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The
Loose Cannon Albemarle
Loose Cannon's Albemarle comes in a sturdy white
box, with the hull wrapped in plastic and surrounded on three sides by
thin cardboard for further protection. The rest of the parts are
packaged in plastic bags, which are then stapled into small sections, to
prevent the contents from shifting and being damaged. My instructions,
which had the photo-etch and decal sheets taped to the first page, arrived
outside of the box in the shipping package. The photo-etch was bent
in some places. |
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| THE
HULL |
| The hull is cast as one piece, waterline,
with some of the superstructure decks and the sides of the hangar integral
to the hull. Overall, the hull is decently cast. Some portholes
are a little shallow, and will need to be drilled a little deeper.
There are a few blemishes on the hull, and a trace of over pour that will
need to be sanded off the bottom of the hull. Looking at photos of
the real ship, there looks there is some prominent piping around the hanger,
and pronounced plating on the hull. More detail oriented modelers
may want to try and add those details. The wooden decks are nicely
done - there is thin individual planking with butt ends.
According to the measurements for Albemarle,
the hull scales out pretty close in beam and length. |
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| DECKS |
| The 01, 02 superstructure decks, as
well as the roof of the hangar, are separate parts. The 03 and 04
superstructure levels are cast as one piece. All of these parts have
resin over pour, which will have to be sanded off. The 01 and 02
decks are quite thin, and, as a result, slightly warped. Details
include portholes, porthole covers (on the 03 level only), splinter shields,
planking (but without the butt ends found on the fo'c'sle and main decks),
hatches and watertight doors. There are wind baffles on the facing
of the 04 level. The hangar roof looks like it will need the
most clean-up. All bollards, chocks and fairleads are cast separately,
which will help with painting (more on those later). |
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| FUNNELS,
LARGE CRANE BASES AND MAIN BATTERY DIRECTORS |
| These come on one runner.
There will be some cleanup needed on these parts, as the crane bases have
some flash on them. Detail is okay, but a little soft. |
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| BOLLARDS,
OPEN CHOCKS, FAIRLEADS AND READY SERVICE LOCKERS |
| All
the aforementioned parts are cast separately from the hull.
This makes painting the deck, with it's two color camo, easier to paint.
Overall, these parts are a mixed bag. Some are decently cast,
others, not so much. It's also going to be a challenge to sand
these small parts off the wafers they are on. |
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| RAFTS |
| The
kit has three different types of rafts - two sizes of oval rafts,
and one size of rectangular rafts. There is "netting"
cast into the bottoms of the rafts, which is a nice touch, but these will
need the outer edges sanded and cleaned up before painting. |
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| SHIPS BOATS AND
DAVITS |
| You'll
find a total of 17 boats, of 5 different types, included with the model.
The larger motor boats and launches have boat cradles molded as part of
the hull. There is some flash on these parts, especially on
the davits. Overall, detail, especially on the large motor
boats, is soft. |
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| GUN
TUBS, SEARCHLIGHT PLATFORMS, CRANE TUBS |
| There
is an assortment of gun tubs and platforms in the kit. Some are for
the 40mm guns, some for the 20mm guns, some go with the crane and some
are for the searchlights. The 40mm and 20mm gun tubs have bracing
cast into the sides of the tubs. |
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| WEAPONS |
| Many
USN auxiliaries, which could sometimes operate in forward areas, were fairly
well armed during World War II. Albemarle is no different.
She carried four 5"/38 caliber guns in single turrets, four quad 40 mm
AA guns, and 16 20mm guns after her mid-1944 refit in Boston.
The 5"/38 caliber and 40mm guns are cast in resin, while the 20mm are photo-etch.
Frankly,
the weapons are the weakest part of the kit. The 40mm gun barrels
appear to be short cast, and the mount themselves are not crisply molded.
The 5/38 look soft, lack detail and appear to be undersize. The only
think I had in 700 scale to compare them to were the 5/38 turrets in the
old PitRoad E-6 USN Equipment for US Navy Ships set.
While I don't know if the PitRoad versions are to scale, the kit parts
are smaller. Personally, I'd replace all the weapons with 3D printed
parts. The model also includes the two open 5/38 guns that
Albemarle's
sister Curtiss carried. |
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| ASSORTED
PARTS |
| Other small parts in the kit include
searchlights, Mk 51 directors, capstans, vents, cable reels, what looks
like a pelorous, anchors, paravanes, masts, yards, the hangar door and
various assorted bits and bobs. Quality is a mixed bag. Some
parts are nicely cast, some are not. The masts and yards look pretty
good, but I'd probably replace them with brass rod, for strength (especially
if you are going to rig). The cable reels look pretty good. |
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| AIRCRAFT |
| Two
resin PBM Mariners are included with Albemarle. Each
aircraft consists of about five parts - fuselage, wing, tail planes and
floats. The photo-etch set includes the under wing braces for
the floats and propellers. The tail surfaces have fabric detail cast
into them, there are faint scribed lines on the upper wings for the flaps,
but elsewhere the detail is soft. As with the weapons, you
may want to see if a 3D printed replacement exists. |
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| DECALS |
| Two
small decal sheets are contained in the model. One has a variety
of codes for US Auxiliaries (AR, AD,, AV, ect) and hull numbers from 1
to 19. The second set contains US national markings for the
PBMs. Both sheets contain a US flag. |
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| PHOTOETCH |
| There is a fairly extensive photo-etch
set included with the kit. You'll find railings, radars, lattice
supports for platforms, inclined ladders, crane booms, bracing for the
hangar overhead, pulleys, yardarms, 20mm guns, anchor chain and the aforementioned
parts for the PBMs. There is some relief etching present.
This looks very complete and is nicely etched. |
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| INSTRUCTIONS |
| The instructions are excellent.
There are 18 pages of history, parts inventory and detail drawings and
instructions on how to assemble the ship. There are even drawings
to rig the funnels and masts, as well as three pages dedicated to Albemarle's
complex Measure 32, Design 5Ax camouflage pattern. Bravo to
Loose Cannon for providing such detailed instructions. Other manufacturers
should take note, and follow their lead. |
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| CONCLUSIONS |
| Overall, I'd call this
a bit of a mixed bag. Some areas are nicely done, some are
not as nicely done. It is an usual subject with a striking
camouflage design, and the possibilities to use it in a diorama are only
limited to your imagination. The photo-etch is well done, and fairly
extensive, while the instructions are excellent. For those
of you who don't care for dazzle camouflage, Loose Cannon is also releasing
a model of sister ship Curtiss when she was painted Ms 21.
This is Loose Cannon East’s 1/700 USS Albemarle,
kit number 138. The model lists for around $95.00 and is available directly
from Loose Cannon East. Thanks to Loose
Cannon East for the review sample. Recommended to fans of Auxiliaries
and modelers with a few resin kits under their belts. |
