JSC

1/400 Ostrow II Dry Dock

Kit Number: 92

Reviewed by  Greg Perry, IPMS #45865

MSRP: $7.00 Website: store.jsc.pl/ Paper Models While plastic modeling is still the predominant type of modeling in the US, an increasing number of modelers are building from an even older modeling medium - paper. The resurgence of paper modeling is due to a number of factors but the main reason seems to be the massive number of free projects available on the Internet that can be printed at home on your printer. While I have heard and read comments concerning the lack of detail in a paper kit, this is not always the case. I hope the following and future reviews I can contribute will help show what this amazing subculture has to offer. The Kit This kit represents a floating dry dock used when building or refurbishing ships. The dock is submerged when the ship is complete and ready to be floated out. This particular dock is located in Poland as part of the Remontova shipyard in Gdansk. You may wonder why I have chosen this as my first review. The simple answer is that my next review will address the ship that is shown in the dock on the front cover: The Willift Eagle Flo-Flo heavy lift vessel built from an obsolete oil tanker. I need a place to put the ship so this would be a great place to start. The dry dock model comes in A4 book size and is computer drawn. There are 8 pages of parts. Instructions are provided in Polish and in English. While I'll be building this as outlined in the book, laser cut detail parts are available as an extra detailing option. Laser cut parts are the paper model equivalent to photoetched parts most of us are familiar with.

This is only the second JSC brand kit I've built. The first was an older, hand drawn model that had some fit and detail issues. Not so with this computer generated model. The kit was so well engineered that the fit was almost perfect. The only issue I had during my build was with a few joining tabs that needed trimming for clearance purposes. As stated above, English instructions were included and provided a very good outline of how to build this model in conjunction with the provided build drawings. Build time was about two weeks, relatively short for a paper model. The deck and side walls built up rapidly, it was the details mounted on it that added most of the build time. Some of these details are optional, with the exception of the keel blocks that support the ship to be positioned on the deck. There were about 100 of these made from at least 5 parts each. Monotonous, yes, but well worth the effort.

While it helps if one has built a few paper models prior to building this model, it provides an excellent first time commercial kit for the beginner. There are a few small detail parts to be made from wire, but nothing that takes more than 2 bends, and some common thread for use on the cranes, a good introduction to scratch building parts. In 1/400th scale, the model measures out to about 25 inches. One option for paper modeling, some people scan their kits before building them to provide backup parts in case of build errors, to adjust to a different scale or in order to recolor parts.

I really enjoyed this build and would definitely recommend it. Keep in mind that it could be used as part of a unique naval diorama with virtually any type of 1/400 scale ship, be it paper or plastic. I would like to thank IPMS with the opportunity to provide reviews of paper models and also thank JSC for publishing such a unique and well designed model. Happy cutting.