Knowing absolutely zilch about modern Chinese vessels, I'll haveto rely on the miniscule amount of information printed on the side of the box.

"The No 112 Destroyer is the most modern warship with thelargest tonnage and complete military devices. This ship, "ZhuHai" destroyerand "Nan Chang" general supplying ship have composed a fleet toexecute a friendship visit to the US, Mexico, Peru, and Chile five countries,this voyage is a great milestone for Chinese naval to surround the pacific oceanfirst time, and the voyage is considered as a great event for  People'sNavy in 20th century, this ship is given the name as 'China's No.1Ship'."  (sic, Whew!) 

Yeah, I know, pretty useless info. Looks as if it carries a 5inch and four smaller calibre turrets. There also appears to be several rocketlaunchers and perhaps a cruise missile launcher amidships. It also has a hangarfor a Chinese-build Dauphin helo.

When I saw this kit inmy local hobby shop, I was interested. When I popped open the sturdy box andlooked at all the parts in it, I was impressed. When I saw that it was less than$10, I was sold. It is rare to find a kit of this size for this price. Ofcourse, it could be that this will be a real pig to build, but it also might bea real gem.

It  is a full-hulled ship and motorized as well.The motor and wiring is already installed. I plunked some batteries in it and itworked just great, though it is a bit noisy! Apparently the prop shafts will fitthrough the already installed tubing and attach to the gear shafts with smallpieces of rubber tubing. There is an accessory packet (lower right of photo)that includes cement, grease, weight, two brass rods and two pieces of rubbertubing. Makes me wish for a large bathtub!

The quality of themoldings is actually quite good, and though there is some flash, it really isn'tthat bad at all. There are some ejector pin marks that will have to be tended toon some of the medium sized pieces as well. It is also totally devoid of anydeck detail such as helo landing area markings, welds between sections and thesuch. Same with the bulkheads of the superstructure. The kit comes with a standand a torpedo-shaped assembly in which to put your weight so that the ship willfloat well and not be top heavy. How you are going to keep water out of themotor will be interesting, though the grease may be enough.

Theinstructions are four large steps with exploded views. There is no colorinformation at all, though I would guess that 'grey' will suffice for most ofit! No decals are provided for the helo or hull number and not even any paperflags that other kits usually have. Would have been nice, but for $10 one reallycannot complain too much.

Trumpeter also has a series of otherships and submarines that are of similar quality and price. It seems as ifthe70s were the decade of the emergence of Japanese kits, the 80s of Koreankits, the  90s were Czech kits and now it is time for the Chinese.

I'dgive an initial recommendation for this kit to anyone who has the interest andcan handle the myriad of small parts that are in it.

I don't think that there are any!

Review kit courtesy of me and my wallet!

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