Combrig350BedovyFBustelo

The Bedovy was a Boiki class four-funneled destroyer which was laid down in 1900, launched in 1902 and commissioned the following year. She was part of the ill-fated 2nd Pacific Squadron, under
the command of Admiral Rozhestvenski, which was sent to reinforce the Russian fleet already at Port Arthur and Vladivostok in the Russo-Japanese War. The Bedovy participated in the Battle of
Tsushima and took on the seriously wounded Rozhestvenski from her sister destroyer Buiny after the latter suffered a mechanical breakdown. Bedovy attempted to make a break for Vladivostok but
when spotted by Japanese destroyers Sazanami and Kagero, she surrendered. Admiral Rozhestvenski was taken prisoner and the captured Bedovy served in the Imperial Japanese Navy, renamed
Satsuki, until 1913. She was later scrapped in 1922.

Specifications
Displacement:        350t
Dimensions:        64.1m x 6.40m x 2.82m or 210’ x 21’ x 9’ 3” (length overall/beam/draft)
Machinery:        2 shaft VTE, 4 Yarrow boilers, 5,700ihp
Speed:        26 knots maximum
Coal:        80t
Armament:        1-75mm, 5-47mm, 3-381mm torpedo tubes, 12-18 mines
Complement:        4 officers and 62 crew

This kit is the one of the newer releases from Combrig and the latest in their series of Imperial Russian Navy destroyers. As you can see it is a typical Combrig offering: well-cast resin parts,
incomplete photo-etch and fairly good instructions. The model comes as a two-part hull giving you the option of either a waterline or full hull model. The upper hull casting is overall well done. There
is an adequate amount of detail, such as mooring bitts and cleats, hatches, skylights and mine rails and portholes. The bottom edge requires some clean up and removal of some resin film. The bottom
hull is also well done and also requires some clean up along the edges. A quick dry-fit of the two parts shows that they line up fairly well and clamping of the two parts should eliminate a little bit of
warping that appears in the upper hull. Four different platforms come on a resin wafer. Referring to the kit instructions, the smallest of the four is not used with this kit. The three that are used are
the foc’sle capstan platform, the main gun platform and the flying bridge. The platforms have simulated grating that can be accented with some dry brushing and will require careful removal and
clean-up from the resin wafer.

The next set of parts is three deck housings, but only two are used on with this kit, with the smaller square housing the odd part out. The remaining two are the base for the flying bridge and a
housing that sits between the middle two funnels. These parts need to be removed with a razor saw from the casting runner. The four funnels come on a runner with the cowl vents, the 75mm gun
barrel, torpedo storage containers and some parts use to build the torpedo tubes in a stowed position. A separate runner has the second half of the tubes in stowed position as well as the torpedo
tubes in an open position. The option to model these in either position is a nice touch. This class of destroyer carried one full-sized boat and three collapsible boats and both types are provided with
his kit. The full-sized boat is nicely done with the bench seats already cast into the interior. The three collapsibles, two large and one small, look a little strange to me but I frankly don’t know how
else to represent these in the kit.

A variety of fittings make up the remaining 4 runners. They include the various smaller guns and mounts, searchlight and mount, four different styles of small “t” vents, anchors, bowsprit, binnacles,
engine room telegraphs, davits, propeller hubs and other bits. These parts are very delicate and as you can see the cradles for some of the gun mounts broke off (all are accounted for though one is
missing from the photo). The casting of these parts is very clean though again care must be taken removing them, particularly the smaller parts, from the runner. It also looks like you may have
some parts left over so you will have some for the spares box.

The photo-etch provided with this kit provides various fittings, structural and detail parts. The fittings include the propellers, propeller shaft struts and a full size rudder for those who wish to build a
full hull model. A shorter rudder is included for waterline modelers. Other fittings provided are the propeller guards, gun shields, boat davits, ship’s wheels, ladders, running lights and some doors.
Structural parts are “X” supports for the flying bridge wings and supports and parts for the searchlight platform. Detail parts comprise of the latches/hinges for the coal scuttles, anchor chains, hand
wheels and triangular platform supports among other items. The brass is very soft which makes it easy to remove from the fret but also makes it a little more vulnerable to bending. The etch has very
little relief etching and the hand wheels are a bit disappointing – I would replace them with better ones from another source if possible. My biggest issue with the photo-etch is that no railings are
provided leaving you no other choice but to look for some from other sources. Combrig has already released quite a number of Imperial Russian destroyers and have a few more planned so it would
make sense to me to have some generic railings used for these types of ships that can be included in all of these kits.

The kit comes with a fairly good set of illustrated instructions, comprised of six pages, in typical Combrig style. The first page has a profile and plan drawing and the ship’s history written in
Russian. Page two has images of the resin parts and photo-etch fret. None of the parts are numbered and require the modeler to visual recognition to identify the correct part to use in the following
assembly diagrams. For most parts this is easy to do but for some of the smaller parts, particularly the photo-etch ones, it is a little more difficult. Page three starts with the placement of some of the
smaller photo-etch parts as well as the foc’sle platform. Detail insets show the main gun platform and flying bridge assemblies and another contains length guides for cutting various vent pipes, yards,
masts and the propeller shafts. Page four covers placement of the numerous “t” vents with some more insets focusing on the 75mm and 47mm gun mount and the running lights assemblies. Page
five concentrates on the placement of the 47mm guns, torpedo tubes, torpedo storage containers, searchlight platform, boats and photo-etch davits and other fittings. The insets show how to
construct the searchlight platform, the two options for the torpedo tubes and detailing the boats and etch davits. The last page covers the placement of the funnels and vent pipes, the housing between
funnels 2 and 3, the cowl vents, the bridge structure, the masts and other fittings. Insets are provided for a small gun and under water running gear. There are no painting instructions, at least not in
English. The box label has a photo of the Bedovy in Baltic Fleet colors, black hull and yellow funnels. Russian ships serving in the Pacific Fleet were usually painted an overall olive green. In any case,
some research is needed for correct color schemes.

Overall this is a good kit and it is a nice addition to the Combrig line of Imperial Russian destroyers and ships of that era in general. The lack of railings is a bit frustrating, but it you have an interest in ships of this time period than it should not stop you from acquiring this kit. You can purchase this kit from Free Time/Pacific Front Hobbies, which is the sole source for Combrig kits in the United States. Felix Bustelo Templar of Times Square --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------