Military Model Scene

Title:  TopDrawings 65, The Guided-missile Frigate ORP Kosciuszko

Author: Witold Koszela

Publisher:  Kagero

ISBN:  978-83-66148-12-3

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This new addition to the Top Drawings series of softcover books from Kagero, the cover notes this as a 'Special Edition'. It follows the basic pattern of the series but has the more unusual addition of the 8-middle pages featuring good quality colour photos of the ship in harbour, in Poland. As ever, the book opens with the background text, and an interesting read it is. The ship is a US built Oliver Hazard Perry Class guided missile frigate which was entered service back in April 1980 as the USS Wadsworth FFG 9. It was then part of a US - Polish agreement that it was transferred to the Polish Navy in June 2002, where is continues to be an important asset for the Polish Navy. Despite its' age, with good maintenance it has useful weaponry and detection gear that it still has a lot of life left in her. The text is provided in both English and Polish.

The 28-page book then holds a series of excellent, well detailed line drawings of each section of the ship. This includes the hull, sections of the superstructure, bridge, masts, radar plus specific details such as the 76mm gun turret, missile launchers, Phalanx CIWS and even the Kaman SH-2G Super SeaSprite helicopter she carries.

Tucked within the pages of the book are two separate fold out sheets which carry 1/250 scale drawings of the complete vessel, and with one sheet having the drawings illustrated in colour, which is a good painting guide for modellers. All together an excellent reference for any ship modeller.

One other little snippet about this ship, as apparently she is also a bit of a Hollywood film star. While still serving as the USS Wadsworth, she played the part of the USS Reuben James in the film 'The Hunt for Red October'.

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A very interesting addition to this series from Kagero

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Distributed by Casemate Books, who kindly provided my review copy.

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Robin