Reviews : Trumpeter SS John W Brown Liberty Ship

Cargo vessels in 1/700 are a rarity, and unless you modelled the few Japanese vessels available, you were compelled to go the resin route and hope that you could get one of a limited run. The Trumpeter Liberty ship is a treat if for no other than the reason you get to fill out the cargo ship niche in your 1/700 fleet. You do get value for money and certainly get a kit detailed enough to forego PE. As one other reviewer has noted, consult your sources and look at regunning if you want a more particular ship. This is certainly one of Trumpeter's kits which deserves purchase and frankly, applause, for a quality novel item at a time when we're seeing the umpteenth remake of an Iowa or Arizona.

Just finished this model and enjoyed the build. No real problems and only compliant I have is that the cargo booms are thin, therefore a bit delicate as I ended up repairing one of booms twice. I altered a bit from the color guide that Trumpeter included with the ship, as I try to follow as closely as possible the information available from the website for USN Camo measures, and also changed the main 5-inch gun at the fantail to a 3.5 inch and changed the forward gun to a twin 40 mm mount, both from SkyWave's USN equipment set. I recommend that modelers that are a little more advanced than Novices build any of the Trumpeter models as sometimes the instructions are a little difficult.

Commendable work by Trumpeter for this accurate & detailed historical release! Tad bit of flash here & there, with the odd sink mark scattered about but a splendid scale example of this important cargo vessel. As one reviewer noted, this kit is certain not for the beginner. Purchased PE for the build but decided it didn't really need it. Did add some aftermarket deck cargo to my build. Used very fine wire for the boom cables & rigging.

Very detailed for it's scale. Quite a large ships these Liberty ships were, but a nice addition to honor those that served on these ships. Having physically toured this ship, it's a nice addition to my collection.