Hi all,
I am enjoying posting on r.m.s again after deciding that contribution is more fun than wondering where the hell everybody went :-)
Last week Aoshima released their 1/700 JMSDF Hyuga[1], the newest Japanese Navy helicopter carrier and god knows what functions it is supposed to perform apart from keeping the military complex turning over.
This kit[2] comes on the heels of the Trumpeter/Pitroad release of several weeks ago---which I also bought---and I have to say, emphatically:
The Aoshima kit is superior to the Pitroad one in every aspect, absolutely[3].
The kit comes with some fantastic injection-molded detail, I have not before seen such fine hull and superstructure grilles, nor door and hatch detail. Even such items that have some kind of cross-ribbing look good in plastic.
The hangar deck detail is pretty amazing, for a while I did not realize the deck I was looking at was actually the hangar deck, and that the flight deck was hidden under the pretty large decal sheet.
Small parts are very fine, and for the first time in a long while I found a broken part in a Japanese kit: one of the CIWS barrels has broken and hangs on by merely a whisker.
Photo-etch is included, mostly helicopter blades and antennae. Aoshima sells a separate PE fret (2100 JPY MSRP) but this is not very good: it has more helicopter blades, deck-edge netting which is usable, some other small details, and lots of railings which are way too thick (think Eduard from 20 years ago!).
The MSRP is 3600 JPY which is amazingly good value compared to the Pitroad kit, although admittedly the latter came with a full-hull option (I bought the limited release waterline-only version to save a few hundred JPY, silly me).
I don't know if I will ever build the Pitroad kit now, so if someone wants one cheap, let me know :-)
In any case, if you have never had an interest in JMSDF ships, maybe this is one to turn your bias around. I put up some photos of the main parts on the Modelwarships site[4].
Enjoy!
Best regards, and happy modeling!
Footnotes: [1]