1/720 Nimitz

Copperring

Believe it or not - the same happened to me yesterday: same kit, same features; only the hull vas vertically divided into two pieces. The dealer I informed about that insisted on having received this kit from Italeri, though its quality seems to be that of a cheap chinese copy. Obviously quite a rare item...

Sounds like a Mini-Hobby kit to me they do that sort of stuff.

Believe it or not - the same happened to me yesterday: same kit, same features; only the hull vas vertically divided into two pieces. The dealer I informed about that insisted on having received this kit from Italeri, though its quality seems to be that of a cheap chinese copy. Obviously quite a rare item...

I wouldn't put any more money into the kit. It sounds like it would be a good project for you and your son. Let him put the peel n sticks on. He'll love it.

Scott

The instructions match the box an Italeri all right. I did find on the box in wee print "Conforme art. 1-Egge 46 del 18-2-1983" my Italian aint so hot either...

I don't think that's an Italeri kit. Italeri is an Italian company. Sounds like you may have gotten hold of an unusual Japanese kit of some sort that's not normally marketed in North America. Sounds like the contents of the box - with a one-piece hull, but instructions for a three-piece one - are really odd. Is there a possibility that the previous owner mixed up two kits, and that the parts you got somehow ended up in the wrong box?

The Italeri aircraft carrier kits sometimes show up in Testor's boxes - same kits, but with slightly glitzier packaging. But I've never encountered an Italeri kit with an electric motor.

It is kit # 503. With a small electric motor. I have no idea how old the kit is. I cant find any markings on the box, any of the peices or in the istructions unlessthey are in Japanise. The instucions are for a three peice water line or full hull but it comes with a full one peice hull.

Thanks for the info I'll check it out.

I'm mixed up here. I've bought a couple of the Italeri Nimitz-class carrier kits over the years, and none of them had a motor, fittings for motorizing, or peel-and-stick decals. All the ones I've seen, in fact, have had separate underwater hulls, to provide the "waterline model" option. And the decals were excellent.

The kits are a bit basic, but generally quite sound - though the designers didn't keep up with all the differences between the individual ships of the class. I've seen some really outstanding models built from Italeri carrier kits. The easiest way to get an accurate model out of one of them would be to buy the Nimitz kit and build it to represent the ship as built - with the catapult extensions and the original air group. Reproducing any of the other ships of the class - or, for that matter, the Nimitz herself in a more recent configuration - would take some additional work.

Gold Medal Models makes an excellent set of photo-etched detail parts for these kits - and, I believe, a set of decals as well.