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USS Texas Detail Sets 1:350 Eduard It hasn’t taken long for Eduard to release sets for the Trumpeter USS Texas, and whilst they can’t help with the fixing of the major hull errors in the kit, they will be able to add lots of extra that should pull the eyes of the visitor to your club stand or display case away from those areas. As is their way, Eduard have released separate sets that cover certain areas of the ship so that the modeller doesn’t have to buy what they don’t want to detail, which also helps keep models within budgets. Part 1, AA Guns - (53-154). This single sheet set does exactly what it says on the packet, provides lots of extra detail to the ships AA weaponry, Quad 40mm Bofors, single 20mm Oerlikons and the single 5” guns. The kits 40mm’s are completely replaced with etched brass, with the exception of the actual gun barrels. So, that’s a new mounting base, railings, gun mounting, turntable and splinter shield. The 20mm’s are provided with new shield, ammunition drum faces, front and rear, new sights and shoulder harness, along with a new hand wheel. The 5 inchers are also fitted with new sights, plus two gunners seats, the left hand of which incorporates the foot rests/firing pedals. There are enough parts for all the guns in the kit, so be prepareds for some long, fiddly modelling sessions, especially for the Oerlikons as there are forty two of them, along with 12 5” and 8 quad 40’s. Part 2, Railings and Ladders - (53-155). Another self explanatory set, the single sheet includes complete set of main deck railings and a selection of inclined ladders for around the ship. Now whilst these are very nicely done, the instructions are completely inadequate, in that they only show where one ladder is fitted. Ok, it’s easy enough to replace any kit ladders with eh etched ones, but it would have been nice it Eduard had confirmed this. A nice touch is the inclusion of two accommodation ladders, these are quite complex multi part assemblies, but will look great when fitted. Part 3, Superstructure – (53-156). The large single sheet, along with one very small sheet of etched brass contains all the parts required to detail the superstructure of the kit. The parts replace all the AA gun deck mounted splinter shields, both fighting tops and their support frames and hand rails as well as their top mounted radar arrays. Apart from the king posts aqnd their centrally mounted mechanisms, the cranes are completely replaced with brass and come with cable drums and hooks which can have wire added to give them a little more life. The bridge superstructure has additional wire spreaders fitted, as well as vertical ladders, mast platform and railings, whilst C turret is fitted with a replacement catapult, which is a model in its own right and looks fantastic, even in its flattened form. The funnel receives new ladders, hand and foot rails, funnel cap grille, and wire spreaders, and the ships boats are fitted with new gunwhales, rudders, propellers, thwarts, engine covers and cradles. Lastly, both of the ships aircraft are provided with new interior parts, such as the instrument panels, seating and bulkheads for the front cockpit, whilst eh rear cockpit gets, aq new decking, DF loop and machine gun, plus it’s mounting rail. The outside of the aircraft receives replacement struts for the outer floats, access ladder, access steps, bomb racks, engine wiring harness and main float wires and rudder. Part 4, Deck – (53-157). Whilst eh set above provides many of the new splinter shields required for the AA weaponry, this set adds to that with all those that are fitted to the main deck. The kit items will need to be carefully removed and the areas cleaned up, but the brass does give them a more scale thickness than plastic ever can. They will require some careful bending and rolling though, so if you haven’t got the tools required, now’s the time to acquire them. Each splinter shield is also fitted with a variable number of triangular supports, which will also need a steady hand to attach. All the bollards, windlasses are fitted with new top plates, and there are new hawse pipe gratings and hatch covers provided. The main gun turrets are not only fitted with new railings, ladders and the like, but Eduard has even included a tampion for each gun muzzle. The main turret barbettes, particularly B and D are fitted with hand and foot rails, again requiring careful rolling to shape. Conclusion Eduard are very good at getting the most detail into a model ship and these sets will really help set the completed USS Texas off. Whilst I can recommend them to any modeller who has had some experience with etched brass, they certainly are not for the novice, so it might be best to start with something simpler to gain experience before buying these sets. Whether the kit is worth detailing to this extent is entirely up to the modeller but I will probably give it a try someday. Review sample courtesy of

USS Texas, BB-35 Trumpeter 1:350 USS Texas (BB-35), the second ship of the United States Navy named in honour of the U.S. state of Texas, is a New York-class battleship. The ship was launched on 18 May 1912 and commissioned on 12 March 1914. Soon after her commissioning, Texas saw action in Mexican waters following the "Tampico Incident" and made numerous sorties into the North Sea during World War I. When the United States formally entered World War II in 1941, Texas escorted war convoys across the Atlantic, and later shelled Axis-held beaches for the North African campaign and the Normandy Landings before being transferred to the Pacific Theatre late in 1944 to provide naval gunfire support during the Battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Texas was decommissioned in 1948, having earned a total of five battle stars for service in World War II, and is now a museum ship near Houston, Texas. Among the world's remaining battleships, Texas is notable for being the only remaining WW1 era dreadnought battleship, though she is not