Dragon Models Ltd

1/350 USS Laffey, DD-459, 1942

Kit Number: #1026

Reviewed by  Chris Mobley, IPMS# 42891

MSRP: $52.00 Website: www.dragonmodelsusa.com The USS Laffey, DD 459, was built at the Bethlehem Steel Company shipyard in San Francisco and commissioned there 31 March 1942. She is the first of two ships that bear the name Laffey. During the early morning hours of the first Guadalcanal naval battle on November 13, the Laffey engaged Japanese battleships Hiei and Kirishima before sustaining a torpedo hit in the stern from destroyer Teruzuki. Her after magazines detonated shortly thereafter and she sank with a loss of 59 officers and men killed and 116 wounded. Dragon's release of this kit follows the USS Buchanan and much of this kit is carried over from that release. New sprues have been added to accommodate the differences in the ships. An all new photo etch set has also been added to the Laffey kit. After opening the box and looking through the contents, it is immediately clear that the kit is highly detailed and will make for a nice build up. The molding is crisp and flash is not present anywhere. Several parts such as the funnels were done with slide molding to eliminate having to work seams. There are also a good many parts from the previous kits included so you will have some nice additions to the spares box. I also opted to add on the photo etch detail set for the Buchanan which has mostly handrails but also a preformed radar. Although the styrene radar in the kit is pretty nice. For the most part the handrails worked fine with this kit, the one around the top of the bridge (MD1) will not work, and you will have to use MD10 with a bit of trimming for the port side of the walkway next to the large spotlight. Other than that, the set works great with the Laffey, and I highly recommend adding it to the build, as the handrails really make a difference. Starting construction of the ship, I found it easier to deviate from the instructions and started with the hull so I would have something to work from. The hull can be done as a waterline or full hull. I opted for the full hull. A display base and mounts are included in the kit for displaying this way. The hull went together great and there was virtually no seam to deal with. Construction of the superstructure main parts was great and everything fits together nicely. The only issue I had was some slight mounting problems with the different shaped deckhouse from the Buchanan and the decks still have the outline for that version. No other parts of the build had any issues; everything pretty well fits together great. The photoetch parts add great additions to areas such as the 20mm guns. These especially can be detailed to the level you wish to challenge yourself with including all the way down to ammo cans. I'll admit mine are not detailed to the point. I painted the model in the Navy Blue and Deck Blue from White Ensign Models, personally I did not see much of a difference between the two colors. I also added some rigging using their rigging material. While good references for the rigging on this particular ship were virtually nonexistent that I found, I did find a few pictures and tried to add something similar and enough to add some additional look to the model. Over all this is a great kit and I highly recommend it. Even for those that have never built a modern ship such as I, it is a fun build and turns out a great looking model with very little frustration.