1/350 Very Fire US Light Cruiser USS Atlanta CL-51 (Deluxe Edition)
The Very Fire 1/350 USS Atlanta comes in the standard Very Fire boxing that we have all become familiar with. The box art illustrates the USS Atlanta cruising through the water with it's searchlight illuminating a distant unknown target.
Upon opening the box you are gifted with the standard Very Fire packaging - the instructions are contained just under the box top with the hull parts secured underneath. The hull parts are the normal two part mold with excellent detail and minimal flash.
Once you remove the cardboard that secures the hull parts you are rewarded with over 20 sprues of parts all contained in plastic bags. In addition to the sprues, there are three plastic bags with individual parts, mostly bridge structure parts.
Under the plastic sprues you find a bubble wrap package containing three sheets of Photo Etch. Additionally you will find two masking sheets and another bag containing turned brass.
Below are further details and pictures of the kit.
Sprue A - here is the hull. As previously mentioned it is a two part hull which is normal for Very Fire kits. The hawse pipes are open and the hull plating detail is not overly done or in my opinion out of scale.
Sprue B - Here is the main deck. The outlines for the structure are clear and the walkways are molded onto the deck.
Sprues C1 - C4 - These parts are contained in their own individual bags and are not connected to sprues.
Sprue D - This sprue consists of parts for building the structure
Sprue E (x2) - This sprue consists of parts for building the hull. In addition to the anchors it also has parts used to strengthen the hull.
Sprue F (x4) - This sprue consists of parts for building the 5 inch main guns and cranes. Like Tamiya, the sides of the main gun housings are separate parts that will need to be glued to the main housing.
Sprue G (x2) - This sprue consists of the life boats, torpedo tubes and 40mm bofors AA guns.
Sprue I - This sprue consists of parts needed to build the propulsion system such as the propellers and shafts.
Sprue J (x5) - This sprue consists of the 20mm AA guns and life floats - it also has a lot of other smaller parts used throughout the build.
Sprue PE (x5) - This sprue consists of a lot of small parts, some of which are bollards, chocks and some more life floats.
Sprue PI (x4) - This sprue has the life floats but is used in conjunction with the photo etched sheets. The life floats on these sprues do not have the plastic molded bottoms.
Turned Brass:
16 x 127mm Metal Barrels
8 x 20mm Oerlikon Barrels
8 x 20mm Oerlikon Bases
4 x Mast Parts
Crane Part
Flag Pole
Boat Hanger
Radar Part
Swinging Boom x 3 (different sizes)
Photo Etch Sheets x 3
Sheet A: This sheet of photo etch consists of the railing along with other detail parts
Sheet B: This sheet of photo etch consists of the water tight doors, the bottoms of the life floats (for Sprue PI), ladders, 20mm Oerlikon parts.
Sheet C: This photo etch sheet consists of a wide array of detail parts such as the crane, inclined ladders, funnel details, etc...
The deluxe kit also contains two masking sheets which are extremely delicate. These will com in handy while painting the main deck and picking out the deck walkways.
Overall Impression: This appears to be an amazing kit. It has a lot of parts for what visually appears to be a relatively small ship. The details are clearly defined, the plastic is not too soft or too hard to work with. As this is an in-box review I do not know how the parts fit will be but if Very Fire has maintained their high level of accuracy they have had in the past iI have no doubt that the fit will be good.
According to Very Fire, Freetime Hobbies has sole distribution rights in North America which limits your options for purchasing.
Freetime Hobbies currently has both the standard kit and the deluxe kit listed on their webpage for pre order.
Standard Kit Price: $100.00
Deluxe Kit Price: 199.95
https://freetimehobbies.com/search-results-page?q=atlanta&page=1&rb_brand=Very%20Fire