the oldest surviving battleship; Mikasa, a pre-dreadnought battleship ordered in 1898 by the Empire of Japan, is older than Texas. She is also noteworthy for being one of only six remaining ships to have served in both World Wars. Among US-built battleships, Texas is notable for her sizable number of firsts: the first US Navy vessel to house a permanently assigned contingent of US Marines, the first US battleship to mount anti-aircraft guns, the first US ship to control gunfire with directors and range-keepers (analogue forerunners of today's computers), the first US battleship to launch an aircraft, from a catapult on Turret 3, one of the first to receive the CXAM-1 version of CXAM production radar in the US Navy, the first US battleship to become a permanent museum ship, and the first battleship declared to be a US National Historic Landmark. The Model With the release of the USS New York maritime modeller knew that it wouldn’t be too long before Trumpeter released her sister ship the USS Texas. Well, here she is in all her glory. Fortunately Trumpeter haven’t just released the same parts as in the New York kit, which they could well have done knowing their haphazard research techniques, as the deck and superstructure parts are all new and from what I can see, correct for the era. Unfortunately, they haven’t done anything with the hull, which still sports the overlarge shelf along the top of the aft section of the armoured belt, which is a great shame as this is almost impossible to fix. The large, thick, hull plates are also still in evidence, but at least these can be sorted with a bit of judicious rubbing down with some wet ‘n’ dry. The kit comes in the standard top opening box that has a very nice rendition of the Texas at sea in line ahead with another battleship on the top. Inside there are eleven sheets of light grey styrene, two main deck parts and six loose superstructure parts, also in light grey styrene, two sprues of clear styrene, four sheets of etched brass and small decal sheet the large black styrene stand and a length of chain. All the parts are very nicely moulded with some very fine details, particularly on the deck and superstructure. The parts are all cleanly moulded, with no sign of flash or other imperfections, but there are quite a few moulding pips, mainly on the small parts. The exceptions being on a couple of the loose parts, where they look like they have been quite roughly removed from a sprue, with large lugs that need to be removed and cleaned up. The instructions are well printed and very clearly mark the positioning of parts and sub-assemblies Construction begins with the fitting of the two hull halves between which are four bulkheads and two joining parts for the bow and stern. The main deck is provided in two sections, the joint of which is fortunately covered by the superstructure, so there’s no worry about filling an awkward seam. Turning the hull upside down the four keel strakes, two propeller shafts, A frame supports, and propellers plus the rudder are attached. Before moving on, several sub-assemblies and PE parts are constructed. These include the PE inclined ladders, PE floater baskets, forty two 20mm Oerlikon mounts with PE shields, two director towers with PE radar dish, twelve 5” gun mounts, and eight quad 40mm mountings with PE railings. Six of the 5” mounts are fitted just forward of amidships before the large deck 01 is attached. This needs several holes drilled through before the fitting as the ship is at a different mod state than the previously released sister ship USS New York. On either side of the hull, aligned with 01 deck, a section of what used to be the barbette emplacements is attached. The bridge area is now assembled, which includes 02 deck, armoured steering bridge, 03 deck and secondary bridge along with two lookout points. The bridge structure is then glued into position along with two ready use lockers, signal lamps, large and small and two binocular stands. The instructions also call for some of the railings, inclined ladders and floater nets to be fitted, but it may be prudent to leave these till nearer the end of the build. The underside of the upper bridge deck/mast is also fitted out with PE braces and struts before being turned over and fitted with the forward main director two rangefinders, two aldis lamps and six 20mm Oerlikons. The two inclined mast poles and underside deck supports are attached and the sub-assembly fitted above the bridge, followed by the mast pole which has two lookout tubs attached along with their roof. Once again the railings and inclined ladders are due to be fitted at this point. The upper spotting top is now assembled, with the PE support braces, yardarms and a very nice PE radar antenna. This is then fitted to the top of the mast structure along with two PE inclined access ladders. Attention is then quickly focused onto the foredeck, with the fitting of the PE anchor chains, hawse pipe gratings and styrene windlasses, cleats, bollards and Jackstaff. Moving aft, more ready use lockers are fitted round the bridge structure and mid AA gun deck. These are followed by several deckhouses, complete with attached carley floats, six quad 40mm mounts, six 5” mounts and four 20mm Oerlikons alongside B barbette, as well as a pair of small goose necked derricks. Aft of the forward superstructure all the way back to the quarterdeck, or fantail in this case, numerous ready use lockers, ventilation mushrooms, intakes, davits, and other ephemera are fitted. Four more deckhouse sub assemblies are then constructed and fitted with either Carley floats or 20mm Oerlikons and floater baskets, before being fitted into their respective positions, followed by four Quad 40mm mounts, two Mk 51 directors, four 5” mounts, a practice 5” loader and twenty 20mm Oerlikons. The funnel is assembled next; it comes in two halves and is fitted with a styrene and PE funnel cap and base. It’s completed with auxiliary steam pipes, PE funnel guards and railings before being fitted into position. The