Very Fire’s small-scale post-1954 USS
Salem features finely detailed parts that are molded at the limit of plastic technology.
Launched in 1947, the
Salem was the ultimate heavy cruiser. Never deployed to a combat zone, the
Des Moines-class ship could make 33 knots and fire each of its 8-inch guns every six seconds. Its primary consort should have been an ammunition supply ship since it could empty the 1,200-round magazines in 15 minutes.
The kit comprises fine gray styrene parts on 21 sprues with the upper and lower hull parts, deck, and the main superstructure separate. A fret of 11 photo-etched metal (PE) parts, chain for the anchors, and a small decal sheet round out parts. The 8-page, 45-step instructions are easy to follow and I found only one error: on Page 6, part G11 is called for but no G part tree is included in the kit.
It’s not explicit in the instructions, but the kit can be built either waterline or full hull. The hull parts fit so well, you can change between the two, but you’ll need to make some kind of base to display the full hull option.
anchor but hung the starboard lower as if the ship is departing a harbor.
The only fit issue I ran into was on Page 6, Part E14, which mounts on the superstructure, has four openings for lookout stands (parts PG1) that are too large so the stands fall through. I filled the openings with putty.
The fine parts look great, but they are fragile as I discovered when one of the main turrets snapped in half as I picked it up.
The separate aircraft hangar hatch on the aft deck is one of the first in 1/700 scale that allows for some creative work to open the hangar.
Building the straightforward central upper decks, stack, and masts presented no surprises. While the ship was designed and laid down in 1945, it was not commissioned until mid-1949 when antiaircraft lessons indicated twin 3-inch guns replace the wartime Bofors 40mm weapons. To ensure the forward mounts cleared the superstructure, a section was cut out, a change accurately reflected in the kit. I placed the port gun at maximum elevation as if it was tracking 360 degrees and it cleared perfectly. (Internal firing cams prevented it accidentally firing into the bridge superstructure.)
Painting the model is relatively simple: antifouling red oxide below the waterline, above haze gray on vertical surfaces, deck blue for horizontals, and wood for the planked sections.
The decals for the name, hull numbers, load markers, and the flying witch badge went on easily. Flags are included, but the kit doesn't provide flagstaffs. I made one for the stern using stretched sprue.
I spent 67 hours building the
Salem and it builds into an excellent replica of a U.S. Navy’s last all-gun cruiser on whose decks you can walk today as a museum ship at its birthplace in Quincy, Mass.