NEW:

• Newly tooled flat-sided funnels for Benson class destroyers like USS Laffey
• Funnels provided with option of molded on ladders or add on photo-etched ladders
• New separate piping on rear of funnel
• Realistic photo etch funnel caps gills
• Realistic photo etch funnel platform
• 4 new superstructure mounted K-gun cranes represented by photo-etched parts
• Forward superstructure deck retooled for close mounted 20 mm gun tubs
• Flat faced superstructure deckhouse for Benson class is newly tooled
• Rear undecked funnel trunking for superstructure is newly tooled
• New lower profile platform for 36-inch searchlight
• 6 realistic 1/350 scale figures
• New self adhesive flexible material for signal flags
• Cartograf decal, including the deck walkway anti-skid texture

Armament:

• Upper mount and lower mount 5-inch guns realistically reproduced
• Turret with realistic detail
• Realistically detailed gun barrels are slide molded with hollow ends
• Optional barrels with blast bags provided for gun turrets
• 20mm AA gun barrels can be elevated just like the real ones
• 20mm AA guns finely reproduced with plastic or photo-etched shields
• Quintuple torpedo launcher in fine detail
• 1.1-inch AA gun reproduced with delicate detail
• 5-inch practice loading machine in great detail
• Smoke generator with fine detail
• Depth charges and K-gun molded with extra-fine detail

Superstructure:

• Extra-thin shield walls on superstructure reproduced for accurate 1/350 appearance
• Extra-fine detail on superstructure walls like hose, ladder patterns delicately reproduced
• Watertight doors (with optional photo-etched parts) can be assembled open or closed
• Photo etched parts finely reproduced for radar and antennas
• 12-inch, 24-inch and 36-inch searchlights provided
• Option of superstructure walls to protect searchlights
• Movable structure for 36-inch searchlight with clear lens included
• Sky-lookout shield finely represented with photo etched parts
• Bridge supports finely represented with photo-etched or plastic parts
• Photo etched propeller guards finely reproduced
• Special device included to bend specific photo-etched parts to correct angle
• Finest tread pattern ever reproduced on decks
• Whale boats with photo etched parts finely reproduced
• Extremely fine detailed parts like davits for 26' whale boats

Hull:

• One-piece slide molded upper hull with undercut details realistically represented
• Bilge keels are represented on lower hull by slide mold technology
• Deck has realistically reproduced chamber
• Waterline or full hull version can be assembled
• Rudder is movable
• True-to-scale ultra thin propellers reproduced

On the night of November 13th 1942, the Japanese naval task force at Guadalcanal came across the battle group of which the U.S.S. Laffey (DD-459) was a part. The Laffey unleashed its firepower on the enemy fleet, and in the darkness it came within 20 feet of colliding with the Japanese battleship Hiei. Launching its torpedoes and raking the Hiei's bridge with gunfire at point-blank range, the USS Laffey's crew succeeded in wounding the Japanese admiral. But surrounded by two enemy battleships and two destroyers, the Laffey was finally sunk by a 14-inch shell from the Hiei and a torpedo from the Teruzuki. When its magazines exploded, the 1620-ton USS Laffey sank swiftly with the loss of 59 lives and 116 wounded. This Benson-class destroyer had fought valiantly despite the odds.

This destroyer is the subject of Dragon's newest 1/350 scale ship kit. Based on the revolutionary and extraordinary USS Buchanan Smart Kit (Item No. 1021), this new model has received the necessary changes to transform it into the famous Laffey. It has newly tooled flat-sided funnels and a forward superstructure bridge that accurately depicts the appearance of the U.S.S. Laffey in its final days. Making widespread use of slide molds, the kit also includes a generous helping of photo-etched parts (e.g. louvers atop the funnel) to provide the necessary level of finesse. The kit also includes a set of six miniature figures with which to populate this brave destroyer. In 1992, a National Geographic expedition actually succeeded in finding the wreck of the U.S.S. Laffey half a mile underwater off the coast of Guadalcanal, but now this model from Dragon brings the destroyer to life again!