Background
In 2006, Trumpeter Models released a highly anticipated model kit of the battle cruiser H.M.S. Hood. Although the kit was well researched and is the best rendition of Hood to date, its not without its problems. There were a number of misinterpreted details, most notably incorrectly shaped turrets. For a more detailed listing, please see our article Trumpeter's 1/350 Scale Hood - Basic Review Plus Improvement Suggestions.
LionRoar's set LS350004 seeks to address the major errors in the Trumpeter kit as well as to provide a great deal of additional detail. To that end, they have created a very well rounded product.
Set Contents
The detail set comes in an attractive box measuring in at a compact 12.2cm D x 20.5cm W x 3.1cm H. The box securely contains the following:
- Detailed set of instructions
- Ship's badge
- 4 resin gun houses/turrets
- 4 resin gun directors
- 4 polished brass screws/propellers
- 8 brass barrels for the main guns
- 14 brass barrels for the 4" guns
- 2 lengths of chain/anchor cable
- 13 frets of photoetch
I'll cover each of these below:
Instructions
The detail set includes an inventory list and 8 pages of instructions. The instructions cover various key subassemblies and features. It doesn't address what to do with all of the photoetch though. For example, there is no mention as to which railings should be used on bridge decks. We recommend that modellers consult reference photos, documents and this website during the construction of the model.
Steps to Avoid- Modellers should also be aware of some mistaken steps that can be skipped entirely:
- Page 1/8, second step (gun houses/turrets). It says to add photoetch item L22 to the back of all gun houses. This is not correct. Only add them to "A" and "Y". Remember that the turrets were not all identical (more on this in "Resin Gun Houses and Directors" below).
- Page 3/8, bottom right box- Do not use parts D8 and D9. These were not platforms on the actual ship. They were actually frameworks. This is not LionRoar's fault as this configuration was not fully verified until after they had researched the photoetch set.
- Page 7/8, top box- Do not add photoetch piece K8 to part B28. The square items were not grilles, but were actually open windows (with canvas curtains within). In all fairness to LionRoar, Trumpeter moulded this incorrectly in the first place by including a grille.
Ship's Badge
An absolutely beautiful version of Hood's badge is included in this set. An image of the badge (smaller than actual size) can be seen to the right. It is clearly based upon this website's badge artwork (as was their Bismarck badge). They didn't ask us ahead of time, but they did at least publicly acknowledge it later on. We did remind them that they technically need a license Ministry of Defence permission to sell Royal Navy badges. We can only assume they have sought out and acquired such a license.
If properly licensed, this type of badge will make a wonderful addition to a model display base. The only complaint, and this is nitpicky at best, is that the badge is a tad too large in size (4cm W x 5.3cm H). I would recommend scaling it down to about 80% of its current size. This would make it useful to people modelling in different scales, not just 1/350.
Resin Gun Houses and Directors
The four gun houses (aka turrets) in our sample were crisply moulded with no surface defects. There was an extra bit of resin on the underside at the rear, but this can be cut and sanded away. We found the gun houses to be accurate in overall shape and size. LionRoar incorporated several key details, to include the roof plate bolts, square view ports, glacis plate lip and the angled edges on the lower edge of the forward/side plates. Additionally, blast bags were moulded onto the front of the gun houses. This in particular is a nice feature.
The director wings are sufficient, but not quite as detailed as the gun houses. This is largely due to their size (very thin). The front and rear flanges were very thin and a bit uneven, plus our samples had some flash and a few minor bubbles. Its not really an improvement over the original Trumpeter kit part(s). Unless more detail can be incorporated (such as a better main site and periscope plus doors for the rangefinder optics), we recommend modellers use the original kit rangefinder pieces. They should fit atop the LionRoar gun houses with ease.
Gun House Issues- With the exception of the directors, the gun houses are an immense improvement over those in the Trumpeter kit. Nevertheless, there is a minor issue the modeller must be aware of: LionRoar created four identical turrets. This is wrong. In reality, there were some differences in Hood's turrets. Fortunately, this can be fixed:
- "A" gun house will need to have a director "wing" that has angled rear corners (there was one included in our set). It was the only turret to have this feature. The modeller will need to cut/sand these features, taking great care to make them identical.
- "B" gun house was the only turret to have triangular notches at its bottom rear corner edges (on the actual gun house itself). The modeller will need to cut/sand these features into the gun house/turret, taking great care to make both corners identical
- Both "B" and "X" gun houses had very slim twin vents on their rear bulkheads (one vent to port, one to starboard). These can be added with styrene strip stock or possibly photoetch.
Brass Gun Barrels
These are a much welcomed part of the detail set. These are very crisply/precisely machined. The small barrels for the 4" guns are impressive and feature hollowed out muzzles. Its difficult to say for certain (as I did not measure them with calipers and run computations) but they may be just a tad over scale. If anyone would like to undertake the measuring of these objects, please let us know.
The larger barrels for the 15" guns are equally impressive. LionRoar has incorporated the barrel liner and has flared and hollowed out the muzzles. The only potential problem is that the guns don't seem to taper quite enough. We recommend LionRoar double check the dimensions of the actual barrels and try to replicate them as closely as possible.
