Reviewed by Timothy Dike
| Medusa (AR-1) was laid down at
the Navy Yard, Puget Sound, Wash., 2 January 1920; launched 16 April 1923;
sponsored by Mrs. Burns Poe; and commissioned 18 September 1924, Capt.
R. T. Menner in command.
Medusa, designed as a fleet repair ship for major repairs beyond the fighting ship’s own capabilities but which must be accomplished without benefit of a Navy Yard, spent her naval career with the Pacific Fleet. Assigned to Train Squadron 2, Battle Force, after commissioning, she performed her duties out of San Pedro until World War II. To accomplish her mission she was equipped with foundry, blacksmith, electrical, pipe, carpentry, machine, and motion picture shops. Her machinery included lathes, radial drills, milling, slotting, and boring machines, as well as optical repair apparatus, armature bake ovens, and coil winding machines. To meet additional demands from the fleet, she had large laundry, bakery, and refrigeration units. On 7 December 1941, Medusa was at Pearl Harbor. During the action there, she helped to down two Japanese planes and sink a midget submarine, in addition to rendering assistance to numerous stricken vessels. At the end of the attack Medusa undertook the task for which she was designed, getting and keeping the ships in fighting condition. By March 1942 the first rush was beginning to be cleared away, but the pace kept up. Before each big battle she insured the ship-shape condition of the combatants; afterwards, she helped patch the damage. On 4 April 1943, she got underway for the combat area. Arriving at Efate, New Hebrides, 20 April, she found more than enough work to keep her busy for the next year. On 27 March 1944, she departed for a series of shorter assignments. First sailing to New Guinea, she repaired ships of the 7th Fleet at Milne Bay and Buna Roads; then sailed to Guadalcanal, arriving 15 May. On 1 June she steamed to Sydney for repairs to her hull, damaged by grounding on Buna Shoal in May, before continuing on to Manus. In mid-January 1945, she departed Manus for Hollandia where she joined a convoy for San Pedro Bay. There she serviced ships engaged in the capture of Luzon and other enemyheld islands in the Philippines and the Ryukyus until 6 July, when she returned to Manus. At the end of August, with Pacific hostilities ended, Medusa steamed to Manila. There she operated with Service Squadron 7 until heading back to the United States, 14 November. On 8 December she reported to CNOB Terminal Island for duty in connection with the layup of vessels in the 19th Fleet, after which she herself began inactivation. Decommissioned 18 November 1947 at Bremerton, she was stripped and turned over to the Maritime Commission for ultimate disposal. On 24 August 1950 her hulk was sold to Zeidell Shipwrecking Co. Medusa received one battle star for World War II service. |
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| I previewed this kit last month, but now that I have one in my hands I wanted to post an in-box review so you can see for yourself what you are getting with your hard earned money. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| HULL PARTS | |||||||||||||||||||||
| The hull is one piece with some really nice casting both on the deck and the hull sides. The hull plating is very nice and will look great on the finished model especially with a light wash applied to bring out the details. Port holes and anchor hawse pipes are well cast. The deck features nice planking, cargo hatches, skylights, and really detailed winches. But what really stands out to me is the really nice open chocks along the deck edge, Wow! The closed chocks are nicely done too, but you will have to drill them out if you so desire. You will also note the location holes cast in to help with parts placement. I am a big fan of small touches like this. | Click images
to enlarge |
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| SUPERSTRUCTURE PARTS | |||||||||||||||||||||
| The superstructure parts are cast on a thin wafer so they will be easy to remove. They are also nicely detailed with fine deck planking and window frames and doors cast onto the walls. More deck winches are also included as well as some nice gun tubs. The large tub does have a small resin blob that need to be carved out. Gun bases for the 3”/30's are very well done and feature very intricate detailing. |  |
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| SMALL PARTS, AND DETAIL ITEMS | |||||||||||||||||||||
| The funnel, searchlight platforms, crane derrick, and lots of small parts are cast on resin sprues. The detail is very nice especially on the cowl vents and searchlights. You really need to see these parts up close to really appreciate them. There are really nice 50 cal. guns with separate barrel and yokes. The same goes for the 5"/50's that are the most realistic ones I have seen in this scale. The anchors even look right with the stock cast separately. Lots of parts not typically seen in this scale are included such as Pelorus mounts, range finders, and even a direction finder antenna. I almost forgot to mention the various boats that are included. As you can see from the photos, they are nicely detailed. I hope that some of these detail items are made available separately for those of us who like to replace the parts found in the typical plastic kit. |  |
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| ASSEMBLED SHIP | |||||||||||||||||||||
| These are pictures of Mike Czibovic's assembled kit using only the kit parts. You can see that it builds up into a impressive ship even without photo etch and after market accessories. More images can be seen in the preview of this kit. |  |
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| INSTRUCTIONS | |||||||||||||||||||||
The instructions are six pages, very well written and illustrated
with history and parts list. Photos of the completed ship with parts locations
marked are provided. Deck level drawings are also provided for many
of the areas to help with the details.
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| Conclusions: | |||||||||||||||||||||
It's really nice to see another Pearl Harbor veteran ship kit from Corsair Armada. Most of us were just happy to know that his old kits are back in production. But it sure was a pleasant surprise to see this new kit with even finer detailing. If your a 700 scale waterline fan, then this kit belongs in your collection. It will look great with a Pearl Harbor diorama, or as as a scale example of an Armed Repair Ship. You will have to supply your own photo etch and evidently batteries are not included. But what you do have is a stunning example of the Medusa. Pacific Front Hobbies lists this kit for $65.00. |
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