Reviewed by Timothy Dike
| The Van Ghent was a Dutch destroyer operating in the South Pacific as part of the ABDA forces. She was among Admiral Doorman's fleet that included the Dutch light cruisers De Ruyter and Tromp, the American cruisers Houston and Marblehead, and fellow destroyers Bankert, and Piet Hein. Early in 1942 these ships attempted to blunt the Japanese offensive in the battles of Java Sea. At the Battle of Makassar 4 February 1942 they come under heavy air attack and the Van Ghent and others are forces to withdrawal to protect the damaged ships. Later the Van Ghent suffered the inglorious fate of running aground on a reef north of Banka Island. There was no time to save her and she was scuttled. While not a well known ship, the Van Ghent was never the less an important part of the early history of WW2. | |
| The Hull is pretty well cast and has fair amount of detailing. I don't care for the molded on anchors or the stern depth charges. But since this is a resin kit it is easy to sand these away. |
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| Superstructure parts are all nicely molded and the bulkheads and splinter shields are all very thin. Thin enough to be very delicate so be careful with them. The weapons are molded standing up on a thin resin wafer and have a little flash that will have to be removed. |  |
| Decals are printed on paper and are acceptable, but there are better decal sets out there that will look more to-scale. Consider replacing these with one of the Dunagain decals sets. |  |
| The instructions consist of two sides of an standard sheet
of paper. While this is not a complicated kit, I would still like to see
more detailed instructions, with a little bit of history included.
There is no photo etch in this kit, but a good set of railings will really make this kit stand out. |
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| Conclusions:
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