Hasegawa 1/350 USS Gambier Bay CVE-73

Overview

When it comes to ships, few capture the imagination like aircraft carriers. This can be seen by the great number of kits available of the major aircraft carrier classes, in both 1/700 and 1/350 scales. However, these kits have focused mainly on the main carriers, such as the Essex Class. This year, though, we see a change with two new 1/350 carriers, a CVL from Dragon and a CVE from Hasegawa. The Escort Carrier was a small carrier, fielding a handful of aircraft, and was designed to be quickly built and put in service. The Gambier Bay was built in only 171 days, and others were built even faster. This allowed the USN to quickly increase their carrier capability in a short time. The Hasegawa kit comes with a very detailed history of the Casablanca Class CVE and the Gambier Bay CVE-73, so if you're interested in the details, it's all in the box.

The Kit

Hasegawa's 1/350 Gambier Bay comes in a large sturdy box, with a divider protecting the main hull pieces from the rest of the sprues. Molded in their typical gray plastic, the kit features a blend of raised and recessed details that provides a great representation of the ship. Included in the kit is 1/3 of the air wing carried on the Gambier Bay, three Avengers and six Wildcats. Hasegawa has produced an add-on set with more aircraft, should the modeler wish to fill the decks with the full load of aircraft. Two decal sheets provide markings for the carrier and the aircraft, with the latter covered with both the blue-outlined and red-outline national insignia.

 

The breakdown of the kit is fairly logical, and with a quick glance at the instructions, I would say that this could go together pretty fast. The main hull is split into right and left halves, and is supported with several internal braces. This allows for a sturdy assembly with little risk of sinkmarks. The bow and stern have separate deck pieces, with the bow getting an interesting addition in the form of actual metal chain for the anchors. The hull underside has only a few additions, namely the shaft supports, screws, and rudder.

 

Moving on to the main deck, this is simple on the upper side, with the deck split into a fore and aft piece. Flip it over, though, and be ready for quite a bit of work. There are all sorts of braces, frames, and side pieces to put in place here. When you think you're just about done, it's then that the gun tubs show up, and there's even more to put on this assembly. Once it's done, though, you'll have a nice looking deck assembly, and the breakdown of parts should make painting easier as well.

 

With the upper deck on the hull, the remaining assembly revolves around the island and the fine details. There are plenty of life rafts for along the sides of the hull, along with a couple of motor launches. The island is a simple assembly, and the various antennae are solid pieces. The latter are a subject of replacement in the add-on photoetch sets Hasegawa produces, and those would be a wise investment here. The aircraft are TBM Avengers and FM-2 Wildcats. These come with the choice of either folded or unfolded wings and clear canopies.

 

The painting diagram in the instruction book is useful in that it shows where the provided paper templates go for the splinter camouflage scheme. For the real fun, though, you will want to unroll the full scale color painting diagram. This is clearly marked out for the individual colors used on the ship, as well as providing placement information for all the decals.

 

 

Conclusion

As there are few options for a CVE in 1/350, it is good that this kit looks to be both well detailed and fairly straightforward. Of course, the proof is in the build, and I'll turn this over to the lucky modeler and see how it all shakes out. On the surface, though, I can say that if you are thinking of picking this kit up, do so, as you won't be disappointed. My thanks to Hasegawa USA for the review sample.