| The ROC Chung King began life as the
HMS Aurora, an Arethusa class light cruiser commissioned November 12, 1937.
She was active throughout world war II and was sold to the Chinese Navy.
Chung King became the flagship of the ROC Navy. On February 25, 1949 her
crew defected to the Communists, showing a homemade white flag with a red
star at the center. Only a month later she was bombed and sunk by ROCAF
aircraft.
A more detailed account of her history by Doug
Hallet can be read here.
FlyHawk has released this new kit as another version of their HMS Aurora
kit. Much of this review uses duplicates that one with the unique parts
shown here.
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| SPRUE A |
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| This first sprue includes triple torpedo mounts,
pole davits, and radar antenna. The molding is very fine and delicate
and very impressive for 1/700 scale. |
Click images
to enlarge |
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| SPRUE B & C |
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| The kit can be built as a water line or full hull model by using either
the flat water line base or the lower hull option. The flat water
line base includes a pocket for the metal weight to mount in. The
lower hull is nicely shaped and cleanly molded. |
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| SPRUE D |
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| The upper hull is also a nicely molded and features sharp detailing
for the portholes and the armor plating. Bits and chocks are molded
along the edge. |
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| SPRUE E & F |
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| The deck is very well molded with fine deck planking and realistic
camber. The forward deck includes winches and anchor handling gear.
I am not a fan of the molded on deck chain, but it should be easy to remove
if so desired and PE chain is included. |
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| SPRUE G |
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| The tripod mast is very finely molded and well protected in a plastic
case to prevent damage. The parts are exceptionally thin and appear
to be a scale thickness. |
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| SPRUE GB01 |
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| Light anti aircraft guns are molded on the little modular sprues where
the thin gun barrels are protected. Notice the open grate appearance of
the gun deck. |
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| SPRUE GB02 |
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| Large and small searchlights, very finely molded for 700 scale. |
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| SPRUE GB03 |
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| Paravanes and nicely molded deck winches. |
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| SPRUE GB04 |
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| Range finders, binoculars, and other fine equipment not usually seen
in plastic in this scale. |
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| SPRUE GB06 x2 |
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| Life rafts also nicely molded. |
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| SPRUE GB16 |
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| More impressive fine detailing for these fixtures. |
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| SPRUE GB17 |
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| These fixtures are also finally molded. |
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| SPRUE GB18 |
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| These antiaircraft guns are very nicely molded with separate cradle
and gun barrel assemblies. |
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| SPRUE GB20 |
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| These lockers have very nice detailing. |
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| SPRUE GB21 |
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| These cabinets have very nice detailing. |
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| SPRUE GB22 |
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| Individual ammo boxes feature nice latch detailing with mounting feet. |
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| SPRUE GB23 |
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| 20mm machine guns are nicely molded but fixed in the horizontal position.
They feature very thin gun barrels. |
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| SPRUE GB24 |
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| The ships boats are each nicely molded with deck planking and some
interior detailing. Some of them even feature separate cabins. |
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| SPRUE GB25 |
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| The main gun turret bases and gun barrels are on this sprue.
The gun barrels are pretty impressive for plastic although some are you
may want to replace these with CNC Brass. |
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| SPRUE GB26 |
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| The 40mm gun mounts are impressive in their fine detailing. The
gun barrels are very thin and nicely molded. |
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| SPRUE H |
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| The other tripod mast assembly is shown here. It was also packed
in the clear plastic case to prevent damage. The parts are very thin
and also look to-scale. |
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| SPRUE MISC (I, J, K, L, N, O, & P) |
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| Many of the superstructure and turret parts are molded
as loose pieces already removed from the sprues. |
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| This deck house features nice surface
detailing with fine deck planking. |
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| This one features nice thin splinter shielding
and lots of detail on the surface and walls. |
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| Doors and hatch's really stand out on
this part. |
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| The doors are nicely molded along the
walls of this part although the hand railing is a little overdone. |
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| This bridge is well molded and also includes
nice surface detailing. Slide molding is used to allow for a virtually
seamless assembly. |
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| The main gun turrets have some rather
stunning rivet detailing long the site plates. There also slide molded
with only a small gate on the rear that has to be removed. |
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| The secondary gun turrets also benefit
from slide holding with rich rivet detailing and a casting day strategically
placed for the detail will not be harmed by removing it. |
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| Some of the smaller deck houses and platforms. |
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| SPRUE Q |
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| This sprue features the ship's propellers, prop shafts and rudders,
along with some gun directors and additional ships boats. |
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| SPRUE R |
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| More deck houses with gun platforms and more exceptional molding. |
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| SPRUE S |
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| Three funnels are molded a single pieces thanks to slide molding.
Impressive riveted panels and piping details make these really stand out. |
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| SPRUE U not in this kit |
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| Nicely molded deck house's here. |
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| SPRUE V |
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| Exterior funnel piping well executed. |
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| SPRUE W |
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| Anchors, break waters and boat crane assembly. The latter is
supplied in case the modeler chooses not to use the photo etch version
shown further below. Not all modelers are comfortable with photo
etch so it's nice to have a choice. |
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| PHOTOETCH |
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| This photo which fret includes railings custom cut for the ship.
A new more finely detailed boat crane, along with rigging, radar antenna,
inclined ladders, another fine details. |
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| DECALS |
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| Regular and wind-blown flags in two styles are well registered. British
and ROC flags are included as well as the homemade PLAN flag. |
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| INSTRUCTIONS |
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| Instructions are four extra long pages printed in color.
These include sub-assembly views and color guides for painting. Two additional
pages show the photo etch assemblies. |
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| Conclusions: |
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 Impressive
state of the art molding and accurate detailing make this a great kit for
this important Chinese Cruiser. I highly recommend this kit for those who
appreciate well engineered kits. FlyHawk
Models continues to impress with their latest Royal Navy release.
This is kit #1/700 Flyhawk Light Cruiser Chung King (ex-Aurora). Freetime
has it listed now for $36.95 in the US. In Europe NNT
has it listed for 41,60 €. |
