For anyone building their 1/350 modern Nimitz aircraft carrier, there are plenty of aftermarket products to spruce up your model. Unfortunately one of the most glaring items missing in my opinion was the lack of life raft canister holders.

These life raft canisters run down both sides of the flight deck on all modern carriers and are a prominent feature. Trumpeter's Nimitz in 1/350 comes with the canisters you will need, but are mounted in clusters joined by large pipes that aren't on the real ship. Tom's Modelworks has come to the rescue. Here we finally have a set that will provide life raft canister holders for the entire ship.

The photo etch sheet itself is brass of a very thin nature. It is very delicate so you will want to handle with care. There is no relief etching as it is not needed.

Instructions are provided, but it will have to be up to the modeller to research placement of the canister holders as it would be too difficult to provide placement instructions for all of the various Nimitz class carriers and various refits. Each plastic canister in the kit needs to be removed and separated from all the rest with the pipes removed and for some also the mounting pin needs to be removed. Then these plastic canisters are ready to be mounted to the photo etch provided in this set.

Most modellers that want to add photo etch to their model would appreciate the level of detail this set offers. This set will provide a major advantage in being able to allow all the life raft canisters to be added without all those incorrect piping that would otherwise join the canisters that come in the kit. At a cost of $12.50, it will be one of your least expensive upgrades for your 1/350 Nimitz. At the time of release Tom's Modelworks also launched two other sets for modern carriers, Nimitz & Enterprise Carrier Reelss (3577) and Enterprise Flotation Canister Racks (3569).

Be sure to check out all of Tom's Modelworks ship detail sets on their online store with secure shopping.

This photo etch fret was designed by the author of this review and adapted by Tom's Modelworks, but was done only for the advance of the hobby. The author gets no financial gain for the sales of this product. It is now a product owned by Tom's Modelworks.