The latest USS Essex is the second in the Wasp class of amphibious assault ships. The LHD stands for Landing Helicopter Dock, which refers to the ship’s combined mission as a helicopter platform and landing-craft dock. The “well deck” in the stern can be flooded to deploy air-cushioned landing craft (LCAC) and other amphibious vehicles. Many of the ships in the class have been named after World War II-era Essex-class carriers.
HobbyBoss’ new small-scale LHD kits appear to be patterned after the 1/350 scale Gallery Models kit. That’s good news from a detail standpoint, but may be a tall challenge for some builders.
Assembly starts with the well-detailed island structure. There are nearly 100 parts to the island, not counting three optional photoetched-metal antenna arrays. I was tempted to use them, but the instructions do not adequately show how the parts should be folded. They are beautifully etched, but so fine that I feared handling them would produce useless brambles. And they are so small that folding them would be very difficult, with very little bonding area for a satisfactory attachment. I spent four hours assembling just the plastic parts of the island.
You can build either a full or waterline hull. Interestingly, a ramped cross member of the main hull might allow a future well deck interior. But this kit has none, and the main hatch at the stern must be mounted in the closed position.
Assembling the photoetched-metal flight-deck catwalks was difficult. There were no plastic alternatives here, and nearly all segments are provided in two parts. One needs to be folded (again, the instructions don’t show this well), then attached at a right angle to the edge of another platform. I wish they had combined the sections into one piece with a Z-fold.
The thin edges of these walkways are to be mounted against the sides of the upper hull with only a hair-thin raised-plastic line to help position them. I used little dots of gap-filling super glue, but the bonds are tenuous.
Overall, the hull parts and island fit as they should. Much of the detail on the hull involves life-raft containers and weapons. I left off the flight deck and bottom hull until final assembly so I could paint them separately.
Preparing the aircraft was the next challenge. Providing clear canopies and even panel detail in 1/700 scale aircraft is admirable. But, realistically, trying to add tiny landing-gear bogies to the choppers was nearly impossible. I’ve seen flies leave bigger specks. The clear plastic used for the aircraft also makes it difficult to see where the attachment points are. I advise priming the aircraft parts before assembly to make things more visible.
Decals are provided for the aircraft, too, but there are not enough items to cover all the aircraft in the kit. There are four MV-22 Ospreys, four CH-53E Super Stallions, four CH-46 Sea Knights, two SH-60F Sea Hawks, two AH-1W Cobras, and four AV-8B Super Harriers.
HobbyBoss provides an assault group as well, comprising two LCACs, two LCUs, and two AAVP-7s, along with a host of cargo, including Abrams tanks, Hummers, towed artillery, and trucks. That’s great for dioramists, but there’s nowhere to put them otherwise. An assortment of flight-deck vehicles is also provided.
The flight-deck decals went on beautifully. I installed the photoetched-metal safety nets at the bow and stern by trapping their edges between the deck and the hull at final assembly. The nets look great, but an errant finger will easily mangle them.
I spent 67 hours building my Essex. The finished ship looks great, and I’m looking forward to carefully placing it in a display case so I will never have to handle it again!
Note: A version of this review appeared in the July 2013 FineScale Modeler.