 |
|
The London Naval
Treaty of 1930 divided cruisers into two types, heavy and light. Any cruiser
carrying 6.1-inch guns or smaller was a light cruiser. At the end of the decade
the USN designed a new variant of the light cruiser, the AA cruiser with the
 |
Work on the design
started on May 27, 1941 with the requirements for the new design to carry the
still unfielded 6-inch DP gun, have a speed of 33-knots, have extremely thick
deck armor of 6 to 7-inches and no side armor. This was clearly a
one-dimensional design, which would be very vulnerable in a surface action. It
rapidly became clear that the extraordinarily thick deck armor requirement was
so much wishful thinking. The enormous weight of that thickness of deck armor
carried even moderately high above the waterline created a design with a very
high center of gravity, with a severe lack of stability. Designs tried different
schemes with twin or triple gun mounts and single or multiple armor decks. In
every case the horizontal armor requirement could not be attained. On
14,000-tons designers figured they could mount twelve guns with two armored
decks of 2 and 3.5-inched, equivalent to a single deck of 4.8-inches. This was
not good enough for the desired level of deck protection, so they came up with
another scheme on 12,200-tons.
 Profile, Plan & Quarter Views |
|||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
This reduced the
main gun battery to eight guns but included armored decks of 1.5-inches and
5-inches, for a single deck equivalent of 6.1-inches. Additionally it
incorporated a 4-inch belt for horizontal protection. A twelve gun battery was
desired but the Admirals didn't want to pay the 16,000-ton displacement
necessary to match the requirements. The proposed design lingered for over a
year, by which time war experience showed that high level bombing wasn't a
significant threat. This changed with the introduction by
Hull Detail |
|||||
 |
 |
 |
|||
 |
 |
 |
|||
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
The designers went
back to the drawing board and lowered the main deck with a stronger sheer
forward and a rising sheer aft. This decreased weight and lowered the center of
gravity improved stability. On August 25, 1943 Admiral King ordered the design
to proceed. It was contemplated using the funds allocated for the last seven of
the
Hull Detail |
|||||
 |
 |
 |
|||
 |
 |
 |
|||
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
At this point the Worcester
class were also designed to carry eleven quadruple and two twin Bofor 40mm
mounts and twenty Oerlikon 20mm guns. However, this was changed during
construction to replace each quadruple Bofor mount with the new twin
three-inch/50 AA mount and single three-inch guns replacing the twin Bofor
mounts, as well as replacing the single Oerlikons with twelve twin Oerlikons.
Smaller Resin Parts |
|||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|||
 |
 |
 |
 |
||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
||||
Smaller Resin Parts |
|||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
The Niko Roanoke
This is one big cruiser. Don’t let the adjective “light” fool you. Niko
casting is excellent with no damage (except for one broken 3-inch gun barrel) or
voids, other than insignificant pin-hole voids on the bottom of the hull
casting. There is almost no need for any type of cleanup required, as there is
no flash, except for the film in two walkways in the superstructure. Niko cast
three levels of the superstructure integral to the hull. This emphasizes how
narrow the superstructure was in order to provide as much deck space as possible
for armament. As mentioned above there are two covered walkway in the
superstructure than have a thin film along the centerline. Use a hobby knife to
clean out this film. The walkways cane be found at 02 level aft of the third
turret forward and aft at main deck level between the fourth turret barbette and
the superstructure. Splinter shields for the few gun tubs as well as amidship
and on the superstructure are very thin and present an excellent appearance.
Along those same line there are a number of overhanging platforms that are
perfect in execution with no resin residue under the overhangs. There are a
goodly supply of deck fittings, which are of the right size. I have one
significant complaint about the hull casting. In the areas where there should be
a wooden plank deck, the casting is just smooth with no planking detail. Perhaps
Niko thought that plank detail should not be discerned in 1:700 scale but I’m
old school and want planking detail in a 1:700 scale model.
Smaller Resin Parts |
|||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Because so much of
the superstructure is integral to the hull casting, there are only six smaller
superstructure castings to be attached. The three largest are the additional
bridge levels forward. Each of these exhibits the same admirably thin splinter
shielding as found on the hull but in this case with vertical strengthening
ribs. As you assemble these levels, the two lower levels will have their front
face open for the bridge windows. Niko has provided brass bridge window frames
so even though in 1:700 scale, Niko has allowed the modeler to complete the
bridge with see-through windows. Bulkhead detail is cast onto these
superstructure levels such as doors with minute dogging and additional windows.
The other three major superstructure parts are the two stacks, each of which has
thin well-executed cap apron and a director tower. The large sliding hangar door
is a separate part with boat chocks cast on the crown. Six raised three-inch gun
platforms/deck-houses are also provided. Each of these parts has the same
excellent thin splinter shielding as previously described. Each is loaded with
other detail and the centermost positions have AA director pedestals cast
integral to the part.
