Reviewed by Timothy Dike December 2013 |
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The SMS Dresden was the class leader for a new class of German Light cruisers. Reflecting on lessons learned from the Bremen and Konigsberg, the Dresden was an improved version that fit into the Imperial German Navy's plans for domination of the Oceans before the First Word War. Blue Ridge Models calls this their Heritage Series as it's based on
the Classic Warships kit. That kit was state of the art when first released
in the late 90's. While it's been around for a few year, it really just
needed some upgrading. This new kit now has PE, and a Wood Deck.
The ship is depicted in it's 1914 appearance.
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| HULL | |||||||||||||
| The hull is cast in the waterline style. Detail is very good with nice sharp casting with nicely cast hull and much of the superstructure cast in place. Surface details such as the vents are very well done. The hull features deep porthole openings and cast on anchor. The latter I am not a big fan of, but it's easy to remove. There is some flash along the waterline, but that is easy to remove as well. |
to enlarge |
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| SUPERSTRUCTURE AND DETAILS | |||||||||||||
| There really isn't much to the superstructure with only the bridge being a separate part. The three funnels are separately cast and seem to be properly shaped. The guns are now cast in resin and are pretty fine. The ships boats, range finders and searchlights are very delicately cast. |  |
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| WOOD DECK | |||||||||||||
| This kit features a precut wood deck. It is laser etched with realistic wood planking. It's use is optional, but it will really make this kit stand out. |  |
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| PHOTO ETCH | |||||||||||||
| A brass photo etch fret supplies the railings, boat davits, platforms, and gun shields among other small details. |  |
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| INSTRUCTIONS | |||||||||||||
The instructions are four pages with bill of materials,
and exploded views showing the sub assemblies.
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| CONCLUSIONS | |||||||||||||
This was a pretty nice kit when first released by Classic
Warships, Blue Ridge Models has made it nicer with the addition of Photo
Etch and a Wood deck.
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