Trumpeter 1/700 USS Missouri 1991 By Richard Eaton

The Missouri (BB-63), the last battleship completed by the United States, was laid down 6 January 1941 by New York Naval Shipyard; launched 29 January 1944; sponsored by Miss Margaret Truman daughter of the then Senator from Missouri, Harry S. Truman, later President; and commissioned 11 June 1944, Capt. William M. Callaghan in command.

Missouri, veteran of four wars, was decommissioned for the final time on 31 March 1992 at Long Beach, California. On May 4, 1998, Secretary of the Navy John H. Dalton signed the donation contract officially transferring the historic battleship to the USS Missouri Memorial Association (MMA) of Honolulu. The ship was gently guided and delicately docked at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, June 22. Missouri is tied to the most seaward end of "Battleship Row" at piers F-2 and F-3. Missouri opened as a memorial and museum on January 29th 1999.

Missouri received three battle stars for World War II service and five for Korean service.

The Kit

This is a delightful new kit from Trumpeter of the modern fitting of the massive USS Missouri! Fans of 1/700 shipbuilding will be pleased with this new release. The box art shows a nice painting of the 1991 Missouri. Side art shows a side and overhead view in color. The eight frets and large free components are molded in hard light gray styrene. The kit can be built either as a waterline representation or full hull.

Large Components

The upper hull piece contains most of the major superstructure molded in. There are holes for both fore and aft decks. For those of you not familiar with the class, these ships were huge! The upper hull is 15 inches ((38 cm) long! This makes two areas where the main deck will have a seam to deal with. Molded in detail is nicely done though a tad heavy for the scale. Deck planking is represented with over scale inlaid lines.

A one-piece waterline hull base is molded in dark red. The lower hull is likewise. I had to test fit the hull pieces and was delighted at the fit. There will be only very minor filling and sanding.

On the Trees

Trees A contains the large fore and aft decks and the major superstructure decks and bulkheads. Molded in detail is nicely done on all surfaces. The foredeck has molded in anchor chains that really look pretty good from where I am sitting. The Bulkheads have reasonable detail with hatches and ladders represented.

Tree B and C are molded together and contain the main gun turrets, upper superstructure parts, ships boats, and propellers. Again, detail is good and there is no flash to deal with. The ships props are only fair but I plan on cleaning them up a tad and using them.

Two tree Ds contain the ship's 16-inch gun tubes and secondary armament. The Mo in 1991 shipped a plethora of weapons and they are nicely represented here. Of special note: the main gun tubes contain molded in blast bags. Thank you Trumpeter! We have Harpoon tubes, Tomahawk cases, the twin five-inch guns, CIWS, and a nicely done Apache helicopter to play with here!

Tree E contains the masts, crane, antennae, and prop shafts. The masts are near scale thin and the various antennae are delicately molded. Some care will be needed in removing and cleaning up these parts, as they are very fragile. A PE detail set would shine here but the Trumpeter parts are quite usable.

Tree F contains the ship's base components.

Directions

A well-done instruction booklet contains four pages of parts identification followed by 12 assembly and marking steps. The directions feature detailed drawings and identify all parts clearly by number. There are but a few words of instruction present. Ship's markings are shown for the Gulf war action. Gunze Mr. Color values are shown.

Decals

One decal sheet contains markings for all parts. There are ships numbers, flags, deck markings, and a one-piece decal for the helipad. There are very small markings for the aircraft. The decals are well registered and thin.

Conclusion

I am impressed with this kit. I recommend it to average to experienced small-scale ship builders due to the large number (223) of small pieces. This beauty should build up to an impressive model right out of the box. Throw in a set of photo etch details and this should be a showstopper! Can't wait to start building now! We thank Stevens International for providing this review sample.