Kit: No. 8-006
Scale: 1/350
Manufacturer: Gulfstream Fine Scale Models, 2070 Wildridge Dr., Tallahassee, FL 32303
Price: $190
Comments: Multimedia, 211 parts (93 resin, 21 white metal, 97 photoetched).
The USS Atlanta was launched in September 1941 as an antiaircraft light cruiser. Its length was 541′, with a beam of 53′. The main battery was 16 5″ 38-caliber guns, with four 1.1″ quadruple mounts, eight single 20mm mounts, a pair of quadruple torpedo tubes, and two depth-charge racks.
Gulfstream’s Atlanta is molded in cream-colored resin, white-metal, and photoetched-brass parts. The main resin parts were crisp with little flash and only a few small air bubbles that were easily filled.
Gulfstream’s instructions list 88 white-metal parts, but in my sample 67 of them were resin. Unlike the main resin castings, some smaller parts were marred by heavy flash and air bubbles that obliterated detail.
The kit’s silver lining is brass – top-quality photoetched-brass detail parts.
The eight-page instruction booklet has a lot of text; the first three pages contain history, a parts lists, and general painting and assembly guides. The remaining pages consist of six written assembly stages with simplified drawings. One color photo of the completed kit is included. There are no decals.
After studying the instructions, I found I could work back and forth on several subassemblies and put them together later. Work on the forward superstructure revealed parts were missing. There should be two 1.1″ quad tubs (part 9) here and a single aft 1.1″ quad tub (part 10); my sample had that reversed. I modified the extra aft tub by cutting about a quarter of it away. My sample also was missing one small boat, a torpedo mount, and a 1.1″ quad gun.
A nice feature is the lip at the base of the superstructure parts that fit into indentations along the deck to aid in alignment. You also get deck-edge ridges for mounting the photoetched rails.
Assembly of the remaining parts went smoothly, though one must pay attention to part locations. The instructions tell you to study your references for locating some of the smaller photoetched parts such as ladders.
The painting guide says the Atlanta was painted in a modified measure 12 scheme with sea blue on the hull above the boot topping, ocean gray on vertical surfaces with an “off haze gray” splotch pattern, and deck blue on all horizontal surfaces. They seemed too dark, so I used some of Floquil’s Marine colors. Navy blue was substituted for sea blue, haze gray for ocean gray, and Navy blue for the off haze gray splotches, but I kept deck blue on the decks.
I spent 32 hours on my Atlanta, much of this in cleanup and tracking down references for parts locations.
The kit scales well to my references: Naval Institute Press’ U.S. Cruisers: An Illustrated Design History and Cruisers of World War Two, an Intrnational Encyclopedia, along with Floating Drydock’s Camouflage 1 of the WWII Era.
Despite its rough edges, Gulfstream’s kit produces a fine replica of the sleek antiaircraft cruiser. Don’t attempt it without building a few simpler resin ships, though, and gather your references beforehand.
Phil Kirchmeier