USS Chicago was one of six Northampton class heavy cruisers built between the
wars. Three of them (Chicago, Houston, and Augusta) had extended forecastle decks to act
as flagships. Chicago started the war as an escort for the Lexington as she was delivering
planes to Midway. For the next few months she participated with the carriers on several
raids of Japanese held islands. In August she was part of the group that supported the
Guadalcanal invasion. She was an early casualty in the Battle of Savo Island, taking two
torpedoes which put her out of action. The damage was extensive enough to send her back to
the U.S. for a complete refit. She returned to the Pacific in January of 1943. On January
29 she again took two torpedos in the Battle of Rennel Island. Good damage control by her
crew kept her afloat, and by the next day she was in the process of being towed to safety.
But that was not to be, and late in the afternoon she was attacked by Japanese torpedo
aircraft who hit the sitting target four times. She sank in 20 minutes.
Vital Statistics
USS Chicago CA-29
Length: 582' wl, 600'3" oa' Beam:
66'3" Draft: 16' 6"'
Displacement: 9,300 tons, 11,420 tons full load
Armament: nine 8" (3x3), eight 5" (8x1) cal,
sixteen 40mm (4x4), twenty 20mm (20x1)
Aircraft: four, two catapults
Range: 10,000nm @ 15 knots
Complement: 1,100 officers & men
Other Class Members: Northampton, Chester,
Louisville, Houston, Augusta |
The Corsair Armada kit represents the ship after her January 1943 refit in
and is clearly up to Mike Czibovic's usual high standards. The hull is nicely detailed,
and sits almost dead flat. The hangar is molded with the hull, but the rest of the
superstructure must be constructed. The splinter shields are nicely cast, and the deck
planking is also fine and in scale. You have to look closely to even see it. The
rest of the superstructure parts come on two sheets of thin resin, cutting them out and
cleaning them up should be a breeze. Again the moldings are crisp, and largely
complete.....very nice. The weapons, rafts, and other small parts are attached to resin
sprues, and are of the usual high quality found in Mike's other kits. The main battery
turrets and rifles are also very good. Plastic rod is included for the masts, and a clear
diagram guides the scratchbuilding process. Since the foremast is a tripod assembly, the
plastic rod may give enough strength so that it will not have to be replaced with brass.
A nice surprise compared to earlier Corsair Armada cruiser kits is the
inclusion of a Tom's Modelworks photoetched
brass fret (including a separate instruction sheet) for the parts specific to this class.
(You will still need a generic set for rails, etc.) Included are cranes, a CXAM radar, and
the entire tripod mainmast assembly.
The Chicago's instructions are also typical of Mike's kits. They comprised
of five full pages, and include both generic tips applicable to any resin kit as well as
specific instructions for the Chicago. There is a brief history, two drawings showing the
location of all parts, some expanded drawings of specific details, and two pages of close
up photographs of various parts of the ship after the refit, a nice touch. There are no
painting instructions or rigging diagrams, which would have made a very good set of
instructions truly outstanding.
All in all, I like the kit out of the box, it looks to be as good as or better than
Mike's Phoenix and Detroit kits which I have built previously. It's going to be a great
addition to my 1/700 cruiser collection. |
