terryn Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 Dear All I visited the "All Japan Hobby and Model Show" courtesy of Foresight (Seals Models). Whilst there I took some photos of the new Aoshima HMS Ark Royal which is due in December. It looked very nice indeed. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moaning dolphin Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 That does look real nice, thanks for sharing. Its a million miles from the airfix offering and nice to see some RN carriers coming out. What are the chances of this being upscaled to 350th i wonder? Looks like an air arm of Skuas, Swordfish, Fulmars and Walrus, a nice mix! Hopefully they will include 10 of those sprues in each kit! Now don't stop there bring out an Illustrious/Victorious Cheers now Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruiserguy Posted October 3, 2014 Share Posted October 3, 2014 Hi Terryn, Thanks for posting this. Aircraft carriers are not my favourite ships, but I might make an exception with this kit. It looks miles better than the old Airfix "Ark Royal" I built when I was 14. Best Wishes, Will. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby57 Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 Yes this does look interesting and a lot better looking model regarding details than the Aoshima HMS Illustrious, produced way back when. Nice to see the company still proffering ships. As I have the Revell (1/720) and Airfix (1/600) Ark Royal 3 tucked away, but not that appealing with regard to the level of detail I want and the time needed to rectify; plus the odd scale for a 'constant scale' collection...this might be my New Year present to myself. Thanks for the information terryn. Graham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewCJ50 Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 Thanks for the nice pictures Terryn My recent Aoshima kit (IJN Hatsuhara) bodes well for this new tool. Not so sure about the Air wing though, is that a Skua, it looks more like an Avenger?? If you offered the Ark Royal to the RN today they would still snap it up, such a great design with 2 hangers. Andrew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dfqweofekwpeweiop4 Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 Mine's on order from HLJ. I would have waited until it was available in the UK but at the moment it doesn't look like anyone is importing Aoshima ship kits to the UK. Will get the etch set for it as well after the kit has shipped, to avoid those nasty VAT/Import charges. thanks Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terryn Posted January 12, 2015 Author Share Posted January 12, 2015 Mine should be delivered to my flat in Tokyo today. Unfortunately I won't be back in Tokyo until next week Unless someone beats me to it I'll let you know what I think when I get Back. Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Boak Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 The hull and superstructure looked good to me in the photo, but see the following thread from Model Warships. http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=158562 The killer comment for me was - not as good as the old Revell kit. Ouch. However, there is the recently released resin kit from L'Arsenal, which is superb. Even more expensive, I'm sure. Ah well, I'm really waiting for Indomitable, and I suspect I have a long time to wait. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dfqweofekwpeweiop4 Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 The problem with the l'Arsenal kit is the cost, it's well over £100! Not everyone (me included) can afford such kits. The Aoshima kit is about £14 for HLJ (so no import/Vat charges) plus about a fiver post, the etch set is another £8 plus post, so it's hugely cheaper! If the main components like the hull, deck and island are good enough, it should be Ok. Hopefully l'Arsenal will release some parts from their Ark Royal separately, like the twin 4.5 inch guns, so the worst bits of the Aoshima kit can be replaced. Luckily I do have bits like Pom Poms from WEM, so I know I can replace some parts. thanks Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terryn Posted February 1, 2015 Author Share Posted February 1, 2015 (edited) Chaps I've finally got my hands on my copy of this kit and it looks very nice to me. As for the comment that it's no better than the Revell kit…….. It is nicely molded with some very fine detail and apart from the addition of two cranes and the old FAA aircraft set is as shown above. The 4.5" guns look a bit odd in real life and the kit ones look even odder to me. Also the Octuple 2 pounders look as if they need replacing. At first glance I though the bow was far to upright but on studying photos of the real thing it looks fine. One thing that I did not like is that the open areas at the bow and stern where the mooring lines/anchors etc were worked from don't go all the way through however a bit of plastic surgery will fix this. I forgot to bring the Photo Etch set home but it looks different on the side of the box to what is shown above. I do hope this kit sells well in blighty which considering no one seems to be importing Aoshima it may well not. Poor sales will not encourage Aoshima to do more British stuff. Terry in Tokyo Edited February 1, 2015 by terryn 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Boak Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 The bow is too upright, but here are other problems with the hull and flight deck. They appear to be less easily fixed if less obvious. I think I'll give this one a miss. At least until I've made my L'Arsenal Colossus, and maybe two or three others. There's always a problem with "dodgy" kits: do you buy them to encourage the production of more kits which may be no better, or do you not buy them to encourage the manufacturer get things right? Given my backlog, I'll go with the latter. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dfqweofekwpeweiop4 Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 I'm still waiting for mine to turn up. Like all kits it won't be perfect but I suspect all but the sharpest eyed experts will notice the faults, so I'm glad Aoshima have released it. You can get the Aoshima kit and the Aoshima etch set for about a third of the price of the I'Arsenal kit and when you don't have a lot of money (like me) the price is a big factor, so I don't think we should be too critical. thanks Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby57 Posted February 2, 2015 Share Posted February 2, 2015 The bow is too upright, but here are other problems with the hull and flight deck. They appear to be less easily fixed if less obvious. I think I'll give this one a miss. At least until I've made my L'Arsenal Colossus, and maybe two or three others. There's always a problem with "dodgy" kits: do you buy them to encourage the production of more kits which may be no better, or do you not buy them to encourage the manufacturer get things right? Given my backlog, I'll go with the latter. I hadn't looked that closely Graham but do agree with the backlog issues vs 'is