Merit International 1/350 HMS Ark Royal 1939 #65307

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iggie
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Merit International 1/350 HMS Ark Royal 1939 #65307

Post by iggie »

Perhaps one of the best known ship names in the Royal Navy, HMS Ark Royal has had five incarnations; this kit represents the third such ship, which was launched in 1937 and sunk in 1941.
The kit is contained in a large and sturdy box, with nice artwork on the top depicting the ship under attack from the air. Inside, you are immediately presented with a view of the impressive size of the kit with both hull halves and the deck being uppermost inside.
Beneath a layer of cardboard you then find all the remaining goodies; several sprues of grey plastic, with sharp and detailed parts abounding. I cannot make any claims with regard to the accuracy of individual parts, or the completed ship as a whole, but it looks darned good to me!.
There are several PE frets too, including rigging :shock: for the 5 Swordfish aircraft included, there are also Fulmars and Skuas included, so the deck will be a busy place!
There is no option for building the ship with one or more of the aircraft lifts lowered; there is no internal detail provided for the hanger decks beneath the flight deck, but the internal hull bracing could easily be used to support scratch-built decks etc. if you wish. There are detailed mouldings included for the hull recess decks however, and these will look excellent with a little weathering.
All in all, I suspect this will be an enjoyable build, and will make up into an impressive model of such a famous ship! Highly recommended :grin:
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Best wishes

Jim
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Re: Merit International 1/350 HMS Ark Royal 1939 #65307

Post by chrism »

Thanks for taking time to do this Iggie. Interesting the bits they have done in etch, from what you show. The "rigging" is something I had seen concept done with bits for 1:600 planes on some (WEM I think) sets a while back, but they were so fiddly... these may be more easier to work with.

I am tempted but need now to consider size, as I am moving into a smaller space for all future modelling and 1:350 carriers such as Lusty and this might be a squeeze too much in there - but I need to test the space first.
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Re: Merit International 1/350 HMS Ark Royal 1939 #65307

Post by ShaunW »

Oh man, this looks to be a great kit of this famous carrier. I'm currently still slogging my way through my build of the old Airfix 1/600th version. I look at some of the stuff provided in this beauty with considerable envy :grin:
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Re: Merit International 1/350 HMS Ark Royal 1939 #65307

Post by lancfan »

For such a simple kit the price is not so good, at £110 they can keep it.

David.
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Re: Merit International 1/350 HMS Ark Royal 1939 #65307

Post by iggie »

lancfan wrote:For such a simple kit the price is not so good, at £110 they can keep it.

David.
A bit harsh David surely? Admittedly there is little internal detail (but then that is true of the Tamiya 1/25 Tiger 1, and that sells for over £90 when it's available and without PE) and aircraft carriers also tend to be a little sparse up top too (like me :-D ).
The shape is accurate (oops, not like the Tamiya Tiger 1.... :roll: ) as acknowledged by others better qualified than I to judge such things, the PE set is of superb quality and probably the biggest point is that it's the only kit at this scale! :-D
If you look hard enough you can find it for sub £100 as well 8-)
Best wishes

Jim
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Re: Merit International 1/350 HMS Ark Royal 1939 #65307

Post by lancfan »

I would pay £50 for one but but not a penny more.

David.
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Re: Merit International 1/350 HMS Ark Royal 1939 #65307

Post by splash »

It looks a great kit, I wonder why they don't make the a/c in clear plastic as that would remove the problem of what to do about the canopies.

The PE rigging for the stringbag's looks like a sensible design, just fold them into a box and add between the wings, that should resolve any alignment issues.

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Re: Merit International 1/350 HMS Ark Royal 1939 #65307

Post by Ratch »

I'm with David, the price is well OTT :shock:
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Re: Merit International 1/350 HMS Ark Royal 1939 #65307

Post by lancfan »

Perhaps Airfix may do this ship to 1/350 someday at reasonable cost ?
I can wait.

David.
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Re: Merit International 1/350 HMS Ark Royal 1939 #65307

Post by ShaunW »

Whilst not wishing to get into any arguments about kit pricing, £110 is a bit steep for me as well - I try to keep my hobby relatively cheap and have a self-imposed upper limit of £35 for a single kit, any more than that and I tend to feel a bit guilty (more the fool me perhaps :ha: ). I still think it is a good looking kit though.
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Re: Merit International 1/350 HMS Ark Royal 1939 #65307

Post by Dazzled »

Personally, I think it's priced about right when compared with some of the new 1/350th offerings from Trumpeter and Hasegawa. Despite it being a little out of my current main area of interest I'm still tempted.

If somebody brought out an Ark Royal IV in 1/350th though........ :roll:
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Re: Merit International 1/350 HMS Ark Royal 1939 #65307

Post by chrism »

I guess I am with Daz, this variant is nice, and as much as I could drool over the plastic in the box quite happily with anyone.. I would rather build a later variant in all honesty, plus, the space in which I shall seek sanctuary for modelling now; is at all large, and so I will have to be a lot more sensible/restrained with purchases for larger items from now on, despite having been told to buy more detailed and challenging projects which take longer ... so I churn out less
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