| The Pennsylvania was the class leader
for a new class of battleship commissioned June 12, 1916. The class consisted
of two ships, the Arizona being the second. They were improved Nevada class
slightly larger and heavier and with twelve 14" guns in four turrets. Both
Pennsylvania and Arizona were at Pearl Harbor on December 7th. While the
Arizona was bombed and sunk, the Pennsylvania was in drydock and somewhat
shielded from severe damage. However there was enough damage inflicted
to require repairs stateside. She was patched up and sent to San Francisco
for an extensive rebuilding. She emerged with a brand new secondary armament
and radically changed superstructure. A second rebuilding added more modern
radar and even more anti aircraft guns. With this upgraded armament, the
Keystone Battlewagon was able to exact some pay back for the loss of her
sistership. Pennsylvania was involved in bombard missions in Alaskan waters,
and all over the Pacific.
Her most famous action was the Battle of Surigao Strait. On 24 October
1944, Pennsylvania was among a group of five other battleships, with cruisers
and destroyers of Rear Admiral Oldendorf's Force. There mission; to stop
the Japanese Fleet as it closed the Philippines southern approach. As they
steamed back and forth at the opening of the Strait, the Japanese force
was sighted. The Torpedo boats attacked with escorting destroyers and the
big guns maneuvered across the enemy's "T". Two battleships and three destroyers
were sunk that night.
Pennsylvania received eight battle stars for World War II service. |
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| It is in this late war configuration that Dragon has modeled
the ship. This kit started out as a modification to their successful Arizona
kit, and soon turned into a brand new tooling with some really sharp
molding. |
| UPPER AND LOWER HULL |
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| The hull on this kit is molded as a waterline kit with
a separate lower hull. Unlike the Arizona, the bow is molded on and slide
molding is utilized to capture the unique shapes of the Pennsylvania. You
will notice that the deck includes some fine wood planking and sharp features. |
Click
images
to enlarge |
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| SPRUE A |
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| This is a new sprue with the Pennsylvania specific superstructure parts.
These are well molded and feature thin splinter shields. The new fighting
top is included as four parts for the structure alone. |
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As a bonus there are two new PT Boats included. There are three lower hulls
provided so you can display your boat, out of the water on a stand, in
the water raised up at speed, and resting in full waterline mode. Wow,
how cool is that? Even as small as they are, these are little kits in themselves
with separate torpedoes and fittings. |
| SPRUE B (x 2) |
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| This sprue contains most of the secondary weapons and fittings. The
5" 25 cal. anti aircraft guns are better than any other plastic ones available
in this scale. There are even some 50 cal. machine guns that are a little
thick, but still pretty good considering this small scale. |
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| SPRUE C |
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| The ships boats and float planes are included on this sprue that is
common to the Arizona kit. The detail is pretty good and the Kingfishers
are molded with recessed panel lines. |
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| SPRUE D |
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| The catapult and lattice yardarm are included here. A better photo
etch version is included below |
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| SPRUE E |
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| The bridge and crane parts are now molded in injection molded plastic
and the detail is very good. |
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| SPRUE K (x 4) |
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| This is the weapons sprue and there are two of them in the kit. It
includes the many anti-aircraft guns and various fittings used on the ship.
Various radar's and other detail items are also included. The 40 mm guns
are not bad but the gun barrels are a little thick. |
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| The 20 mm are also a little thick, but I really like the
way they are molded. The front shield is offset from the pedestal and the
separate gun can be mounted at any angle just like the real ones. You also
get Mk-51 directors, searchlights and even some pelorus mounts. All are
as fine as injections molding permits in this scale. Not to be overlooked
are the nice life rafts that have some nice netting molded on. But check
out the "S" sprues below for even better versions of some of these items.
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| SPRUE L (x 2) |
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| The kit includes two of the Essex class island sprues. These are supplied
for the superior slide molded 5" 38 Twin gun mounts. These are better detailed
than those included on the "K" sprue. You will have some extra parts, but
I am glad that these mounts are included. |
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| SPRUE P (x 2) |
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| This is a second weapons sprue that adds an important weapon to the
kit. Specifically 20 mm twin mounts. Dragon has created a brand new fret
to add this weapon that was added later in the war. Additional 40 mm quad
mounts and gun directors are also added. |
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| SPRUE S |
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| There are four new sprues labeled "S". These are brand new tooling
for the Square and Oval Life Rafts, The Mk-37 Directors and their Mk-12
Radar and mount, and several new searchlights. The directors use tripple
slide molding to capture the full detailing, and have separate bottoms.
You can clearly make out the hatches, and ladder details on the sides.
The Fire Control Radar Antenna and mount are three parts, and the stand
is also molded using slides. The yoke for the radar screen is very detailed
for such a small part. I am very impressed with these new part. These parts
were produced from the CAD files for the larger soon to be released 1/350
Buchanan and are the most detailed plastic versions of these parts I have
seen in plastic. |
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Life rafts
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Mk-37 Director
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Mk-12 FCR
Antenna & mount
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Search lights
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| MAIN GUNS |
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| The main gun turrets are molded in plastic with some very nice surface
details. Locating holes for the catapult are now included on turret #3.
The guns are designed to allow for individual elevation, but be advised
that the Pennsylvania class has all three guns on the same elevation track
and they were elevated together. |
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| PHOTOETCH |
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| A couple of photoetch frets are included that will allow
you to replace some of the molded details. What isn't replaced, is enhanced
by the extra photo etch parts. Railings and boarding ladders will add a
nice touch to the ship. |
| New walls for the various superstructure parts include
relief etching for the doors openings and fold lines. Port holes are open
and separate watertight doors are supplied. There are even tiny propellers
for the torpedo boat.
The second fret included a stern crane and pulley details. New propellers
are also supplied for the Kingfishers. There are also two boat cranes. |
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| DECALS |
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| The decals by Cartograf include the ships name and aircraft markings.
These are nicely registered and pretty sharp. The flags are pretty nice,
although there should be 48 stars on the flags. You would need a magnifying
glass to notice that though. |
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| INSTRUCTIONS |
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| The instructions are a six page booklet showing the assembly
in a step by step process that is easy to follow. Very thorough and well
illustrated. Photo etch locations are noted in color. The last page shows
the ship in the MS-21 Camouflage.
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| BOX ART |
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| CONCLUSIONS |
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 This
new Dragon kit is major step forward in 1/700 scale. It's not perfect,
but many changes and improvements were made to make it as accurate as possible.
I love the included PT-Boats, how fitting since they were with the Pennsylvania
at Surigao Strait. The extra photo etch and newly tooled parts makes this
a kit a great value. I am especially impressed that brand new state of
the art slide molding was used on some of these new parts. The parts they
replaced were already very nice, but these are awesome. Let's hope that
this is just the start of more good things to come in 700 scale. Get your
Keystone Battlewagon in the battle line now. List price is around $27.95
making it a great value for the ship modeler. |
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