Gallery Model's long expected 1/350 San Antonio class USS New York LPD-21 is rapidly approaching a hobby store near you- but not yet. MRC has provided Modelwarships.com with a pre-production sample of New York; all the requisite parts in included, but it is missing the instruction manual and painting instructions. Additionally, some of the part don't have the finish expected in a production kit (looks like the injection molds are due a final polishing)

USS New York LPD-21 is the fifth ship in the San Antonio class of amphibious transport docks. USS New York is unique for many reasons, but most importantly in commemoration of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. In honor and memory of this tragedy, around 7 tons of steel from the Towers was melted down and cast as the bow of the ship. Two other ships in the class have also been named in honor of the 9/11 attacks; Arlington and Somerset, both under construction.

This class will be the only US Navy vessels with a "ship to shore" aspect in the future, as the America Class LHA does not have a well deck. As such, these ships will play a vital and integral role in future amphibious operations and Military Operations Other Than War (MOOTW).

Dimensions:

• Length: 684 feet (208 meters) OA: 661' (201 meters) waterline.
• Beam: 105 feet (32 meters)
• Draft: 23'
• Displacement: approx. 25,000t full load

USS New York's weapons are defensive in nature; her offensive arms are her Marines and their equipment. To ensure the safety of her embarked USMC components, New York is equipped with 2 Mk29 21-cell Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) launchers, 2 30mm Bushmaster II cannons and numerous M2 .50 machine guns.

The equipment and aircraft included in the kit is comprised of:

• AAV-7A1 Tracked Amphibious vehicles (x2)
• AIRCRAFT
  • MV-22 Osprey (x2)
  • AH-1W Cobra (x2)
  • CH-53E Sea Stallion (x2)
  • CH-46 Sea Knight (x2)
  • UH-1N Twin Huey (x2)
• LANDING CRAFT
  • Landing Craft, Utility (LCU)
  • Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC)(x2)

New York is molded as a large single piece hull with no waterline option. It is solidly cast, with thick plastic sides with seperate internal bulkheads to stiffen the hull. There is another large single peice upper hull/deck with attached most of the primary superstructure molded in. This is increasingly commone with modern low-observabilty ships with the large monolithic appearance. There does not appear to be an indicated waterline, but if you wish to waterline the hull, basing it on the well deck should make this easier. The two hulls fit together well, with no major faults or missmatches.

The hull has many surface details molded on, and the bottom of the hull shows some slight mold lines, but they will be easily removed with some light sanding. The distinct and large anchor bolster looks good. However, many of the screened vents on the upper hull section are incorrect in size and placement; an accurate LPD-21 will require the removal of much of the surface detail; some aftermarket companies are sure to provided the correct number and sizes. Other missing items are the tracks and sliding screens for the boat access/launching ports on the starboard side. While these screens were not in place during the trials and commissioning, they were installed during an availabilty in late 2010-early 2011.

Waterline length is around 22.6" and beam is a little shy at 3.5", but the installation of the bulkheads and deck will probably correct that.

As mentioned above, the molds used for this pre-release kit appear to need a bit of final polishing- the large, flat, smooth slabs of the hull make this need readily apparent. If Gallery neglects this step, some finish sanding will be necessary to achive that final finish on the plastic before prime and paint.

Sprue A has the three interior bulkheads, one of the many rounded radar/SATCOMM domes, cranes (small boat and welldeck overhead), and the floor of the welldeck.

The welldeck has tiedowns molded on in place, as well as the ramp to the vehicle deck.

Sprue A2 has the two wedge-shaped bilge keels, for attaching to the lower hull.

B has the large RHIB, some walls and other shrouded assemblies for the superstructure, the upper half of the well deck outer door, but is mainly taken up with the 2 walls for the welldeck.

The walls come with the wooden and rubber protective sheathing molded in, but the gallery surrounding the welldeck is fairly sparse and plain- missing are the hose reels and prominent flourscent lighting fixtures.

Sprue C has a mix of weapons structures, from the upper vehicle deck, hangar deck bulkheads and the foc'sle deck. The foc'sle deck exhibits the same rough surface textures seen on the hull, and hopefully the final product will be smoother.

The bulkheads have conduits and ducts molded on, and are generally down in a satisfactory fashion. A few of the watertight doors are a bit on the plain side, and at least one duct plenum is marred by an unfortunate sink mark.

Sprue D has a variety of interesting parts, including both octagaonal mast shrouds, the twin shafts, propellors and shaft supports, the transom and the aircraft hangar outer bulkhead. Many of the parts on this sprue exhibit items that will need to be addressed; the mast shrouds all show sink marks on each facet near the narrowed top; the propellors and shaft supports have flash and mold lines- however, these items can be attributed to mechanics of production. What cannot be attributed to that are some of the errors in detail, specifially:

• The propellor blades do not appear to be correctly shaped.
• The two mast shrouds are missing the stepped "crown" appearance present on the real ship.
• Aviation Operations Control Station windows are incorrectly shaped and sized.

Unlike the upper hull, the outer bulkheads do not have screens molded on, but rather rounded rectangles where photoetched grills will be attached. This tendency continues throught the rest of the sprues.

This sprue has the two piece bulbous bow for New York, the standard nameplate, assorted bulkheads and the parts for the welldeck loading ramp.

This sprue has a multitude of small parts of a large variety of purposes around New York. There are various platforms and supports, two short shrouded raised platforms, domed antennas, and other small parts.

Sprue G is also comprised of many small parts, but more readily identifiable ones. As there are two of Sprue G in the kit, many of the equippment with occurs in multiples on New York are present here; life raft cannisters, bollards, SRBOC and Nulka launchers, AN/SLQ-32Q(V)2 ECM antennas, RAM launcher, Bushmaster II turret, as well as a swath of spotlights for helo deck and some well-formed and detailed radio antenna.

This final sprue has the main superstructure parts not already inplace as part of the upper hull part. These parts are the bridge and base of the foremast, shrouded exhaust stack and base for the mainmast assembly.

This kit comes supplied with a variety of aircraft, LCAC's and an LCU, plus 2 AAV-7A1's.

To simplify the layout of this review, New York's Aircraft and Landing Craft have been listed on seperate pages;

1. Aircraft

2. Landing Craft

New York comes with 3 photoetch frets, labeled ETCH A (x2) and ETCH B. The brass of fret "A" is thicker and stiffer than that of "B". Each fret has a selection of railings, ladders, vent screen/louvers, and helo deck safety netting. "A" also has etched endcaps for the RAM launchers.

There are 3 sheets of decals included in New York; 1 of deck markings for New York herself, one markings for the aircraft with some large flag decals for this ship, and a small sheet of the special markings applied on the anchor bolsters for the Commissioning ceremony.

The instructions for New York are not complete at this time.

Model companies seem to have a lot of interest in the USS New York, given the various companies releasing kits in various scales; but this is the first one in 1/350. This kit isn't without faults, but many -but not all- may be attributable to this review sample being a pre-production sample. It does appear some of the errors in detail could be due to this kit being modeled on Pre-Commission Unit (PCU) New York, or her appearance during trials. In the end, the hull is sound, and the kit's is generally good- and it will look like USS New York LPD-21 when you're done!

Thanks to MRC for the pre-release review sample. Gallery Models is a product line exclusive to MRC. This kit should be showing up in your local hobby shops in early November 2012. It is kit #3503 and retail price is $199.99.