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Dutch O-16 Submarine Pacific Crossroads 1:350 History The Inter-War Dutch submarine fleet could be split into two categories: O, (Onderzeeboot) boats, designed for the home waters and K, (Kolonien), boats, for deployment in the vast East Indies colonies. The main differences between the two types were size and range, which was greater for the K boats due to the operational area. The O-16 was the first submarine which combined the range, size and speed of the colonial boats with the handling and armament requirements of the boats designed for the European waters. The keel for the O-16 was laid down in December 1933 at K.M. De Schelde shipyard in Vlissingen. She was launched on January 27th 1936 and commissioned on October 26th. In early 1937 O-16 sailed to the United States, visiting Norfolk and Washington D.C. with stops at Bermuda, the Azors and Lisbon. In 1939 she was attached to the Dutch East Indies submarine fleet. When war was declared on Japan on December 8th 1941, O-16 was already on patrol in the South China Sea and commenced attacking Japanese forces that were invading northeast Malaya. On December 10th she damaged a troopship. Two days later O-16 attacked several troopships in the Bay of Soengei Patani on the East coast of Malaya, sinking three in shallow water and damaging a fourth. With only one torpedo left she sailed for Singapore. On December 15th O-16 struck a mine exiting the Gulf of Siam during her voyage to Singapore. She was nearly broken in half and 41 men perished. Only one crew member, Boatswain Cornelis De Wolf, survived. In October 1995, the wreck of O-16 was found and three years later was filmed and photographed. The Model This kit is the first submarine from Pacific Crossroads and it was a very pleasant surprise when it arrived in the post, as I wasn’t expecting it, so thanks for the this Boris. The kit comes in a very sturdy cardboard box with a picture of the O-16 moored alongside a Far Eastern jetty in a very dramatic light and a War Cross medal with Nederlandsch 1941-42 Bar in the right hand corner. On opening the box the modeller is presented with a very well protected hull form, wrapped in bubble wrap, a clear plastic box with all the other resin parts carefully protected, a sheet of etched brass, (although like the other kits from Pacific Crossroads it still looks like copper), a small poly bag containing a small decal sheet and the turned barrel of the main gun. The instructions come with a short history section, reproduced above, some period photographs and colour plan view of the starboard side and top. The instructions themselves are in a pictorial form of coloured drawings. They are very clear and well annotated, showing which parts go where. The modeller will have to scratch build the radio and periscope masts, but there are clear plans for these at the rear of the instructions. Whilst the protection of the main, single piece hull is very good some of the bollards had broken off, but these can easily be replaced with suitably sized rod or even aftermarket parts. The detail moulded into the hull is very nice, but there are some scratches on the sides that will need to be sanded down a bit. The wooden slat decking appears a little over scale and would benefit from a light sanding to reduce the depth a bit, this goes for the deck piece that covers the external torpedo tubes too. The hull isn’t connected to heavily to the moulding block so once removed it shouldn’t be too difficult to clean up ready for the build. The rest of the parts comprising of the single piece tower, propellers, complete with shafts, external torpedo tubes, aft pair of dive planes, rudder, and ships guns, two AA and the single main are all very nicely moulded and will need only a minimal clean up after removal from the casting blocks. As stated above the main gun comes with option of using a turned metal barrel. This will require the resin barrel to be removed and a small hole drilled into the gun to fit. Etch The single etched sheet provides the rest of the parts required to complete the build and included the various railings for the hull and tower, two cranes, one fitted forward and one aft, vertical ladders and two “accommodation ladders”. There are also two aerial spreaders/supports, the bow cable/net cutter, watertight doors for the tower, aft AA gun gratings, two plates that cover the external, trainable torpedo mounting, which can be posed either open or closed and the two foreplanes. Two quite large plaques are provided for attaching to whatever base you decide to mount the completed model on. The build is quite simple, but I can imagine a little fiddly, but one everything is removed from the casting blocks