I just read that Trumpeter pulled a rabbit out of the hat and announced a 1/350 HMS Hood shipping within the month.
Regardless of one particularly negative naysayer on the newsgroup, I couldn't be happier with the development. I have wanted a decent, large scale, affordable Hood kit for as long as I can remember. Now there is one at $125.
Some of us have known about it for months, we just can't say anything until they announce it.
I'll wait and see if they learned anything from the BB-55 abortion in plastic.
Goody for you, now if it's a piece of shit like th North Carolina don't whine when nobody else steps up to the plate for the next 40 years because the market's shot.
Nice lack of quote Norm...what exactly was obnoxious? Did you find abortion and shit to be fould-mouthed, if so never watch prime-time TV.
And yours must be so proud that you can't handle reality and observation.
SARCASM WARNING FOR THE FAINT OF HEART So sorry if my consistent failure to fall over in a deep swoon, foaming at the mouth with a white-eyed rollback, gibbering in ecstasy, ready to crawl to my hands and knees to pucker up for Trumpeter's rear end every time they "release the ship kit from the Gods we have waited aeons for" offends you. The short simple answer is the partial build of Hood shown on IPMS Deutschland's website from the Nurnberg show provides ample evidence that Trumpeter has yet to grasp the basics of engineering and fit. The fit is every bit as bad as North Carolina's, which if it were a Tamiya or Hasegawa 1/48 aircraft would have the Frankenstein villagers with torches storming the gates. There is simply NO EXCUSE for foisting such plastic feces off on the modelling public these days, especially for the announced MSRP of $149. Yes Normy, I will continue to call a piece of shit a piece of shit.
I don't buy that logic at all, 'cause the end state is that nobody except Tamiya (for example) should be allowed to produce models because no one else could ever do it right and a bad kit will only make it less likely that God's Own Model Company WILL do it.
Besides that, it's not completely true. Look at the Eastern Express KV series of tanks. They were typical east Europe kits but had better detail than the old Tamiyas. They were popular when issued a few years ago. One might think they would've "shot the market" but Trumpeter has issued a complete new series of KVs that are better - and cheaper - than the ones that came before, and they can't keep them on the shelves. People are almost always willing to buy something that is markedly better than what's out there. (There are other examples of relatively closely spaced kits: Monogram/?? F-104; Me 109s, Tigers, Monogram/Tamiya Skyraiders; Mustangs; P-47s; Pz Is; Sd Kfz 251s; Leopard IIs; etc.) Granted, the NC probably is a rather limited market, but the Hood - along with the Bismarck, maybe the Hornet, the Missouri, and the Yamato - are probably the Me 109s/Tigers of the ship world.
snipped-for-privacy@yadda.com wrote: : : Nice! But affordable? : It will be less expensive than the WEM kit... I wonder if there is any of the work from the ICM attempt at the Hood?
I've been watching and waiting for ICM since they announced they'd offer a Hood. There was something I saw recently - a 2005 ICM catalog on eBay - that had Hood on the cover. Alas, still no kit...
Yes, considering the only other 1/350 kits available of the Hood ran in the $400 to $600 range. $125 seems to be right in there with most other kits of this size in this scale.
really. i'm not a ship guy. but i would build a hood. too many ship kits are too hard for modest modeler, so how about a buildable hood that looks good?
The point is Trumpeter has shown with their armor models thay *can* get the basics of fit and parts engineering right, they simply choose not to do so on their latest ships. As for anyone else kitting a 1/350 capital ship once Trumpeter does it, it's only slightly more likely than the sun turning neon green, ships are a *much* smaller scale model market than armor or aircraft.
Apples and oragnes, ships vs. armor and market size for the genres are completely different, especially expensive 1/350 capital ships. You can buy six Trumpeter KV tanks for the price of one Trumpeter North Carolina.....add another KV for a total of seven if comparing to Hood's MSRP.
You're more likely to find the Iowas (modern at that), Bismark, CVN-65 Enterprise and maybe Hood to be the Me-109/P-51/Tiger of the 1/350 plastic ship world, less so the Hornet and Yamato. 1/700 ships are a market and world unto themselves.
All of which means absolutely nothing when it comes to fit and parts engineering. The photos of the partial build a Nurnberg show the same piss-poor fit and engineering of North Carolina. Buy a tube of Tamiya putty and a few packs of sanding sticks with the kit, you'll need them.
You might want to wipe the jetwash from your hair since the major point has obviously sailed right over your head.
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