Moskva
by Paul Helfrich

1/700 Moskva (Trumpeter)

This is the recent Trumpeter 1/700 release of the Slava-class missile cruiser Moskva. I haven't posted anything for a while - I've been spending a lot of time with figure modeling lately, and I also slowed down on this project in order to add more details. I've been working on it off and on since September.

The kit is very good, typical of Trumpeter's recent releases in 1/700 scale. There are many tiny parts, making this a very tweezer-intensive project and one that looks fairly well-detailed even before PE is added. One shortcoming of the kit is that it does have the old "Aztec temple" stairs, which I didn't remove - although I'm swearing to myself I'm going to start doing that from now on!

I added details (railings and radars) from the GMM Soviet aircraft carrier set (I ordered them before the Slava-specific set came out). I knew I could use Top Sail and Top Steer radars from the aircraft carrier set - the only Slava radar I didn't get was the Front Door, which I scratch-built for this project. No question, the photo-etched radars look 100% better than the kit versions.

I really like the look of modern Soviet/Russian warships - while they may not be as technologically sophisticated as US warships, their bristling look and array of visible radars and weapons makes them more interesting subjects for modeling, in my opinion.