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The latest from the innovative South Korean company Infini Model has arrived in the UK. The sets include the thinnest wooden decks ever made, at 0.1mm thick using materials and techniques developed by Infini Model for small scale ship models. Also included is a set of turned brass masts to replace what are usually overly thick and chunky looking injection moulded items in 1/700 scale. They come with a small sheet of photo etched brass containing the essentials for using the headline parts, which includes replacement breakwaters and so on. A nice touch is the inclusion of extremely fine anchor chain to replace the grossly over-scale moulded on representations found on most kit parts. As per usual with Infini Model, a nice set of full colour illustrated instructions has come to be expected and they do not disappoint. Get 'em while they're hot: https://www.sovereignhobbies.co.uk/collections/1-700

USS Iowa Kagero Super Drawings in 3D USS Iowa (BB-61) was the lead ship of her class of battleship and the fourth in the United States Navy to be named in honor of the 29th state. Owing to the cancellation of the Montana-class battleships, Iowa is the last lead ship of any class of United States battleships, and was the only ship of her class to have served in the Atlantic Ocean during the war. During World War II, she carried President Franklin D. Roosevelt across the Atlantic to Casablanca en route to a crucial 1943 meeting in Tehran with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin. She has a bathtub — an amenity installed for Roosevelt, along with an elevator to shuttle him between decks.[1] When transferred to the Pacific Fleet in 1944, Iowa shelled beachheads at Kwajalein and Eniwetok in advance of Allied amphibious landings and screened aircraft carriers operating in the Marshall Islands. She also served as the Third Fleet flagship, flying Adm. William F. Halsey's flag at the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay. During the Korean War, Iowa was involved in raids on the North Korean coast, after which she was decommissioned into the United States Navy reserve fleets, better known as the "mothball fleet." She was reactivated in 1984 as part of the 600-ship Navy plan, and operated in both the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets to counter the recently expanded Soviet Navy. In April 1989, an explosion of undetermined origin wrecked her #2 gun turret, killing 47 sailors. Iowa was decommissioned for the last time in 1990, and was initially stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in 1995. She was reinstated from 1999 to 2006 to comply with federal laws that required retention and maintenance of two Iowa-class battleships. In 2011 Iowa was donated to the Los Angeles-based non-profit Pacific Battleship Center and was permanently moved to Berth 87 at the Port of Los Angeles in the summer of 2012, where she was opened to the public to serve as a museum and memorial to battleships. This is another of Kageros 3D format books with the first thirteen pages dedicated to the history of construction, modernisations, armour protection, powerplant, individual weapons systems and operational history of this great ship. The rest of the book is filled with highly detailed 3D renderings of every part of the main decks and superstructure. All the drawings are supremely well done and will be an absolute goldmine of information for the locations of the many different bits of smaller equipment not normally shown in side drawings or plans, such as all the rigging wires and their attachments. The addition of a pull out double sided sheet, with line drawings of various ships equipment in various scales from 1:50 to 1:200 on one side and side views in1:400 scale on the reverse is a very nice bonus, and very helpful, particularly with the rigging of the ship. Some descriptions of the ships parts seem incorrect, particularly the aerial farm between the funnels which look more like air vents. This could be a genuine mistake, or just a misprint through translation, but it really doesn't demean the work that's been done with the rest of the book. Conclusion A brilliantly laid out book with superbly drawn and rendered pictures plus a good potted history of this fabulous looking ship. I can highly recommend this book to all interested in the historic Iowa, and could possibly be used for certain construction details of other ships in the class. Review sample courtesy of

Pictures from Alan (phatness)