SS Jeremiah O'Brien
US Built Liberty Ship

Trumpeter, 1/700 scale

Reviewed by Brett Green

Trumpeter's 1/350 scale SS Jeremiah O'Brien is available online from Squadron.com
 

Designed in Britain but built in the USA, Liberty Ships were a response to the huge losses of cargo ships to U-boats during the Battle of the Atlantic. Able to be built quickly and cheaply, US ship yards turned out over 2,700 examples before production ended. Although they had faults, the design led to a slightly bigger and more powerful version known as Victory Ships.

The SS Jeremiah O'Brien is one of two Liberty Ships that have been fully restored to original condition in the United States.

A few years ago, Trumpeter released a 1/350th scale Liberty Ship and this is the 1/700th  scale version of that kit. However, as their smaller scale ships aren't normally as good as the bigger ones and as I've never seen the 1/350th scale Liberty Ship, I have no idea how they differ. Having said that, this looks to me to be a very nice little kit in its own right.

There are four sprues in light grey plastic, two of which are identical and four separate hull parts, deck and upper hull in light grey plastic plus a waterline plate and lower hull in red. Depending on how you wish to construct your kit, you only use three of the four parts. The sprues are all very cleanly moulded with no flash or sink marks and ejection pin marks only where they won't be seen. There are several parts on the sprues which are not for use here but this is not mentioned anywhere in the instructions so don't be surprised if you end up with some leftovers.

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I've not been able to find much on the net about these ships except the two restored examples. There are, however, two areas of concern accuracy wise. I would assume that the deck guns, excluding the AA fit, would be what was left over from earlier war ships that had been scrapped. The aft deck gun in this kit doesn't look like any I've seen on a US war ship and I think is the figment of someones imagination.

The ten cargo derricks, Trumpeter will have you modelling them at a 45 degree angle. Now they may have been at this angle while waiting to load or unload but I doubt they would remain as is when at sea. Where length allowed, they would be laid horizontal or failing that hoisted vertical and secured to the mast head. A derrick breaking loose during wild weather would be very hard to get back under control where as horizontal or vertical would not break free to start with.

Minor quibbles I know and not hard to fix, and I would not be surprised if there aren't other faults that I've missed, not being an expert on Liberty Ships an all.

Yep, I like it, and this one will be getting built in the not too distant future. Perhaps with a slight list and two Trumpeter Tribal Class Destroyers lashed to the sides. Hmmm.

Thanks to J.B. Wholesalers for the sample

Review Text Copyright © 2009 by Glen Porter
Page Created 29 August, 2009
Last updated 30 August, 2009

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