The Ship Model Forum

_________________
Timothy Dike
Owner & Administrator
ModelWarships.com

Martin,

Thank you for your very quick review of this new Very Fire kit! I was full of anticipation to know so I scrolled right to the bottom: what use is it really to me?

There I found a very short verdict:

Apart from scores and scores of photos of the kit parts and some notes what I could see on the photos, I found very little information on the quality of the parts. No measurements whether dimensions were correct or whatever. If you're not an expert on the Iowa class that's no surprise of course. The 'venerable' Tamiya kit certainly had its shortcomings, but no word how the new Very Fire kit compares in these areas.

So after all this I'm still left with my question: what use is it really to have this new kit at twice the price of the 'venerable' Tamiya kit of thirty years ago? I would have given much for a verdict of someone in the know that could have given a fair comparison of what we are going to get, relative to what we already had in the old Tamiya kit. Could you please pass on the review sample kit to someone who's able to fill in the need? Everybody will be grateful for a more knowledgeable assessment.

But still thanks for the attempt.

Maarten

_________________
"I've heard there's a wicked war a-blazing, and the taste of war I know so very well
Even now I see the foreign flag a-raising, their guns on fire as we sail into hell"
Roger Whittaker +9/13/2023

Martin,

I read through your review once more and concluded I must apologize: I have been too harsh on you. You did a stern attempt to give a good overview of the kit and you went to quite some length to do so.

As you mentioned yourself not being a Iowa-class expert, I can understand that you didn't mention whether the main turrets were correct in size - the big error in the Tamiya kit, to name just one of the flaws. Blue Water Navy/YMW and l'Arsenal issued several resin kits to rectify these errors. I really hope someone will be able to go the extra mile and asses the new Very Fire kit on all these points, to know wether the expense on a new Missouri kit is justified.

Maybe Steve Larsen (ModelMonkey) could have a go at it?

Regards, Maarten

_________________
"I've heard there's a wicked war a-blazing, and the taste of war I know so very well
Even now I see the foreign flag a-raising, their guns on fire as we sail into hell"
Roger Whittaker +9/13/2023

I think that there are some areas that aftermarket may help.

Regarding the 16" turrets, I do offer 16"/50 cal. turrets of two designs for 1/350 scale Iowa class kits, one set that is over-scale specifically to fit the Tamiya kits, and another that is precisely scaled to 1/350. Not having the Very Fire kit in hand, I cannot say which of these two 3D-printed turret sets (or neither) is a good fit for that kit, or if the kit's turrets are just fine (they do look good).

The outer diameter of the turret apron for my true-1/350 scale turrets is ~35.62 mm, if that helps.

Martin pointed out to me that a better bridge could be designed with open windows and a detailed armored conning tower with open armored doors and door hinges, detailed like this round bridge design for New Jersey:



I'll have that ready shortly, precisely scaled to 1/350. It can be used for 1/350 Tamiya, Revell, etc.

Other Model Monkey 3D-printed products appropriate for 1/350 Iowa class ships include:
1/350 5"/38 cal. Mk.28 Twin-gun Mounts, fixed trunnion (set of 10)
1/350 5"/38 cal. Mk.28 Twin-gun Mounts, separate trunnion (set of 10)
1/350 USS New Jersey BB-62 "Open Bridge", 1943
1/350 USS New Jersey BB-62 "Round Bridge", 1944
1/350 USS Iowa BB-61 and late USS Wisconsin BB-64 Quadruped Main Mast - Cold War
1/350 USS New Jersey BB-62, USS Missouri BB-63 and early USS Wisconsin BB-64 Quadruped Main Mast - Cold War
1/350 Mk.37 Directors, "angle-back" (set of 4) - for USS Iowa BB-61 and USS New Jersey BB-62
1/350 Mk.37 Directors, “square-back”, early (set of 4)
1/350 Mk.37 Directors, “square-back”, late with commander's cupola (set of 4)
1/350 Mk.37 Directors, Cold War (set of 4)
1/350 Mk.38 Directors (set of 2) and Mk.13 Radar Antennas (set of 4), World War Two-era - for fast battleships and Alaska class large cruisers
1/350 Mk.38 Directors (set of 2) and Mk.13 Radar Antennas (set of 4), - for modernized Iowa class battleships, 1990s
1/350 Mk.56 Directors (set of 4) - for USS New Jersey BB-62, 1968-1982
1/350 Mk.13 Radar Antennas (set of 8 )
1/350 SPG-25 Radar Antennas, Solid Dish (set of 8 )
​1/350 Anchors, 30,000 lbs. (set of 2) - for fast battleships
1/350 "Igloos" for Reserve Fleet ships (set of 10)
1/350 Ready Service Ammunition Lockers (set of 36) - for 20mm Oerlikon cannons
1/350 Life Raft Racks (set of 35) - for early Cold War-era ships

