US Navy
SR Radar (x2)

AC350091g

Black Cat Models, 1/350 Scale, Printed Resin

Reviewed by Devin Poore, October 2021
Title image above from the Black Cat Models website

The SR search radars appeared in the U.S. Navy during the Second World War. Further evolutions of the SC radars, they saw use mostly on older battleships, but saw service on many different types of craft during the war and for many years beyond.

The SR Radar set comes from Black Cat Models with two identical units on a single printing raft. The radars, each printed as a single piece, are very finely detailed. The delicate mesh screen looks very realistic in scale, with the feed horns, emitters, and other details cleanly depicted as distinct, stand-off items, not simply molded as part of the radar face as is often done on injection molded radars. The assembly also includes the cylindrical base, which should make it very easy to mount it to a ship's mast.

Print supports are kept to a minimum, and while this does add some unevenness to the lower edge of the radar screen, it will greatly simplify removing the assembly from the printing supports and raft.

These are nicely done and complete add-on parts. To the naked eye the "screen" of the radar face looks every bit the part. The nature of the 3D printing does have a couple of issues, such as the waviness of the lower edge of the radar screen -- only noticeable if you really look at it -- and one of the examples in my set has a hole in the screen either due to damage during packaging or an error in the print. These will be a big hit with anyone who's assembled photo-etched radars in the past and found them too tedious.

Highly Recommended. Thank you to Black Cat Models for the review sample.