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This Kit review is a precursor to an 'Ultimate build' I plan to launch hopefully at the back end of the year.
Now this is not a new kit but when it was released back in 2010 it was largely excepted that this kit raised the bar on 1:350 scale ships, so lets take a look at it.
The Heavy Cruiser Prinz Eugen is probably most well known for its operation with the Bismarck and being part of the channel dash. less well known is that she plaid a major role in providing artillery support to the retreating German army on the Eastern front consuming every large caliber shell available to Germany in the process. Prinz Eugen was the only German capital ship to survive the war. After the war the allis drew straws for German shipping prizes and Eugen ended up belonging to the USA who used it for atomic testing. she finally capsized and sank at Kwajalein Atoll, Enubuj reef where she remains today. The US has banned her from being scrapped so as to not have radio active material go into circulation. She is now a diving attraction with her stern still above the water. one of her propels has been returned to Germany for display.
https://2.bp.blogspot.co...inz_eugen_wreck_air.jpg
Trumpeters Kit is the 1945 fit. you would need to modify this kit if you wanted to show her in Bismarck era fit, most notably the funnel mounted search lights were swopped for AA guns. Pic 1. Although in 1945 she was uniformly grey she did have some nice colour options during the war, see last pic.
Upon opening the box you are greeted with typical Trumpeter Instructions and a box full of plastic. Pic 2 removing the instructions and flicking through they are the typical Trumpeter offering, good clear instructions for the construction only. It is apparent that the small amount of supplied etch is primarily as an option to replace included plastic components, such as ladders pic 3
The colour paint chart is helpful but docent give enough detail. what you do realise though is that there is more than 1 kit in the box!, included is a model of a 1:350 Schnellboot s100! pic 4
A small pack of decals is included covering both the ship and boat models as well as the seaplane. what is missing is the displacement numbers for the hull which would be a nice to have. pic 5
The seaplane is in clear plastic, I am not sure why they have done this when the cockpit glazing is a separate part? the result is that both the propellor and the float struts are overly thick castings. however the panel detail on the wings and fuselage is very good. pic 6
As already stated that is some etch included. there are 4,3 and 2 bar railings included as well as ladders funnel cap and some platform. what would be considered the basic minimum now.
A stand is included, not the usual dry dock looking affair a more traditional type, but I prefer them to be honest, some injector marks to clean up even though they are on the inside will be visible.
The secondary gun shielding is very detailed and nicely cast and will look excellent under paint.
some of the steel deck texturing us very good, but ultimately over size, at this scale probably best omitting it and going with a mild rough texturing. other items such as the Crain meters have a nice level of detail while the Crain arms are almost totally without any detail which is a little strange. the floats of show off the cross hatch webbing which will come up well under a wash.
There are some nice details that we take for granted no but were cutting edge 8 years age, the propellors are correctly handed and the ships boats are two piece to improve detail. the superstructure has ventilation and Handels on the doors, the funnel top is a triumph of fin panel line detail. The aircraft hanger can be modelled open which is a nice touch top.
The limitations of holding at the time of tooling do show in some places, most notably on the gunnery controls deck. the bulk heads are very thick, an experienced modeller will want to remove and rework these. The same applies with som of the support structure. some areas will need injection marks filling too.
Deck rendering is very nice, I have not checked for scale but looks authentic. anchor chain is moulded on as are the bollards and hawsers which as a result do not look sharp enough.
The upper deck is moulded as one single piece again the deck texture is nice but if you compare the steel deck to the wood plank you can see the the steel deck is clearly oversize, you could not work on that.
The hull comes as a three piece construction giving a water line or full hull option which is very nice. it is carefully packed to avoid damage unlike some kits you see where it floats about on top!
I was surprised at the amount of clean up required. not any big issue but some very heavy seam lines on the lower hull and heavy flash on the bow.
Summery
There is no doubt this is a nice kit that under paint will look just great straight from the box. it still stands up well to many kits available. There are definite highlights and obvious room for improvement for the more experienced modeller then the base kit is a great start. You can see why this kit on release raised the bar, now 8 years on it looks like a kit in transition from the detail Barron kits of the 80's and 90's and the detail rich kits of today.
definitely not to be missed if your a fan of this scale or period.
