Kangnam 1/400 USS New Jersey By Michael Benolkin

Background

The USS New Jersey was one of four Iowa-class battleships developed during the Second World War. The Iowa-class would be the newest and last battleships to see service anywhere in the world. These same battleships also have the distinction of being mothballed after one war, only to be reactivated, updated and sent off to support the next conflict. In the end, the Iowa-class battleships have served in WW2, Korea, Vietnam, and finally in the Gulf War, not counting the numerous missions in-between.

The Kit

MRC has recently started distributing the Kangnam (South Korea) line of kits in the US market, including this 1/400 version of the venerable USS New Jersey as it was configured for the Gulf War.

On opening the box, you are quickly impressed with the quantity of the parts that make up this kit. While no formal parts count is provided in this kit, I counted over 400 parts, so you can get the idea that this will be a detailed project and, with a little patience, can built into a beautiful scale replica.

Molded in light gray and black styrene, this is the first time to my recollection that the New Jersey (or any of the Iowa class) has been rendered in 1/400 scale. As you can see in the accompanying photos, the kit features a one-piece hull. Even in 1/400 scale, the hull is over 26 inches long! The main deck is molded as two pieces, with the superstructure hiding most of the seam line.

The kit features all of the traditional armament of the Iowa class, including three 16-inch main turrets and six twin-5-inch gun mounts. Since the kit supplies all eight twin-5-inch gun mounts originally fitted to the Iowa-class, it is a safe assumption that we'll be seeing this kit issued in its WW2 configuration in the future. Also provided are the distinctive Tomahawk and Harpoon missile launch tubes, Phalynx missile defense guns and three SH-60B Seahawk helicopters.

Conclusion

This kit will build into a nice replica of the modern version of the USS New Jersey. The only details advanced modelers will want to consider are photo-etched railings and other details, though for the majority of US Navy builders, the detailing offered straight out of the box will render a nicely detailed replica of this powerful warship.

My sincere thanks to MRC for this review sample!