| Tom's Modelworks | |
| CV-2 U.S.S. Lexington Details | |
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kit number 3552 |
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Reviewed By Charles Landrum, #26328 |
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MSRP: $32.00 USD Available directly from Tom’s Modelworks, or through retail outlets such as Squadron Tom’s Modelworks P.O. Box 304 Fax: (707)538-3271 I would like to thank Tom Harrison for this review sample. Tom’s Modelworks is one of the stalwart manufacturers of PE detail sets for ship models; providing good detail options not offered by others. Tom Harrison has been creating photo-etched details perhaps longer than most, having offered a lot of aircraft products. But he is most well known for his well-valued and detailed ship PE detail sets. Tom has not been getting any rest these days what with the pace of ship model releases – he has been keeping up. His sets are well researched and often include scrap view drawings for reference. This release from Tom’s is a two-fret set: one fret has the details for the ship and air wing, the second fret contains the railings, vertical ladders and the flight deck nets. As with all Tom’s sets this set is single relief-etched and packed with detail and provides all of the details needed to complete LEXINGTON in her 1942 configuration. Beside the basic details that you expect in a PE there are some nice details also included. Here is what details are provided:
So how are the details? There are several features of this that commend it to the modeler. First the details fit where intended by my measurements. The single piece stanchion and railing assembly for the outboard gun platform is a nice touch and saves a lot of hassle. The gun details are petite and really enhance the kit parts. The brackets are also nicely rendered. The aircraft details are also a nice touch, but I don’t see the advantage to adding them. Tom’s sell the sets separately, but my guess is that Tom had room to spare on the one fret and filled it with aircraft details as a bonus. But the best part of this set and what distinguishes it from other sets are the flight deck nets. The nets on LEX and SARA were complicated frames not well represented by Trumpeter. None of the other manufacturers capture the complexity of the flight deck nets as Tom does. The instructions are adequate and will help you place the PE details where they belong. Particularly nice are the aircraft drawings and the placement guide for the flight deck nets, which goes to great length to ensure that your nets are mounted in prototype fashion! All in all this is a nice set that provides the modeler the details needed to build the 1942 version of the ship. Many of the parts can be used for earlier versions. The set also provides a nice start on a well-detailed air wing. Highly recommended. |
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