Background - Tromp was the lead ship in the class of two light cruisers. Tromp was laid down on January 17, 1936 at Nederlandsche Scheepsbouw Maatschappij in
Amsterdam and was launched on May 24, 1937. The Tromp class was originally proposed as 2,500-ton flotilla leaders but this may have been done for political
reasons to gain approval. The final design was closer to a light cruiser with relatively heavy armament for a ship of its size. Tromp carried a single Fokker C.XIW
floatplane but no catapult. The plane had to be lowered to the water by a boom for take-off.

Tromp was commissioned on August 18, 1937 and served in home waters making visits to England, Italy, Portugal and the Mediterranean over the next two years.
She steamed for the Dutch East Indies on August 19, 1939. After the German invasion of the Netherlands in May 1940, Tromp began convoy escort duties in the
Indian and Pacific Oceans. On February 1, 1942 she became part of the ABDA (American-British-Dutch-Australian) Combined Striking Force. During the Battle of
Badung Strait on February 18, 1942, Tromp was badly damaged by the Japanese destroyer Asashio. She was sent to Sydney, Australia on February 23 for repairs,
thereby missing the Battle of Java Sea and almost certain sinking by Japanese forces.

Through the end of 1943, Tromp performed convoy escort duties in Australian waters and the Indian Ocean. In January 1944, Tromp joined the British Eastern Fleet
and participated in various carrier raids on Japanese forces and sites in Malaya and the Dutch East Indies and was part of the force covering the invasion of Rangoon.
She was transferred to the U.S. Seventh Fleet in May 1945 and participated in the invasion of Balikpapan. Tromp was nicknamed "The Ghost Ship" because she kept
reappearing after being repeatedly reported as sunk by the Japanese. After the war, Tromp performed normal peacetime duties until December 1, 1955 when she was
used as an accommodation ship until stricken on December 10, 1968 and sold for scrap.
Specifications

Displacement:

3,450 tons/3,505 tonnes standard
4,860 tons/4,937 tonnes full load


Dimensions:

131.97m x 12.43m x 4.64 m or 433’ x 40’ 9” x 14’2” (length overall/beam/draft)


Machinery:

2-shaft Parsons geared steam turbines, 4 Yarrow boilers,


Speed:

32 knots @ 56,000shp


Armor:

16mm main belt, 20mm-30mm torpedo bulkhead, 15mm-25mm deck


Range:

6,000 nautical miles @ 12 knots


Armament:

6 × 150 mm (5.9 in) guns (3×2), 4-40mm (2x2), 4-0.5in MGs 6-533mm (21”) torpedo tubes (3x2)


Aircraft:

1 Fokker C.XIW floatplane


Complement:

309
The Kit - This kit is the latest release from Pacific Crossroads and continues on their main theme of Dutch warships that served in the Dutch East Indies and the Pacific
Theatre of Operations. Now here is my running Pacific Crossroads disclaimer:  I wrote the English-language ship history for this kit and other Pacific Crossroad kits,
both released and planned, as a service to Boris Mulenko, the person behind Pacific Crossroads; I am even acknowledged in the kit’s instructions. As a matter of fact,
the introduction to this review is that ship history verbatim. That is the extent of my involvement and I had no role in any other aspect of the creation of this model kit.

The kit represents Tromp as she appeared in 1942. When she arrived in the Dutch East Indies, her Fokker C.XIW floatplane was landed and apparently the goal post
twin boom structure used to lower and recover the aircraft was removed with only one boom remaining and the other cut down about halfway. At some point, the ship’s
boats were also removed (hence no boats in the kit) and replaced with Carley floats (of which there are plenty included). The kit is comprised of resin parts with photo-
etch and turned brass parts and a decal sheet.

The model comes as a two-part hull giving you the option of either a waterline or full hull model. The upper hull casting is overall well done with the main deck housings
integrally cast. There is a good amount of detail, such the breakwater, mooring bitts and chocks, watertight doors, hatches, skylights and portholes. The nameplate is
cast into the hull towards the stern on both sides (for some reason there are photo-etch versions provided as well). Deck detail is good, but I find the wood planking to
be rather heavily done. Most resin kits I have seen have planking simulated with shallow recessed outlines. With the Tromp, the recessed outlines are deeper where, in
my opinion, they should be more subtle. Perhaps painting and dry brushing techniques will help soften the appearance of the planking. The simulated planking suffers
from the common omission of butt ends. The forecastle deck has flat metal anchor chain run plates, going from the wildcats to the deck hawse. The deck hawse could
have been cast with deeper openings, so I would drill them out some more. Missing are the chain locker entrances on either side of the capstans, which would look like
small hooded vents for lack of a better description. About three-quarters of the way aft you will notice that on the portside that there a base for a torpedo handling davit.
The base on the starboard side broke off during shipping and was nowhere to be found inside the box, so I will have to fashion one out of plastic rod.
The lower hull is a simple affair, with bilge keels and shallow recesses to accommodate the propeller shaft fairings. You can also see some slight depressions to fit the
shaft struts but no clear location is provided for the rudder. When I dry fitted the upper and lower hulls I discovered that the lower hull is a little shorter than the upper hull
at both ends. Could this be because the resin for the lower hull cured differently?  I am not certain but whatever the reason, this will present some issues if you wish to
build a full hull model. Luckily I prefer building waterline.

