Mk.1 Design or Pontos...which is best?

[sinnerboy]

Having just ordered a 1/200 Hood, what update sets are considered best? Mk1 or Pontos?

I know that there isn't a Pontos set at the mo but I'm sure there soon will be.

Also does anyone know if the Mk1 includes new screws, looking at what I can find on t'internet it would appear not, and apparently the kit ones are not great, so that would mean getting the trumpy produced upgrade set as well/ which seems a bit of a waste of dosh just for four screws.

BTW kit ordered from Tiger Hobbies, who are on this site, cracking price £230 inc P&P...can't be bad

TIA

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

Pontos are updating their progress on the Hood set almost daily on another forum. They are engaging with the HMS Hood Association and one of the leading experts on HMS Hood actively and redesigning to criticisms and comments. They are providing new parts where Trumpeter have gone wrong.

They are also providing funnel parts to help correct Trumpeter's howler of a mistake with those.

Although arguably premature, I am confident that the status quo will be maintained with Mk One provided at a lower cost and Pontos the higher quality product.

[sinnerboy]

thanks for that James

what are the funnel howlers? I've seen no mention of that on the online reviews I've found

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

Trumpeter followed some dodgy plans - their funnels are different sizes, and noticably at that. Hood's were equal sized.

It means that one has to be careful with aftermarket because prominent parts like the funnel cap gratings, the catwalks inside etc will by default be sized for the kit.

You'll either have to scrap detailing the funnels, or be stuck with a fairly obvious dimensional flaw on a once-in-a-lifetime model if the PE is designed for the kit.

[sinnerboy]

ah so maybe the Pontos details are the way to go if they are addressing that issue tehn, thanks James

[ArtickWarspite]

Ah, well now it is convenient stumbling upon this thread (even after just creating a new topic on the same subject).

As you may remember @Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies  I did the Nelson a couple of years back, and the 200 scale bug is starting to bite again.

Now that the Hood has been around a while and both the Mk1 design & Pontos offerings have been used by many, what's the verdict on each? 

From what I've seen, the Mk1 set is way cheaper, but doesn't look to have as much in the way of pieces? That said, the last Pontos set I used had a lot of extras the instructions did not cover, which my experience level dictated they end up in the spares basket. 

So which is the better deal in this case?

Seeing as this was a few years ago @sinnerboy, how did you get on with your project? 

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

Hi, this is a fairly easy one actually, at least if we ignore cost.

 

The Mk.1 set just added eye-candy to the kit. By comparison, Keumho Kim posted his work-in-progress set on another forum and received a deluge of feedback from noteable experts such as @foeth and Frank W. Allen from the H.M.S. Hood Association and unlike most companies, he took it all on board and went through several iterations of comments and improvements to the Pontos set. This manifests itself in lots of little things Pontos just gets right, such as correcting all the splinter shields from the simplistic and uniform shapes and heights which Mk.1 just made nicer and thinner, to the weird and haphazard shapes evident on the real ship.

 

http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=162889&hilit=pontos+hood

 

Pontos also offered the option to have two of the frets for the forward funnel allowing buildings to correct the most obvious error made on the whole kit which was making the aft funnel smaller than the forward funnel. With 3D printed offerings on the market now such as @ModelMonkey this doesn't matter so much.

 

For what it's worth, I chose to go with the Pontos set. It's just better. There are many plastic surgery improvements the Trumpeter 1/200 Hood kit needs which can't be fixed by photo etched metal, but the Pontos set fixes the myriad small errors which can be fixed by replacing stuff with brass - and there are many. It's a rather toy-like kit straight out of the box.

 

 

[foeth]

Ah, good you tagged me Jamie, now I know the Mk 1 set exists at all In any case, from a quick look of the set at Hannants it looks a bit too simple. The Pontos 37036F1 seems to be a large update since I last looked at it, but now also has the Steam launch in it which was a recent correction...

[ArtickWarspite]

7 hours ago, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

Hi, this is a fairly easy one actually, at least if we ignore cost.

