Lion Roar

1/700 US Navy WWII Watertight Doors For any US Navy ship

Stock Number: LE700068

Reviewed By  Luke R. Bucci, IPMS# 33549

MSRP: $12.00 Thanks to Dragon Models USA for supplying the kit. Web Site: www.dragonmodelsusa.com Bottom Line: The most detailed watertight door set yet. Can position doors open or closed. PHOTOETCH SET REVIEW: Lion Roar has a large line of 1/700 photoetch accessories for United States, Japanese and German WW2 navies. Instead of producing a photoetch set for a single ship that includes the gamut of pieces, Lion Roar usually supplies fittings generic to all ships or a class of ships. This set is devoted exclusively to US Navy watertight doors and hatches, and can be used on any US Navy ship. The fret is a thin brass sheet with 226 doors and 72 hatches, enough for several large ships. All pieces have 3-D relief. There are twelve types of doors and four types of hatches. 144 doors have the weather stripping around each door, and can be position open or closed. Doors are for various levels of superstructure and even 5in gun turrets. Hatches fit on decks, but some are for vertical surfaces. Looks like almost every type of door and hatch is covered in this set. Instructions are almost needless, but do show how the various doors and hatches should be installed. This set was designed for USN battleships in particular. You will need to consult references in order to position the right doors and hatches in the right places. Be sure to check which way the doors (hatches) open. The fret supplies doors that open to the left or right in a 50/50 ratio. In general, doors opened towards the bow so that onrushing water would tend to close the door and prevent flooding if a door were left open. So for starboard side doors, the hinges are on the right hand side, and for port side doors, the hinges are on the left hand side. I doubt the subtlety of the various door patterns have sufficient references for most modelers (or even plank owners) to locate precisely. However, the doors will look great wherever they end up. I used these doors on an old Skywave Fletcher-class kit built over 10 years ago. Other Lion Roar photoetch sets were used for railings and depth charge equipment (reviewed in the IPMS website), and other sets for armament and radars. The model as also repainted to better match the photoetch pieces. I airbrushed both sides of the fret ModelMaster acrylic Light Gray 5-L after washing the fret in warm soapy water and rinsing it well. The doors were easy to remove from the fret, handle and bend. Cyanoacrylate glue was used to bond the doors to the plastic (or paint) of the kit. I used reference books to locate doors, deck hatches and other hatches. All the doors and hatches in reference photographs wee on this fret. For the dark colors in this scale, the doors are a little hard to see, but they add a touch of scale realism. If doors are not there, the vertical sides are too plain. Summary Depending on the ship and stage of the war, your can fit out at least 4-8 ships. This is a good value in my opinion, and the quality is superior and the pieces are easy to work with. Recommended for superdetailing any US Navy warship. My thanks again to Dragon Models USA for the review set References: Raven A. Fletcher-Class Destroyers. United States Naval Institute, Annapolis, MD, 1986.

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