1/350 Arizona

Tracy White

When it first came out it was a $30 kit.

A thirty dollar battleship kit!

IIRC, at the 2001 Chicago show its price was 80-ish dollars.    When I looked at it back then I said that it wasnt worth 80 -- forty maybe.   The MHM kit was sold at Hobby Lobby for 30,  and I think I picked mine up when HL still offered the  occasional 50% coupon.  

When it first came out it was a $30 kit.

A thirty dollar battleship kit!

Yeah, it has its flaws, but I think it was great for making ship modelling more accessible to a lot of people.

EdGrune

Oh,  That is a horse of a different color.

Long story,  longer.

Back in 2001 a new company from China, the Wasan Moulding Company released a new model of the USS Arizona under their then flagship brand "BANNER"  (as in Red Banner?).  They were debuted at the IPMS National Convention in Chicago.   This new kit was closely examined at the time and it was determined that the kit had some of its parentage in the 1:426 scale Arizona by Revell.  Not a direct pantograph,  the good folks at Wasan had fixed some of the Revell problems and introduced some new ones of their own  (turret spacing forward)     These kits were not widely distributed,  probably limited to air shipment lot sizes.

Within a year Wasan changed the name of their top of the line brand to TRUMPETER.   (Bad juju with the Banner name?).       Trumpeter re-released the Arizona in a new box.    Exact same plastic.  They were more widely distributed (container-sized lots?)

And again, shortly thereafter,   Wasan came up with a new second-tier brand called MiniHobby Models (MHM).  MHM developed a reputation of blatantly pantographing/copying other companies' works.  Among the items "appropriated" were the Tamiya Bismarck and Tirpitz in 1:350,  and the Tamiya 1:700 Enterprise/Hornet..  Details were softer, finely engraved lines on the original became yawning canyons.   They also re-released the Banner/Trumpeter Arizona in their own box (same plastic, same 'Engrish' instructions").  

Now HobbyBoss is somehow associated with Wasan.    The HobbyBoss 1:350 Arizona is the Banner/Trumpeter/MHM Arizona.

So, is the MHM Arizona any good?     Considering the parentage it is the best 1:350 scale injected plastic kit on the market.   It is the only 1:350 scale injected plastic model kit on the market

Caveat Emptor

Thanks for that history, Ed!  I'm currently building the Hobby Boss 1/700 Arizona, converting the kit to the Pennsylvania, circa 1935.  I suspected that the kit was related somehow to the old Revell kit, which I built as a kid and still remember.  The way the superstructure pieces are engineered, for example, is the same, with horizontal seams everywhere.  It's not such a bad kit, but as I got farther along into it, the more I realized that I got exactly what I should expect for ten bucks.

It's the only 1/350 styrene kit around.

I have one unbuilt and it looks good.

The Hobby Boss kit

Cool. Thanks alot

Yes.     The 1:350 scale PE sets from any manufacturer will fit the Banner/Trumeter/MHM/HobbyBoss plastic since it is all the same

Thanks Ed. So can the photo etch set for the trumpeter work for this kit. Cause I can't find kit specific aftermarket stuff. Thanks again

Oh,  That is a horse of a different color.

Long story,  longer.

Back in 2001 a new company from China, the Wasan Moulding Company released a new model of the USS Arizona under their then flagship brand "BANNER"  (as in Red Banner?).  They were debuted at the IPMS National Convention in Chicago.   This new kit was closely examined at the time and it was determined that the kit had some of its parentage in the 1:426 scale Arizona by Revell.  Not a direct pantograph,  the good folks at Wasan had fixed some of the Revell problems and introduced some new ones of their own  (turret spacing forward)     These kits were not widely distributed,  probably limited to air shipment lot sizes.

Within a year Wasan changed the name of their top of the line brand to TRUMPETER.   (Bad juju with the Banner name?).       Trumpeter re-released the Arizona in a new box.    Exact same plastic.  They were more widely distributed (container-sized lots?)

And again, shortly thereafter,   Wasan came up with a new second-tier brand called MiniHobby Models (MHM).  MHM developed a reputation of blatantly pantographing/copying other companies' works.  Among the items "appropriated" were the Tamiya Bismarck and Tirpitz in 1:350,  and the Tamiya 1:700 Enterprise/Hornet..  Details were softer, finely engraved lines on the original became yawning canyons.   They also re-released the Banner/Trumpeter Arizona in their own box (same plastic, same 'Engrish' instructions").  

Now HobbyBoss is somehow associated with Wasan.    The HobbyBoss 1:350 Arizona is the Banner/Trumpeter/MHM Arizona.

So, is the MHM Arizona any good?     Considering the parentage it is the best 1:350 scale injected plastic kit on the market.   It is the only 1:350 scale injected plastic model kit on the market

Caveat Emptor

I don't know why Toms was on my mind, but the kit is actually a mini hobbies kit. Here's a pic

Here is a link to evaluation done by Steel Navy:  www.steelnavy.com/Arizona21.htm.

Marucs