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At time of posting this new model kit is just hitting the UK shores, i received mine yesterday was keen to find out if Merit have done this icon of a ship justice? lets take a look...
The model depicts Ark Royal at the start of the WW2 in 1939. A team of model builders are behind its design and it is a combination of injection moulded plastic and brass alloy photo etched parts.
Packaging is not excessive, the box art is great and the model length dictates the box length. all the plastic parts are wrapped in pairs with some delicate parts foam wrapped to, just like you would find in a Trumpeter kit.
The basic hull comes in three main pieces two hull halves and a single piece deck. Quality is great no sink to be seen other than a little under the hull bottom. some seam clean up in places but nothing to get worked up about. moulding is crisp with a nice level of detail, scuttles are all countersunk for ease of painting, but easy to open up if you chose to. The deck is ok, a couple of connection points on the top surface for clean up. However, the deck elevators are all moulded in and closed, which is a little disappointing, also there were some awkward and hidden injection marks underneath that would be visible and need careful filling.
There are surprisingly more parts than you may expect for a simple ship, obviously not the volume of parts you would get for a battleship but the kit claims to have over 550 parts ( I did not count them!)
All the parts are very nicely presented with minimal clean up and again to the standard you would expect in the best of the ship market right now.
The highlight of this kit is the aircraft. there are three types 5 Swordfish with etch wing struts, 4 Fulmar MK1 and 4 Blackburn Skua thats right 13 aircraft in all. all nicely detailed and should look fantastic under paint.
There is plenty of scope for the aftermarket boys to add some etch or some resin parts to this build but as far as I can see straight from the box you have a cracking replica.
The display stand provided is a dry dock slip style, again very reminiscent of a Trumpy Kit
There is a fair amount of Etch to raise the level of the finish, again you could be mistaken into thinking you Have a Trumpy kit ( bit of a theme developing??) but i can see loads of doors hatches and rap rails that the aftermarket boys can easily add too.
There is a good sheet of decals for the deck and the aircraft
carrying on with the 'Its just like a Trumpeter kit' theme we come to the instructions, clear pictorial instructions that amount to just 36 stages; and a separate single page paint chart.
So is this Kit good bad or just ok?
Well the kit is pitched at over 14s but think if your a novice and you wanted to exclude the etch you would get a great straightforward build with an imposing and very accurate replica. If your more advanced the etch takes it up a level and you get a great kit straight from the box, its all high quality stuff. If your advanced and like a bit of scratch building there is loads of scope to cut out the deck lifts and build a hanger to add some animation to the kit.
So yes its is a great kit something for everybody i would certainly recommend it.
This will go into my stash now and see what the aftermarket boys do with it, fingers Crossed Pontos, get stuck into it!
Jase“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”
-Mark Twain
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Very good review jase, it looks a fantastic kit, and yes it is very "Trumpy", but thats not a bad thing at all!! Looking forward to seeing what comes as upgrades and your build.
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 Rank: Pro Groups: Joined: 24/08/2009 Posts: 48,827 Points: -13,348
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Nice selection of PE with it and should make a real nice OOB
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Rank: Pro   Groups: Registered
Joined: 16/07/2011 Posts: 165 Points: 457 Location: South Wales
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Looks an awesome kit. I have been after a ww2 Ark Royal for years and was always hoping that someone would introduce one via a partwork. Sadly not to be so this is very high in my wishlist. Gaz Completed models,Hachette Titanic.Deags. Hms Victory. Hachette Hems Hood.Ongoing builds. Deags Akagi,Deags Sovereign of the Seas,Deags Spitfire,On my wish list.Yamato.Royal Navy world war 2 aircraft carrier.
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Looks a nice kit with a decent amount of etch are you sleeping on the top bunkbed now with all those kits stashed under it:-}}}}}}}}} Current builds:-C57,Zero, Lamborghini Countach, Caldercraft HMS Agamemnon,Robi,R2-D2, MFH Cobra .
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Rank: Administration      Groups: Registered, Forum Support Team, Administrators, Global Forum Support Team, Moderator, Official Builds Joined: 09/11/2012 Posts: 8,301 Points: 23,991 Location: East midlands
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Should be a nice display piece when finished. Regards delboy271155 (Derek) COME BACK GUY FAWKES "YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU"
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 Rank: Super-Elite  Groups: New Members, Unapproved Joined: 11/11/2009 Posts: 3,432 Points: 10,280 Location: Colwyn bay
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Great looking kit jase. Your stash is growing rapidly. At least you have about 30 yrs of building work to do now. Chris On the bench 1/350 Revell Tirpitz Platinum Edition (Pontos PE and Wooden deck) plus extra Eduard PE set and extra MK1 door sets.
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Since my attic move I have some more stash space I did work out once what my estimated build time was, the secret appears to be early retirement to give me a fighting chance 😁😁😁😂 “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”
-Mark Twain
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That's the great thing about early retirement especially when it gives you more time to work on reducing the stash..... That's my intention next year... more modelling time.. yeah!!!..
Great looking kit Jase, will be following as usual when you get going....
Regards
Alan
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Rank: Pro Groups: Joined: 24/08/2009 Posts: 48,827 Points: -13,348
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Rank: Administration Groups: Registered, Forum Support Team, Administrators, Global Forum Support Team, Moderator, Official Builds Joined: 09/11/2012 Posts: 8,301 Points: 23,991 Location: East midlands
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Another upgrade offering from "Very Fire", but I think the Tetra version has it. Very Fire offeringThere would be a lot of cutting and filing away from the basic kit, but OMG it would be stunning when finished.  I`m talking myself into "Merit Ark Royal Mk2" or should I say "Half the Merit Ark Royal Mk2"  Regards delboy271155 (Derek) COME BACK GUY FAWKES "YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU"
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Rank: Pro Groups: Joined: 24/08/2009 Posts: 48,827 Points: -13,348
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Both have a few elements that the other does not have and expensive to buy both 
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