This kit is a personal fantasy come to life for me... I'm honestly surprised Trumpeter has thus far ignored what would be a very logical 1/200 subject: the famous and/or infamous USS Indianapolis. But in a way that's OK... Trumpeter could never have pulled off anything close to what Tehnoart has done here.
If you have ever drooled over Fine Art Models... er, models
in the past (
http://www.fineartmodels.com/Ships.html ) but don't have $5-15K laying around to spend on a single ship this was your chance to get one for a fraction of the cost... (I say "was" because Tehnoart only put together 12 kits and they are sold out
).
While I don't know for sure if Tehnoart and Fine Art Models are connected, a comparison of the Tehnoart parts with the Fine Art Indy (
http://www.fineartmodels.com/Indianapolis.html ) shows they are virtually identical. Also, on the Fine Art website, FAM says their ships are put together by some very talented gentlemen in the Former Soviet Union and their famous 1/48 RMS Titanic Model was built in secret in Riga, Latvia... also where Tehnoart is based. Plus, the Tehnoart website says they are connected to a unnamed American company and the Tehnoart Endurance limited edition kit is
also identical to the Fine Art Models Endurance so yeah, the connection seems pretty obvious.
Anyway, this means we are dealing with the bits to build a high end, exhaustively researched and highly accurate model of the USS Indianapolis... in other words, as serious as a "serious model" can be.
I'll spare you the history lesson on the actual ship; if you don't know the story of this WW2 Heavy Cruiser you need to put your model stuff on Ebay and go do another hobby
On to the kit...
The hull:
Holy crap that's A LOT of resin! The hull is VERY thick, finely molded and has only a couple minor defects from the casting process. Being used to Trumpeter 1/200 kits I am shocked by how nice it is out of the box... nothing warped or misshapen, hull plating nicely represented and even details like the refueler pipe running down the side of the hull beautifully molded on without looking like it's molded on.
It's worth noting that Tehnoart advertised the hull as being preassembled; I asked to get mine unassembled so I could drill open and thin out the backs of of the hull portholes. It's gonna take a good epoxy to securely attach the hull halves.
The beautiful molding continues with the superstructure pieces:
...as well as the smaller pieces:
... and even keel blocks for a display base or diorama:
As for smaller details and fittings... if it isn't in high quality resin, it's in cast brass:
There is also copious photo-etch, though it's decidedly "old school" compared to the latest offerings from companies like Pontos or Eduard:
The wooden deck (not self-adhesive) is an actual piece of thin plywood; the kit deck top is molded with an inlet so the wooden deck doesn't sit too high:
All the metal maindecks have bronze deckplates to facilitate easy painting and installing the anti-skid decals:
The kit comes with complete decals, rigging materials, ect and a crapton of assorted resin bits :
The AA is in brass/resin and is quite nice, though I think the Veteran bofors are superior so I will probably use those instead of the kit guns:
... and to drive everyone who wants to do a 30's era 1/200 USS Arizona/Pennsylvania crazy, some very nice Curtiss Seagulls:
One problem here... the kit was advertised as coming with 4 Seagulls but I only got enough stuff to make 3. I guess it's time to put Tehnoart's customer service to the test...
All and all it's a beast of a kit... but in a good way! There isn't a scrap of styrene in the whole box and it's really on a whole other level vs a regular production injection molded kit. This is definitely a project that will require a high level/number of well-developed skills and a unnatural patience threshold to pull off well... to be honest, I'm not sure I'm ready for it myself!
As for price... naturally that much resin and brass doesn't come cheap so this was probably one of those "if you have to ask the price, you can't afford it" kits. Really, It cost as much as two Trumpeter battleships + detail sets (about a $1000 USD).
But what you'll get in the end is something truly "museum quality" as the term
should be applied and a rare, NOT mass-produced heirloom of a model that will last long after you've checked out of this world. Hopefully Tehnoart sees fit to release more of these kits in the future. I'm excited to get to work on it!
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