Reviewed by Timothy Dike |
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| The Bagley class followed the Gridley
class sharing the same basic hull as the preceding Mahan class. While the
Gridley class destroyers were built with new high pressure 565 psi. turbines,
the Bagley class retained the Mahans 400 psi machinery. Both Bagley and
Gridley classes had the same armament of four 5" 38 cal main guns. Two
in enclosed base ring mounts forward and two open mounts aft. They also
carried four quadruple torpedo mounts, two on each side more than any other
US Navy destroyer. The one feature that distinguished them was the funnel
trunking.
The Bagley class consisted of eight ships all initially serving together in Destroyer Squadron 4. All were at Pearl Harbor when war broke out and all served in the hot spots of the Pacific. Bagley was sent to Australia early in 42 and took part in the raids on Bougainville in February. She was at Guadalcanal in August and took part in the Savo Island battle. Bagley was on scene and rescued 450 survivors of the three US Cruisers Astoria, Vincennes, and Quincy. Bagley escorted convoys for the rest of 42 and supported the invasion of New Britain. She was sent home to Mare Island for a much needed refit and returned to action in May 44. Bagley went on to support the bombardment of Tinian and Saipan. In June 44 it was the Battle of the Philippine Sea, afterwards bombarding Bonin and Volcano Islands, followed by Yap Islands and the invasion of the Palau Islands. Bagley seemed to always be in the thick of the action taking part in raids on Nansei Shoto, Formosa, and the Philippines, including the action at Leyte Gulf. Bagley was there at Iwo Jima and Okinawa and when Allied forces finally prevailed she was there to accept the surrender of Japanese forces on the Marcus Islands. All in all Bagley earned 12 battle stars for her World War II service. See her full DANFS entry here. This Yankee Modelworks kit has been around for a while, it the old Classic Warships kit with some photo etch upgrades. It is still the best available in this scale. It depicts the USS Bagley in 1942 and can be used to produce most any of her sister ships from that time frame. |
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| HULL | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The hull is cast waterline style with a separate lower hull. Casting is pretty good, with nice cast on anchor chain and well formed bits. The hull looks very much like drawings I have of the class. The only feature lacking is some camber to the decks. The only flaws I noted on this kit are two pin holes in the splash shield for the #3 gun mount. |
to enlarge |
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| SUPERSTRUCTURE | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The forward superstructure is cast with a separate base and deck. I would rather have seen this as a single part. But with a little flat sanding on the deck, the fit should be ok. The funnel trunking appears to be spot on with the drawings. The funnel itself is well done with a nice hollowed out top. Also cast in resin are the upper deck extension and some gun tubs. |  |
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| METAL PARTS | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The 5" gun mounts are cast in metal. Two are enclosed and two are open. The guns are cast with the mounting ring on the bottom. Some of the parts have excessive flash on them, others such as the life boats and davits look crisp and clean. A little cleanup with a file will be necessary on some of the parts, but the shapes appear accurate. |  |
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| PHOTO ETCH | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A photo etch fret supplies all the railings and other items such as radar's, bridge wing supports, and depth charge racks. |  |
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| INSTRUCTIONS | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
The instructions are six pages with a bill of materials,
plans and elevation views, exploded views and camo sheets. Pretty good
overall.
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| CONCLUSIONS | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
This kit was state of the art when it was first released. It is still a very good kit with lots of detailing possibilities. With some cleanup, the parts are usable. Many modelers will most likely upgrade with some of the newer aftermarket parts now available. Ether way this is the only kit on the market to get you an accurate Bagley class destroyer. This is Kit #YKM-35010 with a list price of $130.00, not bad especially when you can find it for a lot less online. This is only one of the many USN destroyers produced by Yankee Modelworks see the whole line on their website. |
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