_________________
Have fun, Monkey around.™

-Steve L.

Complete catalog: - https://www.model-monkey.com/
Follow Model Monkey® on Facebook: - https://www.facebook.com/modelmonkeybookandhobby

Like Martin I'm not an expert on the Missouri. I did buy this kit and upon inspection there were two things that jumped out at me.

1. The hull is surprisingly void of detail. There are raised panel lines running the length of the hull. Nothing vertical. There are zero vents and such that I would think should be on a kit of this scale. The modeler is going to have to modify the hull if they want to introduce this detail.
2. The bridge is designed incorrectly. At the forward corners of the bridge there should be posts. There are none. It looks strange. I heard back from the people at Very Fire who acknowledge the mistake and apologized.

Very Fire is going to release a detail set in the next couple of months. Hopefully they will correct that error with detail parts. What comes of that will determine if I keep this kit.

Dave

Maarten,
I always measure the length and width the model to see how the hull scales out to the real thing. I can honestly say, it never occurred to me to measure the turrets. That is a good idea - something to think about moving forward.

Regards,

_________________
Martin

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." John Wayne

Ship Model Gallery

Martin, you're a great sport! Thanks for your reply.

Starting measuring length and width is surely a good start, but accuracy of a model requires more than that. What to think of hull shape? Shape and size of the superstructure and funnels/stacks? Size and shape of detail parts, not only turrets but also of boats and aircraft to name a few.

For this reason one needs quite some knowledge or intelligence to asses a model kit properly. Having some expertise about the type or ship in question would therefore be a great help. Unfortunately this is not always possible, and then the reviewer is thrown back to the sparse intelligence he can collect. However when a rather well known type or ship is on the table ("Bismarck!" or "Titanic!") I would recommend to look for an expert on the type, preferably also with modeling experience of the same, to look for the 'predictable' catches with the model. Example of the last: the stern anchor of the Trumpeter Graf Spee 1:350, being set reversed and missed by several reviewers.

Just a tiny note on length: the length of ships requires a little study in itself: a quoted figure for Lenght Over All (Loa) can easily be gotten wrong or misinterpreted. Example: the various Essex class carriers through the decades. To asses a particular model you have to know much more about the details of the structure than just that one figure. And to judge a kit on that single figure can be very, very tricky. Therefore one reassurement: your nice Intrepid model from Gallery is spot on in length (within a mm or so)! It is really the Trumpeter series of Essexes where the errors have been made (slightly too large). If you want to know the details I will gladly bring you up-to-date.

Kind regards, Maarten

_________________
"I've heard there's a wicked war a-blazing, and the taste of war I know so very well
Even now I see the foreign flag a-raising, their guns on fire as we sail into hell"
Roger Whittaker +9/13/2023

Helllo Guys,
I did also found the hull of the very Fire rather ''oldfashionend'' i.e. in the way of being almost flat lije 30 yrs ago.
I myself are just awaiting further news ( and release off course) of the Yoy Jard 1/350 Missouri kit.
As for now i've seen on the site that they are especially focused on a good hull and say it will be a ( very ) reasonoble
representation off all the horizontal and vertical strakes and hull overlapping .
For me that is little more of importance then a 0.00000001 inch in size or a missing chain link for the anchor...
I'm also in for a good Big Mo ( to make a VJ 2 representation with all the figures ) but are very curious for the Joy yard
release to inspect a box how it turned out really.....

So anybody know a release date for the Joy Yards BB63 Kit? It looks really AMAZING!

June 20:
"YoYCart", China, reports it expects delivery mid July.

_________________
STG3 DD818
1969-1973