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Posted by Dick J on October 26, 2024, 18:00:26, in reply to "Re: Revell/Pit-Road vs. Matchbox vs. Vee Hobby"
Be careful with the Pit-Road/Dragon superstructure. On the real ships, the back of the forward superstructure made roughly a straight line from the base to the top of the stack. There was a steam pipe that exited the port side of the superstructure and moved around to the back of it at the level of the pilothouse deck. It then ran up the back of the stack. The Pit-Road/Dragon kit mistakenly put a kink in the back of the superstructure at that point, because the silhouette had a kink (the pipe). I could never figure out how to fix that and make it look good, so I never finished that kit. The Vee kit appears to have corrected that error. (But I haven't gotten to mine yet.) 
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Lars- Thanks for the history. Match Box (AMT also) being the first and somewhat unusual followed by Revell, Dragon et all based on new molds. I am interested in the Match Box hull as it has a continuous main deck. Will find one out there and assemble a hull then see if the Dragon superstructures can be mated to it. Might solve the armor belt problem easier. Previous Message Previous Message
The Vee Hobby kit is clearly superior to the older kits, especially the hull is much better. I have sold my old kits and bought the Vee Hobby kits of San Diego and Oakland.
The old Pit-Road kit has an hull with an armoured belt fitting to an ironclad, which requires a lot of sanding (the belt is also too long).
Revell and Dragon both marketed the old Pit-Road kit with an extra sprue for a full hull model. Dragon added latter some parts from their Essex class kits to some editions.
The Matchbox had an different, even older kit of San Diego. E.g. the hull was different:
Matchbox kit review
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