The SteelNavy.Com Message Board: Re: Question re the SS model 1/350 Brooklyn

At least ssmodel includes instructions, even if they are rudimentary. Gaga Model kits don't include any instructions. 3D Wild kits have photo-etch and excellent instructions in their resin kits, as does Black Cat. Neither the Gaga Model or ssmodel companies include photo-etch.

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I can't comment on the Brooklyn, but can add this as to another SSModel kit. I have the U.S.S. Cimaroon kit. The hull is printed in three parts. The parts match very well. My critisms of the kit are (1) it does not include any P/E and (2) the instructions are bare minimum. Many small parts are included with no hint or suggestion where to install them
I'm enjoying this kit and believe that it will build into a GREAT model. I hope that this will help you.
OSCM USNRet.

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I didn't know that Gaga Model had a Brooklyn, other than the Helena. The Brooklyn that I saw was by ssmodel and seems to portray the as built version. I didn't see any AA guns, no Oerlikons or even MGs. I much prefer Gaga over ssmodel. They are more expensive but easier to build, especially the seam where the hull halves meet. In building the Gaga Derfflinger, I didn't have to use filler and sand smooth.

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I checked on our favorite international website and the only 3D-printed USS Brooklyn, CL50 (shown beside its related USS Helena) is the orange resin-printed kit from Gaga (presumably; Chinese 3D kit manufacturers can be difficult to identify). SSModel kits are, from what I've seen, printed in dark blue-grey resin and with multiple, sometimes poorly fitting hull sections (build of their otherwise very good USS Pensacola had six hull sections!). Gaga makes their full hulls in two (for battleships) or just one section (usually for cruisers), which makes for an easier and cleaner assembly. I built their USS Marblehead and can heartily recommend it, with a few caveats for including the two rear casemate 6-in. guns that had been removed before the war and are difficult to properly cover over. As for the accuracy of this USS Brooklyn, it is obviously a late war version (multiple splinter shields for light AA guns) and I cannot vouch for the accuracy of their number and placement; their USS Helena was severely criticized for this shortcoming on this forum when it first appeared a couple of years ago.

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For those of you with experience and/or knowledge of this kit, is it worth buying it?! I’ve always wanted a 1/350 Brooklyn Class cruiser.
Thanks in advance.

Art Rohloff
Hayward, Wisconsin