The thing I really liked about Trumpeter’s 1/200 Sovremenny from the very beginning was, that there is almost no detail moulded onto the decks. Each tiny detail is a separate part, saving you extensive deck masking. The flip side of this coin is, that you have to clean up all of those parts, which can be very monotonous as well.

The aft turret ring needed some PE and styrene add-ons. For better “depth” I drilled out all the tiny holes. If you are using a Dremel or similar tool, take care that your drill bit is sharp and the rpm is kept low, so the bit doesn’t melt, but cuts it’s way through the plastic. For extra detail on the turret ring I added PE stanchions to the inside of the ring. Please note that in real life there are no such stanchions, but adding those enhances the turret rings neatly.

I drilled out the torpedo tubes and added some PE scratch. 1/350 GMM PE fire hoses represent the closing mechanism and 1/350 GMM PE deck hatches represent the pressure valves. According to the photos, provided by Mr. Doug Hallet, the torpedo tubes on the Sovremenny face forward!

If you read part one of this review, you already know my “love” for decals. I shall be checking for dry transfers to mark the launch canister numbers. (Who needs all the aggravation?)

The anchor chain is a 22 links/cm (56links/in.) treated with “Brünierungsmittel” (supposedly same as US brand “Blacken-It”) both provided by the German Company Krick. All other details on the main decks – except the AK-130 turrets- were installed as given “by the book”. Note, that I install flag staffs and davits always late in the construction process, because I tend to get caught in these and break them off, while working on the superstructure. Usually I install them before I apply the main deck’s railing.

All other forward superstructure details were installed as provided by the kit. In this picture the nice effect of having cut out the windows on the bridge becomes quite evident.

What may sound difficult is indeed easier to achieve, than one might think: fold up the handrails, hold the ladder/walkway by it’s upper two steps using pliers, or high tension cross-pliers. Now carefully flip the steps into the proper position with the tip of your X-Acto or scalpel blade. The positions are indicated by relief-etched lines on the inside of the step runs on either side on the handrails. Finally fold up the upper two steps. Each ladder was finished in about two minutes. WEM chose very stabile brass for their ladders, the chances of messing them up is relatively small.
I sincerely hope we will see such features in future 1/350 PE sets. I think it is feasible to etch those in this scale, too!

I rebuilt the saluting guns form styrene rod, as the kits parts were completely unusable, due to previously mentioned bad mold alignment. I added “U” shaped PE braces for all six speakers.

The kit’s cranes are very simplified. Adding PE and styrene scratch at the center brace helped it a lot, even though I could have done more to make it look like the real thing. Note that the actual crane is the on top of the center brace. Below this brace is a torsion bar. The torsion bar and the crane are not connected. So the setup of the kit is wrong in this case. Integral part of Sovremenny’s crane system are maintenance platforms and cable braces on the funnel right beneath the Light Bulb Sensor platform, which I constructed form PE and styrene scratch.

Boats and launches are covered by canvas made from aluminum foil, brushed onto the details of the boats with a bristle paintbrush. Folds appearing in the in the foil are naturally enhancing the depth of detail. The foil is painted in Tamiya Buff (XF-57 ), darkened with a couple of drops of  Flat (XF-52), and Brown (X9). Most likely you will have to touch up unpainted spots after gluing the boats to the deck. You may choose to use any of the above three colors to do this: Using lighter and darker shades in the right spots - lighter shades on horizontal surfaces and darker around the folds- will create the effect of sun bleaching and dirt on the canvass.

WEM’s resin AK 130 turrets are beautifully made and clearly are much nicer than the igloo-shaped parts provided by the kit. These were the first resin parts I ever used. When I unpacked them I found the barrels slightly wrapped. I dipped them into boiling water for just a few seconds and straighten them out, which worked nicely. After rinsing the turrets in mild soap water, PE applications and color coats were accepted nicely.

Building SA-N-7 launchers and adding PE platforms and railing was straight forward.

With setting up the foremast configuration I came to decide which ship I was finally going to build. Both type 956E Sovremennys were sold to China. According to my information, only 698 Yekataringburg was close to completion, when being sold. (The other was undesignated project "Alexander Nevsky" was listed as "Hull 19" only  and is called 137 Fu Zhou today)  Since Chinese vessels are painted in overall bluish off-white, Yekataringburg was my only choice. Subsequently the Top Plate radar configuration had to be applied. (Fortunate are those, who have 956A kits, as they may choose to install the more impressive Top Steer radar configuration).  Hints to which vessel Top Steer or Top Plate radar is applied are given in WEM's instruction sheets. Still, further research is necessary. Combinations of Top Plate (Front) and Top Steer (Rear) called "Plate Steer", do apply to three ships of the Sovremenny Class. Decal pennant number application to the hull wasn't painless and curse-free, but OK.

Next was  the forward platform.

Having pre-shaped most of the upper deck's and walkway's railings, finishing and installing the kit's railing took about 6 hours including painting, only. The focsle railing, even though pre shaped in WEM's PE set, was a little tricky to install as it was not fully match the negative curve of the deck right in front of the SS-N-22 launchers. As well, they were a little too short and some segments had to be added.

The PE set and replacements of WEM are not exactly cheap, but magnificently made. I won’t complain, but even on these is room for development still. Replacement boat-cradles and –detail, chaff chutes for the stern, in-scale anchor chains and maybe some details for RBUs and an improved Kite Screetch platform could enhance this already great product.

My 698 Yekatringburg is by no means perfect. Still, I am very satisfied and will – most likely – build another ship of this class some other time.

Trumpeter’s  1/200  956E  Sovremenny  Class  Destroyer.
(The End)

Opinions and comments are highly appreciated. I’ll be glad to answer your questions on the message board of this homepage or directly at guido-hopp@hopp-import.de.