Keep a look out for this build coming along towards the end of the year where I will be attempting to make the most accurate build I possibly can featuring two major etch sets (9 sheets of etch) resin parts, brass barrels, wood decks, scale rigging and two sets of decals
Jase
File Attachment(s): jase attached the following image(s): “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”
-Mark Twain
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 Rank: Pro Groups: Joined: 24/08/2009 Posts: 48,827 Points: -13,348
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Nice kit but the pre-painted hull looks a bit naff. This kit reminded me of the Trumpeter 1/200 Bismarck you started a few years back and polled the forum for which version to build - surely a better “ultimate” Kriegsmarine kit to complete with the acclaimed Pontos upgrade set 
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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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Looks a really nice kit Jase, but like Tom says why not your Bismarck, It came to a halt  and members would love to see this one put to bed as its a far superior kit to this one. That would be the "Ultimate" build...
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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 Nice enough looking kit but where does the forum polled Warrior fit into your growing list of builds Current builds:-C57,Zero, Lamborghini Countach, Caldercraft HMS Agamemnon,Robi,R2-D2, MFH Cobra .
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Thanks all for the concern about some of my other builds.... Bismarck has a problem, while in storage at my Dads for a brief period the wood decks have bubbled and lifted. I have not decided on the best way to save her as yet, so a bit disheartened with it. plus I have lost all the original build pics, so is there any point carrying on the build on the forum?? It had Eduard and MK1 upgrades not the points set. I have a small number of other builds where the diary has been deleted due to lack of pictures and see no point finishing them on the forum, I will get round to them in my own good time, but prefer to build something I can share as the majority of my last 8 years of building ended up being removed some other builds have been parked so I can enter MS competitions but will be back In fact all my builds over the last 2 plus years have all been filler builds that I was prepared to drop instantly I was asked by my Dad and his brother to build a particular model celebrate my Grandfathers 100th Birthday later this year, but two and a half years later it still has not been delivered, I spent most of last year clearing some builds out of my started stash hoping I would have a chance of getting her done, which is why I did not post much last year other than pickle. Warrior, is just to big for the attic space, I hope to progress her in the summer when I can work outside otherwise it has to wait until the kids move out, bit sad about it to be honest. “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”
-Mark Twain
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Rank: Pro Groups: Joined: 24/08/2009 Posts: 48,827 Points: -13,348
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The concern is that most of your builds are being viewed as started but rarely completed., in your own words - 19 started and 4 live, that’s a lot of started/incomplete builds that members have taken the time to follow and contribute/comment into only for the builds to slide into the ether in favour of new announced build.
Entering MS completions are a considered choice to enter., little point in entering if you’ve not read the rules, the time spent on jumping the gun not only being a waste of time but sadly resulted in having to withdraw. 
Of course it’s up to the modeller of how builds are conducted, but constantly starting a build to then park it in favour of announcing something else is a great way of losing follower interest in all that you do., the train of thought being of “how long before the latest build gets parked?” therefore why bother following the first place?
Look forward to seeing the “ultimate” Prince Eugen
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Tomick wrote:The concern is that most of your builds are being viewed as started but rarely completed., in your own words - 19 started and 4 live, that’s a lot of started/incomplete builds that members have taken the time to follow and contribute/comment into only for the builds to slide into the ether in favour of new announced build.
Entering MS completions are a considered choice to enter., little point in entering if you’ve not read the rules, the time spent on jumping the gun not only being a waste of time but sadly resulted in having to withdraw.
Of course it’s up to the modeller of how builds are conducted, but constantly starting a build to then park it in favour of announcing something else is a great way of losing follower interest in all that you do., the train of thought being of “how long before the latest build gets parked?” therefore why bother following the first place?
Look forward to seeing the “ultimate” Prince Eugen
Yep I get all that, its just the way I have always worked, never built one kit at a time since I was quite young Jase “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”
-Mark Twain
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