Photo-Etch & Decals |
|||||
 |
 |
 |
|||
 |
 |
 |
|||
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
Armament comes with
the six twin 6-inch gun turrets and twin and single 3-inch open gun mounts. If
you look at the turrets, you’ll see that they have more fittings than the more
conventional gun turrets designed for surface fire. Since their purpose was
providing heavy high ceiling AA defense for a task force, there are more range
finder fittings than single purpose turrets. Each turret has two range finders
on each side with additional fittings on the turret crowns and aft face, as well
as access door fittings with dog detail. Additionally the gun openings have
raised fairings along the perimeter. Almost all of the lighter AA mounts are
open twin 3-inch guns but there are a couple of single gun mounts for the two
stern gun tubs. The twin 3-inch ordnance was the replacement for the Bofor 40mm
mounts with twin mounts replacing quad Bofor mounts and the single gun mounts
replacing twin Bofor mounts. Both types of 3-inch guns and mounts have excellent
detail.
Box Art & Instructions |
|||||
 |
 |
 |
|||
 |
 |
 |
|||
 |
 |
 |
|||
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
There is still a
host of smaller resin parts to complete the larger fittings. There are four AA
directors, since the design was for a very large AA cruiser and these maintain
the high standard that Niko maintains in this kit. They are packed with detail
for such small parts. Other smaller resin fittings include an excellent aircraft
crane base, surface gunfire radar, radar platforms with pillar and radar
housing, flag lockers, bridge overhead, cable reels, ventilators, ship’s
boats, masts, and very nice Sikorsky helicopter.
Niko USS Roanoke with Major Parts Dry-Fitted |
|||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
A rather large brass
photo-etch part is provided. About 60% are specific ship parts and 40% railing.
There is some relief etching but most of the parts are not relief-etched. I
especially like the open bridge windows, which is a rare feature in a 1:700
scale kit. However, there are plenty of other exceptionally detailed parts. The
small circular radar platforms have open perforations and of course radar arrays
are of an open grid pattern. Even the very small parabolic secondary radars have
an open grid. The resin stacks have indented rectangles for the exhaust gas
cooling ventilators but Niko supplies the actual ventilators in the form of
brass with open ventilators. This is another rare feature not found even in
1:350 scale kits, which normally have stack ventilator opens cast integral to
the funnel pieces. Other brass funnel fittings include the walkways and railing,
which encircle the funnel caps. The finely done aircraft crane fits into the
resin crane machinery base. There are various mast platforms and platform
supports, yardarms, launch cabin, propeller guards and twin 3-inch ammo baskets.
Other ship specific fittings are more generic in nature, such as safety netting,
inclined ladders, davits, anchors, accommodation ladders and anchor chains. The
railing portion of the fret has four types of railing. For the main deck
forecastle, the railing curves to match the sheer of the bow. Additional
patterns include three-bar, two-bar and one-bar railing. All has to be cut to
fit the exact locations. There are also two runs of vertical ladder for use
throughout the model.
Niko USS Roanoke with Major Parts Dry-Fitted |
|||||
 |
 |
 |
|||
 |
 |
 |
|||
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
Niko provides three
back-printed sheets of instructions presented in the typical Niko modular
pattern, which really should be followed in the sequence shown. Page one is a
photographic matrix of the smaller resin parts and photo-etch frets, although
the fret is shown as being one fret for ship specific parts and one for the
railing. Page two starts with a painting guide profile, followed by forecastle
assembly through the three forward main gun turrets. Page three concentrates on
the 3-inch gun platforms amidship and includes detail inserts for the twin
3-inch gun mountings, and three different types of radar. Page four concentrates
on the upper superstructure, bridge and stacks with additional detail inserts
for the funnel fittings and brass gun fittings. Page five has masts assembly and
the last of the superstructure fittings. The last page is for the quarterdeck,
including the aft turrets. Additional detail inserts are provided for the
helicopter, single 3-inch gun mounts, ship’s launch and aircraft handling
crane. For most parts these instructions are fine to provide for proper
placement but in some cases the instructions simply fall short, such exact
location for placement of the cable reels. Since Niko doesn’t provide a plan,
the modeler will really need additional references to provide for accurate
placement.
Niko USS Roanoke with Major Parts Dry-Fitted |
|||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Verdict – The Niko
Roanoke
is a very good kit with excellent resin castings and a large brass photo-etch
fret. However, the hull casting has a significant shortcoming with no wooden
planking detail. Further, with no plan view in the instructions, additional
reference will be needed for exact placement of a few fittings.
 |
|
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
|
