Reviewed by Timothy Dike |
The USS Helena was a St Louis class light cruiser, a sub class of the
Brooklyn class. She was the last of the light cruisers built to the restrictions
of Washington Treaty which limited her to 10,000 tons. Like the St. Louis
the Helena was an improvement over the Brooklyn's and featured her eight
5" guns in twin turrets instead of single open mounts. She also has a more
compact superstructure and like her younger sisters five triple 6" turrets.
Another new feature was the enclosed aircraft hanger on the stern a feature
that would be included on later classes of cruisers. The Helena was at
Pearl Harbor anchored at the 10-10 dock when the Japanese launched their
attack. She was damaged by a single torpedo and sent to Mare Island for
repairs. She emerged in mid 42 with her bridge wings cut off and her superstructure
radically altered. More importantly she had upgraded radar installed including
an SG set. This would come in handy later when she operated in the Solomon
Isles. You can read more of her history
here.
This kit from MidShip Models is an upgrade of the old Classic Warships
kit. A kit that got me back into ship modeling and was partially responsible
for the site being created. It is spot on for a 1942-43 Helena.
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| HULL |
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| The hull is cast in the waterline style. Detail is very
good with a nicely planked deck and lots of surface detail. There is some
flash along the waterline, but that shouldn't be a problem to clean up.
The hull scales out very close to actual dimension and has the correct
shape. Anchor chain is molded on, but it has a 3D appearance and will be
fine for most modelers. |
click images
to enlarge
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| One thing I don't like is the lack of mounting holes for
the main guns, but that is pretty minor and easy to fix. This hull is almost
identical to the St. Louis
version with the exception of some of the light anti aircraft positions.
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| SUPERSTRUCTURE |
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| The superstructure parts are cast on a thin wafer. Detail is very good
and the forward parts will be easy to locate as the tall director mount
is designed to pass through the two upper level. This will help perfectly
align them. It looks like the only cleanup here will be flat sanding the
parts to free them from the wafer. The funnels look pretty good and have
cast on piping. Advanced modelers may want to replace this with fine thin
wire, but I think it looks fine in this scale. |
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| WEAPONS |
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| These turrets are new resin versions with separate gun barrels. The
sighting hoods are cast on so you wont have to fight with that. The shape
looks pretty good and closely matches the plans I have of various Brooklyn
class ships. The 5" gun mounts need some work. They appear to be single
purpose mounts and don't have enough radius on the sides. You can round
the sides a little with a file or sanding stick. To convert this gun to
dual purpose you will need to enlarge the gun slots from the front face
to the edge of the roof. |
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| DIRECTORS, BOATS AND CRANE |
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| The directors are nice and look like their 1:1 counterparts.
The boat crane base looks good and the boats and rafts are well cast too. |
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| WEAPONS SPRUE |
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| This kit features the MidShip standard weapons sprue 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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| The SOC float plane and ships anchors are cast in metal. The float
planes will need a little cleanup to remove the little gates. |
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| PHOTO ETCH |
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| A photo etch fret supplies all the railings, searchlight platforms,
and cranes. This is essentially a scaled down version of the 1/350 Yankee
Modelworks (ex-Classic Warships) Brooklyn class photo etch and it is a
great bonus for this kit. It includes nice searchlight towers, boat and
aircraft cranes, catapults. |
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| Even some nice sky lookouts that you don't normally see
in 700 scale. The railings include bow rails that angle upwards.
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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 six pages with a bill of materials,
subassembly views and exploded views. Pretty good overall, but a nice plan
and profile would have been a nice touch.
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| PACKING |
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| The kit comes shrink wrapped onto a cardboard insert packed in a sturdy
cardboard box. A nice touch to ensure your kit arrives without shipping
damage. |
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| CONCLUSIONS |
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It's nice to see Midship
upgrading the old Classic Warships line. Even thought this kit has been
around for a few years, it still is very nice. Additions such as the photo
etch, and decals make it a good value for anyone wanting to do this famous
ship.
List price is $70 US. These kits are available now at Pacific
Front and Freetime
Hobbies. |
