Take a look inside the kit-box of Trumpeter Models new 1/350 scale release in plastic, "U.S.Navy Liberty Ship SS John W Brown"

Link to Item

If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!
~Gunny

Could you inform me/us what the differences are between the 2 liberty ship kits, and perhaps, which is the most accurate generic model? Are there any differences in their construction, I heard that the first is rather flimsy, has this been fixed?

Ahoy, Mark!

A Very good question, mate. . .

Unfortunately, I can't give you a complete answer (yet, that is!) as I haven't seen the new kit up close and personal. . .BUT, I do have the previous Trump Liberty Ship kit "Jeremiah Obrien", and it holds true to the standard Trumpeter quality, but there are some accuracy issues to be corrected
though;

1.)The errors in the kit, not in any real order, include a round smoke stack. The real one is oval in cross-section. The opening in the top is also about twice as large as it should be.

2.)The present day O'Brien has two different styles of large life rafts, a rectangular one and a rounded one. Each is correct but they should match.

3.)The kit follows the O'Brien in another area. Both main guns are 5" guns, at least according to their description. The bow is a 5"/38 and the aft one is a 5"/50 caliber. The early Liberty ships, like the O'Brien and the Bland, usually had a 3"/50 caliber gun in the bow position. However, the bow gun looks like a 3"/50, so it's not really that major of a deal. IMHO, in this scale 2" is not very noticeable.

4.)The upper decks of the main deck house have watertight doors. Only the lower deck had them, the upper decks used wooden doors not unlike a normal house door. These can be ignored or corrected with the PE sets.

5.)The rudder is a single piece but it should be a split 'contra-guide' rudder. The kit prop is a high speed prop used on the Victory ships and is much too broad in the blade area. The lower rudder support is far too thin and delicate and is flared into the hull wrong. The shape should be more curved as it joins the keel and stern post.

6.)The water intakes for the engines are too large and located on the wrong sides of the hull. The starboard side should have a single small intake and the port side should have both a small and a large intake.

7.)The bilge keels are about an inch short of the proper length. They should extend both fore and aft of the kit position by about ½ inch. This can be corrected with the PE set, or new bilge keels can be added with styrene if desired.

8.)The overheads for the flying bridge, and the flying bridge wings themselves are too wide by about 25%, and the shape of the overheads is slightly wrong. This is easily corrected with some minor surgery.

9.)The cargo boom bases appear to be too tall. Sanding them down to just above the molded in watertight doors might improve their looks.

10.)There are also some errors in the shape of the cutouts in the main deck house, and the aft deck house, but they are minor.

Remember, no model kit is 100% accurate from the get go, and this one isn't any different. . .but that's why we call ourselves modelers now, isn't it?

I haven't built her yet, as I'm planning on building it as the SS Carole Lombard, and I just can't find any reference shots to work from (You seen any!?! ). . .
This second kit is supposed to represent the Liberty ship "John W. Brown" in greater detail, (although the first kit isn't that bad, and there are a couple great PE frets available for the first as well), and I do plan on adding this one to my fleet as well. . .time will tell though!

I'm sorry that I couldn't give you a more complete answer about the second kit, Mark!
Cheers,
~Gunny

Hmmm... I thought I had read this kit was supposed to have landing craft, and would represent a Liberty ship that was used as a transport. I guess not. As to the guns it still seems they didn't quite get it right. According to Historic Naval Ships Association the Brown had 3 3/50 guns, and 1 5/51, (note 51 caliber, not 50. ) I'm not sure what source says she should have two 5", no matter what caliber. Also there should be a decided difference between a 3/50 dual purpose and a 5/51 low angle gun, and not just the size of the bore.

BTW, I just learned how inaccurate Wikopedia can be. On their page about the Brown they say she had "One 3.5 in. bow gun, and two 3.5 in and one 5.38 in stern guns." Obviously the person who sent in that info doesn't know what 3/50 and 5/38 means.

So we know all the issues with the O'Brien but we don't know if the Brown has corrected them or not? That will be interesting to see. I've heard that Trumpy has corrected inaccurate kits before, I wonder if they'll do the same here?

I thought the same thing too Rodger. Well I haven't gotten round to building the Jerimiah yet so I don't anticiapte picking this one up if the only thing that was wrong with the first one is the stack actual shape.