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PostPosted: Sun Jul 30, 2017 3:38 pm 
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Some of us got a chance to open up and study the new Academy kit towards the end of the NATS yesterday. Overall it looks to be excellent. The plastic is very well molded, and looking at it -- without references on-hand -- the length looks good, the island appears to be the correct width, and the hull shape looks correct.

The hangar deck has the generic engraved square deck plates that all Yorktown class kits have, but that bear little resemblance to reality. While there are locators for the hangar interior and uptakes directly under the island, there are no parts included to depict the area. If you build it out of the box, though, it's all academic, as all of the hangar bay doors are molded as part of the bulkhead sections in the down position.

The aircraft and the AA guns are all molded as single pieces, as previously stated. They look fine, but are easily swapped out for those wishing to up the detail. The gun galleries are a bit thick and shallow, but look good on the built example they had on hand; it's something else that those wishing a more detailed build can easily replace with PE.

The flight deck is one piece and extremely well done. Comparing the photo I took to the booklet of general plans, they got the number of planks and tie down strips correct and finely molded. I honestly didn't think to look closely for items such as the bomb and torpedo elevators.

The hull looks very good. Degaussing cables are molded on. The bow had an odd cut-out on the starboard side that gets filled with a corresponding piece on the fret. We couldn't figure out what this was at first, but the consensus was it may be to avoid the sink mark issue that the Merit kit has in that area.

Also included is a PE fret that appears very comprehensive, decals for the aircraft that look to be in-register, and pre-cut masks for painting on the flight deck markings.

Overall it looks outstanding. Those wishing to build out of the box can have a good representation with medium effort, while those wishing to do more have a solid platform for PE and aftermarket. I was so impressed that, after I got a chance to see it in person, I immediately went back to my room and pre-ordered from Freetime. Again, I didn't have any references on-hand and I haven't memorized every bit of the Yorktown class, especially not CV-6, but it looks great to me, and light years ahead of the Tamiya and Trumpeter offerings of the Yorktown class.


link to Modelwarships review below:
Image
ModelWarships in-box review


Devin's pics below:


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Last edited by Cadman on Tue Oct 31, 2017 8:22 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 30, 2017 3:39 pm 
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The rest of the photos.


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PostPosted: Mon Jul 31, 2017 1:58 am 
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Devin, thanks for the review and pics! In the last pic it looks like there is a rectangular cut-out in the lower hull at the bow. Is that really there or some odd illusion? If so do you know why it is there?

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PostPosted: Mon Jul 31, 2017 5:34 am 
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Admiral John Byng wrote:
Devin, thanks for the review and pics! In the last pic it looks like there is a rectangular cut-out in the lower hull at the bow. Is that really there or some odd illusion? If so do you know why it is there?


Text from the first post may be the explanation.

"The hull looks very good. Degaussing cables are molded on. The bow had an odd cut-out on the starboard side that gets filled with a corresponding piece on the fret. We couldn't figure out what this was at first, but the consensus was it may be to avoid the sink mark issue that the Merit kit has in that area."


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PostPosted: Mon Jul 31, 2017 8:28 am 
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Correct, Steve. There's a part that fits into that opening. There may be a seam to remove from it, but it'll be better than needing a lot of filler like the Merit forefoot.

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PostPosted: Mon Jul 31, 2017 8:31 am 
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Is this Midway or Santa Cruz fit?


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PostPosted: Mon Jul 31, 2017 9:11 am 
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I believe it's Midway fit, but, again, I didn't have references on hand, and I'm not well enough versed on Enterprise's variations to know from memory.

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PostPosted: Mon Jul 31, 2017 9:29 am 
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I can second Devin's comments about this kit. Everything is sharply molded and crisp. The flight deck planking and tie-downs look very close to scale. Fit remains to be seen, but it certainly appears to be the new standard for this ship in 1/700.


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PostPosted: Mon Jul 31, 2017 11:38 am 
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Found this photo I took of the completed sample model.


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PostPosted: Mon Jul 31, 2017 11:43 am 
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Jon C Ryckert wrote:
Is this Midway or Santa Cruz fit?

