"Items marked with 'NEW' from the latest Trumpeter catalog ,

1/200:
- German Battleship Bismarck 1941

1/350:
- PLAN DDG Taizhou DDG 138
- PLAN FFG-529 Zhoushan
- HMS Kent F78
- Battleship HMS Warspite
- PLAN Aircraft Carrier

1/700:
- Z-30 1942
- Z-28 1945"

A big Bismarck, hmmm...could 1:200 be the new trend in large ships?

--Karl

Bismarck 1/200????
I want one!!!! Though my wife traverses me of house!!!!

HMS Kent? a Duke Class Frigate? unusual and unexpected, but non the less great news, sign me up for a couple.

Have to say, I would have prefered the Washington Treaty county class cruiser, but s nice Christmas suprise non the less.

SI

I had heard rumors of a 1/200 Bismarck. Believe me, I will really love one of those.

The Bismark and Warspite would be nice, I'm still waiting on a 1/350 Rodney or Nelson.

Bismarck from Trumpeter 1:200 ?? not too good to be true ?
and when it will be available in 1Q2015 ? We will see in Nurenberg.

And BTW Tirpitz in 1:200 it's my absolute number one on wish list !!

After seeing the Lion Roar set for the 1/350 Revell, i can only feel utter horror with the sheer number of extra fittings these guys will come up to in that scale this time around.

A Bismarck in 1/200 scale...

Oh dear - that would be 4 feet and 1.3 inches in length overall.

Yes, I really-really want one, but I do not have a clue where I would put it when it was finished.

And I think Kostas is right , the photo-etch people will likely go crazy with this one.

Bet they even include Oscar the cat's water bowl.

A Bismark in 1/200 scale is on my list

The Bismarck, very interested, but I think the management at home would have much to say about that, including threats of the sack if thought of buying it considered the posibility of crossing my mind.

To be honest I fear she would be right, no where to put it once finished & transporting it to shows, without hiring a van, Tricky.

If these guys ever consider doing Hood in 1/200th i would be a in big trouble.

Si

http://scalemodels.ru/modules/news/img_4026_1324713500_48.jpg.html

Now i know... IT'S TRUE !!

What I cannot understand is why they now make a 1/350 Warspite a short time after Academy made exactly the same ship after refit . The Queen Elizabeth's had 5 ships and so many different configurations! Same like with the 2 Graf Spee's which had 2 sisters either.

Simple; they don't want to throw their work away.

Both kits were under development at the same time without either company knowing anyone else was doing the same. Trumpeter might not have the internal or external resources to change the configuration and might be plunging ahead with what has already been done.

They have a Queen Elizabeth of 1918 in 1/700, so there should be some recources on their side.
While I would love her in 1/350 to accompany my german dreadnoughts I do not think that would be the most clever solution due to the missing bulges. With a bulged hull they could have done all the ships in their 20s and 30s configuration, Malaya and Barham even in WW2. They could even make the bulges as separate parts like Aoshima for the Takao class.
The most obvious choice for me would have been the Queen Elizabeth or Valiant in WW2 outfit.
However due to the tendency to model sunken ships like Hood, Repulse, Bismarck, Graf Spee, they should have done Barham, which blew up so spectacular in in front of a camera.

Fortunately, the Warspite and Queen Elizabeth still had substantial differences in WW II, so we modelers will have some variety between the two kits.

--Karl

Can the 1/200 Bismarck be built as a waterline display?

Yes, you just need to mark and cut the hull yourself.

From the close-up shots of Bismarck, it appears that the motor launches' cabins are a solid casting with no possible interior detail without extensive rebuilding. They appear to be larger clones of their 1/350 scale launches. In 1/200 scale this lack of detail is quite noticable, and I would have expected better. Dragon made better launches (the same type) on their 1/350 Scharnhorst. Apart from that it looks like a good kit, but way too big for me!

Agree with Biggles2, I am presuming however the Etch boys will solve the problem.

Si

STILL NO U.S.S. ALASKA !!!

HMS Kent is out in the UK, picked one up at my LHS yesterday, looks very nice indeed. Quite a lot of plastic in the box for £35.99, the kit is early fit, but lots of flashed over holes, so there is at least the posibility of later version.

Si