Very Fire
1/700 USS Cleveland (CL-55)
Deluxe Edition


 

Reviewed October 2025
by Martin J Quinn
  
HISTORY
USS Cleveland (CL-55) was the lead ship of the Cleveland-class light cruiser of the United States Navy, which were built during World War II. The class was designed as a development of the earlier Brooklyn-class cruisers, the size of which had been limited by the First London Naval Treaty. The start of the war led to the dissolution of the treaty system, but the dramatic need for new vessels precluded a new design, so the Clevelands used the same hull as their predecessors, but were significantly heavier. The Clevelands carried a main battery of twelve 6-inch (152 mm) guns in four three-gun turrets, along with a secondary armament of twelve 5 in (127 mm) dual-purpose guns. They had a top speed of 32.5 knots (60.2 km/h; 37.4 mph).

Cleveland was commissioned in June 1942, and saw extensive service in the war, briefly in the Atlantic, and then in the Pacific theater. Like almost all of her sister ships, she was decommissioned shortly after the end of the war, and never saw active service again. Cleveland was scrapped in the early 1960s. 

History courtesy of Wikipedia.  For more, click here. 
The Very Fire Cleveland (Deluxe Edition) 

Very Fire has released several US navy cruiser in 1/700.  One of the latest is the World War II light cruiser USS Cleveland.  This is the deluxe version of the kit.  It contains over twenty plastic sprues, turned brass parts, anchor chain and photo-etch. 

SPRUE A - HULL
Sprue A contains the hull havles.  There is subtle hull plating, with thin bilge keels and chocks molded to the sides of the hull.  The model is full hull, but on the inside of the part, there is a recessed groove to be able to cut the hull down to waterline, like a proper 1/700 model. 

SPRUE B - DECK & WATERLINE PLATE
Sprue B is two parts - the main deck (B1) and the waterline plate (B2).  The wood planking has butt ends, and looks good.  The anchor handling gear (minus chain) is nicely done. However, there are raised strips on the metal steel deck around the hangar on the aft end of the ship that are way out of scale.  These will need to be removed. 

SPRUES C1/C2/C3 - SUPERSTRUCTURE
Sprue C consists of three parts.

C1 - Forward superstructure base. This has non-skid deck pads molded integral to the deck.  These aren't too bad.  There is also nice details on the bulkheads

C2 - Central 01 level.  Move non-skid, planking, and overall good detail

C3 - After superstructure.  Same comments as above 

SPRUE D (X2)
Sprue D has the main battery turrets (there are 2 parts - tops and bottoms), barbettes (also 2 parts) for turrets 2 & 3, cranes, flag bags, directors, props, and catapults.   The crane and catapult are pedestrian, at best.  The turrets look a little vanilla, those the molded blast bags are nice. I'm scratching my head at the decision to mold the barbettes in two parts. 

SPRUE E
Sprues E is the largest sprue in the box.  On it you'll find the funnels (again, 2 parts), hangar roof, struts, shafts, rudder, radars, prop guards (these are nice), and splinter shields.  The funnels have heavy raised detail on them, which will most likely get lost if you have to putty and sand any gaps.  There is also some piping on this sprue, which looks pretty good. However, the SK-2 radar dish will need to be replaced. 

SPRUE G
Sprue G has gun tubs and more superstructure parts, including the rounded bridge face.  Overall, detail is good. 

COMMON SPRUES
The kit comes with eighteen small sprues with smaller parts like 5in gun turrets, directors, boats, bridge equipment, 20mm & 40mm guns, winches, paravanes, searchlights, signal lamps, seaplanes and more.  Over detail is good, though neither the 20mm or 40mm guns come with shields.  In fairness, I believe the 40mm guns didn't have shields, as a weight saving measure. 

PA (X3) - 5 in gun turrets, Mk37 director, boats, bridge equipment

PB (X4) - 40mm guns (sans shields)

PC (X2) - 20mm guns (sans shields) and ready ammo boxes

PD (X3) - Capstan parts, other anchor handling equipment

PF (X3) - Winches, paravanes

PG (X1) - Searchlights, signal lamps, lookout postions

PH (X2) - Seaplanes

ANCHOR CHAIN
A blackened metal anchor chain is included.  

 
PHOTO-ETCH
A very small photo-etch set comes with the basic kit.  It's mostly cable reels and some platform supports.   

 
   
DECALS
There is one small decal sheet, with hull numbers for both Cleveland and Birmingham, decals for the float planes, draft markings, as well as a naval ensign and US flag.   

 
KIT INSTRUCTIONS 
The model comes in booklet form.  A separate color guide, printed on plain paper, is also included. 

DELUXE EDITION EXTRAS  
As this is the deluxe version, extras are included:  2 additional plastic sprues (rafts), turned brass parts, 3D printed parts, and two photo-etch frets.
SPURE PE (X2)
Two small sprues, with injection molded rafts are included.  The netting is supposed to be part of the deluxe photo-etch set. 

3D PRINTED PARTS
One 3D printed wafer is included. It contains blast bags for the main battery, as well as several small radars.  The parts, which are printed in black, look good. 

PHOTO-ETCH
Two photo-etch frets are included.  They include  railings, vertical and inclined ladders, accommodation ladders, cranes, foot rails, catapults, SK-2 radar, 40mm gun shields, straps for the rafts, and more.  While the photo-etch looks good, what's missing are 20mm gun shields, as well as an entire section of Fret B that appears on the instructions, but not on the fret itself.  These missing parts include foot rails for the funnels and the netting parts for the rafts (see instructions below). 

TURNED BRASS PARTS
Turned brass parts include the main battery (6in) and secondary battery (5in) gun barrels, along with turned brass parts for the masts.   

 
DELUXE PARTS INSTRUCTIONS
There is a separate set of instructions for the deluxe parts, printed in color on a glossy paper. 

CONCLUSIONS
I found this to be a pretty good kit.  Being the deluxe edition, it's got everything you need to a 1/700 USS Cleveland.  Overall, while there were a couple of disappointing items - like the injection molded SK-2, cranes and catapults - detail is generally good and flash free, and this release is much better than the old PitRoad kit. There is also the option to reduce the full hull to a waterline line version, if you so choose.  The biggest head-scratcher to me, however, is the missing section of Fret B in the deluxe PE.  Without that section, you can't complete the plastic rafts that are also part of the deluxe edition.  So, recommended with reservations, due to the PE issue. 

This is Very Fire 1/700 USS Cleveland (CL-144), Deluxe Edition, kit number VF70092DX. It's available from some of our sponsors, as well as on eBay. Prices vary (this is an expensive kit), and seem to depend on if you are ordering the standard or deluxe version, so check carefully before adding to your cart.  Thanks to Russ Varga for lending me the model for the review.