Background - The destroyer Som was laid down in in 1898 at the Laird Brothers Shipyard in Birkenhead, England. She was launched on July 15, 1899 and
commissioned on July 18, 1900 and assigned to the First Pacific Squadron. In 1902 the ship was renamed Boevoy. While on a patrol in Tahoe Bay near Port Arthur,
Boevoy was torpedoed by a Japanese picket boat on July 24, 1904. She was towed back to Port Arthur but was eventually scuttled on February 1, 1905 when Russians
surrendered to Japanese forces.

Specifications: Displacement: 350-tons; Dimensions: 65m x 6.55m x 2.92m or 213’4” x 21’8” x 9’7” (length overall/beam/draft); Machinery: 2 shaft VTE, 4 Laird
boilers, 6,000ihp; Speed: 27.5 knots maximum; Coal: 80 tons; Armament:: 1-11 pdr (75mm) gun, 5-3 pdr (47mm) guns, 2-15-in (381mm) torpedo tubes;
Complement: 62; (Source: Conway’s All the World’s Fighting Ships 1860 - 1905)
The Kit - Boevoy is the latest kit in Combrig’s series of 1:350 scale Imperial Russian Navy destroyers. The difference here compared to the previous releases is that
it is one of the new and improved Combrig kits in that in addition to well-cast resin parts, the photo-etch is more complete and the assembly instructions are
improved. 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 excellent. There is a good
amount of detail, such as mooring bitts and cleats, hatches, skylights and mine rails and portholes. There are numerous locater holes to accommodate the other kit
parts. The bottom edge requires some minor clean up. The bottom hull is also well done and also requires some clean up along the edges.

The rest of the resin parts all come on casting runners. The four funnels come on a runner with the large cowl vents and other style of vent. This destroyer carried
two full-sized boat and two collapsible boats and both types are provided with his kit. The full-sized boats are nicely done with the bench seats already cast into the
interior. The collapsibles look a bit odd to me but I frankly don’t know how else to represent these in the kit. The remaining parts are comprised of the 75mm gun
mount, torpedo tubes, torpedo storage container, hammock rolls,  47mm gun barrels and mounts, searchlight and mount, smaller cowl vents, cable reels, capstan,
anchors, binnacles, engine room telegraphs, davits, propeller hubs and other bits. These parts are very delicate and as you can see the one of the 47mm gun mounts
was damaged. The casting of these parts is very clean though again care must be taken removing them, particularly the smaller parts, from the runner.
The photo-etch included with this kit provides not only lengths of railings but other fittings and structural parts. The photo-etch was designed by North Star
models and while part numbers are etched into the fret, they are not referenced in the assembly instructions. The railings have individual stanchion ends, which I
find is a little harder to work with, but after complaining many times about the omission of railings I am happy to see them now. The forward gun 75mm gun
platform, aft 47mm gun platform and a smaller platform fitted at the stern are on this fret as well as the bulkhead at the peak of the bow. Other parts include the
propellers, propeller shaft struts and a full size rudder for those who wish to build a full hull model. You will have to cut down the rudder to build a waterline model.
Other fittings provided are the propeller guards, gun shields, 47mm gun details, ship’s wheels, ladders, running lights, cable reel mounts, booms and a door. Detail
parts comprise of the latches/hinges for the coal scuttles, anchor chains, hand wheels and several smaller bits. 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 brass has very good relief etching.
The kit comes with a very good set of illustrated instructions, comprised of eight pages, in typical Combrig style. The first page has what appears to be an image
of the original plans with profile and deck view, the ship’s history written in Russian and the specifications in English. 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. The subsequent pages have the assembly diagrams with some pages having smaller insets which focus on certain sub-assemblies that are identified for
reference in the larger assembly images. One inset provides the metric dimensions for cutting the masts, yards, funnel steam pipes, flagstaffs and propeller shafts
and support for the forward gun platform. The last page has an illustration of the fully assembled model including the placement of the different types of boats.
The placement of the main deck railings are not shown but that is fairly obvious.
Overall, this is an excellent kit and it is another nice addition to the Combrig line of Imperial Russian destroyers. 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
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