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Well folks it’s here. I figured I’d start a new thread in the non- LSP forum. My box of this kit showed up today. Holy c**p this is absolutely the biggest kit box I’ve ever beheld. Even Finn, at 52 pounds (and growing) doesn’t know what to make if it. I figured I’d get the ball rolling and report on this insanely large model. I’m six feet tall and this hull literally reaches my armpit standing up. This is a 6-foot nook in my dining room: This hull is just a massive example of injection molding. I’m pretty well versed in the IM process but, wow, this is intense. A few quick observations, some with photos to explain and some not. It’s difficult to capture some of the subtleties I see with quick snapshots. Not photographed but pretty apparent: each side of the tooling for this hull is composed of what look like 6 sections; whether they are inserts or some other way of sectioning this tooling is something I don’t know, but it may explain how they corrected the stem line/ bow angle without re-cutting an entire tool of such massive size. The porthole detail is NOT a mirror image, there are unique and different patterns for both port and starboard flanks. The sides of the open top of the hull are a bit wavy. This should be easy to pull together during assembly. The decks are pretty robust and the hull averages about 2mm thick. My hull measures out to 53.140”; in scale it should be 52.965”, so it’s roughly 3 scale feet too long. Once built and under glass (as I feel it should be) NO one will ever be able to check! So, one issue I see is exhibited below; along the bottom of the hull, between the 5 large injection port/sprue locations, the hull is a bit “ballooned” or “saggy” between the sprue points (not noticeable at the bow and stern sections really, only the wide portions). The photo below shows one of the sprue points (at the 20-5/8” position) and how the hull dips down. Probably not an issue if you intend to mount it on finials on a base, but if you want to do a “dry dock” type of base with the ship on blocks it won’t sit evenly and flat. Looks like the hull wasn’t completely cool when pulled from the mold, with the waviness and sag. The angle of the bow looks spot on to me: The plating and rivet detail is quite nice if you ask me. Playing may be a bit “thick” but doesn’t bother me. The smaller portholes, well even some of the larger ones, feature a bit of flash, that make it look like the hull was pulled from the mold in a hurry. My final photo displays the underside of the counter-stern; there is some plating detail missing here, which I think Trumpeter wisely did not try and fudge; it would not have molded well. There are some portholes that come across as ovals, a typical problem of molding limitations and a steeply sloping surface. Overall, to me, this is probably the most impressive kit I have ever seen. The parts look gorgeous, photoetch looks great. I have a pretty sizable stash, which includes 3 other Trumpeter 1/200 kits (Missouri, Arizona and Yorktown), but none have me shaking my head in awe like this one. No surprise, my 1/350 Minicraft Titanic looks pathetically small compared to this kit. I can’t say I’m ready to start this build, this is a bench-clearing effort and you will need a LOT of room. Did I mention this thing is HUGE? I’m by no means an expert and provide the above only as simple observations of the kit as it comes. If anyone would like photos of anything in particular let me know. Let the games begin. jimbo