On the face of it, the Tamiya “O” class destroyer kit looks like a great kit, and in fact there are 2 x kits inside the box; unfortunately, the box art is the best you are going to get to resemble the type – until now.

In the past, WEM had produced a PE fret for this kit but left a lot of surgery to be done overall to make this kit portray the desired build. This super detail set enhanced the basic plastic frame but still there were a multitude of underlying problems to be resolved.

The Lion Roar PE addresses those problems to a good extent to the point where you can throw away the smaller structures and substitute them with all new PE ones.

Again some surgery is required to the main superstructures but suitable drawings which are readily available help in building up an answer to the “O” class conundrum.

This is not to say that the WEM PE should be dismissed as there are key parts on this fret that are usable, anchors and ladders plus the rails are better.

Having said that, the Lion Roar fret also includes a crows nest, depth charge throwers, and a neat little lantern radar. Even the pom-poms are relatively easy to assemble, and create an acceptable representation of the gun. The main guns are also a vast improvement, and worth building although a barrels is required.

If you wish to build an “O” other than HMS Onslow then it becomes trickier as the hulls are longer for the others of the class.

In my illustration, I have cut the superstructure accordingly, and although not as accurate as can be, I have built an acceptable HMS Obdurate for my diorama. I also replaced the funnels with ali tubing but that is a question of detail.