German heavy Cruiser 1945
Reviewed by Timothy Dike
| The German Heavy Cruiser Prinz Eugen was a member of the Hipper Class Heavy Cruiser. Weighing in at 12,000 tons empty with a Maximum displacement of 19,000 tons, these were among the largest cruisers built. The Prinz Eugen had an overall length of 654 feet and a beam of over 69 feet. The Prinz Eugen is best known for having accompanied the Bismarck on her last voyage. together the two ships sunk the HMS Hood and damaged the HMS Prince of Wales. The Prinz Eugen separated from the Bismarck as planned and later returned to Brest in occupied France. She survived the war only to be sunk following an atomic bomb explosion test at Bikini Atoll 25 July 1946. | |||||
| Samek has chosen to model her in her 1945 fit, though it would not be hard to back date her to her 1940 appearance. The hull is very well cast and has plenty of detail cast in place. The deck planking is well done and looks like individual planks laid on the deck instead of just raised lines like a lot of other kits. |
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| The superstructure part are cast on a thin wafer of resin and are well done. I generally gauge the quality of casting by the condition of the splinter shields on the deck levels or hull as these are some of the most fragile parts of a casting. These are no disapointment and are very thin and well formed with no defects. |  |
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| Boats and miscellaneous parts are pretty well done. I don't like the resin gun barrels as these appear a little fragile. I would replace these with those brass replacements from Clipper. |  |
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| A photo etch fret is included for the crane, catapults, radar's and other fine parts. This set is made by Eduard and has every thing except for the deck railings included. The only problem with the pe is that the single bar railings that are included lack a gutter rail for ease in attaching them. |  |
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Instructions are four pages, two are drawings and specifications.
The other two are an exploded view and a detail of subassemblies. The views
include part numbers that correspond with the numbers on the photo etch
fret and the resin parts. These are barely adequate in my opinion to build
this ship. A larger plan and elevation view, and more subassembly details
would be very helpful.
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 Conclusions:
A nicely detailed kit that has very fine molding. It's main weakness
is it's instructions. This kit is listed in the latest Pacific
Front Hobbies update at $49.00 making it just a little more expensive
than the new Tamiya kit. But it includes
a photo etch and has better detailing. As nice as the new Tamiya kit is,
this one is better, so this one would be your best bet for the most accurate
and detailed model of the Prinz Eugen.
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