ManCave Modeler
Product Review

U.S.S. Louisiana, BB-71
Very Fire 700901, 1/700 Scale
Future Build

I recently received a notification of the upcoming 1/350 USS Montana from Very Fire from an online Shop. At first I was excited about the arrival of this ship but as I looked at the size of the kit I came to the conclusion it probably won't fit in my crowded display case so I decided to build the 1/700 version.

This my first Very Fsire kit, with the matching upgrade set. My first impression when I opened the box was wow! Even at 1/700 this is a pretty big ship.
The full hull comes in two sections split at the waterline and a one piece deck. Tucked way in the bottom of the box was a sheet of photo etch containing railings, radars, catapults and cranes.

The exterior walls of the superstructure comes as separate pieces with molded on detail such as life rings and fire fighting equipment. All of which will need to be removed should you purchare the upgrade set


The photo's below show the size comparison between the hull of this kit, the DKM Bismarck and the U.S.S. New York. Having spent time on the Texas, the Massachusetts and a couple Iowa's, I can't imagine how large these ships would have been had it ever been built

   

Type:Montana Class Battleship
Displacement:71,000 tons
Length:921 ft
Beam:121 ft
Draft:36 ft
Speed:28 knots
Range:15,000nm
Complement:2790 officers and enlisted men
 
Projected Armament
12 × 16-inch/50 cal Mk 7 guns
20 × 5-inch/54 cal Mark 16 guns
10–40 × Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft guns
56 × Oerlikon 20 mm anti-aircraft cannons
The first and the last battleship classes,
Indiana class BB-2, U.S.S. Massachusetts and Montana Class BB-71 U.S.S. Louisiana

Montana Class Battleship detail up set
(VF700001)
This set consists of a super thin wood deck a couple bags of resin and some sheets of photo etch. This is not for the feint of heart, the small size of the parts in this set require a really good set of fine tipped tweezers and for me, a good set of +2.5 readers. There is also a full set of Brass barrels with resin blast bags for the 16" main guns and the 5" secondary turrets.

Sheet A of the photo etch appears to be nickel and contains replacements exterior walls for the superstructure
Sheet B contains small details such as floater baskets, railings, doors and portholes, and cable reels.
Sheet C contains a large number of super structure details, hand rails for the superstructure and stacks and some incline ladders. the lower half of the sheet contains 60 or so 20mm gun mounts
Sheet D contains 24 of the 40mm Quad mounts

       

Listed in the Instructions was a separate deck section (#4) for the Louisiana which was cut differently from the Montana. It wasn't in the kit I received and I'm trying to reach very fire

Thoughts and Conclusions

First impressions are usually accurate for me, and my first impression was this is a pretty nice kit. The parts a clean and crisp and clear of flash..

Now that Very Fire has made this first series of "what if" ships, and I've added this one along with the H-Class to the stash, I hope they continue and release the Japanese A-150 "Super Yamato" class to complete the collection


My two cents worth

Home Page
Send a message

Last Updated August 10 2020