Please ignore this post- I'm trying to delete it as it is a mess
This submission is a mid-build evaluation of Dragon's 1/350 Scharnhorst 1943 [Smart Kit]. Many others have submitted comprehensive and helpful reviews on this kit and its predecessor, Scharnhorst 1940. This is a nit-picky submission, and meant to compliment the others. By way of a little sarcasm, I have no idea what a 'Smart Kit' might be. It's a kit. It is of superb quality, and may be the best kit I have yet worked on, but smart: I have no clue what this might mean.
If you are familiar with Dragon's kit, you may have read that the instructions are awful, or difficult, or too much in too little space, and so forth. I like puzzles, so I'm enjoying the challenge of discerning the subtleties of the instructions. I find they are quite good overall, and have yet to encounter any complexity to justify these past comments. The instructions are complicated! The instructions need to be studied, but what model doesn't have to be studied? The kit I'm using is a reissue, so perhaps Dragon has addressed previous short falls. I do not know [pic 3]
Each piece comes off the sprue easily and I've had none break due to stress, as I have experienced with other kits. The pieces clean easily, and even the extremely small have internal integrity- or I'm getting better at seeing the best way to cut each free. The pieces fit superbly well
The hull and main deck went together easily and without issue. This is the same with most all assemblies. I have only encountered one piece thus far that needs serious attention to clean it.
.
The doors, both plastic and PE, are poor in detail. quality.
My coping strategy with options in the instructions [There is A and B options] is to mask or cross off the unwanted version.
I find it frustrating to keep searching for the lesser assemblies. They are scattered throughout with no apparent rational for location. Plus, if I were to build all the smaller assemblies early, ie the smaller guns, it would be difficult to identify these later for proper placement. It is easier to build them, and mount them, as needed.
Another grip for me is the missing identification of what the parts are. Titles would be helpful. ie: XX caliber AA gun, or the boat deck etc. This adds a quality to the build and should be easily added by the designers, as I assume they know what they are casting or moulding.
If you like ships, the Scharnhorst is a great built. This ship was destroyed in the last battleship on battleship gun dual in late 1943 in the Battle of North Cape. Very few men were saved from the frigid Artic water.
9 additional images. Click to enlarge.
This submission is a mid-build evaluation of Dragon's 1/350 Scharnhorst 1943 [Smart Kit]. Many others have submitted comprehensive and helpful reviews on this kit and its predecessor, Scharnhorst 1940. This is a nit-picky submission, and meant to compliment the others. By way of a little sarcasm, I have no idea what a 'Smart Kit' might be. It's a kit. It is of superb quality, and may be the best kit I have yet worked on, but smart: I have no clue what this might mean.
If you are familiar with Dragon's kit, you may have read that the instructions are awful, or difficult, or too much in too little space, and so forth. I like puzzles, so I'm enjoying the challenge of discerning the subtleties of the instructions. I find they are quite good overall, and have yet to encounter any complexity to justify these past comments. The instructions are complicated! The instructions need to be studied, but what model doesn't have to be studied? The kit I'm using is a reissue, so perhaps Dragon has addressed previous short falls. I do not know [pic 3]
Each piece comes off the sprue easily and I've had none break due to stress, as I have experienced with other kits. The pieces clean easily, and even the extremely small have internal integrity- or I'm getting better at seeing the best way to cut each free. The pieces fit superbly well
The hull and main deck went together easily and without issue. This is the same with most all assemblies. I have only encountered one piece thus far that needs serious attention to clean it.
.
The doors, both plastic and PE, are poor in detail. quality.
My coping strategy with options in the instructions [There is A and B options] is to mask or cross off the unwanted version.
I find it frustrating to keep searching for the lesser assemblies. They are scattered throughout with no apparent rational for location. Plus, if I were to build all the smaller assemblies early, ie the smaller guns, it would be difficult to identify these later for proper placement. It is easier to build them, and mount them, as needed.
Another grip for me is the missing identification of what the parts are. Titles would be helpful. ie: XX caliber AA gun, or the boat deck etc. This adds a quality to the build and should be easily added by the designers, as I assume they know what they are casting or moulding.
If you like ships, the Scharnhorst is a great built. This ship was destroyed in the last battleship on battleship gun dual in late 1943 in the Battle of North Cape. Very few men were saved from the frigid Artic water.
9 additional images. Click to enlarge.