The next largest part is the upper deck which runs from just aft of where the foc’sle deck ends. This deck extends aft and sits atop of the housings on the main deck. The
part looks well done with several skylights and base for the raised 40mm twin Bofors. The round recesses accommodate the turned brass booms and the outlines mark the
locations of some smaller resin parts. The three rectangular recesses are actually access ways in the deck for ladders and will need to be opened up. Some filler will
inevitably be required to hide the joint where this deck meets the foc’sle on the upper hull. There are pair of bulkheads that are attached to the foc’sle structure and extend
aft under the forward part of this deck. They are not identical and this is not made very clear in the assembly guide. The one with the three rectangular openings is fitted
on the starboard side while the other goes on the port side.

The bridge area is comprised of three deck sections. The lower of the three again has rectangular recesses that need to be opened up for ladders. The next level up has an
opening at the aft end of the deck for the pole mast. The housings on these two decks have good detail with doors, windows and portholes. The top level with the
rangefinder base had one of the wings broken off but it can be easily re-attached. There should be an opening for the pole mast at the aft end of this deck with there is a
small notch in the housing there, so the modeler will have to make one with a drill. The large and distinctive funnel and its base are very nicely cast in one big part. The
funnel has steam pipes and the horn cast into the part as well as some interior structural details. Along the aft face of this part there are some slots that are attachment
points for the photo-etch platforms that are fitted there. The base may need some sanding to flatten it out for a flush fit to the deck.
The three 5.9 inch gun housings are comprised of two parts: the base and the actual housings. The face of the housing has openings for the brass barrels. There are no
interior details to the housings but in this scale not much would be visible in any case. The 40mm twin resin parts are comprised of the base and most of the mount with
the rest done in photo-etch and brass barrels. The pair of twin Vickers 0.5 inch machine guns are done in resin, are not very detailed and quite honestly do not look very
good. Unfortunately I am not aware of an aftermarket alternative for these, so some creativity will be needed to jazz these up. The kit also comes with a pair of triple
torpedo tubes; however my sample was missing these parts. I contacted Boris about this and he admitted that he made an error in packing some of the kits that went out
and forgot to include them. The photo of these parts was provided to me by Boris and if they are missing from your kit, you can email him at PacificCrossRoads666@list.
ru. The missing parts are being sent to me.

For full hull modelers, the running gear is comprised of the propellers, propeller shafts and rudder. The propeller shaft has the fairing and the struts all cast together into
one part, which simplifies construction a bit. The balance of the resin parts provide a multitude of different fittings:  Carley floats in two styles (oval and octagonal),
wildcats, paravanes, searchlights, range finders, boat davits, anchors, mast platform and a variety of small deck and bridge fittings. The casting is also very good with
some parts needing clean-up. I don’t know why resin anchors are included when the kit uses the photo-etch versions, but they are there. As mentioned above, no boats
or launches are provided since they were removed and replaced with floats.

The photo-etch for this kit are quite extensive. Overall the photo-etch is well done with good relief etching and it provides a mix of pre-measured railings, structural
components and a variety of fittings. The sheet contains such structural elements as parts to build the aft rangefinder tower and the platforms fitted to the back of the
funnel. The fittings include the anchors, inserts for the floats, hand wheels for the wildcats, inclined and vertical ladders, funnel cap grill, parts for the D.F. antenna, parts
to detail the 40mm Bofors and torpedo tubes, cable reels, depth charge racks, handling davits, yardarm footropes, boat cradles, ship nameplate and other parts. A nice
nameplate to display the model is also included. Part numbers are etched into the fret.
A fairly complete set of turned brass parts are provided and include the barrels for the 5.9 inch guns and 40mm Bofors. The other parts are comprised of the crane post,
the cut down second crane post, crane boom, upper and lower mast sections and lower yardarm. Some brass wire is needed to make some platform supports and the
upper mast yardarm. These turned brass parts are a nice touch and add a lot to the model. The small decal sheet has the Dutch flag in two sizes but draft markings are
omitted.

A four-page full color assembly guide, that is essentially a large double-sided sheet folded in the center, is provided with the kit. The ship’s history and specs are on page
one (I will not comment on these for reasons already stated). The middle two pages contain a series of CAD drawings of the model with the brass parts highlighted to
distinguish them from the resin parts. Some of the drawings focus on sub-assemblies while the others focus on different sections of the ship. Most of the images are
generally well done but overall I find the assembly guide a bit confusing and certain steps are omitted, such as those bulkhead extensions. The photo-etch parts are
identified by their corresponding part numbers but the resin parts require visual matching. It would have been helpful to have an inventory of the resin parts with their
own part numbers. I recommend carefully studying the pages before to attempt some of the steps. The last page has a color plan and profile drawing depicting the
camouflage scheme Tromp wore at that time. The paint references are for the Lifecolor line but three colors used in the scheme as referred to by their Royal Navy
names, 507a, b and c. The deck color is simply referred to as Dark Gray but you can try to match the Lifecolor paint to another brand using a cross reference chart.
Drawings are also provided for the rigging which is helpful. One additional sheet with two photos of Tromp in the fit depicted by this kit is provided as a reference.
This kit fills yet another gap in World War II warships as until now there has been no kit of Tromp in 1/350 scale. Dutch Navy fans should be pleased to have a model of
this handsome ship finally available. Due to the sheer amount and complexity of the photo-etch parts I would recommend this kit to modelers with more advanced skills.
The build appears to be a bit challenging but in the end it should result in a fine looking model. This kit can be purchased directly from Pacific Crossroad, which is a
Steel Navy sponsor with a link on the main page.
Felix Bustelo
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