Fresh out of the dockyard, Kelly managed to get herself torpedoed by the German E-boat S31.   Only due to  "the good seamanship of the officers and men but also on account of the excellent workmanship which ensured the watertightness of the other compartments" did Kelly managed to return to the shipyard she was built for extensive repairs, which lasted until December 1940. 

After rejoining her flotilla, Kelly and her flotilla were transferred to the Mediterranean Sea, arriving in Malta in April, 1941.   Her service life here was busy, but short, as during the evacuation of Crete, she was bombed and sunk by German dive-bombers on May 23, 1941, with half her crew killed. 

For more on Kelly, visit her Wikipedia page here, which is where this abridged history was pulled from.   Information was also taken from Langtree's The Kelly's. 

Flyhawk’s 1/700 HMS Kelly comes in Flyhawk's standard white cardboard box with artwork showing Kelly sailing at high speed with her armament trained to starboard.  One of the side panels shows a couple of other Flyhawk forthcoming 1/700 releases – the British dreadnought HMS Agincourt and the German battleship Scharnhorst. 

Inside the box is a copy of the box art that is suitable for framing.  Underneath this lay the instructions.   The hull, decks and waterline plate are wrapped in a thin white protective material, secured with rubber bands.   The sprues are found in several different plastic bags.   As this is the "basic" release of Kelly, there is only one very small photo-etch fret included. 

SPRUE A - UPPER HULL
The upper hull scales out pretty close to the actual ship in length and beam.   Detail is up to Flyhawk's usual standards.  There is hull plating, eyebrows over the portholes and some very fine chocks molded to the sides of the hull.   The hull certainly looks to match the plans of the J, K & N class in Christopher Langtree's book The Kelly's. 

SPRUE B - WATERLINE PLATE
It's a waterline plate.  Nothing worth noting, other than it was bent upwards at the bow. 

SPRUE C - LOWER HULL
The lower hull is smooth - no plating like on the upper hull.  The bilge keels look nice, and the cutwater is very sharp.  Similar to their HMS Legion kit, there is a small hole near the bow on the bottom of the hull, for the Asdic gear, if those building a full hull model.   Nice attention to detail, and the upper and lower hull fit together really well. 

The painting and marking guide is on the bottom of the back page.  This shows both plan and profile (port and starboard) of Kelly wearing 507B in 1940.  The instructions list the relevant color matches for Mr. Hobby, Tamiya and "WEM Colorcoats" paints.   As new information has shown that 507B was not, in fact, a medium grey, Flyhawk's color callout seems to be dated.     In his book The Kelly's, Christopher Langtree has a drawing of Kelly wearing a dark hull and light upper works paint scheme in "early 1940".   Elsewhere in the book, he notes the Kelly "may" have been painted in "Mountbatten Pink" in late 1940.   Do your homework, then paint her however you want, as it's your model. 

This is Flyhawk’s 1/700 HMS Kelly, kit number FH1103. The kit appears to retail for around $26.00.  Remember, this is the basic version, and contains only one small photo-etch fret.  The larger photo-etch fret, masking seals and other accessories are available separately.  Highly Recommended!! 

Thanks to Flyhawk for the review sample. This is an in box review, your mileage may vary once you start assembly.