1:700 USS Honolulu CL-48 (Standard Edition)

1:700 USS Honolulu CL-48 (Standard Edition) from Vee Hobby

A plastic kit of the American light cruiser USS Honolulu (CL-48) in 1:700 from Vee Hobby. The main purchasing distinction is the edition: this is Standard, that is injection-molded plastic and decals. The manufacturer has also released the same vessel in the Deluxe edition, which adds photo-etched parts, metal barrels and deck masking stencils to the same plastic; check the exact scope of both editions on the box.

The real subject

Honolulu was a light cruiser of the Brooklyn class with fifteen guns of 152 mm caliber in five triple turrets. She was damaged at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and then fought off the Aleutians and at Guadalcanal. In the night battle of Kula Gulf on July 6, 1943 she took part in the destruction of Japanese destroyers, and a week later, at the Battle of Kolombangara, she helped sink the Japanese light cruiser Jintsu. Immediately afterwards a torpedo tore off her bow and she had to return to the United States for repair. She got back into the fighting and supported the landings at Saipan, Guam and Peleliu; another torpedo hit her in October 1944 off Leyte.

Building and painting tips

Try the hull parts dry first; in 1:700 every gap shows on the superstructures. Spray the bottom of the hull and the waterline before you glue on the railings and cranes. Bring out the decks by washing a darker shade into the engraved seams. Join photo-etched railings and ladders with cyanoacrylate glue, and apply the decals onto a gloss base. Add rigging from stretched sprue at the very end.

Who the model is for

• modelers interested in the night battles off the Solomon Islands
• collectors of 1:700 and of American light cruisers
• builders for whom plastic with decals is enough and who add photo-etch themselves

The model is supplied unassembled and unpainted. Glue, paints and accessories are not included in the package, unless stated otherwise.