Always glad to see 1/350 and cruiser in the same sentence. Hopefully they'll be no charges of piracy with these.

These two are sisters to the Takao which is presently available....for $140 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I saw the listed price on these at $76 so that makes this a BIG WHOOPPEEEE!!! in my book. I will definately pick one of these jewels up.

I have to commend Aoshima on a brilliant marketing strategy. This was one high demand kit in this scale. I think it was like #1 on most of the lists collected. They release a special edition kit at $140 or so, sell a bunch to the guys who have the funds or who desperately want it. Wait about two weeks after the kit is selling worldwide then annouce they are releasing regular sister ship kits at near 50% less to catch all us poor-boys. This is not meant as a back-handed slap either. Most of us have seen this. I remember when the Pontiac Fiero was released, you couldn't touch one for less than 10 % mark-up of its MSRP. They were sold litterally as they were rolled off the truck at most dealers for the first 2 months. Or last year with that Play Station 3 which sold out within hours. Then production caught up and price went to what it should have been. Economics 101 those old supply and demand charts they taught us. Unfortuneatly the Nagato probably won't do this and will sell for $180 or so MSRP

Be something for the upcoming group builds...."Forgotten Sisters" and "Cruisers of the 20th Century".

Got mine today. "Fantastic Kit"

Glad to hear it Harry. I hope to get one eventually. It would be cool if they were to also come out with a Myoko class which is so closely related size wise. (my reference shows it to be 2 or 3 inches shorter and wider and in 350 scale that comes out to be something lie 1:100th of an inch.)

I just ordered Maya yesterday. I really like the Takao Class ... and it seems like everybody (in 1/350) is going for Takao or Chokai .. so I thought I'd start with Maya .. she deserves a little attention as well. Once I get the kit, I'll look into some AM-parts for her .... but I'm in no hurry ... I'd like to get a good start on the Community Build Contest first ... and propably also purchase the AM-parts needed for my Mikasa-build for the Pre-Dreadnought Campaign!

Just a quick n00b-question regarding AM-parts for the Maya. Since Maya wasn't as heavily refitted as Takao around 1942-43 .... would the LionRoar 1942 Takao Super Detail Conversion kit, be a good start for the Aoshima 1944 Maya ????

I'm not a class expert. That Lionroar set is pretty expansive and it is for a 1944 version of the class. Specifics aside, I would go with a yes on it, but look into other PE sets for your kit, some of them have quite a bit of stuff and may be cheaper.