The Ship Model Forum

It was nice to see a detail set come out for this kit to really spice it up. There are both pros and cons to this set. I will detail them out and let you decide.

Pros:
Typical of Flyhawk, the photoetch is of good quality and folds well. The instructions are also fairly easy to follow. It really did add a lot of good detailing to the build that was otherwise missing.

What I felt was missing:
-Brass tie downs for the linoleum decks.
-They include PE for two of the three float plane options in the kit but not for the E11A1.
-Despite having it in their normal arsenal I was a little dissapointed to see there was no detailing or replacement for the 25mm or 13mm guns.
-railing specific for the fantail to accommodate the chalks.

Cons:
Some basic errors on the instructions lead to things being placed in the wrong spots then later needing to be moved.

No instructions for railings.

The aft set of davits is too short as they are supposed to be mounted on the hull. They would have been the right size if you put them on the deck. Although their instructions show it to be on the hull as well.

The brass gun barrels look great but if you follow their instructions to cut the barrel off the blast bag you end up with it being too long and it causes issues with the number two gun in running position to hit the bridge. They made to barrels the correct length but did not account for the blast bag itself.

The 8m launch has a ton of PE for it but about half of it cannot be used as they designed the PE for an 11m launch which is on the sprue in the kit box. Their instructions even tell you to use the 11m launch parts. The kit instructions tell you to use the 8m. If you try to use the 11m to will not fit on the deck.

The boom arm looks great. Although they only give you an option to have it partially extended. Running position it should be almost vertical. This lead to fit issues with the float plane.

The instructions for the shuttle on the catapult have you put the shuttle into launch position instead of running position. This adds to the above issue.

The number two funnel in the kit has an extra piece the is not supposed to be on the real ship. Flyhawk omits that part correctly but does not tell the builder this.

I contacted Flyhawk about these issues and they said they would look into it. I have heard nothing after that.

Most of this if you are aware of it going in and can adjust for it you should have little issues with the set.

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Gabriel

Very helpful; thanks for doing the review Gabriel!