Trumpeter 1/700 Kuznetsov
|
 |
History
The Kuznetsov Class aircraft carrier was constructed at Nikolayev South
Shipyard on the Black Sea in the Ukraine. The Admiral Kuznetsov was launched
in 1985, and is the only aircraft carrier in the Russian Navy. The Admiral
Kuznetsov supports strategic missile submarines, surface ships, and maritime
missile-carrying aircraft of the Russian Fleet.
 The Admiral Kuznetsov has the capacity for 16 Yak-141s, 12 Sukhoi Su-33s,
and up to 24 Ka-27 helicopters. The ship also has the SS-N-19 anti-ship
missile system consisting of twelve launchers, as well as the SA-N-9
SAM system, with 24 vertical launchers containing 192 missiles. Additionally,
to counter submarine forces, the ship has an RBU-12000 system with 60
anti-submarine rockets.
The Kit
 Trumpeter has been putting out some great naval subjects, but for the
most part they have been sticking to US ships. With this release they
cross over to the Russians in a dramatic way, with what I believe is
the first kit of the Admiral Kuznetsov in 1/700 scale. All the quality
and detail that we have seen on Trumpeter's other ship kits is present
here, with over 600 pieces making up the foot and a half long model.
Molded in light gray plastic, with red plastic hull pieces and clear
aircraft, this kit can be built in either full-hull or waterline versions.
The waterline version can be displayed on the included vacuformed water
base.
 The construction of this kit is fairly simple, with no real hidden areas
to worry about. The instructions start out with the addition of all the
extra sponsons and elevator details on the main hull. The back of the
stern is separate as well, allowing for sharper detail than if it had
been included with the main hull. The one piece main deck is a perfect
fit onto the top of the hull, with very positive location making it nearly
impossible to misalign this piece. Deck detailing includes separate life
raft canisters, cranes, blast deflectors, and antennae.
 Moving to the island, this is split into layers, with separate decks
separating the main assemblies. Starting at the bottom, Trumpeter has
done something interesting with the main island piece. Split into right
and left halves, with a separate top, this piece also has a separate
front and rear endcap. Falling on natural seams, these pieces both cover
the main seam of the two halves and provides sharper detail than otherwise
would be present. Very nice engineering, Trumpeter! The bridge is made
up of five pieces, and the upper island gets similar treatment as the
lower, with the flat array antennae on the fore and aft ends being separate
pieces. The usual extra details such as antennae and cranes round out
the detailing on the bridge, which then fits positively onto the main
deck.
 As this is an aircraft carrier, it just would not be complete without
a complement of aircraft. Trumpeter, perhaps realizing that there are
not many 1/700 Russian aircraft available, has provided a large number
of planes to build up and place on the deck. All of these have separate
vertical fins and separate landing gear, with the helicopters being a
bit more complex. The helicopters are split into right and left fuselage
halves, with a separate tail piece, landing gear, and engine nacelles.
Two options for rotors are included, either folded or extended, and either
option consists of two pieces. The aircraft included are the Ka-27, the
Ka-29, and the Ka-31 making up the helicopter fleet (two each of those,
for a total of six), six MiG-29s, six Su-25s, four Su-33s, four Su-33UBs,
and six Yak-141s. As mentioned earlier, these are molded in clear, so
that allows the modeler to carefully paint  around the canopy for added
realism.
Conclusion
This is a beautiful model of a ship that would make an excellent counterpart
to the many kits of US carriers that are out there. The extensive air
force included will ensure that the flight deck is appropriately busy,
and the generally simple construction could make this an ideal model
to break into the world of ship building. My thanks to Stevens International
for the review sample.
|
|
