Ah... Gunny... "Battlecruiser?" The box clearly says Battleship, and the Borodino was certainly a battleship, since I don't think Fisher had even come out with the battlecruiser concept yet.

I think this is a re-issue of the Eastern Express kit. I have the Suvorov and it looks like a good kit in the box. This should make a nice display piece.

Zvezda has never done retooling before. Why do you think there is any retooling?

The Borodino was manufactured by ICM in 1/350 originally. Then they packaged it as a sister ship (and not a forgotten sister, btw :-) ), the Kniaz Suvorov. Then ICM went out of business and it appeared under a few different labels. Zvezda and Eastern Express are re-releasers of existing molds, especially from eastern Europe. Why suspect new work has been added?

This is most likely a re-release of the ICM/Eastern Express kit, which wasn't too bad, but at Rodger mentions, pre-dates the term "battlecruiser" by five years.

It is a nice pre-dreadnaught kit. This class formed the main Russian battle line at the Battle of Tsushima in 1905. Unfortunately, three were sunk and one was captured. The story of their travel to Russia's Pacific port from the Baltic Fleet is a tremendous story to read.

Which Borodino? Presumably the pre-dreadnought battleship?

If not - I don't see much point in the Borodino class battlecruisers as they were never completed. A better choice in 1/350 would be a Gangut-class.

As desinged the Borodino-class batleships would have resembled Gangut in profile, but with a higher foc's'l.

Cheers,

Rob Kernaghan