USS Maryland BB-46 1945 - 1:700 Trumpeter

[Paul A H]

USS Maryland BB-46 1945

1:700 Trumpeter

The USS Maryland was the second of three Colorado class battleships to be completed. The Colorado class were substantially similar to the preceding Tennessee class, but featured eight mighty 16 inch guns rather than the twelve 14 inch guns fitted to the earlier class. They were, until the introduction of the North Carolina Class on the eve of the Second World War, the most powerful ships in the US Navy's fleet. The Colorado class battleships were fitted with the same turbo-electric propulsion system as the rest of the Standard type battleships, giving them a maximum speed of 21 knots. The USS Maryland herself was present at Pearl Harbour at the time of the Japanese attack. She suffered light damage as a result of being hit by aerial bombs, but was repaired and returned to service in 1942. She was present at the Battle of Midway, took part in shore bombardments in the Battle of Tarawa and the Battle of Kwajalein. She was damaged by a torpedo during the Battle of Saipan and was hit by kamikaze attacks during the battles of Leyte Gulf and Okinawa. She received seven battle stars for her service in World War II before being decommissioned and sold for scrap in 1947.

Trumpeter have done quite a service for maritime modellers over the past decade, having built up quite a catalogue of naval subjects from the pre-World War One era to the modern day, often in collaboration with Japanese firm Pit-Road. World War Two has proven to be the richest era in terms of subjects, with one of their latest releases being this kit of the USS Maryland in her modernised, late war form. This is the second kit of the Maryland to have been released by Trumpeter, following on from their kit of the ship as she appeared in 1941, which was released back in 2013. In typical Trumpeter style, the kit is immaculately packed into a sturdy top-opening box. Each sprue is individually wrapped and delicate parts are protected with extra strips of foam padding. My only complaint concerns the decals, which have the protective paper sellotaped in place. Previous experience suggests that, apart from being difficult to remove, the residue from the sellotape can make it difficult to remove the decals from the backing paper.

The kit is comprised of hundreds of parts moulded in grey plastic and spread across some twenty sprues. The only exceptions are the aircraft, which are moulded in clear plastic, the lower hull and waterline plate, which are moulded in dark red plastic, and the natty black plastic stand for the full-hull version. A small fret of photo etched parts is included, as is a small sheet of decals. The upper hull and upper deck are all moulded separately. Many of the smaller parts such as the secondary and AA armament are produced on generic sprues that are common to a number of kits. This is a clever way of minimising tooling costs without compromising quality. The plastic parts are perfectly moulded and feature plenty of intricate detail. The photo etch parts are also very fine indeed. I'm a big fan of Trumpeter's policy of including both full hull and waterline options in their kits, so this gets the thumbs up from me.

Construction begins with the upper hull and deck. The latter has Trumpeter's characteristic (although probably overscale) planking detail moulded in place and is split into two levels as the ship features a long forecastle. The upper hull has portholes and other details moulded in place. The Colorado class of ships did feature prominent belt armour, but even so the way this is replicated in this kit feels a little overdone. The main superstructure is made up of the deck and separate parts for the walls. Features such as the anti-aircraft mounts and twin 5 inch/38 cal turrets, which were fitted just before the end of the War, are prominent features of this area. As this is the late War fit, there are dozens more anti-aircraft mounts to make up and fit around the deck and superstructure, helping to create an incredibly busy and detailed finish.

The detail doesn't stop there, however, as there are separately moulded anchors, cable reels and anchor capstans to fit to the deck. The main crane and aircraft catapult are picked out in photo etched brass, although there are plastic alternatives if you don't fancy that option. Other details provided for on the fret include the radar array and the truncated conical cage mast. This part will need to be rolled into shape and fixed with glue, which won't be an easy task. It would have been great if Trumpeter could have included a jig for this amongst the plastic parts, but never mind. Most of the rest of the details, including the bridge superstructure and funnels are fairly straightforward and can all be built and painted prior to assembly.

The four twin 16-inch main gun turrets are all present and correct. You have the option of using guns with or without blast bags, which is handy as these are a pain to make from scratch if they are not included. Owing to the way in which Trumpeter has prepared these kits (with maximum commonality of parts), the triple turrets which were a feature of the preceding class of battleship are also included. These can be put in the spares box for a rainy day. Once all of these sub-assemblies are complete, the whole thing can be assembled. You don't have to make up your mind whether to finish the model in full hull or waterline configuration until the very end of the building process. If you choose the former, then you can fit the propellers and their shafts to the underside of the hull. If you choose the latter, you can just stick the hull plate on and call it done. The only thing left to do then is build and add one or three of the Curtiss SC-1 Seahawks that are provided on the small clear sprues. A colour painting guide is provided, but as usual you should seek to check your own references before committing to paint.

Conclusion

Trumpeter are amassing quite a range of small-scale warships now, and this addition is very welcome indeed. It is a nicely produced and well-detailed kit, with superbly moulded plastic parts and delicate photo etched details. The only thing missing is a set of railings, but that can be easily sorted with some generic aftermarket parts. All-in-all this looks like a great package and it can be firmly recommended to all fans of US Navy vessels.

UK Distributors for

[Ravens]

It will be interesting to see how modellers tackle those lattice masts. A plastic equivalent could have served as both jig and fall-back option should the PE become unusable.

Ross.