OrangeHobby USS Pegasus Hydrofoil. 1:350

[Shar2]

USS Pegasus Hydrofoil
OrangeHobby 1:350

History
PHM 1 PEGASUS hydrofoil boats were designed to operate offensively against hostile surface combatants and other surface craft; and conduct surveillance, screening and special operations. The six PHMs of the PEGASUS - class formed a single squadron which operated from Key West, Florida. They were the Navy's fastest ships when foilborne and driven by their single gas turbine. They had good range on their diesels, excellent seakeeping qualities, amazingly fast response to requirements for speed, and a potent punch. Since becoming operational, they established an unusually high availability rate while participating in a variety of missions, including significant involvement in the national drug interdiction program.

The PHM project was started in the early 1970th by CNO Admiral Zumwalt in an effort to increase the Navy's number of surface combatants. The project called for a cost-effective hydrofoil boat designed to operate in coastal waters and equipped to fulfill the missions of destroyers and frigates in those areas so that these larger ships could be deployed to areas where they are needed more. These missions included surface surveillance as well as immediate responses (SSM missiles for example) to any hostile actions conducted by enemy navies.

The PHM project was not only a US project. Other countries involved included Italy, Germany, Canada and Great Britain. During the initial phase of the project it was planned to build up to 100 hydrofoil boats for the NATO navies.

Following the retirement of Admiral Zumwalt the Navy cut down the funds for the PHM project because due to the lack of money one decided to use the money for larger fleet units instead. The increasing costs of the PHM project finally resulted in the completion of only one PHM, the USS PEGASUS, although the construction of this ship had to be stopped for a while in 1974 due to the lack of money. At that time, the ship was only 20% completed.

Although PHM 3 - 6 had already been funded in FY 74 (PHM 2 in FY 73), construction of these ships did not start until April 6, 1977, when Secretary of Defense Brown announced that the whole project (with the exception of USS PEGASUS) was suspended. Anyway, Congress now insisted on the completion of the last five ships since they had already been funded. In August 1977, Secretary of Defense Brown reactivated the PHM project and construction of the ships resumed but the four countries involved in the project had lost their interest in the PHM program. The last of the hydrofoils was commissioned in 1982 and all the boats were decommissioned on the 30th July 1993.

The Model
Its been a while since weve had an Orange Hobby kit in for review and theyve been kind enough to send some of their slightly older releases to have a look at. The first of these is their lovely PHM-1 class hydrofoil USS Pegasus. The castings are all beautifully formed, with no sign of deformed parts or even the slightest pin hole, although there is a bit of flash on several of the parts, which is very to remove. Casting blocks are minimally attached, thus making the clean up after removal a doddle with a just few swipes of a sanding stick. This kit is quite interesting in that, whilst it is produced from resin the parts breakdown is more akin to an injection moulded kit. The majority of the resin parts, and there are quite a lot of them considering the size of the kit, are held on the classic OH resin sprues with only the two hull halves and main deck, complete with superstructure as separate parts. The rest of the kit consists of etched brass, turned brass and aluminium parts, plus a length of copper wire and a small decal sheet. The instruction sheet, once you have managed to get , and keep it flat, having been rolled up in the box, is, for the most part very clear and easy to read, although some of the positioning arrows need careful interpretation to ensure correct fitting.

The build begins with cleaning all the parts of warm soapy water to get rid of any release agent. The two hull halves are then joined together with the bow foil leg sandwiched between them. The bow foil is then attached to the leg and the stern foil legs fitted to each side. There is an option to have the foils retracted or extended and the parts used for the rear foils are different, reflecting the different state of the actuators. The stern foil is then attached to the two legs, followed by the fitting of the bow doors, aft intake grilles, two rudders and the two piece water jets attached to the stern. The hull is then fitted with the single piece main deck, which is then populated with several fixtures on the quarterdeck, plus deck hatches which can be displayed open or closed and auxiliary exhaust is attached to the rear of the superstructure, whilst foreward a couple more deck hatches and fixtures are attached, along with the 76mm turret, which is provided in two halves with the resin and brass barrel/trunnion fitted between them. The two part funnel is then assembled before being glued into position aft of the superstructure.

The superstructure roof is then fitted out with a couple of hatches, several vents, intakes, Super RBOC launchers, liferaft, flag locker and other lockers. There is a horn fitted to the wheelhouse roof a PE inclined ladder and access door to the rear bulkhead. There are large intake grilles, watertight doors and hatches fitted to the superstructure sides along with two whip mast bases to which PE aerials are attached. Around the top of the superstructure the PE railings are fitted. These are very fine and will need to be handled with great care as the fret is very flimsy and easily bent. The mainmast is next sub-assembly to be built and consists of a resin mast, to which the various PE yards, stays, supports, platforms are attached and finished off with the resin LN-66 navigation radar array on the forward platform. The complex shapes of the rear PE supports will require some care to get right, but they appear to have been etched in such a way as to alleviate too many problems. Just forward of the mainmast is the large dome for the MK 94 Mod 1 fire control radar. The turned alluminium dome sits on a PE support cradle which is itself sat on top of the PE support structure, which will also need some careful folding to get right. To finish off the superstructure the PE wipers are attached to the front, port and starboard windscreens.

Whilst nearing completion, there are still quite a few parts to build and add to the model. These include the bull nose hawse pipe on the bow and stern, along with several more deck hatches, main deck railings, liferafts and their cradles and two deck winches, which require the modeller to source some 0.5mm plastic rod to make the drum, around which the brass wire provided is wound round. The starboard forward winch needs to have some wire laid on the deck and attached to the anchor which lies on the port focsle. Lastly the Harpoon launchers are assembled and the kit provides parts options for either one, two, three or four tubes per launcher rack depending on what the modeller decides to use. The Harpoon tubes are made of turned brass and their supports in PE. Once assembled the launchers are fitted to the fantail/quarterdeck of the vessel thus completing the build.

Decals
The small decal sheet provides the ships names and numbers for every PHM of the class along with VERTREP markings for the focsle, depth markings and three unidentifiable markings per side on the boot topping. The decals are very nicely printed, in register and with quite a thin carrier film, although its still best to gloss over the areas the decals sit first.

Conclusion
The kit is definitely not one for a beginner, but someone of intermediate skills and above should be able to make a great looking model. There is a bit of cleaning up to do on the parts but generally they are very well moulded. Having built the WEM USS Pegasus I think this kit actually is better designed in that the foils have more of a positive fitment, and yet still has tremendous detail. It also has the advantage of now being the only kit of these hydrofoils in this scale. Very highly recommended.

Review sample courtesy of Orange Hobby.com

[whitestar12chris]

Very nice review Dave, unusual subject, very tempted!!

Chris