by: Martin Ramsden [ ]
The Bogue class carriers were conversions of merchant vessels and were a quick way of getting more flightdecks to sea. In service with the U.S. and British navies, they were intended for escort and ferry duties but in the event also saw action as front line cariers. The Parts
The kit contains four sprues molded in grey plastic. They are crisply molded and show no signs of flash. The ship builds as a waterline ship, the main parts being a 1 piece hull, waterline plate, and flightdeck. There are many small detail parts and careful studying of the instructions would be needed to check which must be painted before assembly. The light AA battery is particularly well depicted with gunshields molded as part of the mounting. Although there are 2 aircraft elevators on the flightdeck only the forward one has the option to be shown lowered. The airgroup is small in number, there being 4 each of the Corsair, Hellcat, Avenger, and Helldiver. The small island has optional parts but no indication is given as to which should be used for any particular ship. Flightdeck vehicles are included. Decals
The decal sheet contains white flightdeck markings, U.S. stars and bars for the aircraft, and a choice of ship names and numbers. There are 2 large flightdeck numbers which the instructions state are for USS Barnes; a bit of research will be needed if building a diferent ship to see if it also carries deck numbers and, if so, some after market decals would be needed. 2 U.S flags are included. The Instructions
The instructions are in Japanese and English and assembly is shown by the usual diagrams. Painting guide is for the light grey upper hull with blue lower hull which many of this class were painted, research would be needed depending on the ship to be depicted as some, particularly British ships had disruptive camouflage paterns. Paint numbers are for Tamiya paints. Conclusion
A good quality kit which would build into quite an impressive ship. The small airgroup is a minus, but there are choices of aircraft in this scale which are widely available to make up the shortfall. One thing which should be noted is that although the box is over 15 inches long this kit only builds up to approximately 8 1/2 inches long. SUMMARY | Martin tells us his opinion on this Tamiya small converted carrier in 1/700 scale. | |
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About Martin Ramsden (brandydoguk) I've been modelling off and on for 25 years. Thanks to this site I'm really into the hobby in a big way, and although I've a long way to go my skills are definately improving. Copyright ©2021 text by Martin Ramsden [ ]. Images also by copyright holder unless otherwise noted. Opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of Model Shipwrights. All rights reserved.
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