Reviews : Gold-Medal 1/350 Gold Medal MODERN NEW JERSEY (Parts for 1982 and 1968 versions)

If you're building a 1/350 USS New Jersey, you have several choices for detail-up sets. The most extensive one is the Pontos set, which is also more expensive than the Tamiya New Jersey kit itself. There are some less expensive options to add a bit of detail from Eduard. But if you want a fair compromise between the two extremes, this Gold Medal Models set is just right. It's priced fairly in the middle, and it adds plenty of detail without being overbearing. You'll get railings and ladders, different types of doors, antennas, pipes, life rings, radar arrays, helicopter rotors, and more. There are some parts designed to give you options on whether you want a Vietnam era New Jersey or a mid-to-late 1980s New Jersey. Overall, a very good set that will add a respectable level of detail to your ship, if not quite as much as the Pontos set. My caveats on the product are this: - The instructions are at times quite light on detail. They're good overall, but some parts are hard to decipher due to being printed on poor quality paper and blurry rather than sharp, as if printed by a fax machine. - There are a couple spots where you have to do a lot of extra scratch building to finish the part, such as the hose reel, antennas, or underway replenishment hose and rigging, which I think may be fully included in the Pontos kit. - I fell just short of completing the rails. The middle decks use a different style than the lowest and highest decks, and I had to get one more rail set from somewhere else to finish out the build. If you're very efficient, you may make it with just the Gold Medal set. Other than that, I found to be a very good set. Compared to some other photo etch makers, I found the thickness of this set to be about right to provide some stability without being too thick. The last bit of rails I got from a different manufacturer are thinner and though easier to bend, are also easy to bend when you didn't mean to! Rest in peace, Mr. Loren Perry, your detail-up set really kicked up the look on my New Jersey and I hope your products continue to help modelers everywhere.