Model Length-238mm
Height-82.5mm
Width-45mm

Snow cars;
Length-11.4mm
Height-5.9mm
Width-6.3mm

Inside the Box...

This kit comes to you packaged in an extremely sturdy, open end style cardboard box, which upon opening, you will find another box inside, which slides out of the first box, in a “drawer style”, open topped design.

The box-art is extremely splendid, on the front, an oil color, artist rendering of the SOYA, breaking through the frozen seas of the Antarctic, as the Bell helicopter dispatches from the helipad onboard. On the rear and sides of the box, some of the best color photography that I’ve seen, of one of the most detailed ship model kits being displayed , as well. Close-up shots of various angles and views, of all the intricate details just makes you want to start building the kit immediately!

Sliding out the inside “tray”, the first thing you’ll notice is that there are large number of parts that make up this kit, 294 parts in all. There are three clear plastic bags total, two stuffed with model sprues, molded in a white plastic, while the third bag contains the bonus snow cars, and four sprues of clear molded plastic parts.

You will also find inside, the special bonus, full color booklet, highlighting the SOYA, packed with full color photos, but unfortunately, the text is entirely in Japanese.

Bits, pieces, and parts...

Bag #1 contains one large sprue of parts, sprue “A”, which contains the lower hull section, molded in two halves, front deck section, hull supports, and a smattering of miscellaneous deck fittings, ranging from the screws to the funnel. All parts are clean, well molded, with clean and crisp details, and no flash. The mounting lugs for the parts are extremely fine, but sturdy, which will make clean-up of even the smallest parts a breeze.

Bag #2, contains eight separate parts sprues, B, D, M, G, twin K’s, twin J’s, twin N’s, and a “Q” sprue. “B” sprue contains the two piece upper hull sections, fore-deck, main structure wall parts, and miscellaneous deck fittings.

“D” sprue holds the aft and upper deck, upper cabin, and some very delicate radar masts (which there are plenty of in this kit, remember, it’s an observation vessel!).

Next, the “M” sprue, which contains the three different styles, and sizes, of work vessels of the ship, and also more delicate radar and mast components. We also find some of the boat supports part here.

Moving on to the “G” sprue, we find the kits supplied base-plate, deck hatches, boat racks, and tiny vertical ladders.

The twin “J” sprues hold all of the components to build the vessels foredeck main derrick booms, while the small twin “N” sprues have the tiny Bell 47G helicopter rotors, landing gear, and engine parts.

The twin “K” sprues hold primarily the balance of the deck fittings, from storage tanks and life preservers, to mast components and boom supports. The “Q” sprue holds all necessary parts for the construction of the vessels onboard sea plane, the Cessna Type 180, with floats.

The kits clear parts sprues, “U” and “V”, contain the window sections of the upper deck structure, and the tiny twin “W” sprues hold the Bell 47G helicopter bodies. There is also a tiny length of anchor chain, and a tiny steel rod to cut the dual antenna to length.

Once again, note that all kit parts are superbly detailed, well molded, and very clean with no apparent flash whatsoever.

Reading material. . .

The extensive instruction manual is typical Hasegawa, 20 pages in length, with extremely fine, well detailed, and layed out assembly drawings. There is also a two page rigging chart that shows the entire main rigging scheme, which is very extensive on this vessel...an optional requirement for the build, but absolutely necessary for the complete accuracy of the build, in my opinion. The twenty color paint scheme is Gunze-Sangyo and Mr. Color colors, but crossing over to other manufacturers should not be a problem.

The cartograph decal sheet is packed with all deck markings, landing pads, and markings, in full, vibrant colors. The name-plate decals are provided in both English and Japanese, builders choice.

The Photo-etch...

The designated photo-etch set for the SOYA kit, is an amazing work in itself. It is a large fret of many different parts, including vertical and horizontal ladders, replacement parts for the onboard plane and choppers, railings, netting assemblies, and baskets. There are even tiny PE crewmate figures, with snow hounds in sitting, standing, lying, and walking poses, as well as a tiny pet cats and even 1/350 scale photo-etch (and I’m NOT joking) penguins! The set is fantastic, professionally etched, and overall a beautiful upgrade. This set will definitely compliment the accuracy and overall appearance of your finished vessel. 128 total pieces in all, a must have if you’re going to build this boat! The enclosed instruction manual is well drawn, very clear, with no “gray areas”.