| HISTORY |
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| The South Dakota class was the follow up to the successful
North Carolina class. With a similar layout, the four ships of this class
were a little shorter in length and had a more compact superstructure.
The South Dakota or SoDak as she was nicknamed was unique among her sisters,
Alabama, Indiana, and Massachusetts in that she only had eight twin 5"
gun mounts instead of ten. The SoDak was fitted as a flagship and extra
room was needed so two of the mounts were left off. The SoDak was fitted
with the latest search and fire control radar and packed a tremendous punch
from both the main and secondary armament. She was rushed into service
to help counter the Japanese forces then roaming around the South Pacific.
She proved her worth as a Carrier escort at the Battle of Santa Cruz by
shooting down a large number of attacking aircraft and helping to
save the Enterprise from the fate the of the Hornet that was sank that
same day partly because she had no fast battleship protection. SoDak took
a direct hit on her number two gun turret that disabled it. Hastily repaired
she was sent to Guadalcanal to stop another Japanese bombardment. On the
night of November 15th she engaged Japanese surface ships at off of Savo
Island. She then came under the combined attack of a host of Japanese warships.
Suffering a critical power failure at the same moment that she came under
the concentrated fire from all of the enemy ships, she sustained considerable
damage and numerous fires were started. Those fires quickly became an aiming
point and the enemies attention away from the USS Washington that was then
able sink the Battleship Kirishima. The SoDak withdrew from the battle
and returned home. She was hailed as the famous Battleship X, and got to
take credit for winning the battle. It was common practice at that time
to censor the names of ships in the battle zone. South Dakota was home
and thus was named in many news reports as being a hero of the battle.
Understandably this created some bad blood among the crew of the USS Washington
as they were not allowed to be mentioned as the hero's that they were until
much later. The SoDak returned to war repaired and sporting even more anti
aircraft guns. She spent most of her time as a fast carrier escort lending
her tremendous anti aircraft firepower to protecting the carriers. SoDak
never again went toe to toe with another Japanese warship. She survived
the war only to end up being scrapped like her partner the USS Washington,
the two most important Battleships of the war.
Trumpeter has followed up on their North
Carolina and Washington
with the South Dakota. They have chosen to model her in her late war configuration
with the extra 40 mm quads on the bow.
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| HULL PARTS |
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| The hull is one piece molded in the waterline style. A
separate flat waterline base and full lower hull are molded in red plastic.
The chocks are molded closed and can be drilled out by the modeler for
more realism. |
Click images
to enlarge |
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| DECK |
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| The deck is molded as one single piece, a big plus in my opinion. Surface
detailing includes planking that looks pretty good. I like the separate
anchor capstans but the molded on anchor chain looks flat. There are plenty
of other details such as the ready service ammo boxes. |
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| SPRUE A |
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| This sprue has some superstructure parts and the ships propellers.
There are three different types with 3, 4, and 5 bladed versions. |
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| SPRUE B x2 |
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| Two sprues of anti aircraft guns are provided with 20 mm and 40 mm
guns included. The 20 mm guns lack shields and are not as nice as those
used in the Trumpeter Lexington
kit. |
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| SPRUE C x2 |
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| Two of these sprues are included with the main and secondary gun turrets.
Slide molding is used to help achieve more detail and eliminate seams.
The main gun turrets feature prominent rivet detail, and gun barrels with
molded on blast bags. Sighting hoods are separate parts. The 5" twin mounts
are also slide molded with sights on the sides. The gun openings however
are too short and do not allow for the guns to elevate. I would suggest
opening these up with a flat file or replacing them with aftermarket versions. |
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| SPRUE D |
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| The main superstructure parts are included on this sprue. Detail is
pretty good and I like the open portholes. |
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| SPRUE E |
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| The rest of the superstructure levels are on this sprue. Detail is
pretty good overall. |
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| SPRUE K |
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| This sprue contains some South Dakota specific parts. |
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| SPRUE L |
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| Masts, radar, and funnel grills are included on this sprue. I like
the way the funnel grills came out with that open look. |
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| OS2U-1 |
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| Two OS2U-1 Kingfisher float planes are included molded in clear plastic.
Main and outrigger floats are separate parts. The propeller is molded on. |
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| DISPLAY BASE OPTIONS |
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| A display base is included for full hull display. |
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| DECALS |
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| A decal sheet is included with flags and hull numbers for both South
Dakota. Aircraft markings for the Kingfishers are included as well. |
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| INSTRUCTIONS |
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| A sixteen page instruction booklet describe the assembly in great detail
with a variety of sub assembly views. These instructions are well done
and should provide all the information that is needed to build this ship.
For painting, a color plan and profile sheet is included with the
Ms-21 camo shown. |
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| CONCLUSIONS |
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Overall a pretty good kit. It's strongest point is the correct bow
shape, something that the Hasegawa
got very wrong on their version. I am disappointed by the 5" and light
armament, but these are easily correctable. There is lots of detailing
possibilities with this kit and the it should even look good right out
of the box. Add some photo etch and after market anti aircraft guns and
you have a real cool Battleship X. I hope that Trumpeter does an early
war version of this ship as well.
Thanks to Stevens
International for the review sample. They are the exclusive importer
for Trumpeter kits in the US. If your hobby shop does not carry Trumpeter
kits have them contact Stevens
International or try their Hobby Shop Locator to find one. |
