Trumpeter 1/700 USS Maryland BB-46 1941 Kit First Look

by Dave Manter

First Look

The USS Maryland (BB-46) was the second ship built in the Colorado Class of battleship. Construction began in 1917 and she was launched in 1920. She was adopted for service in 1921.

During the early years USS Maryland was involved in various fleet problem solving exercises. On December 7th, 1941, USS Maryland was in Pearl Harbor at the time of the Japanese attack and was damaged. In 1942, after repair and modernization, USS Maryland returned to the fight. She took part in the Gilbert and Marshall Island campaigns, the Mariana campaign and the invasion of Palau. She was also involved in the battle of Leyte Gulf where she suffered damage from kamikaze attacks. After repair, she was involved in the Okinawa campaign and was also involved in the occupation after Japan's surrender. She was retired in 1947 and dismantled in 1959.

The Trumpeter kit of the USS Maryland consists of 429 styrene parts on 21 sprues and 15 photo etch detail parts. All of the parts are very well molded and flash and seam lines are minimal.

Construction looks to be pretty straight forward and the fit of the hull and main decks is good.

The kit gives you the option of using styrene parts or photo etch parts for some of the key features, such as the catapults and the cranes. The "bird cage" mast is beautifully reproduced in photo etch. 2 OS2U Kingfisher aircraft are provided. The ship can be constructed with a full hull or as a waterline kit. A nice display stand and name plate are included as well.

Trumpeter continues to produce beautiful ship models in their growing 1/700 scale line. Highly Recommended!

My sincere thanks to Squadron/MMD for this review sample!