Black Cat Models Review - Tank cleaning barge YC-283

Reviewed by Graham Holmes
April 2025

This subject is YC-283, that was originally a steel-hulled coal barge built by Seattle Construction & Drydock Co., Seattle, WA. It was delivered December 1913 and assigned to 12th Naval District for its entire career. It was converted to a tank cleaning barge during World War 2 and given the new designation of YC-283. Sent to War Shipping Administration for disposal in June 1948. It looks like it spent all of its career at Mare Island as that was the location of the with the only photos that I could find. This barge is a one of a group of nine different barges now available from BlackCat.

All information comes from Navsource.org

The kit is all 3D printed and consists of two ziplock bags and a blister pack of parts that is synonymous with Back Cat.

First bag is the barge itself that measures 110 x 47 mm. Clean print with no resin attachment points though it does seem to have a very slight upward curve towards the ends and the bottom was a little sticky. Neither of these points distract from the quality of the print, which is superb. The wooden railings are printed complete with three planks high all the way around, but the photos show a number of the top layer removed in various places, but this will be easy to reproduce as the builder wishes. In fact, printing it this way means that the vertical supports are less likely to be broken.

Next bag consists of loose parts as follows. A long central deckhouse, a square deckhouse that is at one end, three long tanks and another part that looks like a 3D attachment part. More on this later.

Final part is a blister pack that has two 3D printed sprues that contain the main frame that holds the long tanks, frames for the other tanks and various bollards, reels and other small parts. There is also one loose part that is the chimney (part 9) for the deckhouse (part 13).

Close ups of some of the parts details.


INSTRUCTIONS
There are no instructions in the box, but the seal tag on the box provides the URL for BlackCat and notes that instructions are downloadable from the website. I like this approach, as it saves time and papers resources for both the modeler and the manufacturer. Looking at the instructions, the placement of all of the parts are clear and precise, but careful examination shows that the odd piece in bag #2 is waste, but parts #12 and #13 are missing. Given my experience with BlackCat, I am sure that they will appear in the mail very soon after asking for them.

CONCLUSIONS

The 3D is of the highest quality with no discernable print lines and both of the deckhouse have exquisite corrugated exterior that looks perfectly in scale. The barn door track on the square deckhouse and the windows are amazing.

All that is needed to complete are decals for the ‘YC 283’, on all four hull sides, both sides of the long deckhouse and the upper tank, as well as ropes and hoses. Once complete you will have a somewhat esoteric, but unique vessel that will be a wonderful addition for a Mare Island diorama.

Many thanks to Black Cat for the review sample and highly recommended.

This set currently retails for $30.25 USD, and is available directly from the Black Cat website.