Dragon 1/700 USS Essex CV-9
The basic hull pretty much built, the stern deck fit real well,,, but,,,
But the bow dech has quite a gap. It won't bee seen much, but not a nice fit. I hope the rest of these Dragon kits are better. That's not very good for a high $$$ kit !!
thats just UGLY !!
Id rather have a one piece hull !
sanding out the seam after attaching the bottom hull was not fun! I like the 1 piece hulls better, as I wont be doing any waterline builds,,, well maybe 1. There's gonna be a line there, but the red bottom should pretty much hide it.
Sponson added, fit is quite good, better than I expected
bit of a gap there too. you cant really position things different as they have tabs to align the parts
this side looks good
hanger deck glued in, fit is good
the basic island
those guns are TINY !! they give you 64, this kit uses 53. I lost a few and messed up a few, but still have a few spares. they are 2 pieces and took several days to clean up and assemble
radars
the other guns
and more guns. dont ask me which is what ???
2 of the gun mounts are malformed! I've requested replacements from Dragon, but since it's fairly old don't have much hope of getting them
Actually I had the GMM Essex Class PE set that came with a 1/720 kit that I had bought. I wasn't planning on using it all on this kit as I have 2 more Dragon Essex class kits. But,,,,, I did want to put a railing around the 1 open elevator. Well guess what! The damn thing is too short! It would fall through the hole!!!
I'm hoping when I do the next Essex class [Antietam or Lexington]that the railings fit better. Guess I'll have to leave both elevators up! I mainly did this kit to see if I could even do those tiny parts. It was pretty tedious, but doable.
I'll put a bit more effort and hopefully get a better fit next time. Something wasn't quite right on this one, the deck didn't fit quite right. Something was off.
I'll put a bit more effort and hopefully get a better fit next time. Something wasn't quite right on this one, the deck didn't fit quite right. Something was off.
Comentarios
1 18 March 2018, 17:36
Robert W Martel
All in all it turned out pretty well. This Dragon was much more complex than the Academy Kitty Hawk. The Kitty Hawk went easier & faster and looks pretty much just as good.
The Dragon kits do have more detail, but much more difficult to build. And,,,, for a ship that carried some 90 planes, 30 showing on the boxart, it only includes 18 aircraft!!!
The decks look pretty barren compared to the Kitty Hawk [there are 4 in the hanger]. The Kitty Hawk deck is pretty loaded and there was a handful left over!
But, it was a good learning experience. I was thoroughly disappointed in the GMM PE though! The kit PE worked well for the radars & superstructure railings, wish they had included more.
ON to the next project !!!!!
All in all it turned out pretty well. This Dragon was much more complex than the Academy Kitty Hawk. The Kitty Hawk went easier & faster and looks pretty much just as good.
The Dragon kits do have more detail, but much more difficult to build. And,,,, for a ship that carried some 90 planes, 30 showing on the boxart, it only includes 18 aircraft!!!
The decks look pretty barren compared to the Kitty Hawk [there are 4 in the hanger]. The Kitty Hawk deck is pretty loaded and there was a handful left over!
But, it was a good learning experience. I was thoroughly disappointed in the GMM PE though! The kit PE worked well for the radars & superstructure railings, wish they had included more.
ON to the next project !!!!!
23 May 2020, 04:06
Robert W Martel
Thanks Jay.
I learned from this one, the next one I'll have a better grip on what to watch out for. Ah, little here little there, maybe I can do a bit better next one.
Thanks Jay.
I learned from this one, the next one I'll have a better grip on what to watch out for. Ah, little here little there, maybe I can do a bit better next one.
23 May 2020, 04:35
Album info
Very nice, well detailed kit. Tons of itty bitty parts !!
It's gonna be FUN !!!