and cleaned up it shouldn’t cause too many problems for the more experienced modeller. I would assemble the masts first in preparation for fitting at the appropriate point. Once these are done the tower can be fitted to the hull, followed by the trainable torpedo tubes, which are fitted into the well on the foredeck and cover by the separate deck piece. The propellers/shafts are then fitted, along with the aft diveplanes, which come complete with prop guards, and rudder. The ships guns are then fitted to their appropriate positions before the etched parts are fitted. The railings are particularly fine and along with the aerial supports great care should be taken to fit them in their appropriate positions without damaging them. The three periscopes and main mast can then be fitted before painting begins. Of course this is only one way of building the model and the modeller should choose what’s best for them and the way they tackle it. Decals The small sheet contains two Dutch flags, which I presume are fitted either side of the tower, although some research will be need to determine the correct placement, and two very small, (I missed them completely, until Boris pointed them out), white identification codes. Make sure you don't lose them when dipping the sheet in water. Conclusion For the first submarine release Pacific Crossroads have chosen an unusual and exciting example. Even the colour scheme will make it stand out from the crowd in a display. Whilst every effort has obviously been made to ensure the parts are well protected there are bound to be some breakages as evidenced on the review sample, but there is nothing that can’t be scratch built to replace these small fragile parts. If you like submarines, you’ll love this and it really should be included in any collection. Very highly recommended Review sample courtesy of

Fokker T.IV(a) Dutch Float Plane Pacific Crossroads 1:350 The Fokker T.IV was developed to meet the requirements of the Royal Netherlands Navy for a maritime patrol/torpedo bomber aircraft for use in the Dutch East Indies. The original design was for a twin engined float plane with a thick, cantilever, high mounted, monoplane wing and a deep, slab sided fuselage with an open cockpit housing the two man crew. The aircraft was powered by two 450hp Lorraine-Dietrich 12E W-12 engines and made its maiden flight on June 7th 1927. The aircraft was fitted with three machine guns and could carry either a single torpedo or 1,764lb, (800kg) of bombs. A total of twelve were built and delivered to the Dutch Naval Aviation Service in the Dutch East Indies. In 1935 Fokker developed an improved version, the T.IV(a), with 750hp Wright Cyclone radial engines replacing the original units. The other improvements included an enclosed cockpit and enclosed nose and dorsal turrets. A total of twelve were newly built and the original aircraft re-built to T.IV(a) standard. All the new builds were also to be used in the Dutch East Indies. The T.IV(a) proved to be a reliable and seaworthy aircraft and was used for local patrols and air-sea-rescue operations from Java until 1941, when the Japanese attacked the Dutch East Indies. All remaining aircraft bar one were either scuttled or destroyed by Japanese bombing. The last aircraft was damaged in an accident and written off in May 1941 The Model This is the second aircraft in Pacific Crossroads 1:350 range, having released the Do24 last year and reviewed HERE. The kit is packaged in a sturdy hinge top opening box with a depiction of the aircraft in skimming across the sea and the Dutch Flying Cross in the right hand corner. Once again on opening the box the modeller will initially think that he has bought a box of polystyrene peanuts, but lurking in the safety of these peanuts is a small poly bag of resin parts and a small sheet of etched brass. The resin includes a single piece fuselage, two wings, single piece horizontal tailplane and the two floats. The parts, with the exception of the fuselage, are only tentatively attached to their casting blocks, so they should be pretty easy to remove with minimal clean up afterwards. It appears that Boris has been able to make a better positioning of the casting block on this kit as it is is attached to the mating surface of the wing/fuselage join this time making them a whole lot easier to use, since the fuselage has quite deep, (it’s all relative), indentations to receive the wings they should make for a nice clean fit. The casting is very nice and cleanly done with some very fine engraved details. Although the canopy frames look like they’ll be really fun to paint cleanly they are so fine. The build is quite simple, but it will be fiddly, as anyone who has built 1:350 aircraft before will