The USS Long Beach was an unusual first/last ship. Commissioned in 1961, she was the first nuclear-powered cruiser and the last built with a true cruiser hull. The only ship of her class, she was originally designed as an “all-missile” cruiser. But two 5"/.38-caliber gun mounts were added amidships by order of President John F. Kennedy.
Powered by two nuclear reactors and capable of exceeding 30 knots, Long Beach joined the USS Enterprise (CVN-65) and USS Bainbridge (DLGN-25) in Task Force 1, the first all-nuclear task force, for an around-the-world cruise in 1964. Long Beach served in Vietnam from 1966-1968 and again in the Gulf War in 1991. She was decommissioned in 1995 and lies berthed at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, in Bremerton, Wash., waiting to be scrapped.
Cyber-hobby’s 1/700 scale kit benefits from slide-mold technology that adds crisp details without increasing the parts count. The detail level is exceptional for this scale, with masts and guns close to scale size! A side effect of the slide molding is that cutting parts from the sprues requires care as some of the gate stubs are on gluing surfaces. However, the absence of flash, mold lines, and other defects makes cleanup easy. Assembly also requires special care; parts are small and fine detail can easily be destroyed with glue or a careless knife.
The ship can be built with a full hull on a stand or as a waterline hull. The lower hull is well detailed, with petite and accurate propellers. The ship can be built in 1961 or 1967 fitment; each version requires different holes to be drilled, so follow the instructions carefully. (I chose the 1967 fit.)
In 11 steps, the instructions clearly indicate placement of each part. Sprue maps make locating parts easy. The ship can be built in subassemblies before painting.
There are some minor errors in the instructions, though. The control room, Part F2, has a mounting lug but no corresponding hole on Part D27; remove the lug. If you opt for the photoetched-metal wings on the aft deckhouse, you’ll need to cut a small notch in Part I3 to mate it with Part D47 without a gap; use Part F3 as a guide for the notch. Part G19 on the aft deckhouse has no location holes on Part C18; shave off the mounting lugs and position the bulkhead after assembling the deckhouses to get the proper fit.
Everything else fit exactly as shown. I did lose one radar mount, Part MA4, to the carpet monster. The tiny part was impossible to find, so I shaved the mount from Part F3 and used it on the port wing.
The painting guide looks wrong; it shows the ship as it appeared after the early 1970s, not as it was launched or as in 1967. Long Beach was overall haze gray on all vertical surfaces, and deck gray on all horizontal surfaces, with black/dark gray anti-slip walkways until the early 1970s; only the forward missile deck and the top deck above the bridge show as dark gray or black in period photographs.
I painted with Polly Scale haze gray, and added flat black to it for the slightly darker deck gray. The anti-slip decks and walkways are Polly Scale steam engine black. I picked out details with white, silver, and black, and painted the radar panels haze gray with a little white added for contrast.
My only complaint is the tiny decal sheet. The decals are beautifully printed, but they’re crammed together. For example, the helicopter landing pad gets a large decal, but removing the other decals from inside those markings leaves you with a lacy backing paper for a very thin decal that requires luck to apply properly. I managed to tear only one corner. A slightly larger and simpler decal sheet would be welcome.
The photoetched-metal fret supplies ladders, radar mounts, and antenna arrays for the 5" gun turrets. The metal is softer than what I like, but it worked fine.
This beautiful model scales out perfectly and needs only a full set of railings to be truly complete. All in all, it was an enjoyable and easy build of a historic ship.