Hasegawa's Agano-Class light cruisers are fine kits on their own, but many modelers today are not satisfied with the fidelity of all plastic parts. Photoetch allows for thinner, higher detailed parts to enhance the scale appearance of your model. Since Hasegawa's first 1/350 ship offerings, they have released supplementary photoetch detailing sets for their kits, usually in "Basic" and "Super"; this set "B" the two Basic detail sets for the Agano class cruisers.

The Basic B detail set is comprised of a single fret of thin brass photoetch. The etching is very crisp, with no signs of over- or under-etching, chemical staining, or other manufacturing defects. It is physically larger than the "A" set, and carries a much larger variety of parts. While most of these parts are concentrated on detailing existing parts, like the addition of assorted grab rails, and gunsights and bases for the 25mm AA guns, there is one particular fully replacement part; the aircraft crane.

There are also numerous ladders of a variety of shapes and sizes and screens for the ventilation shafts included. Almost the entire searchlight tower is replaced- on the the base of the platform and the searchlight itself remain. This fret also includes some assemblies for some radar antenna, and details for the masts and yards.

A large double-sided folding sheet of instructions is included. These instructions have both illustrations and photos of the parts installed on the kit.

Thanks to Great Planes Model Distributorsfor the review sample. It is listed as #72138 1/350 IJN Light Cruiser Agano Class Detail Up Etching Parts Basic B with a MSRP of $74.99 US. Great Planes is the exclusive US importer for Hasegawa.