testify. With the wings and tailplane glued into place it’s straight on with adding the etched parts. The most testing area will be the struts for the two floats as they are a complicated affair utilising six different parts. The other etched parts are simple to add, being the tailplane struts, aerial mast, three machine gun barrels, (which for some unknown reason were missing on the review example). The two propellers slide onto spindles in the cowlings, but the port side one was broken on the review example, but it may be best to replace them with suitable metal rod. The cowlings appear quite empty as seen in the photo above and would benefit from being filled as at this scel any engine detail would be difficult to ascertain. Decals The small decal sheet contains a number of different sized orange and black triangles, plus four identification flags, but the single colour scheme of overall khaki green with silver undersides of the wings, floats and fuselage, shown in the instructions, requires just four of the large triangles for the wings and two small ones for the fuselage. No other markings are provided, if any were applied, the modeller will need to do some research. The decals appear to be well printed, in register and with good colour density. Conclusion This is a really unusual aircraft, and one that I had no knowledge of before receiving the kit. It’s another great little kit and Boris of Pacific Crossroads should be proud of it and also congratulated for keeping the memory of the Dutch East Indies forces alive. Once again I can see this as part of an overall diorama displaying the aircraft at anchor just offshore of a Javanese dock. Highly recommended Review sample courtesy of

Dornier Do24 Flying Boat of the Dutch East Indies Pacific Crossroads 1:350 The Dornier Do 24 was designed to meet a Dutch navy requirement for a replacement of the Dornier Wals being used in the Dutch East Indies, with the Netherlands government signing a contract for six Dornier Do 24s on 3 August 1936. Two more prototypes were built for the German navy to be evaluated against the Blohm & Voss BV 138. The Do 24 was an all-metal parasol monoplane with a broad-beamed hull and stabilising sponsons. Twin tails were mounted on the upswept rear of the hull, while three wing-mounted tractor configuration engines powered the aircraft. Fuel was carried in tanks in the sponsons and the wing centre section. Up to 1,200 kg (2,600 lb) of bombs could be carried under the aircraft's wings, while defensive armament consisted of three gun turrets, one each in nose, dorsal and tail positions. In early aircraft the turrets were fitted with a single machine gun each, but later aircraft carried a 20 mm cannon in the dorsal turret. Do 24 V3, the first of the Dutch boats, took off from Lake Constance on 3 July 1937, with the second Dutch boat, Do 24 V4 following soon after. As the Dutch required that their flying boats use the same engines as the Martin 139 bombers in use in the Dutch East Indies, they were fitted with 887 hp (661 kW) Wright R-1820-F52 Cyclone radial engines. Test results were good, with the new flying boat proving capable of operating from extremely rough open seas, and the Dutch placed an order for a further 12 Do 24s on 22 July 1937. Do 24 V1, the first of the two aircraft for Germany, powered by three 600 hp (450 kW) Junkers Jumo 205C diesel engines, flew on 10 January 1938, but after evaluation, the two German boats were returned to Dornier for storage. The Netherlands was enthusiastic about the new flying boat, and planned to purchase as many as 90 Do 24s. Of these, 30 were to be built by Dornier (with all but the first two prototypes assembled by Dornier's Swiss subsidiary based at Altenrhein. The remaining aircraft were to be built under licence in the Netherlands by Aviolanda at Papendrecht. Of these aircraft, all but one of the German and Swiss built aircraft and the first seven Aviolanda-built aircraft were to be Do 24K-1s, powered by the original R-1820-F52 engines, while the remaining aircraft were to be Do 24K-2s, with more powerful 1,100 horsepower (820 kW) R-1820-G102 engines and more fuel. Thirty-seven Dutch- and German-built Do 24s had been sent to the East Indies by the time of the German occupation of the Netherlands in June 1940. Until the outbreak of war, these aircraft would have flown the tri-colour roundel. Later, to avoid confusion with British or French roundels, Dutch aircraft flew a black-bordered orange triangle insignia. A Dutch Dornier Do 24 is credited with sinking the Japanese destroyer Shinonome on December 17, 1941 while the ship was escorting an invasion fleet to Miri in British Borneo. On 10 January 1942 a Dutch Dornier Do 24K spotted a Japanese invasion fleet