Not too much ago Trumpeter released the 1/350 USS Hornet CV-8 kit. This kit was a demanded one, and it's very popular. Maybe it's because of Doolittle's Raid, that was launched from this carrier in 1942. This attack was small in physical effect, but it made new hope to American people after the attack on Pearl Harbour. Also it was an unbelievable technical action never seen before.

As lot of modellers are building this Trumpeter kit, Loren Perry at Gold Medal Models decided to provide 2 sets for this kit to enhance it, and to achieve as realistic detail level as possible in this scale. This time the review is about the USS Hornet Fittings Set.

As the first impression, I have to mention that GMM posted the set in a very nice envelope, with a cardboard to strengthen the whole pack to make the PE sets bending virtually impossible. The pack included the PE set itself, bended at a line designed for this purpose, so this way it can fit the standard envelope, the detailed instruction sheet, and the cardboard.

My first impression with the PE set itself was very good. It's very clean work, with many small details. The fret itself is artistically engineered, every part has some useful text etched into the frame, to describe what is it exactly as usual at GMM.  All the parts are very clean, and sharply detailed.

The Gold Medal Models Hornet Fittings PE Set contains all the important parts needed to improve your USS Hornet if you're not satisfied with the factory injection moulded parts. There's an other set with the extra details from GMM, I'll review it in a separate article.

The railings never can be made out of plastic with the injection technique to make it realistic, and not out of scale. Maybe these are simple parts, but usually these are the more noticeable parts on a model at first sight, along with the radars. With this PE set it's can be done without problems, as these basic details are there on the fret, with very fine details. You have to be very careful when removing these! It's totally clear, that Loren know what a modeler needs, and has the needed documentation to make these sets as accurate as possible. As for the radars, you can find fine details for the CXAM, Mk4, Mk37and SC radars.

Of course there are not railings and radars only, this fret contains few hundred other parts as well to replace the kit parts. You can find different watertight doors, nicely detailed crane parts, cable reels, mast yardarms, screws, vertical ladders, very nice inclined ladders and other delicious parts. A nice idea to include the 20mm Oerlikon gun details as well, especially because those are very detailed! You can find gunsight, elevation wheels, shoulder rests, and armor shields.

My favorite part is Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle himself :) If you'd like to build a USS Hornet with Doolittle's B-25's, you can do that, as 34 B-25 propellers are included!

I recommend you to inspect the images above to have an idea about the quality of the parts. All images are in high resolution to preserve the details for viewing.

This is a very nice set, as usual. You should have no problems using these parts if you have some experience working with PE sets. Several parts are straight replacements of the kit parts, so it's not hard to work with. Loren made a great job with it. If you'd like to add more details to your USS Hornet, then this set is made for you! Highly Recommended!

If you like this set, you can order it from Gold Medal Models at www.goldmm.com 

Or you can send orders to:

GOLD MEDAL MODELS 
1412 Fisherman Bay Road
Lopez, WA 98261 USA 
USA

Sample kit courtesy by Loren Perry's Gold Medal Models. Thank you!

Photos and text © 2005 by Zoltan Pocza

May 20, 2005

www.carrierbuilders.cjb.net