The hobby linc Japan place is taking pre-orders for a special limited production of Aoshima's Takao. It is throwing in one of those Kaitan manned torpedoes as a bonus (Right up Skipper's alley). It 's release is emminent. Price from them was at $61. Don't know what the regular version will run, hopefully a bit cheaper, but still, the price is right in line with what you would expect to pay for a crusier.

Hey Steve.
That's the same release that they have been advertising all along. You can also figure that kit to run in the $80 - $90 dollar range here in the states. The US price on the 1/350 I-400 is $65. That kit from Lucky Models is $40 with shipping.

I usually order most of my kits from Lucky MOdels, of course you may get eaten alive on shipping as this kit will weigh a lot more than a submarine. The ad does say July release, so we'll see if they do us like Trumpeter did me with the Nimitz. 6 months after they said they were going to release, they finally did. I've got patience as I have so much stuff in the stash it would take 4 or 5 years to work it down.

Hello all, ...

I also saw an august release of the IJN Chokai in 1/350 scale.

One of my favorite IJN ships.

I will be making that purchase for sure, Its a great time to be a modeler.

Yes it is. The ship modeling scene is growing every day.

The Chockai and Takao are sisters. One is probably early war , the other late war so figure whcih version you want to build. I belive Takao is listed as 1942