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Just when you thought there weren't enough post WWII carrier kits, hot on the heels of Merit International's JFK CV-67 announcement Trumpeter announces a kit of the Kitty Hawk (CV-63). Time will tell if there will be any differences between the kits.

From Trumpeter:
The super carrier Kitty Hawk is the second naval ship named after Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the site of the Wright brothers' first powered airplane flight. The Kitty Hawk was both the first and last active ship of her class, and the last oil fired aircraft carrier in service with the United States Navy. Built in Camden, NJ, she was launched in 1960 in by flooding her drydock. A conventional slide down ways was ruled out because of her mass and the risk of impact with the Philadelphia shore on the far side of the Delaware River. Kitty Hawk saw duty in various tours of Asian ports and waters including the Vietnam War. Kitty Hawk was decommissioned in 2009, after 49 years of service.

JFK is considered a unique 'variant' to the Kitty Hawk class. JFK's smokestack was different and tilted outboard to send stack gas away from the flight deck. The angled end of the waist is also different from the other Kitty Hawks, bearing a closer resemblance to that of the Nimitz class. Kennedy is also 17 feet (5.2 m) shorter in length than the other Kitty Hawk-class carriers. And for a defense system, the JFK used Sea Sparrow missiles as opposed to the Kitty Hawk's Terrier missiles (though they were changed to Sea Sparrows in 2001). We'll see if the Merit Kit will address these differences.

Trumpeter describes the kist as consisting of over 1400 parts including one-piece hull, multiple photo-etched parts, flight and hangar decks, and aircraft: E2C, C2, F18C, EA6B, SH60, HH60H. Complete decal set for both the ship and aircraft is included.

A Trumpeter flyer lists the kit for $324.95 (US) and to be available in September.

It's great to see post WWII - pre Nimitz carrier kits coming out, and pretty close together. It wasn't that long ago Gallery announced it's post war version of the Intrepid and now post war constructed ships are coming. How long until we get a Forrestal?