In this capacity, she took part in Operations Tunnel and Hostile, sweeping the Bay of Biscay and English Channel in preparation for Operation Overlord; she sank more tonnage than any other RCN vessel. She is credited with sinking or assisting in the sinking of T-29, T-27, Z-32, U-971, and a pair of heavily-armed trawlers. HMCS Haida continued to serve in the Korean War, where she acquitted herself well by providing fire support and destroying the North's coastal trains. She was transferred into civilian preservation in the early 1960s, and is now owned by Parks Canada as a National Historic Site museum in Hamilton, Ontario.

Ultracast is a Canadian company best known for their aftermarket accessories for aircraft, armour, and figures - basically, anything but ships. However, sometime before 2002, they seem to have made a brief foray into the ship modelling side of things with this release of the Haida. The kit represents her in April 1944, when she engaged T-29 and T-27 along with HMCS Athabaskan. As far as I can tell, the Haida was Ultracast's one and only ship release, and it has been long out of production.

It is interesting to compare this with Trumpeter's much more recent 1/700 Tribal class destroyers, as well as Samek's 1/700 HMS Nubian and Loose Cannon's HMS Cossack. Sadly, I do not have one of those in my posession, but do note that all except the Loose Cannon Cossack miss the bow sheer, portraying the forecastle as flat. At least the Trumpter's separate deck will make the fix easier than for the Ultracast or Samek kits. The latter are also waterline-only. More comments on the hull and other parts below.

The hull comes wrapped in bubble wrap, while the resin parts are attached to sprues, split into two zip-lock bags. Decals, PE, and brass and plastic rods are also in a third bag.

There is no padding in the box. Most impressively, none of the parts are broken, save one boat that came off the sprue whole. As far as I can tell, there are no moulding defects - no bubbles, cracks, or blemishes. 

Some flash is apparent in the hollows of the gun turrets, but that's to be expected. The 4.7" gun barrels are warped, but those would best be replaced with brass anyway (that's one good thing about picking up this kit a decade after its release - the Trumpeter one should spur a whole lot more aftermarket options!). The only other flaw from a quality perspective is the warped starboard overhang adjacent B Turret - see hull-04.jpg and hull-12.jpg.

Other than those fairly minor issues, the quality of the resin casting is superb. No need to ask for replacement parts from the manufacturer here - a good thing, since they probably don't have any left anyway.

Some impressive details include the anchor chain (a well-done 3D appearance that painting can really bring out) and depth charge rack. Raised bumps and holes on the deck assist with placement of the resin parts. Overall, sharply-cast and well-detailed, with pipeing, ladders, and hatches already on the bulkheads. 

That said, there are several things to be improved. The two raised circular plates along the upper portholes at the bow should be sanded down in thickness. The stem of the bow is also a bit crooked, curving towards starboard as it approaches the waterline - as seen in photos hull-12.jpg through hull-14.jpg. As well, anti-slip tread pattern is not moulded into the forecastle.

Finally, as mentioned in the intro, there is no deck sheer portrayed. Related to this, and similar to what I've seen online of the Trumpeter versions, it makes the hull sides at the bow look fairly slabsided, with insufficient overhang of the main deck versus the waterline. This effect tends to make the model blockier and less graceful than they actually were. 

There is another discrepency between the kits. Whereas Trumpeter's (and Samek's; possibly Loose Cannon's) Tribal begins its narrowing at the bridge face, Ultracast begins narrowing from the first funnel, producing a much sleeker hull when viewed overhead. In the comparison below, I've overlayed the foredeck piece of the Trumpeter 1/350 Eskimo (image taken from the review here) on top of the Ultracast hull. 

Note how the Trumpy deck piece protrudes beyond the Ultracast hull, and this is before the deck piece has been inserted into the hull - so in addition to the protrusion you see, add on an extra millimeter for the hull side's thickness. Comparing both with the set of HMCS Athabaskan plans in "Unlucky Lady", it appears the real shape is somewhere between the two: the Ultracast narrowing too far aft, Trumpeter narrowing too close to the bow (go figure!). 

I ran into this little piece of modelling history hidden in the back of the counter at Uncle Bill's Hobby Shop in Calgary, Alberta. Sadly, the only reason I was behind the counter was due to shop's liquidation - the untimely passing of shop owner Rick Chin left the shop with few other options. I intend to (eventually) build this kit as a small memorial for his years of service to the modeling community here.