USS Philadelphia (CL-41), Brooklyn class cruiser
Here, my friends, is my first foray into the brave new world of resin kits. I have a soft spot for the 9 cruisers of the Brooklyn class, which were extremely good looking ships, and of great historical significance. Thus, it is hard to believe that no major manufacturer has come up with an injection mould kit of these ships!
They were "there" for the entire duration of the US involvement in World War II, often in the thick of the action, and distinguishing themselves in every theatre. Then they found a long second life in South American navies, including the General Belgrano, sunk in 1982 during the Falklands War. Their main armament of 15 6" guns in 5 triple turrets packed a considerable punch.
Anyway, having decided to build a Brooklyn, the only game in town is Polish company Niko Model (http://www.nikomodel.pl/index.php/en/), which offers a series of resin kits of these cruisers, as they looked at different times. My choice was USS Philadelphia (CL-41), as she appeared in its final war configuration (1945, Atlantic and Mediterranean theatres).
My hesitation in embracing resin kits was unfounded. I found that many of the skills acquired building injection kits were transferrable, but had to learn some new tricks, like straightening bent resin using hot water. The kit comes with almost everything you need, and even some spares of small parts you are likely to lose to the "carpet monster". The only things I added were the rigging (Uschi elastic line, which I used for the first time and liked a lot) and generic decals for the hull numbers and aircraft markings.
The instructions leave a lot to be desired, in particular with respect to what exactly you need to do to insert and secure the main mast properly. Some patience, perseverance, and lots of dry-fitting are advised, but building this kit was an overall positive experience.
If you would like to see some construction pictures, check https://www.marcellorosa.com/1-700-ships/ussphiladelphiacl-41. You can contact me using the email link in that site.
Beautiful! Excellent result in such a small scale. You knocked this out of the park
Fantastic work!
Beautiful work, Marcello!
Beautiful indeed, Marcello @marcellorosa1
Beautiful work! A great result.
I think Trumpeter has/will soon release Brooklyn in 1/350 plastic. I know they did a Baltimore CA.
Hi Tom; no Brooklyn so far, although they have done their successors the Cleveland class. But of course it will happen. As soon as you decide to give up and get a resin/ different scale/ old/ kit of something you really wanted, but was not available, a new and much superior kit come out...
Them's the modelin' rules, sure enough. 🙂
Very Fire has a 1/350 injection molded kit of the USS Salem of the later Des Moines class. Trumpeter made a 1/700, but also advertised a 1/350 Baltimore for years similar to their 1/32 Devastator.
We have injection moulded kits of basically every class of USN cruiser except the Brooklyns, which only makes it more puzzling in my view. Anyway, plenty of materials for my follow-up builds!
Fantastic result, Marcello!
I like the Brooklyn class cruisers. Excellent looking model.
Lovely looking ship, great work with the resin kit.
Beautiful build of my favorite class of WWII cruiser!
Dear all
I could not resist and added a customised sea base to this one...
4 attached images. Click to enlarge.