History

I’ll have to admit a personal fascination with the story of the USS Indianapolis. I read a magazine article about the tragedy during my high school years, which was probably close to the 30^th anniversary. In July of 1945, the Indianapolis, a Portland-class heavy cruiser, was tasked with the top secret mission of delivering parts for the first atomic bomb to be dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. On the next leg of her journey, the ship was struck by two torpedoes from a Japanese submarine. The ship sank within minutes, leaving almost 900 of her surviving crew stranded in the Pacific Ocean at the mercy of the elements, dehydration, and marauding sharks. After three days in the water, they were finally rescued, but only 317 of the men survived the ordeal.

Trumpeter released it’s 1/350 scale kit of the USS Indianapolis a few months ago. While I am not ordinarily a ship builder, my personal interest would not allow me to pass it up. The kit is excellent in most aspects, being well detailed and including a number of photoetched brass detail parts. As with most plastic kits, there is still a bit of room for improvement.

Master Model Armament Set

The Master Model Armament Set includes nine turned-aluminum barrels for the 8 inch guns, as well as resin trunions. The kit parts are fairly nice, and slide-molding has produced dimples in the barrels for openings, but the detail is somewhat soft and the parts are slightly too large for scale. Once assembled, the trunion would be sandwiched between the top and bottom turret parts, trapping them to allow the guns to elevate. In order to insure that the barrels are all level, my plan is to glue the middle of the three barrels in place with cyanoacrylate, then once that has cured, glue each of the outside barrels in place allowing the first one to establish the angle as the assembly dries lying on a flat surface.

Also included are eight brass barrels for the 5 inch guns. The kit parts have the barrels molded without openings. The kit barrels will need to be removed, then the base would need to be drilled to accept the brass replacements. This is fairly standard practice for this type of detail parts, and should be easily accomplished by a modeler of moderate experience.

Conclusion

Overall, the Master Model USS Indianapolis Armament Set should greatly increase the accuracy and detail of the finished model. The quality is as high as would be expected from Master Model products. I think that most ship modelers would choose this set for the ease of use and the enhancement it can provide for the finished model. I would give the set my highest recommendation, only suggesting that novice modelers be careful and follow the instructions closely.

I would like to thank Master Model for this sample product and IPMS for allowing me to write the review.