99

The USS Forrest Sherman was the lead ship in the US Navy Destroyer program instituted in 1953. Constructed at the Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine beginning in October 1953, launched on February 5, 1955 and commissioned November 9, 1955. After a long and distinguished career, she was decommissioned on November 5, 1982, and stricken from Naval logs on July 27, 1990. An effort to maintain the ship as a Museum ship failed with a few artifacts having been saved for exhibit.

Book Author(s)
Angus Konstam
Review Author
Patrick Brown
Published on
April 4, 2020
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$19.00

Bottom Line Up Front

This is a short, easy to read introduction to ships and history of the private warships which played a major part in the American War for Independence. It is profusely illustrated with period artwork and accurate modern-day artwork of actual ships. The artwork by Paul Wright is the standout feature of this book.

Author

Angus Konstam is the author of over 100 history books, most of which have been published by Osprey. A former naval officer and museum professional, he worked as the Curator in both the Royal Armouries, Tower of London, and the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum in Key West, Florida. He now works as a full-time author and historian, and lives in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Book Author(s)
David Doyle
Review Author
Blaine Singleton
Published on
March 31, 2020
Company
David Doyle Books
MSRP
$19.99

The Author

David Doyle’s earliest published works appeared in periodicals aimed at the hobby of historic military vehicle restoration. By 1999 this included regular features in leading hobby publications, appearing regularly in US, English and Polish magazines. Since 2003, over 100 of his books have been published. Broadening his horizons from his initial efforts concerning vehicles, he soon added aircraft and warships to his research objectives.

Contents

The book is divided into four chapters all covering the beginning construction to the final day of the Hornet. I’ve included a brief description of what is contained in each chapter.