Niko 1/700 USS Rhode Island
By Don Joy
For those of us who like ships and American ships in particular, this is like - wow! An American pre-dreadnought! This is one of the ships that participated as the Great White Fleet that sailed around the world from 1907 to 1909. The class is notable for the two storey main turrets with 12" and 8" guns in single large turrets. Apparently, that is one of those ideas that looked a lot better on paper than it worked in practice.
The Niko kit is issued in two versions: As a USS Louisiana in 1906 colors with pole masts and as the Rhode Island in World War I configuration with cage masks. I picked up the one with cage masks at the IPMS Nationals from Freetime Hobbies. My plan is to build it as a USS Nebraska circa WWI.
Plus:
Resin Parts
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Etched Brass and remaining resin
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Typical Instruction Page
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1) The kit is molded in gray resin. There are no visible bubbles in my first review of the parts.
2) Relatively few parts: 100 resin and 40 etched brass pieces. This is probably about right. Pre-World War I ships did not have the huge numbers upper deck anti-aircraft guns and associated equipment of World War II ships
3) Parts are clean with little flash, nothing that can't be handled
Neutral:
1) There is a 4 page instruction sheet that shows pictures of the model. The instructions are broken out with forward, midship, stern sections.
2) I think the builder will need to review the instructions and determine a sequence of assembly rather than the simplistic bow to stern pictures.
3) The instructions are complete - they show where everything goes quite clearly. I just think the modeler will need to take it upon themselves to determine the correct painting and assembly sequence.
Minus:
1) Cage Masts. There I said it. I see nothing intrinsically wrong with Niko's rendition on these naval monstrosities, they are just complicated.
2) The masts themselves are each two pieces of etched brass that must be bent into a conic section, then assembled with a number of additional brass and resin parts
3) The instruction photo's provide a clear sequence on ho this should be done. In this case, I'm pretty sure I'll follow their sequence.
4) A lot of care will be needed on these two sub assemblies. I estimate they will take as long to build as the rest of the ship.
5) Again, this is no reflection on Niko or the kit. These are complicated structures and you need to be mentally prepared for the challenge.
So I'll leave off my impressions there. It looks like a great little kit of a long needed subject. The price is $69, which is not out of line for foreign resin/etched brass ship kits.