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Trumpeter 1/350 USS Forrest Sherman DDG-98

By Chris Banyai-Riepl

Overview

This is the latest Trumpeter 1/350 Arleigh Burke Class destroyer, and will likely be the last as it reflects the latest fitting arrangement for the class. This is a Flight IIA ship with the 5"/62 gun and no CIWS. That said, the midships CIWS is being retrofitted to the late Flight IIA ships, as delays in the Improved Sea Sparrow has left these vessels somewhat vulnerable. So this kit will actually reflect a late Flight IIA ship within a certain date range, as Navy plans have all of these later Arleigh Burke destroyers retrofitted with that CIWS by 2013.

The Kit

As Trumpeter has released several Arleigh Burke destroyers over the years, I will refer you to my review of the USS Lassen, which represents a mid-Flight IIA Arleigh Burke Class destroyer. The majority of the parts are the same between these two kits, so I'll just cover the differences in this review.

As this is a late Flight IIA ship, the primary visual difference is contained in the superstructure, namely in the ship's exhausts. On the earlier Arleigh Burke Class destroyers, the stacks stood proud of the superstructure. On these later variants, these exhaust stacks are flush, providing a flat top when viewed from the side. Trumpeter has captured this well, with new superstructure pieces. In addition to this obvious difference, there are several subtle differences to the superstructure, all of which is faithfully captured in this kit. Trumpeter has definitely done its homework on this.

The remainder of the kit is pretty much identical to the earlier releases, with the exception of the CIWS, which are not included here. The overall level of detail is quite high, and the kit even includes photoetch railings. Two SH-60 helicopters, molded in clear, are included, along with a full hangar bay. The bridge windows are also molded in clear, and the decal sheet provides all the markings needed for finishing the kit as the USS Forrest Sherman (with extra numbers for those who want to build a different ship, although there are no other ship's names provided).

Conclusion

This is the best Arleigh Burke destroyer kit currently available, which is not to say it is flawless. But with some care in assembly and some small changes (the most prominent being the hull strakes, which should be straight rather than sharply curved as in this kit), this model will build up into a beautiful representation of a late Flight IIA Arleigh Burke Class destroyer. My thanks to Stevens International for the review sample.