it worth adding another perhaps labour intensive kit to the pile'. Already have enough on my plate and a couple of us are still trying to proceed with the Orange Hobby Victorious re it's correct carrier air group/period inconsistencies. So yes the quagmire remains For the price however, I think I'll add this to my stash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dfqweofekwpeweiop4 Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Happy Days! My Ark Royal is here and on first look, I think it's more good than bad. Here's what I think needs work. I agree, on first look the bow is a bit too upright, this to me is the most time consuming fix if the builder chooses to do so. Some parts as with all ships don't look right moulded in plastic, such as the cranes, ariels and the mesh things sticking up over the flight deck by the bow. Lastly the weapons are pretty bad. I'm not sure what to do about the 4.5inch guns, perhaps fit the temporarily and see if any resin ones come about. Other than that, I would recommend replacing the pom poms and heavy machine guns with spares from Trumpeter kits or resin replacements. I've ordered the etch set, so that will fix the cranes etc. I've got spare heavy Mg's from my Trumpeter Renown and I should have enough WEM resin pom poms and I'll see what the bow looks like when the hull is assembled. On the plus side, generally is nicely moulded and detailed, although it will benefit a lot from the matching etch set. The new aircraft sprues are nice, although it would have been better if they had a couple more of them instead of an old aircraft sprue. On the new Sprues there is a Fulmar, Skua, Swordfish (folded wings) and a Walrus. You get one of each and there's 2 sprues but I'm not sure why there is a Walrus on the sprue when a second Swordfish would be better. The other plus points are the fact it's the WW2 Ark Royal in 1/700 plastic!!!! Add to that the fact it costs around £15 from HLJ, which is much better than the well over £100 for the l'Arsenal kit. I suspect the l'Arsenal kit is better however, the price of the Aoshima kit means it's great value these days and I suspect money alone will dictate which kit most people will buy. So in short, I'd recommend the kit and I think with the etch and few tweaks it will make a nice model. thanks Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terryn Posted February 6, 2015 Author Share Posted February 6, 2015 (edited) Chaps http://www.hlj.com/product/aos01022 I'm not sure what, if any differences there will be in the plastic but it looks as if there is a photo etch degaussing cable. This is not on the standard photo etch. I don't think Aoshima have done a U-Boat before so it may be new. either that or borrowed from another company. Terry Edited February 7, 2015 by terryn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dfqweofekwpeweiop4 Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 Word of warning - it's over £15 so could incur import charges etc. HLJ cannot and will not falsify the customs label as it's illegal to do so in Japan. So by all means get it but beware the potential extra charge. The standard kit is under £15, so there is no bother with that one. thanks Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terryn Posted February 7, 2015 Author Share Posted February 7, 2015 Mike No problem for me as I'm living in Japan Below is a photo of the Aoshima photo etch set for the kit. Note four sets of Swordfish wings two of which are folded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terryn Posted February 7, 2015 Author Share Posted February 7, 2015 Also that dam bow. I spent ages looking at pictures on the interweb trying to decide if the bow was too upright. I'm more of a destroyer man so don't have many Aircraft Carrier books. Then I found "British Warships of the Second World War by John Roberts". It is full of original drawings including some "as fitted" for the Ark Royal. The bow is slightly too upright but maybe a little sanding will put it right. As the bow is multi piece it's difficult to be sure. I'd be interested to see Graham's list of other problems. I generally save my rivet counting for 1/350 British Destroyers and of course Spitfires so I may well just leave it alone especially for my first build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Boak Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 (edited) Not my list, I don't have the kit and am merely passing comment around - look on the dedicated warship modelling websites such as Steel Navy and Model Warships for further discussion. EDIT http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=4870&start=140 Edited February 7, 2015 by Graham Boak Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fatboydim Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 (edited) Try this link, it will show you the sprues and plans for the Ark Royal kit. http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10289518 Etched parts http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10289521 Edited February 7, 2015 by Fatboydim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terryn Posted February 7, 2015 Author Share Posted February 7, 2015 (edited) Not my list, I don't have the kit and am merely passing comment around - look on the dedicated warship modelling websites such as Steel Navy and Model Warships for further discussion. EDIT http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=4870&start=140 Thanks Graham. He must be a splendid chap as he has the same book as me and had the same idea to check the bow as well. I've met Fake John Bull and hopefully will see him again at another Ship Model show next weekend. I will have a chat to him about this. Terry Edited February 7, 2015 by terryn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Android Modeller Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 A 1/700 Ark Royal from WW2 is nice, on realism maybe the hangar openings in front are not in correct positions, but compared with the real one is accurate as scale allows. Maybe number of Swordfish available to put on it is little although folding wings is a nice feature. However aircraft in 1/700 is always better to custom make them, never did it but an idea will be to scale drawings with sections, using plastic sheets make the structure with the sections and then use fine aluminium sheets on that structure (about the glue to use for metal-plastic not sure) and wet paper for fabric surfaces, for radial cowlings and wheels just plastic cylinders. Is a task for someone that really like to do that, or have experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redwiper Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 I see theres a standard kit on ebay now for £26, plus postage from Japan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dfqweofekwpeweiop4 Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 I see theres a standard kit on ebay now for £26, plus postage from Japan. haha what a rip off! HLJ sell it for just under £15 plus post. thanks Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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