From what I can see, it is neither one. The piece with the aft round down shows one 20MM tub cut into each corner of the round down, as Hornet had. On Enterprise, this was done after Midway. However, during her repairs and update after Eastern Solomons she received more 20MM, so there were two tubs on each side of the small remaining piece of the round down by Santa Cruz. Therefore, this looks like Guadalcanal Invasion/Eastern Solomons fit. But the forward director lacks the MK-4 radar (she only had the one set at Eastern Solomons), and the aircraft set has TBD's instead of TBF's. The model also does not reflect that she carried only one searchlight on each of the two funnel platforms even before Midway, although the size of the platforms themselves was not cut down until after Eastern Solomons. So like the Tamiya kit, this one seems to have a mix of time periods.


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PostPosted: Mon Jul 31, 2017 12:37 pm 
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Freetime has added quite a few photos of the kit and parts, including the bow piece and instructions: https://freetimehobbies.com/1-700-acade ... -preorder/


As for fit, one of the first hands-on looks on a Korean site suggests it's supposed to be Midway: http://mmzone.co.kr/mms_tool/mt_view.ph ... 5D&no=1672

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PostPosted: Sun Aug 06, 2017 8:46 pm 
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Geez.... Are they worried that you might mess up the Elevators? I think 8 elevators is more than enough.

It looks amazing. And converting it to later 1942 would be easy enough with the Bridge that Model Monkey makes for it.

MB

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1/700 (All Fall 1942):
HIJMS Nagara
HIJMS Aoba & Kinugasa
USS San Francisco
USS Helena
USS St. Louis
USS Laffey & Farenholt
HIJMS Sub-Chasers No. 4 - 7
HIJMS Sub-Chasers No. 13 - 16


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 07, 2017 2:48 am 
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Making me think about picking one up and building a diorama....

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PostPosted: Mon Aug 07, 2017 5:35 pm 
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I pre-ordered as well. Is there any rough date the kit will hit the market?

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PostPosted: Wed Aug 09, 2017 10:27 pm 
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Built up photos can be found here - http://www.modelrectifier.com/product-p/14224.htm

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PostPosted: Thu Aug 10, 2017 3:08 am 
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Steve wrote:
Admiral John Byng wrote:
Devin, thanks for the review and pics! In the last pic it looks like there is a rectangular cut-out in the lower hull at the bow. Is that really there or some odd illusion? If so do you know why it is there?


Text from the first post may be the explanation.

"The hull looks very good. Degaussing cables are molded on. The bow had an odd cut-out on the starboard side that gets filled with a corresponding piece on the fret. We couldn't figure out what this was at first, but the consensus was it may be to avoid the sink mark issue that the Merit kit has in that area."


Thanks Steve!

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PostPosted: Thu Aug 10, 2017 12:25 pm 
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Seems to be available now...

http://www.ebay.de/itm/1-700-USS-ENTERP ... SwDrlZiSdi

I will hang on until someone here has it...

cheers
Uwe


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PostPosted: Thu Aug 10, 2017 8:49 pm 
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Why is it still in Haze-Grey?

I thought that the Carriers were in Ms. 11 or 12?

I just ordered two, even though it will be months before I can get to them.

I want to do one as Early War (Pre-Midway), and the other as mid/late-1942.

I really wish a proper-scale Wasp and Hornet was available in Plastic.


MB

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Working on:


1/700 (All Fall 1942):
HIJMS Nagara
HIJMS Aoba & Kinugasa
USS San Francisco
USS Helena
USS St. Louis
USS Laffey & Farenholt
HIJMS Sub-Chasers No. 4 - 7
HIJMS Sub-Chasers No. 13 - 16


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PostPosted: Fri Aug 11, 2017 11:10 am 
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MatthewB wrote:
Why is it still in Haze-Grey?

I thought that the Carriers were in Ms. 11 or 12?

Who cares. We know she was wearing Navy Blue. Paint it the way you want.
MatthewB wrote:
I really wish a proper-scale Wasp and Hornet was available in Plastic.

For all the bitching about the Wasp, I've seen it built up, and you can't tell at all that it's under-scale. Especially since it's already smaller than the Yorktown class.

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PostPosted: Fri Aug 25, 2017 1:38 am 
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Available in Europe now! Ordered yesterady...:-)

http://www.ebay.de/itm/372054790640

cheers
Uwe


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