Reviewed by Timothy Dike |
| The USS Liddle began life as a Buckley
class destroyer escort. She was converted to a high speed transport in
July 1944. Her first action was at Leyte in the Philippines. She would
operate in that area for the remainder of the war. The Liddle represents
just one of these ships, there were over 40 others in her class. These
ships were half destroyer escort and half transport. They retained their
forward armament thus making them perfect escorts for other transport.
They could offer fire support while they landed troops.
Niko has captured the detail of this little Liddle perfectly in a well
cast highly detailed kit. |
| HULL |
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| The hull is very well cast and has some of the best detailing
you will find in 1/700 resin. The gun tubs and surface detailing is all
well rendered and there is very little to clean up. |
click images
to enlarge
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| SUPERSTRUCTURE, FUNNEL, AND SMALL
PARTS |
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| The bridge, like the hull is very well cast. The open bridge
even has steering gear detailing that is really amazing. The funnel is
nicely shaped and appears to closely match the plans I have of this class. |
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| The 5" gun turret has a very nice shape. Landing craft are included
and have lots of detail. Life rafts, searchlights, and other small resin
parts are well done. |
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| PHOTO ETCH |
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| A relief etch brass photo etch fret is included to add the fine details.
The fret includes the mast, boat davits, 20 mm and 40 mm gun parts, and
lots of finely etched details. Also included is a nice mast with ladders
and antenna gear on the yardarms. The boat handing gear is another nice
touch for this fret. |
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| INSTRUCTIONS |
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| The instructions are three pages with several views showing
the ship. The third page shows the camouflage markings.
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| CONCLUSIONS |
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A highly detailed and accurate kit of the USS Liddle. Almost everything
you needed is included. This kit was listed in
Pacific
Front Hobbies site for $40.00 a nice price for a highly detailed kit
like this with photoetch. They carry the entire Niko line of ships and
many more hard to find, high quality kits. |
