Smith was laid down on 18 March 1908, by William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia, and launched on 20 April 1909, sponsored by Mrs. Edward Bridge Richardson. She was commissioned on 26 November 1909.

Smith was attached to the Atlantic Torpedo Fleet upon commissioning and, after three years of active service, was placed in reserve in October 1912. Reactivated with reduced complements in December 1915, for Neutrality Patrol duty off Boston, Massachusetts, Smith arrived in New Orleans, Louisiana on 10 December, for recruiting duty with the Naval Auxiliary Reserve. She arrived at Key West, Florida on 12 February 1916, and at New York, on 15 February, to continue recruiting duty. 

The five Smiths formed Division TWO (attached to SQUADRON ONE) of the Atlantic Fleet’s Patrol Force. All five served through World War I. 

In 1919, while Flusser, Lamson, Preston and Reid were sold for scrapping, Smith plus battleship Indiana and submarine G-1 were held as targets for bombing experiments, which were conducted in Chesapeake Bay ending in November 1920. Smith was finally sold for scrapping in December 1921. 

For more on the history of the USS Smith, check out the sources for this abbreviated history:  the Wikipedia page here, or the Destroyer History Foundation page here.

This is a brand new, injection molded model from Chuanyu DaLiGeJian Models, also known as Dali Models in United States.  I've also seen them referred as Chuanyu Models online.  If the logo seems familiar, that is because they've been around for awhile, doing photo-etch sets, upgrade sets and 3D printed models.  As far as I know, this is their first foray into the plastic kit market (their second release was a 1/350 multi-media kit of USS Arizona). 

Dali’s 1/700 SMS Smith comes in a small, but heavy cardboard box, with art work of Smith underway on the top, and images of the box contents on the back. This is a multi-media kit, which includes injection-molded plastic parts, 3D printed resin parts, photo etch, turned brass, a deck mask, a small decal sheet, and instructions.

While the molding is crisp, the hull plating is grossly over stated (check the archival photo of Smith below).  This seems to be a trend by manufacturers these days, in attempt to add more detail.  I'd prefer they just leave the hull blank than have the plating be so overstated. 

The deck has raised detail to represent plating or weld lines, and is also overstated, but not nearly as heavy as the hull, and should be less noticeable when painted and all the parts have been added. 

The funnels have raised funnel bands and rivet detail, while the boats have prominent planking detail, which actually looks ok to me. 

Raft 1 has the forward base for the superstructure, the bridge platform, ready ammo boxes, the engine room skylights and the small aft deckhouse.  This class of destroyers had single tube torpedo tube, and were fitted with a second torpedo, stored in it's own on deck container.  Those are on this print raft.

Raft 2 has the torpedo tubes, piping for the funnels, and deck furniture.

Raft 3 has the 3in main battery guns - sans barrels, which are provided separately in brass.  There is also pelorus and other bridge and deck equipment on this raft.

My biggest concern is with the bridge, specifically regarding it's shape, the thickness of the bulkheads and the stanchions supporting the roof. 

From what I can discern looking in various reference books and both archival and online photos is that the model represents the Smith at the beginning of America's involvement in the Great War. It appears that the bridges on many of the "flivvers" and "thousand tonners" were enlarged by the time the US entered the war.  However, the only reference I can find about the bridges being enlarged is in a photo caption from US Destroyers from Friedman. In the Chapter "A Decade of Developments 1906-1916", there is a picture of Downes, showing her in 1919, with the caption "...newly returned to peacetime status, but retaining the wartime angled bridge front...". 

I know Downes is a later, larger class than Smith, but it seems that modifying the bridges was common across these earlier destroyer classes at this time.  Photos of Smith from this time, that I've been able to find, are not of a high enough resolution to determine if the kit bridge is the correct shape, though I do think it is correct. 

As mentioned, the other issue is the thickness of the bulkheads and stanchions.  The overheads on these ships were canvas (in the kit this is represented as a photo-etch piece), supported by lightweight stanchions.  I believe the kit representation of these parts to be incorrect, that is, too thick.  That being said, 98% of modelers aren't going to care, and I may be wrong (just ask my ex-wife, she'll tell you I usually was), but I wanted to make sure I pointed it out. Two photos from Navsource, of Smith in 1917, are included below. 

The brass set is well done, and includes rails, prop guards (I would have rather seen these as part of the 3D printed parts), inclined and vertical ladders, watertight doors, the bridge roof/overhead, ships wheels, aft steering gear parts, crane parts and more. 

The second set has two parts that can be bent and use as a stand for the completed model. 

There is no mention of what paint colors to use, and the renderings and box art seem to indicate a lighter gray. Speaking to a well known researcher, he said that she may have been painted in either pre-WWI light gray, Slate Gray, or possibly torpedo boat green. I know that trying to decipher colors from photos is a risky endeavor, but I would lean towards the ship being in Slate Gray in 1917, based on the Navsource photos.  Photos of her sisters from the Destroyer History Foundation seem to show those ships in pre-WWI light gray. Being that she served on Atlantic convoy duty during the Great War, she could have potentially been painted in a dazzle scheme at sometime as well. Take all that with a grain of salt, and make your own color choices. 

On the other hand, the hull plating is grossly overstated, which is really a shame, because otherwise, this is a great kit. I also have some questions about the complete accuracy of the shape of the bridge and how they rendered the supports for the overhead. Most modelers, I think, won't care about either of these issues, especially the shape of the bridge. In the hands of a competent modeler, this will build into a nice model, and I think this is going to be a popular kit. Though, due to this being a multi-media kit, I don't think it's for beginners (and multi-media kits seem to be the way this hobby is going). 

All that being said, this kit recommended, but with reservations, due to the aforementioned overstated hull plating.

This is Chuanyu DaLiGeJian (Dali) Models 1/350 USS Smith DD-17, kit number CY101. It retails for $112.99 USD, and is available through Squadron Hobbies, who I'd like to thank for this review sample. 

This is an in box review, your mileage may vary once you start assembly.