Reviewed August 2020
by Christopher Martens
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| HISTORY |
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| Conte di Cavour was the name ship of her class of battleship
completed in 1915. Initially a five-turreted coal burning battleship, Conte
di Cavour was almost entirely rebuilt as a near-modern battleship from
1933 to 1937. The vessel bore little resembelence to her World War I appearance,
during which she saw little combat.
Conte di Cavour was torpedoed and sunk by the British at Taranto. She
was refloated and placed in drydock, where the Italian Navy realize damage
was far more extensive than initially believed. Repairs proceeded slowly
until she was again sunk in 1945. The battleship was unceremoniously broken
up starting in 1946.
Combrig chose to model the ship as sunk in 1940. |
| THE HULL |
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| Conte di Cavour's hull is a thing of beauty. Crisply and
accurately modeled in resin, the hull features extraordinary detail, likely
a product of Combrig's choice to model to 3D design. I checked fit by attaching
her turrets and was impressed with the precision present in this kit. Her
length appears to be in-line with what drawings I can find. Planking is
sharp and I'm most impressed with the barbette detail. |
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| SUPERSTRUCTURE,
CONNING TOWER, AND FUNNELS |
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| Again, detail on this kit
is fantastic. Hatches, lockers, and other details on the superstructure
are good enough to not need any sort of photoetch replacements. I'm also
impressed with the ship's rangefinder. If I had to offer any criticism?
I wish the pilot house and admiral's bridge levels were photo etch. |
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| MISCELLANEOUS
PARTS |
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| Combrig includes a myraid
of small resin parts for everything from paravines to anchors. These parts
are presented on Combrig's usual strip wafers. Aside from the delicate
davits (pictured below), all these parts were securely attached. Detail
is incredible, on par with many modern resin and 3D printed options. |
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| ARMAMENT |
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| The 12.6 inch turrets are beautiful and closely matched
to available drawings. Blast bags are molded on and act as slots for the
resin barrels. These are nice, aside from lacking the "hollow" look of
brass barrels. Conte di Cavour's secondary battery is well-molded, with
her smaller twin AAA guns molded finely. |
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| SHIP'S BOATS |
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| The ships' boats are, by far, the best options Combrig
has offered with their kits. Again, these are on par with many cutting
edge offerings from well-respected aftermarket options. |
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| PHOTOETCH |
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| Combrig's comprehensive photo etch set contains everything
that is needed to complete this vessel. There is minimal relief etching,
but what's offered is very good. |
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| INSTRUCTIONS |
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| Photos below are snapshots from Combrig's instruction manual.
Instructions are intuitive, clear, and also offer in-scale sizing brass
stock needed for masts and some crane booms. Full instructions can be found
at: Conte
di Cavour's Instructions, 1940 |
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| CONCLUSIONS |
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Combrig continues to produce kits that haven't
been comprehensively and/or qualitatively covered by other resin or styrene
manufacturers. These new kits are true multimedia kits, though often missing
masts and other brass stock scratched items. Their level of detail has
continued to improve and impress putting them at the forefront of resin
kit manufacturers for a reasonable price. Conte di Cavour retails for approximately
$89 dollars which is in my humble opinion, a steal.
Thank you to Combrig
for this review sample. I will thoroughly enjoy building it. |
