In today's exchange rate, that's $430 Aust. Nice kit and a subject I would love to build, but for that price, they can keep their rip-off. It's also around the same price as a resin battleship from YMW's or ISW.

Indeed a unique model... of a unique ship! I have one (1/700 from Pitroad) I am glad I am "stuck" in 1/700 Thanks for sharing, Sean! Rui

Since R&D is already done, maybe 500 x the price they are asking, will pay for the molds of a plastic version.

I would have to agree with the concensus, some of these things are getting a tad bit on the ridiculous side as far as the costs of just putting our paws on a particular kit. At the same time, consider Blue Jacket's new Arleigh Burke in 1/192 scale is going for $640 a pop. Yes, it does sport a laminated basswood hull, metal, resin and plastic parts as well as a finished length of 32 inches, but for that sort of money, I would rather break out the sheet styrene and spend some time on research to come up with a similar result. I will stick with the small scale kit from Sky Wave and content myself with the odd scratchbuild to feed my need for larger scale offerings with this current trend.

Does anyone know how this kit can actually be ordered? I visited the Hasegawa website but did not see a reference to it, or any mention on how an advance orders can be made. If known a link or instructions would be great. Many thanks.

It has to be ordered direct and you have to live in Japan. Your best bet is to get a contact in Japan to order one for you and have it shipped to you (something I'm working on myself).

Dade, many thanks. Unfortunately I do not know anyone in Japan. Have we ever had anyone from there commenting on this forum that I perhaps could approach ? Otherwise, if there is a chance of ordering one through your contacts I'd be very interested, so long as it doesn't trouble or inconvenience you.

Hi Kym! You've got a good point there. As a scratchbuilder, I've found it a trade off: lay out the cash and get a straightforward build, or save the money and invest many more hours making everything by hand. For example, in a recent campaign, I opted to scratchbuild a 1:350 Nevada (with parts and PE pirated from the Arizona kit ) rather than sink c.400 bucks on a resin kit. With the renaissance in 1:350 modeling, I'm left to choose between which subjects rate an expensive kit purchase and which are best left to sheet styrene and balsa. A pricey fleet carrier? Yes. A very pricey seaplane tender? Not really. Still, it's a great time to be a plastic model shipwright... --Karl

Hi Bill! If I was more sure of the outcome of this endeavor, I would see if we could order one or two more, but since so much of this ordering process is up in the air, I can't give you an honest answer yet- I'm not even sure if I'm gonna be able to get one hammered down... Stay tuned, and if I find out something more, I'll PM you.