Mirage 1/400 V106 Kit Review
Review by Jean-Paul Binot

 Prior to World War I, Germany built a large number of small ships designed as Hochseetorpedoboote (high seas torpedo boats) to escort the battleline and engage enemy capital ships rather than other light forces. They were thus no "real" destroyers, and their size was dictated by two constraints: large enough to operate in the open sea with the fleet, and small enough to be commanded by one single officer.

 In 1914, the Vulkan shipyards in Stettin were building a class of four torpodoboote on order for the Dutch navy. They were taken over by the Imperial German Navy and named V105 through 108. V107 was lost in 1915 and V106 was scrapped in 1920. The other two were transferred to Poland in 1920 in compliance with the treaty of Versailles and were renamed Mazur and Kaszub.

 Mirage's newest addition to its 1/400 range is an extension of its original coverage of that class, begun with the Mazur. They also offer now a Kaszub.

 As the V106, the kit is molded in the classic Mirage white plastic, includes about 40 parts in two sprues, plus a small decal sheet (hull numbers for the four ships are included, plus an imperial German battle flag and a flotilla pennant).

 The dimensions of the hull match my (admittedly sketchy) references and the kit looks rather accurate. The quality of the molded parts is good; comparable to previous Mirage kits. Particularly nice are the three torpedo tubes and the deck guns. The portholes molded on the hull seem oversize and might have to be filled, sanded smooth and re- drilled at the appropriate size.

 The supports for the bridge wings are obviously too thick and should be replaced by photoetch parts, if any can be found. Mirage did not try to simulate the canvas cover on the bridge wings and reproduced those as solid bulkheads, that purists will want to sand off and replace by two-bar photoetch railing.

 Overall, this is a very nice new 1/400 kit, uncomplicated and attractive enough. There is an increasing level of interest in WW 1 subjects and this kit should be popular. I recommend it.