by potchip » Sun Mar 18, 2012 8:19 am
As far as modern ship goes, the San Antonio class ain't looking too ugly like the rest. I had to grab one as soon as this was released, and I don't usually buy or build modern tin cans.
Engineering wise, Dragon did well, with the deck in top/bottom 2 pieces plus the lower full hull. With such large pieces with complex shape, some warping is unavoidable unless the company's Tamiya. So there's still some adjustments that's needed here and there, nothing a bunch of plastic ribs wouldn't solve.
There's not a whole lot of pieces and very quickly it's left to the small fittings. Some of the vertical pieces have slight fitting issues, not that they don't fit, but that they don't quite fit flush but instead at somewhere around 95%. If you are experienced with Trumpeter/Dragon kits, you get the drill. Trimming/test fitting/filling, all basics.
Instructions is standard Dragon again, a couple parts 'missing in action' but if you squirt carefully at the drawings, they are all there, just not called out. For example A25 which to be glued to the lower left of the main bridge window (there's a positioning mark there), and A37 which goes at the starboard of the fore tower base structure (in the diagrams but never called out). The colour call outs are half-arsed, most horizontal surfaces should be painted dark grey just like the flight deck.
The included amphibious sprues are all old as previous releases, of 90's vintage. Decal is printed by Cartograph, good quality though accuracy/alignment wise is so-so.
Sorely missing are a couple rigid hull inflatable boats. There are no inner dock details nor is the hanger door openable. The model itself is very 'hobby boss' like, where it provides a good base and essential details but with areas looking a bit bare to make it a great model out of the box.
As far as modern ship goes, the San Antonio class ain't looking too ugly like the rest. I had to grab one as soon as this was released, and I don't usually buy or build modern tin cans.
Engineering wise, Dragon did well, with the deck in top/bottom 2 pieces plus the lower full hull. With such large pieces with complex shape, some warping is unavoidable unless the company's Tamiya. So there's still some adjustments that's needed here and there, nothing a bunch of plastic ribs wouldn't solve.
There's not a whole lot of pieces and very quickly it's left to the small fittings. Some of the vertical pieces have slight fitting issues, not that they don't fit, but that they don't quite fit flush but instead at somewhere around 95%. If you are experienced with Trumpeter/Dragon kits, you get the drill. Trimming/test fitting/filling, all basics.
Instructions is standard Dragon again, a couple parts 'missing in action' but if you squirt carefully at the drawings, they are all there, just not called out. For example A25 which to be glued to the lower left of the main bridge window (there's a positioning mark there), and A37 which goes at the starboard of the fore tower base structure (in the diagrams but never called out). The colour call outs are half-arsed, most horizontal surfaces should be painted dark grey just like the flight deck.
The included amphibious sprues are all old as previous releases, of 90's vintage. Decal is printed by Cartograph, good quality though accuracy/alignment wise is so-so.
Sorely missing are a couple rigid hull inflatable boats. There are no inner dock details nor is the hanger door openable. The model itself is very 'hobby boss' like, where it provides a good base and essential details but with areas looking a bit bare to make it a great model out of the box.