This is a re-boxing of Dragon kit #7071 that has already been reviewed by Rod Lees. For photos of the kits parts, you can find that review in the Archives section. I will confine myself to sharing my impressions of this kit.

First off, you have to decide what ship you are building, as there are parts for around four different ships and some surgery is required on some kit parts in some instances. None of this is difficult, but you have to decide right from the git go, as the first step in assembly requires a decision. After that, you need to decide whether you're going to do it full hull or waterline. I like to place my ships in their natural environment, so I went for the waterline. Which was just as well, as a quick check of how the lower hull fit led me to believe that there were a few problems in this area – but, as I said, I dodged that bullet. One small note here is that if you do it full hull, the name plate has the molded-in name "Essex," not "Sheffield."

The upper hull and main deck are molded as one piece, which eliminates that pesky hull/deck seam. A little clean up is required, but overall, it's a nicely molded piece. The rest of the kit parts were well molded with little flash/mold seams, fit quite well, and went together with no problem. However, the instructions are of the multi-national type with parts flying through the air and landing in nebulously indicated locations. In some instances, it takes a bit of investigation to make sure you have the right part from the right ship in the right place. With a little care, this can be managed.

Many of the kit parts are very, and I do mean very, small. Like the chaff dispensers are 2 mm cubes! Others are quite thin. This means be careful when you remove them from the sprue or you could damage a part or have it shoot off into Never-Never Land and, given the size of some of these parts, they won't be seen again. Have a good set of tweezers handy and don't cut your fingernails before starting as they come in handy while holding parts for cleanup.

Some of the PE parts are applied as you go along and usually necessitate removal of a molded-in part. Again, no problem, but you need to pay attention to what you're cutting and what you're applying to make sure you don't remove something you need.

The last step is applying the railings. There are more than enough supplied, so a mistake or two is okay, but try not to goof on the long runs, as those would be the hardest to fix.

If you've wanted to try doing photo etch parts in a ship kit but were always wary of folding and bending those tiny parts and the sometimes high cost of aftermarket PE sets, then this is a great kit for you. Everything you need to get started with PE is here, none of it requires any forming and/or bending except for railings that go around corners, it's a nice kit, and it’s reasonably priced to boot. Find a good book or internet article on "how to" PE on ships and have at it.

My thanks go to Dragon Models USA for supplying the kit for review, and IPMS/USA for allowing me to review it.