Reviewed by Timothy Dike |
The USS California (BB-44) was a Tennessee class battleship. The California
was present at Pearl Harbor moored on battleship row on December 7th. Like
her sistership, she was repair and extensively rebuilt and returned to
fight on.
More of the California's history can be viewed on the DANFS
page.
This new kit from Midship is actually an upgrade of the old
Classic Warships kit with some reworked parts and many new ones. The
kit depicts the ship during 1941 as she was at Pearl Harbor
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| HULL |
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| The hull is cast in the typical waterline style with deck
planking inscribed into the surface. The anchorways are clean with no molded-on
chain a big plus in my book. Casting is pretty good overall and there is
plenty of surface detailing. |
click images
to enlarge
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| SUPERSTRUCTURE |
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The superstructure parts are cast on resin wafers. Some flat sanding
will be needed to separate the parts from the carrier resin. Shapes look
pretty good and the parts are pretty well cast. Deck planking is well done
and the splinter shields are pretty thin. There are location rings for
the funnels that should make fitting an easier task.
The fighting tops look pretty much like the plans and photos I have
seen. |
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| The secondary gun directors look correct as well.
While this kit shares many common part with the Tennessee, the superstructure
parts are unique to this ship.
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| MAIN GUNS |
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| Main guns are cast in resin with pretty good detailing. These are an
improvement over the original Classic Warships metal versions. Separate
gun barrels are included with cast on blast bags. |
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| SECONDARY ARMAMENT |
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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 pretty 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. |
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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.
Flash on these sprues is getting pretty bad and it might be time to rework
the mold. |
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| FLOAT PLANES |
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| Two Kingfisher Float planes are included supplied by Trumpeter. They
are molded in clear and have look pretty good. I am not a big fan of clear
molded parts, but some may like this feature. It allows for the canopy
to be masked off prior to painting and the mask to be removed to reveal
a clear effect. |
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| METAL PARTS |
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| There are a number of parts that are supplied cast in white metal.
These include the king post for the cranes, main and secondary gun directors
and the ships boats. Some of these parts a bit flashy and will need some
clean up. |
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| PHOTO ETCH |
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| A photo etch fret is supplied to add the finer details to this kit.
These include nice aircraft catapults, and cranes. Inclined ladders and
lots of railings are provided. The latter are a little thick, but perhaps
easier to work with than the thinner ones. Some parts are relief etched
to help give them a 3D appearance. It appears everything needed is included
on this fret and no aftermarket items are needed to complete this kit. |
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| There are also lengths of plastic and brass rod included
to fabricate some of the other parts.
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| The second fret includes the two cage masts. Boat cradle and racks
are included as well as some really nice sky lookouts not typically found
in 700 scale kits. |
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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 nicely registered and sharp. |
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| INSTRUCTIONS |
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| The instructions are nine pages with a bill of materials,
subassembly views and exploded views. Also helpful are the plan and elevation
views.
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| CONCLUSIONS |
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This was a pretty good kit when first released by Classic Warships,
but Midship Models
has made it even better by upgrading the main guns, adding new photo etch,
decals, and plastic parts. It will make a fine addition to your Pearl Harbor
fleet. This kit is #MPK320 1/700 Midship Models USS California BB-44
(1941) with a list price of $100.00 US. |
