Reviewed by Timothy Dike |
| HISTORY |
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| The German light cruiser Emden was a unique one off design
built to conform to the limitations imposed by the Treaty of Versailles.
That same treaty did not allow for the Germany to design new weapons so
an existing single mount 5.9" gun was utilized. Eight gun were mounted
on this 6,000 ton cruiser in a fashion typical of WWI ships. The ship was
launched in 1925 after many delays. He served as a training vessel until
the outbreak of the second world war. The Emden was damaged in a British
air raid on Wilhelmshaven and one of the attackers crashed into the forward
part of the ship causing major damage. The ship was repaired and sent to
Norway to help with the invasion and minelaying operations in the North
Sea. Emden returned to her role as a training ship, when he was sent to
the Baltic Sea. In 1945 Emden helped evacuate German troops from East Prussia.
Damaged in an air raid on Kiel, Emden was towed to Heikendorfer Bucht and
beached while the war wound down. After the war Emden was scuttled and
scrapped. |
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| HULL |
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| The hull is cast with much of the main superstructure in
place. It looks good overall with some thin traces of flash here and there.
The deck planking looks really nice, though the planks might be a bit on
the large side. They should really stand out well when painted. The hull
includes numerous port holes along the hull and aft superstructure. I don't
have any good plans on this ship, so I can't comment on accuracy, but it
looks very much like the pictures I have seen on the web. |
click images
to enlarge
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| SUPERSTRUCTURE PARTS |
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| These parts are cast on thin resin wafers and are pretty well cast.
Detail looks pretty good, and the structures are cast with well defined
shapes. Splinter shields are a good balance of thick enough to mold and
thin enough to look good on a 1/700 kit. You will have to be careful when
removing the parts from the wafer as you do not want to damage the thin
sections. The funnels look nice, but are not hollowed out. |
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| WEAPONS, FITTINGS, AND SMALL PARTS |
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| Weapons and fittings vary in quality. Some are somewhat generic in
shape but otherwise well cast. There are plenty of square life rafts to
apply to your ship. |
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| DECALS |
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| German flags are printed on paper and are historically accurate instead
of politically correct. Previous versions did not include the Swastika
and you have to draw your own if you wanted it. These are much better. |
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| INSTRUCTIONS |
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| The instructions are front and back of a single sheet with
plan and elevation, and an exploded view of the assembly. Lengths for most
parts are shown so you can fabricate them correctly. You will have to supply
your own as most of these parts are not included in the kit.
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| CONCLUSIONS |
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Overall this is a pretty good kit, it will give you a good representation
of this unique ship. It could use some photo etch to spruce it up and I
would like to see items such as brass rod for the masts included. This
kit was listed for $52.00 US a typical price for a cruiser in this scale.
Be sure to check Pacific
Front's new online store for this and the complete line of HP Models. |