 

The Mk.1 set just added eye-candy to the kit. By comparison, Keumho Kim posted his work-in-progress set on another forum and received a deluge of feedback from noteable experts such as @foeth and Frank W. Allen from the H.M.S. Hood Association and unlike most companies, he took it all on board and went through several iterations of comments and improvements to the Pontos set. This manifests itself in lots of little things Pontos just gets right, such as correcting all the splinter shields from the simplistic and uniform shapes and heights which Mk.1 just made nicer and thinner, to the weird and haphazard shapes evident on the real ship.

 

http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=162889&hilit=pontos+hood

 

Pontos also offered the option to have two of the frets for the forward funnel allowing buildings to correct the most obvious error made on the whole kit which was making the aft funnel smaller than the forward funnel. With 3D printed offerings on the market now such as @ModelMonkey this doesn't matter so much.

 

For what it's worth, I chose to go with the Pontos set. It's just better. There are many plastic surgery improvements the Trumpeter 1/200 Hood kit needs which can't be fixed by photo etched metal, but the Pontos set fixes the myriad small errors which can be fixed by replacing stuff with brass - and there are many. It's a rather toy-like kit straight out of the box.

 

 

Thanks, you have confirmed my suspicions in regards to what each does. From what I've seen so far the Pontos set is a couple of hundred dollars more than the Mk1 set, but based on what you say it seems worth it to fix all the inaccuracies and to elevate the kit from 'toy looking' to model looking. Plus having used Pontos before, I know what to expect. Will be looking at these links too, so thanks for including them.

So @Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies while we're on the subject, this ship is going to require some paint - presumably you know what the correct shades are and where they can be purchased?

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

On 4/23/2025 at 9:51 PM, ArtickWarspite said:

So @Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies while we're on the subject, this ship is going to require some paint - presumably you know what the correct shades are and where they can be purchased?

 

I do know the first part

 

 

For anti-fouling, I'd use US04 - 5-D Dark Gray.

 

@beefy66 would need to advise on whether or not any progress has been made with finding a new importer in the Asia Pacific region.

[beefy66]

34 minutes ago, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

@beefy66 would need to advise on whether or not any progress has been made with finding a new importer in the Asia Pacific region.

 

As yet no but I have a couple of contacts I will be getting in touch with over the next couple of weeks thing might move forward then.  

 

Keith

[ArtickWarspite]

On 4/25/2025 at 11:38 PM, beefy66 said:

 

As yet no but I have a couple of contacts I will be getting in touch with over the next couple of weeks thing might move forward then.  

 

Keith

Thanks, there's no immediate rush on this as my wallet is still some time away from giving the green light. I used to get them from Creative Hobbies in Australia, though that was about 4 years ago. Presumably that has now changed?

 

I have a few pots of NARN20 which would do the trick left over from the Nelson. Is there a significant difference between the NARN20 and NARN21? They both appear to be home fleet greys from the same era?

 

If I may suggest a contact down in New Zealand - you could try Toymod Ltd as that is where I used to work and they a few years ago and they used to carry the Testors Model Master range. Don't know if they would be interested, but you could give them a go. www.toymod.com

 

Thanks again!

[beefy66]

8 hours ago, ArtickWarspite said:

Is there a significant difference between the NARN20 and NARN21? They both appear to be home fleet greys from the same era?

 

Well to me a 58 year old grey haired bloke not that much difference but the spectrophotometer tells me NARN 21 Is the darker colour of the two.

Learning a lot about 500 shades of grey not just 50.  

 

Thanks for the link will have to try an get in touch them.

 

Stay Safe

Keith

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

Hi, no there isn't a big difference. 20 is a slightly faded version of 21. 20 represents Home Fleet Grey at the lightest of its recorded Reflectivity Factors of 13%. 21 is the strongest and darkest at the darkest or nominal recorded Reflectivity Factor of 10%. If I didn't have either and needed to go get some then personally I'd choose 21 as I prefer the stronger bluishness that comes through, but 20 is fine.

[europapete]

Also MicroMaster make some excellent detail parts for the kit both in 1/200 and 1/350. 

[foeth]

Yes, some. 😆 pompoms, hacs, bridge equipment look ok, boats might need another beauty/research pass.

[europapete]

That is where all of your excellent articles on the boats play a vital part in the building of this kit. Thank you so much for posting those.