"This review will take a close look at the build-up of the Combrig 1/700 scale resin model of the Russian destroyer Provorny."

The Ship...

Following the introduction of the Kashin class destroyers by the Soviet Union in the 1960's, the class was later modified extensively. Famous as being the first warship of the type to feature all gas turbine propulsion, the Kashin class was noted for its beautiful lines and symmetry.

The Provorny (meaning swift or fleet in Russian) was a further modification from the already modified Kashin class. In fact, the Provorny is essentially so modified as to be a ship in a class by itself.

The difficulty in the build lay in the fact that so few pictures and detailed drawings exist of this particular ship. My internet searching and personal library could only manage one distant shot of the actual ship and some structural line drawings. The instructions which came with the kit also contained one line drawing.

The Kit...

While the resin casting is not as good on this kit as on newer Com Brig kits, it is generally crisp with little over pouring or flashing. The single gaping flaw in this kit are the instructions. Or more precisely, the absolute lack of instructions.

As can be seen in the scan of the instructions, a single exploded view is all that is given the modeler to go by. Unfortunately, the exploded view already shows many of the upper bridge and superstructure components already in place leaving the builder to only guess at which part goes where.

This difficulty is exacerbated by the fact that none of the parts are labeled or numbered so you are left to squint at the drawings and try to guess at what goes where. Reference to existing pictures of the standard and modified Kashin class ships is helpful, but not dis-positive, as the Provorny is very different from other modified Kashin class ships.

Placement of major components such as the bridge and funnels is difficult as there are no lines or markings of any sort as to where they are positioned on the hull or on the first level of superstructure.

Photo Etched parts are supplied for most (but not all) of the radar arrays. However, they are shown already constructed in the instructions again leaving the modeler to his own resources to figure out which parts go where.

I augmented the basic kit with Lion Roar USSR railings set and life rings from my PE scrap drawer. I cut up and modified existing PE pieces and scratch-built other sections of the rear radar tower and radar arrays to more closely match the Provorny drawings and picture that I had.

Painting started with a pure white along the waterline. I covered that with a very thin piece of masking tape and masked above the white waterline and painted the lower hull with the anti-fouling red. I then removed the upper masking leaving the masking over the white and red and painted a custom mixed darker grey for the upper hull and superstructure.

I then taped off the weather deck level superstructure stopping just 1/16th of an inch (or less) before the deck to allow for the deck red to come up onto the superstructure as the Russian ships are painted. I used Model Masters acrylic "rust" enhanced with a few drops of Tamiya red to get the deck red for this ship.

Decals are included fortunately; however, as Soviet ships’ hull numbers changed constantly, it is difficult to determine which numbers were used on each ship at any given time. I used 724 because it is shown in the single picture of the actual Provorny at sea which I had. The kit comes with decals and PE masts and radar arrays for four other modified Kashin ships.