Reviewed by Timothy Dike |
| The three New Mexico class battleships
were commissioned between 1918 and 1919. They were similar to the Pennsylvania
class but had a clipper bow to improve sea keeping. As built they had cage
masts, but in the 30's they were modernized and received towering superstructures
and anti torpedo bulges.
As war raged in Europe, New Mexico sailed as part of neutrality patrol.
When Pearl Harbor was bombed the US Navy found itself short of battleships
and she sailed for the west coast. Initially she escorted convoys of ships
to the south west Pacific. Later she supported the invasion of Aleutian
islands lending her guns to bombard Japanese forces on Kiska. Out classed
by modern battleships, New Mexico still proved her worth by supporting
the invasions and bombardment of many of the Japanese island strongholds.
Following an overhaul in Bremerton, she sailed to Leyte Gulf covering
the convoys and lending her anti aircraft guns to the relentless air attacks.
She was hit by a Kamikaze while softening up targets onshore. Even though
her commanding officer, and many other high ranking officials were killed,
she continued to fire away at the enemy. Following repairs at Pearl Harbor
New Mexico headed to Ulithi with other battlewagons to blast away at the
enemy. She destroyed eight suicide boats, but was later hit again by Kamikazes
and forced to withdrawal to Leyte. She was preparing for the invasion of
Japan when the war ended. She was among the ships to witness the surrender
in Tokyo Bay on September 2nd.
Decommissioned in July 1946, she was sold for scrapping a year later.
New Mexico received 6 battle stars for World War II service.
This new kit from Midship is actually the old Classic Warships kit.
New molds have been made from the master and new parts have been added.
The kit depicts the ship during 1941.
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| HULL |
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| The hull is cast waterline style with almost none of the
superstructure. The deck has nice wood planking and the hull looks to be
correctly shaped. The casting is pretty good with only a few areas that
will need cleanup. |
click images
to enlarge
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| SUPERSTRUCTURE |
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| The superstructure comes cast in many separate parts. I would prefer
to have some of this cast with the hull, but this will make modifications
easier. The parts are all cast in the open face mold style and will need
some extensive flat sanding to get rid of the overpour. The deck also has
nice wood planking and the reinforced splinter shields look very good.
There is a lack of surface detail on the walls of most parts. Doors and
portholes will have to be added by the modeler. The shapes appear to be
correct for this class of ship. |
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| MAIN GUNS |
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| The main gun turrets are cast with gun barrel openings and nice gusset
detailing along the base. The bottoms will need sanded but this is preferable
to having to remove casting gates in locations where there is surface detailing.
The gun barrels are also cast in resin and are acceptable, but I suspect
that many will replace these with aftermarket barrels. |
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The 5" 25 cal guns are the same as those used in many of the old Classic
Warships kits and current Midship kits and while they are well cast they
are not correctly shaped. They are probably good enough for most modelers
but you might consider replacing them with Corsair Armada versions. The
gun directors on the other hand look very good. They are nicely shaped
and even have the hatch details present.
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| SHIPS BOATS |
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| Three of the larger whale boats and two covered launches are
provided cast in resin. Detail is pretty good and these will just need
the casting gate removed from the stern and some minor cleanup. |
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| WEAPONS SPRUE X2 |
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| This kit features two of the MidShip standard weapons sprues to supply
the small weapons and fittings. The rafts are molded in two styles and
are both nicely done. This will supply the small weapons as
well as give you a bunch of extra spare parts you can use for other projects. |
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| METAL PARTS |
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| There are only a few metal parts in this kit. Masts, anchors, and main
gun directors. |
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| PHOTO ETCH |
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| A photo etch fret is supplied to add the fine details to this kit.
These include nice aircraft catapults, and cranes. Inclined ladders and
lots of railings are provided. These parts are relief etched to help give
them a 3D appearance. This is a complete fret and really enhances this
kit. |
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| There is also a length of plastic and brass rod included
for the mast and yardarms.
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| DECALS |
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| The decal sheet is a real treat and includes flags and pennants as
well as both prewar and early and late war hull numbers. These are printed
by Microscale and are typical of the high quality decals they usually produce.
They are nicely registered and sharp. |
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| INSTRUCTIONS |
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| The instructions are ten pages and more extensive then their other
kits. They include plenty of assembly views and should be sufficient to
guide you through the building process. A great reference book to help
you would be Classic Warships Warship Pictorial #18 USS New Mexico |
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Also available is the other members of the class; USS Mississippi,
and USS Idaho in their 1941 fits.
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| CONCLUSIONS |
|
 I
wouldn't recommend this kit to a beginner, but anyone who has tackled a
few resin kits shouldn't have a lot of problems building this ship. This
kit is yet another resurrected Classic Warships kits. It is not really
up to today's standards but the inclusion of a nice photo etch set, new
plastic parts, and sharp decals helps to make it a pretty good value. It's
biggest drawback is the thickness of the resin overpours on the parts.
this is one area where MidShip could improve on the quality of their kits.
This kit is a little pricey at it's MSRP of $100, but you can usually find
it for sale for a lot less.
These kits are available now at Pacific
Front and Freetime
Hobbies. |
