DD-401 USS Maury

Kobo Hiryu 1/700 Gridley Class Destroyer
The Maury was a member of the Gridley Class of Destroyer, commissioned August 5 1938 she survived some of the most intense fighting in the Pacific Theater. 
Specifications:

Gridley Class
Displacement 2219 Tons (Full)
Dimensions, 340' 10" x 35' 10"
Armament 4 x 5" 38 cal (two enclosed, two open)
4 x 0.5" MG (as built) later replaced with 6 x 20 mm guns
16 x 21" Torpedoes in four quad mounts
 Machinery, 50,000 SHP; Bethlehem Geared Turbines, 2 screws
Speed, 38.5 Knots, Range 6500 NM @ 12 Knots,
Crew 158.
The hull on my kit was fair overall. The size and shape of the hull are pretty good, but there was a spot on the bow and stern that look like the mold was starting to come apart when this kit was cast. This can be cleaned up with a file, but should be fixed by the manufacture. The molded on propeller guards don't look too good either and need to be sanded off and replaced by photo etch. 
Superstructure parts look a lot worse then they actually are. There is a lot of flash to be cleaned off but the general shapes are there. The parts are cast in a two piece mold so there are locating pins on most parts. This is an early kit and is not up to the state of the art, but the only one I know of on the market today. The resin is somewhat brittle and you should be careful removing the casting sprues from the parts. Resin should be sawed off not nipped off with sprue nippers or a hobby knife.
These kits used to leave out the weapons, but those that I have purchased within the last couple of years have what appears to be recasts of the Skywave weapons set. If you can replace these with those found in either the Skywave E-6 or E-9 sets as there will be a whole lot less cleanup to get them looking good. The E-6 set is out of production so unless you have a few laying around your spare parts box you may have no choice but to use these. 20 mm guns, searchlights and other small parts are not included.
The instructions are in Japanese but are not hard to follow. There are only a few parts in this kit in the first place so assembly is pretty simple. For background on the ship check out South Pacific Destroyer by Russell Crenshaw, the story of this destroyer during her fascinating career.

Conclusions:

There are very few choices of Destroyers available to the ship modeler in 1/700 scale these days so I guess beggars can't be choosers. This is the only Gridley in 1/700 scale on the marker. I don't recommend this kit to anyone who has never built a resin kit, nor to anyone who has not done a least a little scratch building. But if you need a good base to build upon then this kit may be a good starting point for you. 

These kits are listed for $20.00 in Pacific Front's latest update. I know of no other source for these kits. They are sometimes hard to come by so check with Bill Gruner of Pacific Front before ordering.
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