Kit comes in a very nice full color box
Kit contents are very nicely packed
I understand that 3D Wild is actively engaged in taking constructive feedback about their kits. Since these kits utilize multi part hulls, they reacted to feedback on their Ryujo kit and adding locators pins to help align the hull parts
With just some quick cleanup, the hull parts dry fit together very nicely. With some more dedicated time, mating the hull parts up should go fairly well
The amount of detail is very impressive with what is already printed into the hull.
There is several smaller plastic boxes that contain smaller parts, I have not photographed them yet as I have some concerns that I am going to share with the manufacturer before I post them here. I will note that the kit includes an "as commissioned" and a "as lost" Island so you are able to build Soryu at any point in her career.
I will list some Pro's and Con's from the understanding that I am well versed in 3D printer technology and products as well as the various tricks of working with this medium.
Pros:
- 1/350 Soryu... shocking that it took this long and from a new upstart manufacturer when the rest of the Kido Butai has been well covered.
- Very nice details all around, very fine splinter shields and deck detail
- Surface finish in most areas of the kit are very smooth and will present very little cleanup of traditional "print lines"
- Hangar deck option is very well done and nice touch to add dynamic to a kit
- Option of Island
- Lots of areas printed as one which will make assembly easy*
- Locator pins to help hull alignment
- Instructions look nice and should help build the kit well
Cons:
- Hull locators help the hull but some platforms may be tricky
- *The amount of already printed on will make detailing and painting tricky. Example being the aft part of the flight deck is already in place over the boat deck
- The enclosed 12.7cm and 25mm AA guns are molded in place with a set train and elevation with brass rod for barrels included
- The enclosed PE while nice and covering some details is a bit behind the times in design. A supplementary set from another AM will probably be needed to bring her up to par with the Hasegawa or Fujimi counterparts
- The flight deck is very thin which appears to be in scale to make the elevators poseable, they will be prone to warpage and may require some careful reinforcement in out of sight areas. The forward flight deck on my example was very badly warped and broken near where the island is mounted. Perhaps on their future carriers or releases of this kit they can leverage their partnership with Chuanyu Models to have the flight decks etched in thicker brass to help with this issue?
Overall impressions and comments:
If you really want a Soryu in 1/350 this kit sure beats scratch building, with that said however this kit is not an injection molded kit and will require some real modeler grit to finish to it's full potential. I applaud 3D Wild for taking the leap and investing the time into this kit, the Soryu is a great looking carrier with some history behind her. They are clearly committed to getting the designs right and are frankly in my honest opinion leading the way for our eventual future of model kits. I do wish that they would break it down some more, especially on a carrier with all of the eternal catwalks and such. I my opinion these would help serve better as reinforcements to hull joints than another very tricky seam to hide. The price tag can be daunting, but I have Fujimi's Kaga, Hasegawa's Junyo, Very Fire's Taiho and their dedicated detail sets which all cost much more than this kit. Yes those should almost be ready to go and there are few details that I would to add to my Soryu which will add more to the cost, but in this day and age I don't see anything getting cheaper and I am more than happy to support the smaller guy trying to get established. I recommend this kit to any serious modeler who has a lot of experience under their belt, definitely not for the beginner. I almost put this kit in a Craftsman kit type bucket, but mostly due to the work that will be needed getting the seam lines cleaned up and working around some of the printed in structures. I look forward to seeing further releases from 3D wild, yeah Oyodo I'm looking at you!
I am no way affiliated with 3D Wild and this kit was courtesy of my overworked credit card
3D Wild 1/350 IJN Soryu