heading for Tarakan Island in Dutch Borneo, giving adequate warning so that all oil installations could be destroyed before the Japanese arrived. After the Japanese invasion of the Netherlands East Indies, six surviving Do.24s were transferred to the Royal Australian Air Force in February 1942. They served in the RAAF through most of 1944 as transports in New Guinea, making the Do.24 one of the few aircraft serving operationally on both sides during World War II. The Model This latest kit from Pacific Crossroads continues with the theme of materiel from the Dutch East Indies from 1941 to 1942. This time though, rather than a ship, they have released an important aircraft of the period, the Dornier Do24. The kit comes in a small, very sturdy cardboard box with a picture of a Do24 flying over one of the islands within the Dutch East Indies. As with the Admiralen destroyer kit there is a medal in the right hand corner of the picture. This one is the Dutch Flying Cross, the equivalent of the British Distinguished Flying Cross. On opening the box the modeller will see more polystyrene chips than kit. But digging them out there is a small bag of resin parts, which include the one piece fuselage, single piece wing and single piece tailplane and rudders. Only the tailplane is attached to a moulding block, with very fine attachments to the leading edge, which will be fairly easy to remove and clean up. The wing on the other hand, has several large, (relatively), pour stubs on the trailing edge, and these will be a little more difficult to remove without damaging the very thin edge. Great care and patience will need to be taken when cleaning up. The fuselage is very cleanly moulded, with just a small mould line on the starboard rear fuselage. The build, whilst simple, given the number of parts, may not be as easy as it looks. It will certainly be fiddly, with the interplane struts all produced in etched brass, which should be fitted to the fuselage and the glue allowed to set well before adding the wing. Five minute epoxy may be a better choice than CA for this kit. With the wing fitted, the tailplane can also be attached in addition to the support struts between the outer panels and the fuselage. Before fitting the propellers it is necessary to carefully remove the spinners first, attach the props then refit the spinners. Final detail parts included are the machine guns for the fore and aft turrets, the 20mm cannon for the dorsal turret, two aerial masts and a DF loop aerial. Decals The small decal sheet contains the orange and black triangles and rear fuselage bands for one colour scheme and the Dutch flag insignia for a second scheme. Unfortunately decals for the third scheme on the instruction sheet, that of an aircraft in Australian Air Force use is not included. There are no colour codes for the two schemes, so some research will be required to get them right. Conclusion Being a very different subject, particularly in this scale this is a great little kit and will look good in a diorama moored up in an island inlet or flying over the East Indies in support of a Dutch warship, it’ll only be up to the modellers’ imagination. However you use this kit, it’ll look great with a bit of care and attention. It’s certainly great to see Pacific Crossroads thinking outside the maritime box. Recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Dutch Admiralen Class Destroyer, Second Series Pacific Crossroads 1:350 In the 1920s, the Dutch evaluated various European designs to replace the obsolete destroyers of the Roofdier-class. They settled for the British design of HMS Ambuscade. This type included many hard-learnt lessons from the Great War. The design was altered in places to make them more suitable for service in the Netherlands East Indies: a floatplane was added, and the fire control system was considered better than that of their British counterparts. The famous British destroyer yard Yarrow & Co. Ltd from Glasgow made these alterations to the design. During World War 2, these destroyers were in need of a modernization. Their anti-aircraft armament was rapidly becoming obsolete, and their means to detect and destroy submarines were minimal. Between 1940-1942, two of the destroyers had their aft masts removed; Van Ghent and Witte de With received asdic, but otherwise, these ships differed little from their original configuration at the time of their loss. The Model Pacific Crossroads are a fairly new company based in Russia and run by Boris. Since this is the first model we have reviewed I asked Boris for a quick bio of why he started the company. “I have long been interested in the topic of the war in the Pacific and South-East Asia, 1937-45 ... Especially its initial period until the