I've got a couple of US cruisers and destroyers that could really do with a makeover and I've been giving some thought to buying these sets. But my question is how many of each item do you get?
Searches for online reviews here on the forums and on the rest of the net has revealed nothing. The only site I could find is this from Japan, which includes links to the instruction sheets.
http://www.rakuten.co.jp/northport/684830/685012/

Looking at these they seem to be in very strange numbers, like 1's of torpedo tubes and mk.37 directors (when most ships will be carrying 2). Is this the case or just representative of whats on one sprue and I do in fact get 2 sprues, as is the case with a couple of Tamiya Japanese sets I have.
Any help would be appreciated.

Typically each set contain 2x sprues. You'd probably get about 2x2 director/torpedo tubes, a bit more of the small caliber guns and a bit less of the large caliber guns. It also depends on what specific parts you are after, for example if you are just after general fittings, it's cheaper to grab a dragon premium kit of a US cruiser, and you will get more spare sprues than you'll get from a skywave set in terms of directors, secondary guns etc. As a general rule one set should fit one destroyer/light cruiser (but not the main guns), 2 should do most cruisers.

It also depends on your 'kit', as skywave sets tend to be slightly overscale, and may look out of place on 'older' tooling that shrank.

Thanks Jim,
I did think about going down the dragon route, that way I get a kit and spares. Not many are available over here and can sometimes be a bit pricy so I may have to do a good search to find something. At this point my best bet might be to get the Atlanta-class Juneau, not too expensive and a good looking ship. According to a review I read it does come with quite a bit in spares. The plan is to update 3 old matchbox ships my dad bought years back - the San Diego, the Fletcher and the Indianapolis (which I'm building for a group build). Might not hurt to have a skywave set just in case. Still might have to get some resin and PE odds and ends. I just need a UK source for Loose Cannons twin 5" turrets.

Still not sure about the contents of these sets. They look great I'm really not sure about the numbers. Afraid the option of buying a dragon kit and pilfering its bits is out because of my current budget. The E9 set would give me about all I need and is cheaper and easier than getting the individual items seperately in resin o PE.
I found these scans of the instruction sheets.

http://www.rakuten.ne.jp/gold/northport/GM3505inst/e09inst.jpg
http://www.rakuten.ne.jp/gold/northport/GM3505inst/e06inst1.jpg

The numbers are just wierd, 1 mk37 director? 1 set of torps? Nowhere near enough for one ship. And thats just a couple. Is this just whats on one sprue?
Cn anyone who has these sets please offer advice?

If you really want skywave set, get E6 set, which contains 2 torpedo tubes per sprue = x4 total. E9 only has 2x1. Search 1999.co.jp for images of the sets. The skywave sets are never meant to be fit out a ship anyway, so don't be surprised they don't have enough of each items. Theseare just 'premium' extras/spares from a long time ago. For example you need 3 sets of their IJN battleship fitting set to fit out ONE fuso as each set only comes with 2 turrets of each type...

Just re-iterate, dragon premium edition CLs (san diego, atlanta) >>> skywave sets, because...it basically is the re-packaged skywave kit and comes with 2 sets of E6 anyway. Then you get additional 6(!) weapon sprues from dragon, which contains more secondary guns and mk37 directors then you'll need for 3 kits, not to mention a ship plus PE.

Review:
http://www.modelwarships.com/reviews/ships/cl/cl-53/700-dr/dragon-review.html

The cheapest skywave set I found online is at least 10 USD + shipping. Dragon premium kits are more readily available online and can be sourced for around 20. When you consider the shipping that's barely twice the cost of skywave equipment set, you get the same items, plus a ship, plus PE, plus additional weapon sprues...no contest here.

I can fully understand what your saying and I do appreciate your advice on this. Trouble is Dragon have been subject to a massive price hike in the UK the last couple of years. Eg, a 1:35 tank can now cost £50 or more, a 1:72 tank £20, and ships anywhere up to £30 or more. And thats if you can find a uk retailer selling dragon ships! So I've not had much luck finding a Dragon Atlanta class. The weak pound and import duties puts me off buying from abroad at the moment.
Considering that all I need to replace are the ugly directors, torpedos and a few other things I'm not sure its worth it. If I can find one for the right price then I'll grab it.