Soviet Warship Photo-Etch
Gold Medal Models - 1/700
By: Mike Dunn
As regular readers will have noticed, one of the ship types I like are the Soviet-era carriers. Indeed, within this site are reviews of the Kiev, the Minsk and the Moskva. One thing that I wished for was more detail on these vessels, so I was happy when, while talking to Caroline at WEM, I found out that they stocked the Gold Medal Models (GMM) Soviet Warship PE in 1/700 scale. As with the vast majority of WEM orders, this PE arrived within a couple of days.
Opening the envelope (backed with thick card), you get a sheet of instructions, in two halves, and the PE fret, in steel. The fret measures 3 1/8" by 4 3/4", and is clearly laid out. One thing to point out; this fret dates back to 1991, and has not been updated to the current GMM standard. I understand that it is unlikely to be updated, which I find annoying - more on this later.
Looking
at the instruction sheet, the top half is information on how to apply PE fret
to a model. The bottom half are diagrams on how to assemble the Head Net 'C'
Radar, the Mast Modifications, the Pop Group Radar and the Antenna Brackets
for the Skywave Krivak kit, and Forward Mast, the Top Steer Radar, the Pop Group
Radar, the Flight Deck Crane, the Yardarms and the Top Sail Radar for the Aoshima
Kiev and Minsk kits.
The diagrams are very clear, and also show you what parts of the kit the PE fret parts replace. Some of them are stand-alone parts, eg the Krivak's Pop Group Radar, while others consist of a number of parts requiring pre-assembly. I do not forsee any dificulty in preparing these parts for the models, apart from the usual Big Fingers problem!
Apart
from these replacement areas, what else do you get? Well, looking at the fret,
there is one full length of 3-bar railings, seven lengths of 4-bar railings,
six lengths of 5-bar railings, and two lengths of inclined 5-bar bow railings.
On the ladder front, you get eight 1 1/2" straight ladders, and five 7/8"
inclined ladders with railings. You also get 26 life rings, for general placement.
Oh, and all areas have their title PE'd into the surrounding steel - very useful.
So, with all of these extra detailing parts, why am I not totally happy with this kit? Simple; there are no 5-bar railings for the flight deck of the Kiev class. Indeed, the instructions go so far as to tell you that if you want this, you have to buy the GMM 1/700 Merchant Ship set! This, in my eyes, isn't really good enough. The fret is not particularly large, but is quite expensive (outside of the US, at any rate) when compared to "local" PE fret makers (by local, I mean those in your own country), and for the price I paid I expected to get all those parts that I would need, and not have to get a Merchant Ship set to detail what is, after all, a major part of the Kiev class's area - the flight deck!
So - taking into account what you do get, this is a worthwhile PE fret set for the Krivak class, one that will turn the kit from good to exceptional. A different story for the Kiev; if the flight-deck railings were included, I would have no problems recommending this fret at all. As it stands, I have to say that it is only OK. Having to fork out for the Merchant Ship fret is extremely annoying and I don't really know if I'll bother, or just detail those areas that this fret handles, and handles well.
One last comment - if GMM do update this fret - add in these railings! If necessary, revamp it totally into separate Krivak and Kiev frets but get the flight deck 5-bar railings included! This omission is the only problem I have with this entire PE fret, and it is a crying shame that GMM went the route of making you buy another fret instead of creating a one-stop PE masterpiece.
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