end of 1942. I collect models in scale 1/350 in this period. But many of the ships of this period no one produces! So I decided to produce the models that I want to have in your collection. The most interesting period for me during the war was between December 1941and April 1942, which was bloody mess, with the fall of Singapore, the Dutch East Indies, and the Philippines. The feats of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet and the ABDA command. I've been to Singapore, the islands of Java and Bali, the island of Koh Chang. I have also visited Colombo and Trincomalee.” The kit comes in a very sturdy cardboard box with a picture of one of the class at sea in a very dramatic light and a War Cross medal with Nederlandsch 1941-42 Bar and Javazee 1941-1942 Bar in the right hand corner. On opening the box the modeller is presented with a very well protected hull form, wrapped in bubble wrap, two plastic boxes with all the other resin parts carefully protected, two sheets of etched brass, (although it looks more like copper), a small poly bag of turned brass parts and a couple of small decal sheets. The instructions come with a nice history section, including the loss of one of the ships. The rest of the instructions are in pictorial form, with an overall view and numerous smaller views showing where the parts are fitted and are pretty clear, as are the painting plans. The full hull moulding, in grey resin, is very well done, with some fine detail that is nicely rendered. There are no signs of air bubbles or imperfections, just a fair amount of release agent which will need to be washed off. The large moulding block runs along the keel and shouldn’t be too onerous to remove and clean up the hull, with only the stem and stern sections requiring any real care when removing the block. The other resin parts are attached to moulding blocks, but some thought has been taken to ensure that the points where the blocks join the parts are mostly where they would be easy to clean up and will be the fixing points on the model. These parts consist of main and secondary armament, depth charges, ventilators, propeller shafts with the propellers attached, searchlights, deck houses, liferafts, paravanes, winches, and bridge furniture. Whilst the parts are quite well protected there were still a couple of the smaller gun barrels broken off on our review kit, although these should easily be replaced with brass rod. In the other plastic box are the larger resin parts, which consist of the ships boats, bridge structure, upper bridge, foreward and aft gun platforms, funnels, and the two triple torpedo tubes. Again the parts are cleanly moulded with no signs of air bubbles or imperfections. Etch The larger of the two etched sheets is filled with the more detailed parts. These include parts for the bridge and other parts of the superstructure, boats davits, the interiors of all the ships boats, including duck boards and thwarts. There are quite a number of deck hatches and skylights, watertight doors, various walkways and platforms, ships propellers for those modellers who think the resin ones are a bit too clunky, and the ships rudder. Each of the main guns are provided with deck mounting plates, gunners seats, training and elevation wheels and shields for the A and Y guns. The secondary armament also has training and elevation wheels, mounting plate fitted. The torpedo tubes each get a pair of crew platforms, various controls, shields and seat. Smaller items such as the ships anchors, accommodation ladders, vertical and inclined ladders, cable reels, and depth charge cranes. The sheet also comes with a complete set of railings. The smaller sheet provides the AA gun bandstand, superstructure platform supports, several smaller railings, and nameplates for each of the four second series ships. Turned brass. There is a full set of mast sections, yards and booms in turned brass. Each part would probably benefit with being soldered rather than glued to give strong joints. The instructions are very clear on the positioning of each part and the angle of each mast in relation to the vertical. Decals The small sheets contain the ships pennant letters and names for the four ships. Conclusion This is the first kit I’ve seen from Pacific Crossroads and have been very impressed with the moulding, etch and the fact that the brass turned parts have been included. The kit is also something a little different as the Dutch fleet has very little exposure in the modelling world and would make a nice addition to a collection. I believe there is also a waterline hull version available. Pacific Crossroads have a couple of other ships available and I look forward to seeing future releases. Review sample courtesy of