1/700 Scale Bogue Class Escort Carrier
Reviewed By Timothy Dike
| Early in World War II, submarines were taking a heavy toll on allied shipping. Especially in the open atlantic outside the range of land based aircraft. Aircraft Carriers were in short supply and a new solution was needed to provide protection for these slow moving convoys. In 1941 the US Navy acquired a C3 type cargo ship and converted it into the USS Long Island to evaluate the feasibility of such conversions. The experiment was a success and Shortly afterwards the Bogue Class carriers appeared. The Bogue Class differed from the Long Island, in that they had an island structure and two elevators to improve aircraft handling. Though conceived as a means of providing convoys with an anti-submarine defense, these rugged little ships proved to be a valuable asset to the US Navy and the Royal Navy and were even used offensively. | |
| The Tamiya kit is an update of the earlier Skywave/Pit-Road kit. It is nicely molded and capture the look and feel of the prototype nicely. The flight deck is cleanly molded and includes a separate forward elevator so you can build it in the up or down position. |  |
| The hull is molded with inserts for the bow and stern deck, the midsection is flat and should make adding a hanger deck and easy modification. Shape wise the graceful lines of the C3 type hull are well represented and there is even a crane truck and jeep included. |  |
| The instructions include a painting guide for the USS Barnes in MS-22, with aircraft markings included as well. The decals included have flight deck striping and aircraft insignias, as well as ship names for the Bogue, Card, Copahee, Core, Nassua, Block Island, Prince William, Altamaha, Breton, and Barnes. Sadly only the Barnes CVE-20 flight deck number is included. |  |
| The instructions are pretty thorough and one should have no problem
identifying the where everything belongs with one exception the kit includes
two different island superstructure options that are not explained. I checked
the original Skywave kit instructions and they call for part # C19 to be
used for AVG-11, 13, 21 etc. , So check photo's or plans of the ship you
wish to model before completing this step.
The only difference between the two is the addition of Tamiya's aircraft sprue featuring their Avenger, Hellcat, Corsair, and Helldiver, that are the same as the ones included with the Tamiya Enterprise CV-6. There is also an attached sprue of weapons instead of the E9 weapons set sprue included with the original Skywave kit. |
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| There are two sets designed for this kit Toms Modelworks #707 or 710 set. made specifically for this kit and Gold Medal Models #700-24 set for either the CVE or CVL. This is still a quality kit that will make an important addition to your Waterline fleet, I highly recommend it. | |
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