Kraken Hobbies 1917 USS Oklahoma Review

Kraken Hobbies

1/700 USS Oklahoma (BB-37) 1917 Fit

Reviewed by Martin J Quinn
February 2025

While the USS Oklahoma is more remembered for the ignominy of her demise during the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, she was considered one of the world's most powerful dreadnoughts when launched in 1916. A Nevada-class battleship, Oklahoma built by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation for the United States Navy, notable for being the first American class of oil-burning dreadnoughts. Commissioned in 1916, the ship served in World War I as a part of Battleship Division Six, protecting Allied convoys on their way across the Atlantic. After the war, she served in both the United States Battle Fleet and Scouting Fleet. Oklahoma was modernized between 1927 and 1929. In 1936, she rescued American citizens and refugees from the Spanish Civil War. On returning to the West Coast in August of the same year, Oklahoma spent the rest of her service in the Pacific.

On 7 December 1941, during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, several torpedoes from torpedo bombers hit the Oklahoma's hull and the ship capsized. A total of 429 crew died; survivors jumped off the ship into burning oil on water or crawled across mooring lines that connected Oklahoma and Maryland. Some sailors inside escaped when rescuers drilled holes and opened hatches to rescue them. The ship was salvaged in 1943. Unlike most of the other battleships that were recovered following Pearl Harbor, Oklahoma was too damaged to return to duty. Her wreck was eventually stripped of her remaining armament and superstructure before being sold for scrap in 1946. The hulk sank in a storm while being towed from Oahu, Hawaii, to a breakers yard in San Francisco Bay in 1947.

History mostly from Wikipedia.

USS OKLAHOMA 1917 FIT

The model comes packed in a large white cardboard box, with the contents separated into various ziploc plastic bags. Inside is the hull, superstructure parts, main battery parts, ships boats, vents, cranes, secondary weapons and Tom's Modelworks photo-etch.

THE HULL

The hull is waterline. It scales out in both length and beam to Okie's "as built" configuration. Overall there is really crisp detail here - planking, winches, bitts, chocks, skylights, W/T on bulkheads, and really nice shutters for the casement guns. On the other hand, there are some print lines visible on the structure at break in the deck, and even heavier print lines on the chaffing plates at the bow. Additionally, one of the loops on the bullnose, which keep the paravane chains in place is broken. There are also some residual print raft attachment points on the bottom of the hull, which will have to be sanded smooth. Other than the print lines I mentioned, I do think the hull is pretty impressive.

SUPERSTRUCTURE PARTS/CAGE MASTS

Most of these early dreadnoughts had very sparse superstructures. Oklahoma was no exception, and the kit reflects that. The largest superstructure piece has barbette number two printed as part of it, as well as the superstructure deck. This part has planking, portholes and W/T. The next part is the conning tower and bridge wings. One of the bridge wings on my kit was broken. The top of the conning tower has some small periscopes on top of it. There is another small part that sits on top of the conning tower, which I take to be the pilot house, as it has some bridge equipment - what looks like a pelorus? - printed to the deck. Topping this all off is a small part that looks like a tent, that covers the pilot house. The top of this part, which I believe was actually canvas, has some prominent print lines, that look like steps. These will have to be sanded off. There is a single funnel with a small structure attached. Here you'll find some nice piping.

Finally we have the cages masts, which are nicely done. The wires that make up the cage masts are most likely over scale, but would most likely be too think to print otherwise. The cages mast come with searchlight platforms and spotting tops integral to the print.

MAIN BATTERY TURRETS

Oklahoma was in the business of delivering firepower, and this kit includes five turrets. Five you say? Didn't the Nevada class only have four? Yes, that is correct, but Kraken gives you two options for turret #3 - one with the AA gun platform printed on, and one without, so you can use the PE that comes with the Tom's Modelworks set that's included with the kit.

The turrets themselves are fine, but more than one of the 14" gun barrels were warped, some of them pretty badly. These may have to be replaced with turned metal barrels.

VENTS & CRANES

As built, the Nevada class had a host of ventilators, and Kraken has you covered with types of many different shapes and sizes. Also included are two, two-part boat handling cranes. The top half of the cranes and the crane arms are nicely done.

SEARCHLIGHTS/ANCHORS

There are eight searchlights and four anchors in the kit. These are well done, especially the anchors.

WEAPONS

The Nevada's, as built, carried 5in secondary and 3in AA guns. These come on three different print rafts. The 5in deck guns and 3 inch AA guns are two part affairs, while the 5in casement guns are just the barrels, which get glued into the hull. Unfortunately, just like the main battery guns, some of the barrels of the casement guns are warped. Turned metal barrels might be the best option there.

SHIPS BOATS

There are ten boats of various sized included with the kit. One pair is printed directly to the davits for easier installation. Detail looks good. A pair of boat racks for the main deck are also included.

PHOTO-ETCH

The 3D printed parts are supplemented by two Tom's Modelworks photo-etch sets: set 7113 and set 7113a. Set 7113 is pretty extensive, with railings, inclined ladders, vertical ladders, boarding ladders, aerial spreaders, range clocks, cable reels, a catapult if you are building a early 1920's Oklahoma, and aircraft flying off platforms - including the "runways" - for on top of the turrets. There is also a large assortment of parts to create the complex yardarms assembly on both cage masts.

The smaller, secondary set (7113a) is all about boats and boat cradles. This fret - which is much thicker than the main fret - looks like the set that was included in TMW 1941 Nevada & Oklahoma kits, and the instructions say that not all the parts will be used.


PHOTO-ETCH INSTRUCTIONS
The instructions for the main set are fairly extensive, with photos to supplement the drawings to help with construction and placement of parts. The smaller set has it's own set of instructions, which basically indicate which parts are used.


KIT INSTRUCTIONS
The instructions are in the form of a little booklet, encompassing 8 pages over four sheets of paper. They are in color and appear to be CAD renderings of the model in exploded view form. Very simple, but should be sufficient to get the job done.

CONCLUSIONS

At the 2024 IPMS USA National Convention in Madison, WI, when I swung by the Tom's Modelworks' tables in the vendor room, I saw an unfamiliar box on the table. Picking it up, I was surprised to see a new 3D printed kit of the venerable USS Oklahoma, in her early "as-built" fit. Rich Harden from TMW told me it was a new kit, and that he had limited stock with him Not wanting to risk missing out, I pounced before they were gone. I'm glad I did.

On the plus side, we have a 1917 USS Oklahoma, in all her cage mast glory. The kit - especially the hull - is crisply printed. Nor are there a lot of parts, so it should be a pretty straightforward build. The most complex part of this build will be the photo-etch, especially for the yard arms on the cage masts. There are some nit-picks, like the print lines on the horizontal surfaces on the hull and the weather cover for the bridge, and the warped gun barrels. Still, I think the plusses outweigh the minuses, and, overall, I think this is really solid kit. I will say it is far superior to the 3D printed stuff I've personally examined that is coming out of China, but it's not the same quality as an injection molded kit from say, Flyhawk.

This is Kraken Hobbies USS Oklahoma BB-37, 1917 fit 3D Printed waterline model. It retails for $85.99 USD, and is available directly from Kraken Hobbies. Recommended, especially for fan of early 20th century dreadnoughts.