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Trumpeter 1/700 Jeremiah O'Brien Liberty Ship - Inbox Review

Dave Ward

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American shipbuilders turned out 2710 Liberty Ships between 1941 & 45. The design was based on a British 1936 design, by Thompson of Sunderland, modified to speed manufacture & suit American production methods. There were problems, causing some ships to break in half due to stress fatigue & temperature embrittlement.
There aren't many 1/700 models of standard cargo ships - the two by Trumpeter ( from 2018 ) are the only injection moulded models I can think of!
DSCF3650.JPGBox is a little oversize for the bits inside.
Sprues
DSCF3656.JPGDSCF3662.JPGDeck, Hull, Waterline plate & lower hull
DSCF3653.JPGDSCF3652.JPGDSCF3651.JPG Instructions & colour profile - although the colour profile is as she is now.
A few detail shots
DSCF3654.JPGDSCF3655.JPGDSCF3657.JPGDSCF3658.JPGDSCF3661.JPGDSCF3663.JPG
Detail isn't bad - this is 1/700 & parts are moulded crisply & cleanly. The detail isn't moulded in, it's by separate parts
There are a few differences between this & the John W Brown ( the other Trumpy model ) mainly in position of armament & life rafts.
Both of the models show the ship as she would be alongside, ready to work cargo, with all derricks rigged & raised.
At sea, all of these would be stowed:
Liberty_ship_at_sea 03.jpg Prevents damage to the derrick mounts..............
You can build this full hull, or waterline - there's no PE, and you need to add some around the superstructure. As there were over 2,700 built there were variations in fittings, but the basic configuration was pretty much standard. Painting seems to be overall grey. some having waterline bands of black, others not. Only marking would have been the ships name, bow & stern. The ships would become heavily weathered, going through winter in the North Atlantic at a top speed of 11 knots, not rusty, just weathered. Convoys were escorted by USN destroyers, RCN & RN destroyers, frigates & corvettes, so a twin ship diorama has strong possibilities.
The models are available, around £18-19, you don't see many made up, I suppose they aren't as glamorous as a warship. Its only small, 192mm long, and there are a lot of tiny parts ( 150+ ), so it may not be for a beginner.
Dave
 
Never knew the history of them Dave , interesting the original design was English .
 
Nice review and info. Dave.

As an add-on, the record for the quickest Liberty Ship built goes to the Robert E. Peary. From laying the keel to actual delivery took just 7days 14 hours 32 mins. She survived the war and was broken up in 1963. Jeez, I'm turning into a geek! I need a drink....

I built the Revell USS Montrose in the daft 1/375. Bit of a rough kit, but workable.
 
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Most of the Liberties were constructed in brand new shipyards, by workers who had no previous experience. Henry Kaiser was the man behind the huge expansion of American shipbuilding, using techniques like prefabrication of sections, that had never been used in shipyards. Average build time was 45 days - although there were propaganda builds of much shorter periods. The Liberties were generally associated with the Atlantic convoys, but they were used everywhere. They were superseded by the Victory ships - larger & faster ( they had steam turbines ). After the war a lot of Liberty ships were sold off as replacements for war losses. They were simple, and economical to run, and most were run into the ground before being replaced by more modern ships. The US held onto a lot of Liberties & Victory ships, in their Strategic Reserve Fleet ( the Mothball Fleet ), not being disposed of until the early 70's.
Dave
 
At least the Trumpeter version has the supports on the inside of the hull rails(don't know what its called). I had to add these on my conversion to a spy ship which was a Skywave kit.
Looks good to build.

Cheers,
Richard
 
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At least the Trumpeter version has the supports on the inside of the hull rails(don't know what its called). I had to add these on my conversion to a spy ship which was a Skywave kit.
Looks good to build.

Cheers,
Richard
Richard,
technical term is bulwark stay ( or bulwark stiffener ) the bulwarks being the continuation of the hull plating above the deck. Along the top of the bulwarks is the gunwhale ( gunnel ) - the bit you lean on looking over the side
Dave
 
Richard,
technical term is bulwark stay ( or bulwark stiffener ) the bulwarks being the continuation of the hull plating above the deck. Along the top of the bulwarks is the gunwhale ( gunnel ) - the bit you lean on looking over the side
Dave
Thanks for that. I was told the bulwark was the extention at the bow and didn't think the definition continued along the rest of the plating of the hull.

Cheers,
Richard aka Wabble
 
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