Bruce, FYI - the San Francisco was a Trumpeter kit as well. Also, keep in mind the Prinz Eugen was substantially bigger than SF. Basically, it's a much bigger boat. Besides, Trumpy probably feels they can get what they want for this one, considering it's been a "must have" on many wish lists. [/quote] hello Martin, you are right,the San Fran is a Trumpeter.i should have checked my kit.even with the Prince Eugen is a larger model,i have a hard time spending that much money for a heavy cruiser.but if that is what you want to buy,more power to you.i just wonder how much the total cost will be with PE,resin parts and the brass barrels will be. i think that it will be about $200-$250 for everything . cheers, Bruce

Hallelujah ! My all-time, any era, most favorite combat ship ever. The HMS Hood looks like a cow patty by comparison. I have switched to 1/700 scale ships because you save room., but have always wanted to build the Denmark Strait 4 principal players in 1/350. Thank-you Trumpeter! i

Looks to be another beautiful kit. As to price, I guess it seems steep, but I think the days of $60 Crusies and $110 battleships are gone. I'm bettng you will see a giant hike in price from the Richelieu to when they release the Repulse. Japanese companies are going $200 for Battleships and $275 for aircraft carriers. Look for Trumpeter to do the same. Yes, it's great 350 scale is getting bombarded by truely great kits, but as we the modeler deand more super detail, we are going to have to pay for it....in SPADES> I'll eventually pick this one up, but my buget is busted this year as I've picked up the Alabama, Nagato, Kongo, San Francisco, and Richelieu. I've also got the Ise on pre-order.

I only build the very occasional ship, but this will definately be one that i will be getting. German surface ships are what do it for me. So when Trumpeter do Scharnhorst/Gneisenau and Graf Spee i'll get those as well. As for pricing, well the companies have all been saying all year to expect large price hikes across the board for anything newly produced or re-released from now on. The figure Tamiya quoted was a 30% increase i believe. Andrew

Follow-up report FROM AL TORRE on SteelNavy What does blow is that all the prices of the consortium 1/700 WL will all go up by the end of the year. If you are contemplating buying that Repulse or E class you should do so now. Fujimi is offering a mild increase (They are not members of the Consortium!) The Aoshima 1/350th 5000t cruisers were not at the show because they were not ready- not that they were not going to happen. Myoko's too- just not ready. Aoshima noticed that if they announce they had better be ready to deliver. Sales of Aoshima products have been good- if you haven't bought a Aoshima Kongo, you should. Regarding the Shokaku and Fuso- maybe? Hasegawa's Akagi was the star of the show. Also the major gripe of the show- It's perfect except for one inherent defect- the outrageous price. However 40+year old builders with the income may just pony up and buy it. They will also have a new ship project- what it will be I don't know. Security is tight. Death penalty for those who spill the beans. Fujimi is still on schedule to release the Ise in December, but if you want this beast you had better buy it. Rumour is that it will be a strict limited release only. The model is excellent. The botched casemates have bitten into sales domestically, but sales worldwide are ok. It's been said that foreign buyers don't know better. Sad if true- after all all you have to do is look at the box art and the error is obvious. Nothing on the Shokaku's, probably on hold because of the Kongo disaster. Tamiya's reception for the Yukikaze was lukewarm. Let's see what happens next. Tamiya did good this year, and does intend to release some new 1/700 ships. They will be OTIJN, so that should be fun for you 1/700 fans. The Trumpeter Repulse might hit the United Kingdom by Christmas 2008, and the Prinz Eugen some time in the second quarter, at least that was the buzz at the show. Don't know how true that is. Trumpeter insists that the Repulse at the model show is not going to be what we will actually get. All breathe a collective sigh of relief. I think the Repulse might be well done. Man, the Prinz Eugen is awesome. Lastly, Don't let the negative fool you. Sales are good in Japan despite tightening of the belts. Sales of Robots (I know you hate them, Kym!) and cars remain steady and good. All this means is that some development will inevitably slow down. But perhaps that's for the best. It might be time for us to actually build some of our stash? Cheers, Al [/i]

According to the latest Trumpeter newsletter: LINK It appears that the 1/350 Prinz Eugen (1945 fit) will be out in July, along with 1/350 Arado Ar-196s and a 1/700 South Dakota (1945 fit).

http://www.trumpeter-china.com/war513/products/en_read.asp?id=32 Thank you for the update!

I saw the write up ays 3 fre3ts of PE. I wonder what? Looking at the kit I figure replace the radars, add some railing and she'll look real good. Well, we will see what we see when they release her in the next 2 months or so. Fine by me, I just picked up Shokaku and have Myoko on pre-order. I figure this one and Repulse in my budget along with PE and a few more aircraft for the Shokaku set up.

It looks like the kit is now available for pre-order. USA price looks to be around $99.95 UK price looks someting like £60.29 No firm release date yet - September has been mooted for the USA, and July elsewhere. Dave