Kraken Hobbies 1942 USS Aylwin DD-355 Review

Kraken Hobbies

1/700 USS Aylwin (DD-355) 1942 Fit

Reviewed by Martin J Quinn
April 2025

The third Aylwin (DD-355) was laid down on 23 September 1933 by the Philadelphia Navy Yard launched on 10 July 1934; sponsored by Miss Elizabeth M. Farley, the 11-year old daughter of Postmaster General James M. Farley, and commissioned on 1 March 1935, Comdr. Clarence Gulbranson in command.

Aylwin had an active career. She was present at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, took part in the abortive Wake Island relief effort, and was escorting the carrier Lexington, on the planned raid on Rabaul, helping to defend the ship during the air attacks when Butch O'Hare won his Medal of Honor on February 20, 1942. After a quick refit at the Mare Island Navy yard, Aylwin participated in the Battles of the Coral Sean and Midway, as well as the Guadalcanal campaign, mostly in escort duties. Later in the war, she (barely) survived "Halsey's Typhoon" (Typhoon Cobra), which claimed sister ships Hull and Monaghan. Surviving the war, Aylwin was laid up in reserve after the conflict, and scrapped in 1946.

This truncated ship's history was culled from her DANFS history, which is posted on the terrific Destroyer History Foundation website.

USS AYLWIN 1942 FIT

The model comes packed in a small white cardboard box, with the the hull taped down to prevent movement, and the rest of the contents placed in a ziploc plastic bags. Inside is the bags are the superstructure parts,ships boats and weapons. Some of the parts were loose in the bag, and the cage on the largest print raft was broken loose. The model depicts the Aylwin in 1942, during her service in the pivotal battles of Coral Sea, Midway and Guadalcanal.

THE HULL

The hull is waterline. It scales out in both length and beam. The hull has good detail overall, though the hull plating may be a touch overstated, in my opinion.

SUPERSTRUCTURE PARTS

There are three print rafts containing the rest of the parts. The largest of these contains the superstructure parts. As mentioned, the cage surrounding this print raft had broken loose, and a few parts - including both funnels and director - were loose, but don't appear to be damaged (I found the aft funnel stuck in with the print raft for the 20mm guns). Details are crisply printed, with nice piping on the funnel and support ribs on the splinter shields. I especially like the open pilot house windows.

WEAPONS AND OTHER SMALLER PARTS

The next largest print raft has the majority of the ships weapons - 5 inch guns, gun shields for the forward guns, depth charges and depth charge racks, torpedo mounts, as well as torpedo davits and ships boats. The details are very nice. I really like the gun shields for the forward 5" guns and the torpedo mounts.

20MM GUNS

After her March 1942 refit, Aylwin has one of her 5" mounts landed and 8 20mm guns shipped. The 20mm are included on a separate print raft. There are 12 guns present, so you get more than enough to trick out your ship, plus some extras for the parts bin. Generally details are very petite and fine, though at least two 20mm barrels are drooping in my sample.


INSTRUCTIONS
The instructions are very simple, consisting of one page of four exploded view drawings. That's it. But it should be enough to get the job done. Aylwin was in overall Navy Blue during this time period, so there is no need for a paint guide.

CONCLUSIONS

Aylwin joins Kraken Hobbies growing line of 3D printed US Navy destroyer kits. This 3D printed kit is miles better then the old Midship models injection-molded Farragut class kit, which is out of production and ridiculously priced online. It has really crisply printed details and a relatively low parts count, so it should be a straightforward build. On the other hand, there is no brass rod for the masts, nor is any photo-etch included. Those are easily sourced separately, but I would like to see the option of buying a "deluxe" version of the kit with these included, like Kraken does with their USS Downes kit.

This is Kraken Hobbies USS Aylwin DD-355, 1942 waterline kit. It retails for $44.99 USD, and is available directly from Kraken Hobbies. Highly recommended, especially for US destroyer fans.