Reviewed by Timothy Dike
The USS Spokane was a Juneau class light cruiser. Basically an improved Atlanta class with a rearranged main gun armament. Instead of being mounted on three decks the twin 5" guns were arranged on two levels. The number one and two mounts were on the main deck as well as mounts five and six. The number three and four mounts were one deck higher. This reduced the center of gravity in the ship and made them less top heavy. The field of fire for the number two and five mounts was somewhat restricted, but only for a surface engagement. The primary threat was from above and this ship could put out a formidable amount of long range anti aircraft fire. 

The Spokane was commissioned on September 22, 1945, too late to participate in world war two. She did serve in the post war years in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. In 1950 she was placed in reserve and out of commission. Finally in 1973 she was scrapped.

The new ship from Admiralty features yet another incredible kit for this new company. 
HULL
The hull is cast in the typical waterline style with much of the superstructure in place. The detail is exceptional with ammo boxes, hatch and door, and other items cast in place. Bollards and chock are also cast on. The shape of the hull appears to be spot on with that distinctive Atlanta class hull shape. The armor belt is much less pronounced than the one found on the old Skywave and Dragon kits and is correctly located only on the middle of the hull. 
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to enlarge
The only flaw I can see on this part is a slight twist to the bottom of the bow. But that shouldn't be hard. Notice the long slot cast in the upper part of the superstructure. This allows for precise location of the bridge wings parts shown below.
SUPERSTRUCTURE PARTS
The few bridge and superstructure parts are cast on thin resin wafers so a little flat sanding will be needed to free them. These parts also have some incredible detail. Note the wind deflectors on the bridge are cast with openings! 
I especially like the way the bridge wings are designed to fit into the slot cast on the superstructure. The funnels are nicely cast with funnel grills and piping detail.
MAIN GUNS
The five in twin guns are very detailed. They feature frames around the gun slots, and lots of surface details. They even have locator holes for the included brass gun barrels shown below. The gun directors are the late war type featured in 1944-45.
ANTI AIRCRAFT GUNS
The 40 mm twin and quad guns have lots of detail to them. The bases are one piece with a separate twin gun barrel assembly that can be mounted at any angle the real gun could fire in. These guns have barrels that are a little thicker than some kits now on the market, but are a little less fragile and easier to handle. Never the less, I did have one broken barrel.  However  Pavel includes one extra base for the quad 40 mm and one for the Twin 40 mm. Also provided are extras of the following 2 X twin 40 mm Barrels, 2 X Mk 51 Directors, 2 X Mk 50 Directors and extra life rafts.
FITTINGS AND FIXTURES
There are plenty of other details included. Five inch practice loading machines with enough detail that you can recognize them even in this small scale. Searchlight and flag bags are among the other nicely detailed parts included.
BOATS AND RAFTS
Two 26; whaleboats are included with davits. these boats are very detailed and even feature rudder and propellers. The rafts will use photo etch netting when separated from the wafer for a very realistic effect.
DECALS
Decals ae provided with large post war style numbers for Juneau, Spokane, and Fresno. Flags and union jacks are also included and are well registered.
PHOTO ETCH
Two photo etch frets are included relief etched in stainless steel. The first includes the Mk 12 radar and the orange peel height finding radar antenna and mounts.
Custom fitted railings are provided that are already cut to length. These are all numbered and shown on the excellent instructions below.  Lots of other fine details are included  such as yard arms, and twin 20 mm gun assemblies. The latter are the late war light weigh style. This fret also makes use of relief etching to bring out the details. My only complaint would be that the rails could be thinner. 
METAL PARTS
Tapered brass rod is included to make the masts and include mounting pins for precise alignment. The previously mentioned 5" machined brass gun barrels also have location pins and drilled out ends! Extra rod is included for some of the other parts.
INSTRUCTIONS
The Instructions are among the most extensive I have seen for a resin kit of this size. Sixteen pages of CAD generated assembly views every bit as nice as some of the top plastic companies produce. These are very well done and are arranged in a logical assembly order. Rod lengths and other detail notes are included.
PACKAGING
A brief note about an overlooked item. The packaging of the kit. You know how frustrating it can be to open that resin kit you have been waiting for only to find parts broken in shipping. Well Pavel has gone the extra mile to limit any breakage. Each group of parts is separately bagged
CONCLUSIONS

This is one of the best resin ship kits I have seen. I knew when I saw it at the IPMS Nationals, that I had to have one. The level of detail is outstanding, and the design of the kit is impressive. This ships was designed using CAD software and the masters were rapid prototyped using state of the art equipment. It is nice to see that even the instructions were meticulously done. That is a feature that is most overlooked by resin manufactures. Well cast and well packed, means there is very little to complain about. This new kit will be one of the easiest resin ships to build thanks to it's excellent design. This kit retails for $95.00 US a great price, especially when you consider the added bonus of photo etch, turned gun barrels and masts, and the overall kit quality. Get yours now from Admiralty Model Works or where ever fine resin ship kits are sold. 

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