by Hanchang Kuo
1/700 ROC Yun Yang DDG (Veteran Models)
This is Veteran Models' 1/700 ROC (Taiwan) Navy DDG Yun Yang in her mid-1990s fit. Yun Yang stated her life as USS Hamner DD-718. After serving US Navy from 1946 to 1979 she was sold to Taiwan in 1980 and renamed Yun Yang. In 1988 she received Wu-Chin Phase 3 modernizations which included new radar and EW suits, Standard SM-1 missiles and guidance system, and a new distributed combat system. She was decommissioned in 2003 and was spent as a target for submarine torpedoes in 2005.
Veteran's Yun Yang was released in 2005. Anyone who has seen a Veteran's kit knows what to expect from the box. The only major thing I did was replacing PE foremast with brass rods for a more 3D look. Ship's badge and anti-skid walkways were customized decals printed by myself. During the construction of the model my wife accidentally stepped on the model---yupe---crushed the model with her foot. That totally destroyed the upper works. Not wanting to see my $70 investment and a fine kit go into garbage bin I painstakingly restored everything. Finally finished it in time for 2007 IPMS-USA National and lucky that it actually won a premier award.
