USS Whidbey Island LSD-41 - 1:700 Orange Hobby

[Paul A H]

USS Whidbey Island LSD-41

1:700 Orange Hobby

The USS Whidbey Island is the lead ship of the eight-strong Whidbey Island Class of dock landing ships. Built by Lockheed, she was laid down in August 1981, launched two years later and commissioned on 9 February 1985. Displacing over 16,000 tons under full load, the Whidbey Island class vessels feature a large well deck which can be flooded for launching hovercraft, landing craft and other US Marine Corps amphibious vehicles. They are also equipped with large flight decks aft, and are capable of launching a range of helicopters (although there is no hangar). Defensive armament includes 25mm cannons, Phalanx CIWS and Rolling Airframe missile launchers.

In thirty years of service, the USS Whidbey Island has deployed extensively. In the years following her commissioning she participated in several exercises in the Mediterranean, ending the decade by playing an instrumental role in the evacuation of US civilians from Liberia when civil war broke out in 1989. After Operation Desert Storm, during which she remained in the Mediterranean, she became the largest US warship ever to tour the Black Sea. Following a refit around the turn of the century, she returned to the Mediterranean and played a key role in Operation Enduring Freedom.

Despite their relatively short history, Orange Hobby have earned a reputation for producing excellent kits of interesting subjects from the Cold War and modern eras. The latest addition to their growing range of 1:700 scale waterline ship kits is this kit of the USS Whidbey Island dock landing ship. While this isn't the first kit of this important warship (Ships & Co released a kit a few years ago), given Orange Hobby's reputation it should be well worth taking a look at.

The kit arrives securely packed into a corrugated cardboard box with a smart, glossy sleeve wrapped around it. The hard, grey resin components are safely ensconced in bubble wrap, with the smaller sprues tucked away inside the hollow hull. Take a good look at the way everything is packed away, as I can pretty much guarantee that you won't get it all back into the box quite as neatly as the folks at Orange Hobby. All told, there are hundreds of resin and photo etched parts, as well as two decal sheets and a trio of tiny turned brass satellite communication domes. The resin parts are cast from a hard, grey resin and display nice, sharp details and no flaws.

In usual Orange Hobby style, construction hops around between the ship itself and the additional crafts and vehicles provided. All told, you get the following extras in the box:
1 x Landing Craft Utility (LCU);
2 x CH-46 Sea Knights;
2 x HMMWVs (Humvees); and
4 x trucks.
In other words, enough to make the well deck and the flight deck look nice and busy.

The detail on these tiny resin vehicles has to be seen to be believed. The CH-46s can be finished ready to fly or with rotors folded, and even the Humvees have tiny photo etched details such as roof-mounted machine guns. These kinds of small touches make all the difference to a finished model warship, and while it would have been nice to have a few more helicopters and maybe a hovercraft or two, there is enough in the box to busy up the decks. You might well go mad trying to fix tiny resin parts to even tinier photo etched details, but the end result will be well worth it. Kudos to Orange Hobby for putting so much care and attention into little details like these.

As you can see from the pictures above, the hull and distinctively bulky bridge structure are cast as a single, large resin piece. The kit is waterline only, but thanks to the huge well deck it's as hollow as a chocolate egg. You'll need to cut away and clean up a large number of pouring stubs, but once you've got this step out of the way you just slot the deck into the hull from the bottom. The launch ramp can be finished in the deployed position so you can see right into the interior of the ship. You may want to build the LCU at this point as it may prove difficult to install once you've fixed the well deck in place.

Most of the remaining steps in the construction of the model are concerned with the addition of the hundreds of photo etched parts, but there are some resin sub-assemblies which need to be sorted out first. There are two prominent Phalanx systems to be added to the front and rear sections of the large superstructure, as well as the 25mm cannons, a pair of Rolling Airframe missile launchers and other small details such as the satellite communication domes, launches, lifeboats and a handful of other small parts. An array of railings, ladders, stairways, doors, lifebuoys and other details, all rendered in photo etched brass, may also be added at this stage. The instructions are very 'busy', and it will take quite some time to pick your way through everything and ensure you have added what feels like a limitless

The prominent mast structure is also picked out in photo etched brass, but it is a complex sub-assembly and the instructions are not as clear as they should be, so measure twice and cut once is the maxim here. The two funnel structure are cast from resin, as is the large deck cranes. Unfortunately one of mine was damaged, but a small dab of superglue should put this right. The etch fest continues with hundreds of railings, doors, anchors and other details which are dotted around the hull, bridge and deck structures. Finishing touches include a plethora of brass railings, stairways and doorways.

The painting diagram is printed in black and white, but given that the only colour scheme is all-over light grey with a darker grey used on the surface of the deck, this isn't an issue. A full set of decals re provided for the deck markings, pennant numbers and flags. Markings are provided for LSD-41 USS Whidbey Island, LSD-42 USS Germantown and LSD-43 USS Fort McHenry.

Conclusion

This looks to be a well-made and highly detailed kit of an interesting and impressive ship. The ship itself should be relatively simple to assemble, but the huge amount of photo etched brass that Orange Hobby have included will transform this into a complex and challenging build. Nevertheless, this kit will prove to be a valuable addition to any collection of modern US Navy warships and will sit well with kits of other modern vessels from Dragon and Hobbyboss. Highly recommended.

Review sample courtesy of

[Rob P]

<cough> Paul, might want to check the scale in your title..

Looks good though, well cast.

[Shar2]

Don't worry Paul, I've edited it.

OH are really producing some fantastic kits lately and this looks jolly nice.

[Guest]

Another great kit from OH, thanks for the review.

[alex]

looks very nice indeed... thanks for the review!

Alex