Brass Screws/Propellers
The overall shape and size appear to be correct. Ours had a few minor edge defects, but nothing overwhelmingly bad. The blades are also angled the correct way as well (just be sure to install them on the proper sides!). These are a very nice addition to this set. They are a bit shiny, so the modeller will need to tone them down a bit if striving for realism.
Chains
There is just enough to rig both anchors. These are sufficient in size and shape for the average modeller. Those wishing more detail may want to add the small centre bars within each link, or, use photoetch.
Photoetch
There are thirteen frets of photoetch included in this set. One fret is in stainless steel and the rest are in varying thicknesses of brass. In general, most items appear to be correct in shape and size. The etching is crisp and detailed, with the overall quality of the majority of the pieces being very good. The work is less refined than industry leaders Gold Medal Models (GMM) and White Ensign Models (WEM), but not overwhelmingly so.
Each fret is briefly described below:
- Fret A- This consists of main hull railings to include stanchions. Click here to see a photo of Frets A & B.
- Fret B- This consists of various types of 2 and 3 bar railings.
- Fret C- This consists of various segments of the degaussing cable. Click here to see a photo of Fret C.
- Fret D- This consists of various boat parts to crutches, rudders, screws & rails, night life buoy racks, breakwater frame details, "X" turret platforms and supports, flag staffs, spotting top window frames, Admiral's window covers and main gun director support struts. Click here to see a photo of Fret D.
- Fret E- This consists of pom pom parts, Type 284 radar antennas, Type 279M radar antennas and platform, derrick rigging and pulleys, 0.5" machine guns, 4" gun site port covers, boat details, UP launcher grilles, ladders. The pom pom detail is impressive. Click here to see a photo of Fret E.
- Fret F- There are two Fret Fs in the set. These consist of various door ways (which can be mounted as open or closed), hatches, ready use ammunition locker doors, crane rigging, searchlight fronts, boat oars, raft midsections, boat derricks, pulleys and netting. Very detailed and very nice element of this set. Click here to see a photo of Fret F.
- Fret G- This consists of key superstructure bulkheads/screens for the base of the bridge , the upper hull amidships, the upper hull just above the torpedo doors and the twin rear screens at the quarterdeck break. Also present are various life rings and two large sets of the ship's name. Overall, these superstructure parts are wonderful pieces. Click here to see a photo of Fret G.
- Fret H- This consists of tampions for the 15" guns, mesh grilles for some of the smaller squared vents, plus what appear to look like extra mesh. We're not entirely certain what H3 is as it is not mentioned in the instructions. Overall, this is a nice addition. Click here to see a photo of Fret H.
- Fret I- This consists of the foremast yardarm, foremast aerial spreader, forward starfish platform, rear starfish platform night life buoy centres, pom pom bases and various boat interior/seats/thwarts. Click here to see a photo of Frets I and J.
- Fret J- This consists of superstructure bulkheads.
- Fret K- This consists of funnel cage tops, ladders, ladder platforms and vent grilles. Click here to see a photo of Fret K.
- Fret L- This consists of segments of the breakwaters, boat racks, support beams for the starfish platforms, various ladders, awning stanchions and a portion of the Type 279M radar. Click here to see a photo of Fret L.
Based on the above descriptions, one can see that the contents of the frets are very well-rounded. They offer not only the "usual" details one sees in photoetch sets, but some extra things as well (such as superstructure panels). We did note some similarities to earlier WEM products, but we didn't see any blatant copying. The similarities are most likely due to the same source materials having been consulted. Additionally, its possible that LionRoar may have either consulted WEM parts or were otherwise inspired by them. Its difficult to say which (if either).
We do know that WEM is looking into the similarities. Should they prove there was blantant copying, we will amend this article. Until then, we feel that LionRoar should be given the benefit of the doubt. Once a solid conclusion is arrived at, we will be sure to amend this review.
The similarity issue aside, we found that the majority of the photoetch parts are quite good. We did however, notice a few errors. We will briefly highlight the most glaring of these here. We strongly urge LionRoar to reengineer these parts:
Photoetch Errors
Forward Starfish Platform (fret I, part 3)- This is based on the original Trumpeter plastic part, but made in brass to be closer to true scale. Its largely accurate, but the forward arms are a bit too wide. These same arms as well as the side signal lamp platforms are too rounded. All were squared on the actual ship. In defence of LionRoar, Trumpeter also got this wrong. The most significant error is the rear of the centre starfish platform. It is missing the large circular deck edge corners on the actual ship's starfish. In reality, these were large circular deck edge corners. This is confirmed by period photos of the ship as well as images of the wreck. In all fairness to LionRoar, Trumpeter also missed this (as did we in our review of the kit design). Additionally, it should be noted that other photoetch producers also missed this. Most of the problems come about by people using a partial drawing of the starfish in the Anatomy of the Ship book (the drawing in question did not show the entire Starfish platform, nor did it show the final configuration...that was shown in another drawing in the book).
