| The USS Cushing is one of the later of
the Spruance Class Destroyers. She was commissioned September 21 1979 and
is the fifth ship to bear that name. She has an interesting history, but
I will let you read about that on the USS
Cushing Website. The USS Cushing DD-985 will be decommissioned on September
21 in San Diego. Now is your chance to reproduce this ship in 350 scale.
Dragon has updated their Spruance class kit with this late fit version
depicting the Cushing. Now lets take a look at what's in the box. |
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| SPRUE A HULL PARTS |
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| The ship is molded as full hull with two halves. The molding
is pretty good, and includes several interior braces to help hold it together
solidly. The surface detail looks pretty good, and the ship compares well
to the drawings I have of her. |
Click images
to enlarge |
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| SPRUE G and H |
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| The ship can be modified to a waterline version with the included flat
hull section. This sprue also includes some pretty good helicopters, and
VLS hatches. Molding is pretty nice on these parts. Some of the missile
hatches are left open so you can be placed in the open position. |
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| SPRUE C |
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| The superstructure main deck and most of the weapons are on this sprue.
The parts are pretty well done for plastic, and closely resemble the real
world counterparts. The only thing I don't like is the raised lines on
the helicopter deck. |
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| SPRUE E |
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| The main deck is on this sprue is is nicely molded. Superstructure
walls are included with nice surface detail. |
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| SPRUE F |
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| Other superstructure decks and walls are on this sprue with nice detail
overall. |
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| SPRUE K |
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| The bridge front is well molded with nicely done windows. The mast
platforms are molded with details on both sides. The underside bracing
looks nice. |
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| SPRUE L |
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| The other walls and mast parts are well done, and the mast parts are
nice enough that you won't need PE replacements. The stack tops are included
on this sprue but this kit included some really nice machined aluminum
ones that you will really want to use. |
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| SPRUE R |
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| This sprue is new and is not included in earlier releases. It included
the superstructure modifications for the Phalanx and the New RAM for the
stern. No need to scratchbuilt those domed radar assemblies on the bridge
front and aft phalanx mount, they are included. |
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| SPRUE M |
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| Not all the parts on this sprue are needed for the kit. The ones you
need such as the radar base platforms will come in handy. |
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| PHOTO ETCH |
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| A full set of etched brass photo etch railing is included. These railings
are cut to length and numbered to match the instructions. |
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| DECALS |
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| Two very nice decal sheets are included with everything
from hull numbers to warning circles. They are nicely registered and much
improved over earlier dragon sets. These even include a variety of Battle
"E"' markings. |
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| INSTRUCTIONS |
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| The instructions are eight pages and very extensive. They
take you step by step and show the various subassemblies. Painting guide
and sprue parts locations are shown. I like the way the unused parts are
noted.
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| CONCLUSIONS |
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 This
kit is an upgrade of an earlier kit that was very nice by itself. Dragon
has added new parts to update it, and included photo etch and machined
funnel tops. Dragon USA lists this kit with an MSRP of $41.95, it
is a good value for 350 scale modelers especially with the extras.
It is nice to see Dragon taking the time to update these earlier kits.
This one will build nicely out of the box, or as the starting point of
a super detailed Sprue-can. |
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