Reviewed by Timothy Dike
| The Frunze was a Kirov class battle cruiser built by the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War. Loaded with virtually every naval weapon in the Soviet arsenal this ship was a monster with enough missiles to have a fighting chance against even the most heavily defended Western Carrier Task Groups. | |||||||||||||||||
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Trumpeter has been making a lot of waves with their new releases lately. This one is no exception, jointly developed with Pit-Road it employs the latest in fine molding. The hull on this kit is huge measuring 14-1/8" right on compared to the published dimensions of the real ship. The bow appears to be a little too pointed but overall looks good. The deck is broken up into three sections and they appear to fit well. Surface detail is pretty good with missile hatches and other details well defined. The superstructure parts look pretty good but will probably need a little putty to hide the seems between deck levels. |
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| The weapons sprue is all new, and not just a soviet weapons
set thrown in. There is barely a trace of any flash and the parts appear
to be well designed for a better fit. Even the boat davits appear to be
in-scale, though most modelers will elect to replace them with photo etch.
The various radar and sensors are about as fine as is possible with injection
molding allows. Even if the modeler chooses not to use Photo Etch, this
kit will look good out of the box.
A separate sprue has Frunze specific superstructure parts. If you want to build another version you would be better off buying that kit instead of attempting a converions. Trumpeter also makes the Kirov in cold war Soviet trim. |
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| The kit includes a lower hull option or a waterline insert molded in red plastic. The only drawings I have seen of this ship are waterline so I cant comment on the accuracy. A stand is included for displaying your ship. |  |
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 Conclusions: A nice addition to your Cold War Russian Fleet.
This kit is highly detailed and available now for $18.59 from
Trident Hobbies as well as the entire Trumpeter Line of ship.
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