- Rear Starfish Platform (fret I, part 4)- The centre area of this piece is completely incorrect in shape. Once again, LionRoar was duplicating a part that Trumpeter got wrong. The actual centre platform was more irregular in shape.
Starboard Upper Hull Bulkhead (fret G, part 2)- This is the starboard upper hull section above the torpedo tubes. Both Trumpeter and LionRoar got this wrong by making the starboard (G2) and port (G1) pieces identical. On the actual ship, the two sides differed significantly in the number, size and layout of portholes. To port, there were three standard sized portholes and about 10 small porthole/vents for the officer's toilets. To starboard, there were just 6 standard portholes. We were surprised to see this error in the actual model kit as we had gone out of our way to let Trumpeter know both sides were different in layout. To be accurate, part G2 must be re-engineered. Click here to see a photo of the correct porthole configuration on the actual ship.
- Degaussing Cable (all of fret C)- The photoetch depicts only one cable. The actual ship had a combination of single and dual cables: There were dual cables (one mounted above the other) fitted around her bow. These extended rearward. Once they reached the point where the enclosed focsle deck/former batteries began, they were connected to a single cable. This single cable ran aft outside the enclosed focsle deck until reaching the point where the quarterdeck began. From here, two cables were used to encircle the stern.
The cable(s) were fitted to the hull as neatly as possible, but tended to look a bit sloppy near corners where it had to changed directions (shift upward or downward). Fasteners were regularly spaced whenever possible, but in areas on the bow and stern, the fasteners for the twin cables did not always line up vertically. This is not reflected in the photoetch as well as it could be. Of all the photoetch, GMM came closest to replicating the true shape, at least for the bow. We recommend they reengineer the degaussing cable to make it look more as it does in period photos of Hood from 1940 and 1941 (as well as on the wreck). It should also be noted that most drawings (and therefore most photoetch) show Hood's degaussinb cable dip downwards for a short distance towards the forward portion of the quarterdeck. Recent photographic discoveries have shown this to be only partly true: on the port side, the cable did dip downward. On the starboard side, it does not appear to have dipped downward.
Extra "Name" (fret G, parts 10) - We're not sure why they included these parts as these were not a regular feature of the ship. They had been temporarily mounted for pre-war exhibitions, but were not always displayed. We recommend omitting these parts from future releases.
- Type 284 Radar- The design of both radar antennas (parts E4 & E5) are too "flat". The radar on the actual ship was not a simple framework panel, but was a central antenna (canvas covered at the front, curved at the rear) connected to a framework. The bulk of the framework was behind the radar antenna. Most photoetch producers have yet to get this exactly right (the closest in this case is Tom's Modelworks). We suggest LionRoar reengineer these parts to look more like the known photos of Type 284 arrays in 1940/1941.
Boat Crutches (fret D, part 6)- Some of the crutches appear to have three lightening holes in them. We're not 100% sure, but by 1941, its likely that this style of crutches were no longer in use. They also added large foot plates to these parts...these were not present on the actual ship (small flanges and angled support struts were used to help support the crutches). We suggest reengineering it to have only two holes and to remove the foot plates.
- "X" Turret Platforms (fret D, parts 8 & 9)- These were not two differently sized, flat angular panels, but were actually two identical frameworks. They had exactly the same dimensions. The only differences between them were the underside supports. None of the photoetch producers got this right (WEM came closest), but this is because no book or plan has ever gotten this right...until recently there had been a lack of detailed information/photos of these frameworks. Click here to see a photo of the actual ship. Another photo can be seen here.
Future Developments
LionRoar have indicated that they are interested in perfecting this detail set before its next production run. Not only will they consider correcting errors, but they are also considering adding the latest "finds" regarding Hood. There have indeed been some notable changes to what we know about Hood in the last few months (signalmens' shelters, changed "B" turret UP splinter shield shape, extra walkway on forward starfish, no box on rear of radar director, etc). None of these changes were incorporated into the Trumpeter kit, nor were they addressed by any of the current aftermarket detail sets. Additionally, there are other issues with the Trumpeter kit that could be made right. Things such as the poorly fitting spotting top, the "clunky" conning tower, etc, are but two items begging for resin or photoetch replacements parts.
Out of a sincere desire to remain neutral, we will not only provide said additional detailing information to LionRoar, but to ANY aftermarket detail part manufacturer who requests it. Our primary interest in the matter is to ensure that someone will ultimately create quality replacement parts. These parts will enable Hood enthusiasts to create more accurate models of Hood. Nothing would please us more than to know that there are many miniature Hoods in thousands of homes around the world. It helps in a small way to keep the ship and her crew alive.
Conclusion
Minor errors aside, we found the LionRoar Hood detail set to be a good product. At a retail price of roughly £80 / $150 (price varies), it is admittedly a bit pricey (especially when compared to the other products currently available), but as this is such a well rounded set, some modellers may find it to be a worthwhile investment. Should they fix the errors and add additional details, it will certainly be a very formidable detail set. To learn more about it, visit LionRoar's Web site.
Other Reviews
Additional reviews (some with even better photos) can be found on the following websites:
If you know of any other reviews, please contact us.