I agree entirely with Loren's points. As I said, the kit is basically a reduction of the Minicraft kit and has most of the same problems. The thing I consider the biggest problem is the molded deck planking. Besides being overscale with wide grooves between them, the wood grain makes it impossible to cut off or reshape objects (like the benches) nicely. Like on the Minicraft kit, I recommend replacing the decking with v-grooved styrene .
Most of the detail parts, like the davits, cranes, and railings are much better on the 1/400 kit. The forward well deck gunnels are corrected (no more filling or "bending the yellow stripe"). I noticed the missing overhangs in the fore and aft well decks when I was taking pictures last night. I agree that this is a BIG error which would be hard to correct unless you were replacing the decks anyway (which I am doing on both 1/350 and 1/400).
After I finish building one, I'll give a more complete review.
Posted on Oct 28, 1998, 1:24 PM from IP address 17.128.200.90