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Dragon Dragon Dragon The Warship revolution
is coming
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| Dragon has released more information on it's pending 1/350
USS Independence CVL-22. This kit may well be one of, if not the best aircraft
carrier ever kitted in plastic. This kit began life as a scaled up version
of the 1/700 scale
carrier. But what was good enough for 700 scale falls short of the
standard that Dragon has set for their new 1/350 Smart Kits. A team of
researchers led by carrier nut Tracy White poured over the preliminary
drawings and highlighted areas to improve for a more accurate kit. Dragon's
team of engineers responded with this state of the art kit packed with
detail and features. One of those features is a detailed hanger deck with
roof bracing and funnel trunking in the appropriate places. The deck elevators
can be posed up or down or in between thanks to their smart construction.
The deck will include realistic planking and tie down straps. The flight
deck is also slide molded to allow for detailed bulkheads along the sides
with open doorways and wall details. The crane and radar mount are slide
molded to give them an open frame appearance instead of those solid chunks
that are provided in other kits. Even such simple features such as the
splinter shields around the guns is molded as thin as possible. Most other
manufactures add an unrealistic taper that is excessively thick. The modeler
will be given a choice of photo etch radar's or the plastic versions. |
| The poster is reproduced on the right, but for some exclusive high
resolution images click the thumbnails below. |
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| As this preview is being shown many of the parts have already
been tooled up and test shots are being produced. There is much more to
tell but these exclusive high resolution photos should help tell the story.
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| AIRWING |
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18 Aircraft will be included in the kit all newly tooled and molded
in clear plastic.
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6 x TBF Grumman Avenger Torpedo bombers with folding wing options.
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6 x F6 Hellcat fighters with folding wing option and centerline drop tank.
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6 x SBD Dauntless Dive bombers with separate bomb and open and closed canopy
options.
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| FIGURES AND VEHICLES |
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18 newly tooled figures will be included in the kit.
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2 x 5 Aviator figures in various lifelike poses
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2 x 4 Flight Deck Crew in unique poses
8 vehicles will also be included, also newly tooled.
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2 x 1/4 ton 4x4 truck (Jeep)
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4 x deck tractor tugs
Another bonus is the 5" 38 cal open mounts to allow you to build an as-commisioned
CVL-22. |
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| MORE CLOSEUPS |
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| More about this class of ship can be found on the Shipmodels.info
forum here. |
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