1/700 USS Augusta CA-31 (Niko)
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by Bob Dedmon |
1/700 USS Augusta CA-31 (Niko)
This is the 4th of 6 1/700 Northampton class heavy cruisers for my collection...just
Houston and Louisville left. The Niko kit is beautiful, very fine
barrels for the 5" and 40 MM guns. The 20 MM are of an interesting
construction with the gun and shield being a single piece of brass that
is folded to shape. The navigation bridge comes as an open area with
brass windows. I'd rate this kit 9 of 10 losing points for the roof
of the hangar deck...it's too small and will not cover the opening of the
hangar, I had to add sheet plastic to complete it. The brass is very
fine and fragile. It was an easy build until I got to the upper gundeck/hangar
roof, the gaps were a royal pain to work with and nearly created more problems
with the hangar door and the inclined ladders at the front of the hangar.
Other than the fit issue there and the fine fiddley nature of the brass
it was a fairly quick build. the water is my standard blue acrylic
jell paint over coated with white and clear blue.
