Reviewed February
2024
by Martin J Quinn
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| HISTORY |
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According to
Wikipedia:
USS Portland
(CL/CA–33) was the lead ship of the Portland class of cruiser and
the first ship of the United States Navy named after the city of Portland,
Maine. Launched in 1932, she completed a number of training and goodwill
cruises in the interwar period before seeing extensive service during World
War II, beginning with the Battle of the Coral Sea in 1942, where she escorted
the aircraft carrier Yorktown and picked up survivors from the sunken
carrier Lexington. She screened for Yorktown again in the
Battle of Midway, picking up her survivors as well. She then supported
the carrier Enterprise during the initial phase of the Guadalcanal
Campaign later that year, and was torpedoed during the Naval Battle of
Guadalcanal. The torpedo inflicted heavy damage which put her out of action
for six months as she was repaired in Sydney, Australia, and later San
Diego, California.
Returning to combat in mid-1943, Portland saw action in many
of the major engagements of the Pacific War, conducting shore bombardments
in support of campaigns at the Aleutian Islands, Gilbert and Marshall Islands,
Mariana Islands, and New Guinea. She was involved in the October 1944 Battle
of Leyte Gulf, engaging Japanese ships in the decisive Battle of Surigao
Strait. She then conducted shore bombardments at Lingayen Gulf and Corregidor
Island, and in 1945 supported landings during the Battle of Okinawa until
the end of the war.
Following World War II, Portland accepted the Japanese surrender
in the Caroline Islands and then undertook several Operation Magic Carpet
cruises to bring U.S. troops home. She was decommissioned in 1946 and scrapped
by 1962. In her extensive service she accrued 16 battle stars, making her
one of the most decorated ships in the U.S. fleet. |
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| SSModel
Portland
The SSModel Portland comes in a brown flip-top
cardboard box. Inside the box, sandwiched between pieces of foam, is a
waterline hull and three individually bagged print rafts, a bags of turned
brass barrels, and a bag with 3D printed anchor chain. Everything
is printed in a glaring orange color. The kit is supposed to represent
Portland in 1942, when she was engaged in plenty of action. |
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| THE
HULL |
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| The hull scales out properly in beam,
but seems to be a little short in length. There is nice details printed
on the deck - bollards, hatches, vents and a cable reel. There are
also in ladders that are supposed to represent inclined ladders, but they
look more like vertical ladders. Unfortunately, the hull is warped,
with both ends of the hull lifting in the air. Additionally, the
tip of the bow looks like it's taken a torpedo, and is bending to starboard.
Also, there a visible, raised printing lines on both sides of the hull,
around the midship area. The planking seems to be a bit wide,
and the forepart of the deck has deep lines, which I assume are supposed
to represent plating. Finally, there are what look like expansion
joints spaced out across the planking the length of the ship. As
you can see from the LIFE magazine image below, there are no such lines. |
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| PRINT
RAFT 1 |
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| You'll find the majority of superstructure
on this print raft, along with the "shells" of the turrets and the floatplanes.
Fortunately, unlike their Courbet,
the superstructure isn't printed as one large part. The planking
on the decks of these parts is poor - it looks more like a series of raised
lines, while the non-skid tread is over scale. The rafts on
the turrets are decent, but have no visible means of attaching themselves
to the turrets. The details on the turrets is pretty good, and I do like
the main bridge (just not the non-skid on the platforms). |
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| PRINT
RAFT 2 |
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| Both funnels, the tripod foretop,
mast (with yards and radar) and cranes are on this print raft. The
funnel grates look a bit heavy, and again the rafts have nothing holding
them to the sides of the ship. The cranes look pretty good, but the
mast and yardarms are warped. |
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| PRINT
RAFT 3 |
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| The catapults, the pillars they sit
on, boats, prop guards and secondary weapons are found here, along with
the rest of the turret parts. The 5in/25cal guns look good, but the
barrels of the 1.1 inch guns, which are the size of fine human hair, are
all askew. |
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| BRASS
BARRELS |
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| The main battery barrels are done
in brass. |
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| ANCHOR
CHAIN |
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| There is petite and nicely 3D printed
anchor chain included. |
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| INSTRUCTIONS |
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| I know that the model doesn't consist
of many parts overall, but, similar to Courbet, I'd call these "suggestions",
not instructions. |
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| CONCLUSIONS |
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| There is a few good things to say
about this model - there are some decently printed parts, includeding the
bridge, the cranes, the turrets. That being said, the hull is poorly
done. Not only is it warped on two different planes, but the raised
print lines on the hull sides are going to require some work to remove
them. With the leaps and bounds 3D printing has made, these issues
with the hull are inexcusable, in my opinion. Not a fan of the one piece
mast/yard/radar combination, and there are no photo-etch railings included.
If you MUST have a circa 1942 Portland in your scale
fleet, try and find the old
Midship
models cast resin version. Niko Models also makes a late-war
version. Whatever you do, save your money and avoid this kit, which
is NOT recommended. At all. Not even a little bit.
This is SSModel's 1/700 Portland, kit number
700554, the waterline version. It's available on eBay starting at
around $89.00 and up, before shipping. Thanks to Rich Harden of the
Toms Modelworks/White Ensign Empire, for loaning me the kit for this review. |
