1/350 USS New York, LPD-21 (Gallery Models)
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by Ryan Labieniec |
1/350 USS New York, LPD-21 (Gallery Models)
This is the recent release Gallery Models USS New York kit. It is built mostly OOB, with the exception of detailing in the well deck, and the yardarms on the fore mast. Painted with Model Master and Tamiya acrylics, and weathered with oils and pastel chalk.
The Kit:
Accuracy: While I am no expert on the class, I will save accuracy comments for others who are more well informed, but it certainly looks like an LPD when done.
Pros: MANY! The fit of this kit throughout the entire build varies between good and excellent. Sub-assemblies fit together tightly even with dry fitting, and the most amazing area is the upper and lower hull fit. This is a joint where the seam is several feet long, and changes in elevation, and the fit was perfect! On a seam that long, all it required was a little light sanding and 2 small areas where a little filler was needed, and the seam disappears. I was shocked at the quality of that fit, and very pleasantly surprised. There is minimal sanding required throughout this kit and even less filler needed. There is little to no flash to deal with, and any ejector pin marks are on areas that are unseen. The kit decals are another pleasant surprise. They went on great, there is very little clear film around the edges and the colors are vibrant. My favorite aspect of the decals is how they simplified the flight deck markings. With large markings on the flight decks of modern ships, it can lead to big, intricate decal designs that have a lot of clear film and are difficult to position properly (an issue I have heard is a pain in their Wasp/Iwo kits). Well in this kit, Gallery broke up the complex flight deck markings into simple straight lines (ie- a “+” shape will be made of 2 straight line individual decals). This technique leads to a high decal count, but the results with a little patience are awesome! The decals are strong enough to withstand multiple repositioning, but snug down into the recesses very nicely with some micro sol and micro set. The kit PE is easy to use and nicely detailed, with the rails custom fit for their locations. The aircraft are decent, and plenty of options are possible with what is included. The 2 UH-1N Hueys are a very welcome addition, but I left them off this ship, as I have them slated for duty on the Iwo Jima. Did I mention that the fit of this kit is great?! Detail on the small parts is very nice, especially on the RAM launchers and the Chaff/ Nulka kits. The 4 HUGE American flag decals are great as well, and the fact that 4 are included is awesome, you have spares if you mess up, or in my case, I have 3 more for use on other ships in my fleet. This big flag adds a really cool touch. The PE life raft racks are really cool and easy to assemble.
Cons: FEW. The well deck detail is disappointing. What is so disappointing is the fact that it is largely non-existing. What is there is nice, but it is not much. I detailed my well deck with spares and scratch, it was an easy job really, but compared to the quality of the rest of the kit the well deck falls short. Another note on the well deck, the far fore bulkhead is completely wrong for any ship of the class. Where the kit part is a solid mostly featureless wall, there should be a ramp going up from it into a vehicle bay, a balcony above, and a hallway that goes farther fore to another vehicle bay. Now give the depth of the well deck, most of this stuff is impossible to notice unless you light it as I have. The kit directions are not bad, but can be confusing in a few parts. There are a couple of PE parts that are simply not mentioned on the directions, they simply show up somewhere later on in a completed drawing, which was a little frustrating. The RHIB boats are not the greatest, they are not horrible, but are pretty simplistic in their appearance. There also are a few PE parts (aft window footrails for one) that the kit seems to have been designed for, but they are absent from the included PE frets. The fore mast is absent the yardarms for the
Impressions: Overall I highly recommend this kit! Pretty much built OOB it is impressive to add to your collection, and the possibilities for super-detailing and dioramas are vast. It is a very fun and stress-free build that can be completed in a month or two without too much difficulty. I found the price of the kit vs. the result and enjoyment one of the best modeling purchases I have made. An in-progress thread of the build can be seen here.
And finally a big thanks to Tracy White for sharing with me the collection of reference photos he has compiled of ships of the San Antonio class, he saved me an untold number of hours and frustration scouring the internet for that one perfect shot of some obscure widget or doo-dad! Much appreciated my friend.
Semper Fi!
