Flyhawk 1/700 USS Ward - In-box review

[Dave Ward]

I bought this from China - I've never made a Flyhawk model before, or even seen one, but I was so impressed I had to do an in-box review!

Not very inspiring boxart on the front of the sturdy box - the back has a brief history of the USS Ward


Contents of the box
2 separate wrapped sprues & 4 ziploc bags with smaller parts, The box holds the 2 PE frets & Decals, all in their own individual bags.

The hull individually wrapped ( see the next post )

The main sprue - all parts cleanly moulded & flash free


Those props are really tiny.......................

The contents of the 4 little bags - slide moulded funnels................

There won't be any need for any AM parts! I'm not sure about the PE display base, that looks like it would scrape the paint off pretty quickly! I note that the shield for the forward gun is a PE part............
Some detail shots, instructions & the hull in the next post.................

[adt70hk]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for sharing

I've never made one of their kits before but I have heard very good things about their 1/72 AFVs not that I can remember where....

ATB.

Andrew

[wotan]

Dave

Another interesting addition to your fleet. But am I mistaken or is one of the props on Sprue D broken?

John

[Dave Ward]

The hull.................
The box says 'full hull', but to my delight, you can make the Ward waterline :thumb2:

Even the rigols ( eyebrows! ) over the ports are moulded - a little big, but under a coat of paint should be fine.



The parts are very crisply moulded!

The instructions are on both sides of a long folded sheet al la Tamiya

Not sure about the colour call outs - A bit of research needed about Pearl Harbour Colours.
Well, if this an example of Flyhawk models, then I'm very impressed. Even without all the PE it looks very good. Of course all of this will count for nothing,if the fit is poor, but dry fitting the parts of the hull gives a perfect join so things look very good!!!!
A note on sourcing the Flyhawk models - you can find them at a few retail shops, but they don't seem to have much in stock. I eventually went to China, they have more stock ( Flyhawk is a Chinese outfit ), and the prices are much more reasonable - downside can be protracted delivery times. I used Aliexpress - which acts as an escrow service ( they hold your payment until released by you confirming receipt of the goods ). I've had one failure to deliver & my money was refunded without hassle. Shopping in China may be a step too far for some people, but if you are alert & regularly check credit card transactions, then it's probably just as safe as more local areas
Dave

[Jim R]

Hi Dave
All credit to Flyhawk. It looks a great kit. I'm sure you will enjoy building it.
John - I think the prop is fine, just a trick of the light.
Jim

[Dave Ward]

Dave

Another interesting addition to your fleet. But am I mistaken or is one of the props on Sprue D broken?

John

John,
got me worried there..................

Just the way the light was shining!!
Dave

[adt70hk]

I used Aliexpress - which acts as an escrow service ( they hold your payment until released by you confirming receipt of the goods ). I've had one failure to deliver & my money was refunded without hassle. Shopping in China may be a step too far for some people, but if you are alert & regularly check credit card transactions, then it's probably just as safe as more local areas
Dave

Dave

Thanks for the info, I didn't know that's how they worked and actually sounds very responsible.

I took a bit of a gamble the other day and just placed my first order with them, so it's good to hear they offer a good degree of protection.

ATB.

Andrew

[Allen Dewire]

Not being a ship builder, I do have to admit this kit looks really excellent and finely detailed Dave. It's just way too small for my old peepers to see even with an optivisor with a 6x lens...

Just curious though and I'm sure others are too.....Did you buy this kit because you thought they named the ship after you??? Inquiring minds want to know Sir...........................

Prost
Allen (Ret.) putting his coat on..................

[Dave Ward]

Dave

Thanks for the info, I didn't know that's how they worked and actually sounds very responsible.

I took a bit of a gamble the other day and just placed my first order with them, so it's good to hear they offer a good degree of protection.

ATB.

Andrew

Andrew,
at the moment, I've never spent more than £15 on any one item from Aliexpress, but that may change......... I've bought quite a few things ( like wooden decks ) from a company called SSMODEL, and they seem pretty on the ball ( good tracking numbers! ). They seem to post in China, then it takes about ten days to get to the airport , then about 3-4 days to be actually delivered. You can track the parcel through several websites, which is quite a comfort!
DAve

[adt70hk]

Andrew,
at the moment, I've never spent more than £15 on any one item from Aliexpress, but that may change......... I've bought quite a few things ( like wooden decks ) from a company called SSMODEL, and they seem pretty on the ball ( good tracking numbers! ). They seem to post in China, then it takes about ten days to get to the airport , then about 3-4 days to be actually delivered. You can track the parcel through several websites, which is quite a comfort!
DAve

Thanks for the additional info. My order was for about £25 -. coincidentally on a couple of S-Model kits!!

Thanks again

Andrew

[Dave Ward]

Not being a ship builder, I do have to admit this kit looks really excellent and finely detailed Dave. It's just way too small for my old peepers to see even with an optivisor with a 6x lens...

Just curious though and I'm sure others are too.....Did you buy this kit because you thought they named the ship after you??? Inquiring minds want to know Sir...........................

Prost
Allen (Ret.) putting his coat on..................

Of course, the name first caught my attention - it was the ship which fired the first shots at Pearl Harbour ( at a Japanese miniature sub ) on the 7th December 1941.
I haven't found any record of my branch of my Ward family in the USA, Canada, yes..............and Australia, but that's another story!
Dave

[Allen Dewire]

Thanks for the info Dave. Sounds like there could be a dio for this one. I guess the only prob would be the distance between the sub and the ship. I'm sure you could work something out though............

[Tim Marlow]

She looks well moulded so should be a joy to build.

[rtfoe]

Good review Dave. Yes Flyhawk ship kits are nearly as good as Skywave/PitRoad ship kits. Flyhawks plus point is that it comes with PE, slide moulding and good instruction sheet...you could say a full package. They also stock other AM products as well.

I think you'll enjoy this as I've heard others have.

Cheers,
Richard