DML 1/700 Pearl Harbor Attack Kit First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

December 7, 1941 was a bad day for nearly everyone. In what was supposed to be a pre-emptive blow to US forces in the Pacific, the Imperial Japanese Navy was counting on properly timed diplomatic and military action. Of course the Japanese diplomats worked at a different pace than the military (a phenomenon common to most nations of the world even today) and didn't deliver the ultimatum to the US until after the attack started. This diplomatic snafu changed the strategy from demoralizing America to one of unprovoked outrage that would later come back on Japan.

On the other side of the coin, many historians have written many studies over the failure of intelligence and military preparedness that would leave the bulk of the Pacific fleet at anchor vulnerable to such a bold attack. One of the significant victims of the Japanese attack was the USS Arizona and her crew that suffered from catastrophic explosions from the multitude of torpedo and bomb attacks. Most of battleship row was seriously damaged as were a number of combatants in other areas of the harbor. The only good news (if you could call it that) was that the aircraft carriers were at sea during the attack and that many of the damaged vessels were able to be repaired and pressed into battle while the industrial might of the US was shifted into wartime production.

Here is an impressive kit from DML. This is the USS Arizona in 1/700 scale and this kit is a beauty. The kit is molded in light gray styrene and presented on six parts trees plus the upper and lower hull and four main turret shells, and two small trees of clear parts. Two frets of photo-etched parts and a set of turned brass main gun barrels round out the kit.

Among the features and options in this kit:

• Choice of waterline of full-hull display
• Photo-etched cranes
• Photo-etched railings
• Turned brass 14" main gun barrels
• 2 x OS2U Kingfishers on catapults
• 2 x Kate carrier bombers molded in clear

While there is no display stand provided in this kit, the shape of the one-piece lower hull is such that the propellers and rudder won't contact the surface of a shelf after assembly (though the AMS modeler will want to put this model on some sort of a display base or waterline display).

Markings are provided for the ship, embarked Kingfishers, and attacking Kates as they all appeared on December 7th.

This is a really nice looking model of the Arizona that won't take up much shelf space. Even so, looking at the box art makes me want to pull out my copy of Final Countdown and watch VF-84 F-14 Tomcats from the USS Nimitz dogfight with those Zeros on December 6th, 1941...

My sincere thanks to DML for this review sample!