Trumpeter 1/350 scale USS North Carolina

Kit: No. 05303
Scale: 1/350
Manufacturer: Trumpeter, imported by Stevens International, 856-435-1555, www.stevenshobby.com
Price: $114
Comments: injection-molded, 634 parts, decals
Pros: Accurate dimensions, good instructions, painting guide, choice of full hull or waterline
Cons: Some poorly detailed parts, ejection pin marks and sinkholes, troublesome deck seams

Trumpeter continues to answer the calls for new 1/350 scale ship subjects, this time with the USS North Carolina. I knew the moment I opened the box this was not your average ship model. There are 11 sprues, three deck sections, an upper and lower hull, and a waterline plate.

Initial review of the parts indicated some shortcomings. The kit's 20mm Oerlikon guns lack detail, are oversized, and lack splinter shields. Each of the ready-storage lockers for the 20mm guns has a sinkhole that requires filling, and there are 76 of them.

The ship's cranes and catapults are molded as solid parts and are fair representations. These parts can easily be upgraded with photoetched details.

I built my North Carolina in full-hull configuration, and immediately noticed problems with the fit of the upper and lower hulls. The lower hull is about .060" too narrow on each side, so I removed the support braces on the inside of the upper hull. By applying pressure to the upper hull sides while gluing, I was able to eliminate the overlap. I skipped the deck installation step in the instructions to correct the hull problem and installed the deck after the hull glue dried.

It's nearly impossible to fill and sand a deck seam while retaining the scribed plank detail, and this kit is no exception. I taped off the details on each side of the seam, glued them into place, and lightly sanded. I rescribed the plank details with a No. 22 blade by rocking it from one side of the deck to the other.

Trumpeter has taken a new approach with detailed panels that overlay a structural foundation. This allows bulkheads and other vertical parts on the superstructure to have fine molded-in details such as portholes, hatches, and ready-storage lockers. The downside is that each panel has ejector-pin marks on its backside that require sanding. It also means every corner where two parts meet has a seam that requires filling.

The kit's 40mm Bofors guns and 5" dual-purpose guns are excellent, although the Bofors lack splinter shields. The Mk. 12/22 radar, SK-2 radar, and Mk. 8 gunnery radar arrays are molded as solid parts and would be better represented by photoetched replacements.

The foremast is nicely done and is relatively sturdy, but the mainmast is fragile and should be replaced with brass rod if the model is to be rigged.

The separately molded splinter shields and gun tubs are a nice feature in this kit, since they can be painted before they're attached to the deck.

In the interest of time, I didn't rig my North Carolina, and I painted her in the simpler Measure 22 instead of her Measure 32 dazzle pattern. I used Testor Acryl 5-N navy blue, 5-H haze gray, 20-B deck blue, and anti-fouling red. My kit's decals were missing, so I was unable to apply hull numbers or put markings on the Kingfishers.

I spent 60 hours on this model, a fraction of the time I would expect to spend on a battleship on this scale. Experienced builders will find lots of room to add photoetched details, especially replacing the cranes and radar arrays. This is a complex model that requires time and patience. Though it has several small problems, nothing prevents the average modeler from building this kit.

- Jeff Herne