next sub assembly is what looks like an auxiliary bridge on top of a large intake trunk, capped with a small radar antenna. This is fitted just aft of the funnel along with four ships boats onto their respective cradles. More of the ships superstructure railings are now attached as well as the remainder of the floater baskets. The two cranes are assembled from a mixture of PE and styrene parts which should make them look really good once painted up. With these in place the build moves onto the five 14” main turrets. Each turret consists of the base, turret, and the two gun barrels, which whilst they are quite nicely done, they would be better replaced with turned metal items. The centre turret is fitted with a very nicely detailed PE catapult, complete with walkways and supports, whilst B and X turrets are each fitted with six 20mm Oerlikons, their splinter shields, ready use lockers and on the outside of the shields four floater baskets, plus Y turret has four Carley rafts attached the turret sides. With the build in its final stages the five turrets are fitted and the main mast is assembled from a series of decks, three mast poles, and fitted with the after main director, topped off with a pole mast on top of which is the large CXAM-1 radar array, which is made entirely of PE parts, although fitted to a styrene mounting, four 20mm Oerlikons, ready use lockers and railings before being attached to the ship. The kit comes complete with two OS2U Kingfisher aircraft on the two clear sprues. These are assembled from two fuselage halves, separate floats and propeller. Unfortunately there appears to be only room for one on the model and that would be attached to the catapult, as there isn’t a handling trolley for the other to sit on, although one of the aftermarket companies may rectify this. Last task is to fit all the upper deck railings and set the completed model onto the large stand provided. Decals The small decal sheet provides national markings and codes numbers for the ships aircraft, the ships name for the stern and her ID number for the Bows and stern quarters, the Stars and Stripes in plain and wavy form. For the colour scheme you will need to get into a blue period, as the horizontal surfaces are Deck Blue and all the vertical surfaces are Navy Blue. You will get some relief if you’re building full hull with the red anti-fouling and black boot topping, as even the aircraft are in a light blue/blue grey and white scheme. Conclusion As with the USS New York release this is Trumpeter at their best, mixing superb detail and moulding with some shocking inaccuracy with the hull. They really do have a problem when it comes to researching ships hulls as they rarely get the details right, even if the length and breadth is correct. That said, if you’re not a stickler for absolute accuracy this will build into an impressive model, after all, most people who will see it won’t know what’s wrong with it. So, for buildability and modelling enjoyment, alone, I can still quite happily recommend it. Review sample courtesy of UK Distributors for

USS Texas Squadron At Sea book Squadron release another great book on one of the United States’ seemingly endless number of preserved warships. The USS Texas is the oldest remaining dreadnought in the world. Construction began in 1911 at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, in Newport News, Virginia. Launched on the 18th May 1912 and commissioned on 12th March 1914 she took part in only one engagement during World War One, but went on to serve throughout the interwar years in both the Pacific and Atlantic Fleets. Reconstructed and modernised during 1925 and 1926 she was fitted with a catapult on turret No3. The outbreak of World War Two saw the Texas in the Atlantic where she would spend most the war. Whilst engaging shore batteries off Cherbourg she was hit by a two 8” shells, fortunately without too much damage. Much modernised throughout the war, she looked a different ship, bristling with light AA weapons and the addition of radar antenna. In the Autumn of 1944 she was refitted and sent to the Pacific where she took part in shore bombardments of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. At the end of the war she made four round trips from Pearl Harbour to Los Angeles repatriating US troops, dubbed Magic Carpet. In Early 1946 she transited the Panama Canal and sailed back to the East Coast to be laid up. In 1948 she was towed from Newport News shipyard to La Porte, Texas to be preserved as a memorial ship. In 1988 it was found that the ship was suffering from terrible deterioration of the hull and decks. She was dry-docked and given a thorough refurbishment and was transferred to San Jacinto Battleground Historic site to be opened to the public in 1990. This book covers the whole life of the Texas in photographic form, from her building to the present day, which, considering her length of service requires all the 152 pages. Whilst about 95% of the photographs are in black and white they are a fascinating insight into the changes of not only the ship, but of technological improvements through times of both war and peace. The Texas was also painted in an unusual and interesting array of camouflage throughout her life with several colour plates showing the different styles. The black and white photographs are also annotated giving the different measures used where changes were made. The other photos all have notes associated with them giving the dates and whereabouts of the ship along with other useful information on equipment, aircraft and weapons fitted. Conclusion It’s a shame that there are no models of the Texas as it’s a good looking ship, but it would take a book such this one to help with researching whatever era the model would be built in. Here’s hoping that a nice model manufacturer releases one soon. As it is, this book is a great piece of reference material for those interested in a battleships life and its evolution. Recommended. Review sample courtesy of http://www.squadron.com'>