U.S. Aircraft Carrier Hornet CV-8

cphinney
After getting back into the hobby after 30+ years I chose a handful of "Basic" kits to build to get back in the feel of things. The first three I built were all 1/700, the Tamiya USS Hornet CV-8, Aoshima USS North Carolina BB-55, and Hasegawa USS Alabama BB-60. I will leave comments on all of them.

I personally would spend the extra money on another manufactures version of this ship. This kit is very dated and I fought the whole deck placement and details over and over. Its fit is horrible, I'm sure if everything goes just right things turn out great but its very tough with so many parts that ultimately make the deck and settle it in place. I also have the Yorktown by Tamiya and I don't look forward to it given its basically the same. I guess the lesson learned is I will probably crazy glue the deck pieces in place as the first step. I have been applying primer at earlier stages but will likely wait till I have the entire hull and deck where I want it before placing primer or paint. The next issue that might be unavoidable is the deck guns being just 50 cal are simply a thin piece laid on a cradle, although I found easier than the 20 cals on the Alabama, inherently required a lot of excess plastic cement. I know modeling is about putting things together but I really don't see a reason the deck has to be something like 15 pieces. I don't think it really adds much more than frustration. It may seem boring, but in the end one molded piece would of been fine and let me detail otherwise. Again, I would pass on this kit and search out a better version.