I was looking for a 1/700 scale ship to try and I saw a 1/720 Italeri HMS Hood. I didn't even know Italeri made ships. Anybody know anything about this kit? Any good? One thing I noticed is the painting on the box top showed The Mighty 'ood with the 5.5 inch broadside guns as secondary armorment. These were taken off prior to the Bismark battle so if I wanted to model her as she went to her grave I'd have to remove these.

I have not built the Italeri 1/720 Hood, but I have heard about it. If I am correct, it is a full hull kit. I have built the 1/700 Tamiya Hood(pic in my gallery) and it is a first class kit!
It is a waterline kit, and represents the Hood at the time of its sinking.

HTH,
Garry

I've got one of the 1/720 Italeri ships. I believe it is the Deutchland, sister ship to the Graf Spee. They had several British and German WW2 ships and some modern US carriers, I don't know about any accuracy issue though. I think that Revell of Germany also issues some of these kits, or there may be some type of mold sharing going on.

Hi

If you look at reviews of the kit (like I did) at warshipmodels.com or the "List of Ship Kits" and elsewhere, the Italeri Hood is rated as fan-frickin-tastic. I got my kit last week. The detail is awesome!! The boats etc. are superbly done, there is bolt detail (overdone) in places, and the decks are something to see. I have the Italeri Graf Spee, and it's not as detailed, but quite nice.

Italeri kits can be built as waterline or full hull versions! The hull is already split at the waterline. In fact, on the Graf Spee it's a rather clever arrangement.

You are right, it is set up as the Hood in the Early 1930s (1932-1933), when Hood was part of the Atlantic fleet. That means no fancy camo, she can be grey, grey or grey!

I'm just getting into ship kits, and I'll wait before tackling the Hood, but it is a fine looking kit. GMW have it on sale for about $11.50, but you can pick it up on eBay for less. I won auctions for these Italeri kits where the kits cost about $7 each. Too good a deal to pass up!!

I'll let you know what I think of the other battlecruisers I have coming in the mail!

Cheers
Andy

Andy, I couldn't find the Italeri Hood reviewed on modelwarships.com. You don't by chance have the link? I thought your site, warshipmodels.com was a new one but it routed me to modelwarships.com which I'm familiar with. I don't visit that site too much, since my system at work doesn't seem to like it much. For some reason when I scroll that site my screen starts to look like barcode. Something about my dual monitor set up perhaps?

Thanks for the info though. I suppose I could model her as she looked durring the Spanish Civil War, with the colored stripes on B and X turrets. My LHS has it for $15.00 and when the difference is only $3.50 or so I try to buy locally and keep them in business.

Thanks again.

Hi

Look in the galleries at modelwarships.com, and there are different versions of the Hood built up.

Another very useful site for quick reviews is:
http://www.quuxuum.org/rajens_list/shiprevs.html

For full details on the Hood, and more reviews see:
http://www.hmshood.com/models/Models.html

That site is a fantastic resource. You can find a couple of very detailed articles on building the Hood.

Given the information at that site, I think the Hood kit is too early for the Spanish Civil War.
I plan to start my Italeri Graf Spee over the holidays. That'll be my first warship.

And I can enver remember the link as modelwarships or warshipmodels, thankfully they both lead to the same place!!

Cheers
Andy

Doh! How could I miss those reviews on hmshood.com. That site is the BEST resource for all things Hood. You're probably already aware of it but www.warships1.com is also a great information site. Look for the forumn on BB vs BB. If you have any question about any Battleship that's the place to find it. If those guys don't know it it doesn't exist. Look for posts from a guy with the handle Tiornu. He's Richard Worth and I've got his book The Fleets of WWII. It's not a great modeling resource but it gives you a great run down on relative strengths of the various ships in every fleet in WWII. My only complaint is he lumps the Commonwealth navies all under the Royal Navy and totally skips RN AMCs.

Hi

That Hood site is awesome!
And the build up commentaries look quite useful.

Now to find the same king of site for the Graf Spee, Repulse etc.!!

Cheers
Andy

Before getting distracted by work stuff I did a google search for the Graf Spee. There's a nice site on that ship and the admiral.

Not as good as the Hood site for modellers, but lots of useful stuff.
The link is http://www.grafspee.com

Very easy!

Cheers
Andy

Pretty good site for the Graph Spee Herberta. Not as good as for the Hood like you said.

Back to the topic, I'm pretty sure I'm going to go wth the Italeri Hood, the reviews sound pretty good, not perfect, but good. I keep going back and forth between a Airfix 1/600 Warspite and this Hood.

Hi

In the month or so since ships have tweaked my interest I've bought a few kits on eBay and elsewhere. I have the Italeri Hood and I got a Warspite too (a lot of two, but I have to check if there are parts enough for both!!). The detail on the Hood is much better. The Warspite is an older kit of course, and I think it will look good with some work, but the Hood is much better looking. The Italeri kits have better detail, finer molding etc. I started the Graf Spee last night. I'm trying to figure out how much painting to do before and during assembly. Dry fitting is required, as always, but the detail is very nice. Lots of small parts...

Cheers
Andy