Reviewed by Timothy Dike
| What will replace the Nimitz class carrier? One proposed concept graced the cover of Popular Mechanics some years ago. That concept formed the basis for this kit from the crew at JAG Collective. While it has been on the market for some time, it is still worthy of a good look, especially if you enjoy building well designed and cast kits. This one is typical of the high standard of quality found in JAG kits. | ||||||||||
| HULL | ||||||||||
| The hull on this kit is very large with an open hanger and a clear acrylic flight deck with etched surface details. You can show off that hanger deck detailing by leaving the flighdeck unpainted. Since the deck is paper covered you might even save some time in masking, as on my kit, the paper could be peeled away to form a mask. | Click images
to enlarge |
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| SUPERSTRUCTURE AND OTHER RESIN PARTS | ||||||||||
| There are few other resin parts for the ship. The superstructure
is one piece but nicely detailed. Separate aircraft elevators are provided
that fit well with the flight deck and hull.
A complete airwing is included with V-22 Osprey tilt rotor aircraft (x 7), and and Advanced Tactical Fighter fighter concept aircraft (x 38). You also get a couple of SH-60 Seahawk's. |
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| CAST METAL PARTS | ||||||||||
| The metal parts are clean and with a minimal amount of flash. They consist of a couple of Tillys and other deck tractors (x 8) |  |
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| PHOTO ETCH | ||||||||||
| A nice brass photo etch sheet is included with aircraft parts, and safety netting. Etching is OK, but not as nice as some of their newer offerings. |  |
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| MANUFACTURES PHOTO'S | ||||||||||
| These are pictures from the JAG website showing the kit built up. The one on the right looks just like the magazine cover illustration. |  |
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| INSTRUCTIONS | ||||||||||
The instructions consist of the front and back of a B-sized
sheet (11" x 17"). An image of the photo etch fret with part numbers
is on one sheet and an exploded view of all the components is on the other.
These are not the best instructions that JAG has done, but considering
how simple this kit is they are adequate.
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| CONCLUSIONS | ||||||||||
It is available direct from JAG or wherever fine model ships are sold. With a list price of $120 it's priced better than most resin CV's in this scale. If you enjoy future what if type ships, then you will really like this one. Besides the rivet counters will be unable to criticize your build with no real prototype! |
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