I saw an announcement of this one somewhere or other (though I can't remember where). I think rcboater's right on both counts. It's a reissue of the old Imai kit, and the price is sky high.
We've discussed the Imai sailing ship kits on a couple of other threads. They were only available for a few years, back in the late seventies/early eighties. That was a time when, for a variety of reasons (some of them financial), I wasn't doing much kit modeling. I didn't buy or build many of the Imai kits, but I did get a close look at several of them and was much impressed. They were ingeniously designed, well detailed, and well produced. As somebody on one of the other threads noted, the hulls of the bigger Imai ships were extraordinarily thick, heavy castings that fit together superbly, without giving up anything in the way of detail. In my view they were some of the best sailing ship kits ever - regardless of medium.
I was particularly impressed with the Imai
Cutty Sark, which in my opinion beats out the big Revell one on several points. The Imai
Cutty Sark has also been reissued recently under the Aoshima label - at a hideous price.
I'm glad to see these fine kits on the market again. I do wonder, though, if Aoshima and its distributers are shooting themselves in the feet by charging those astronomical prices. I've been observing for quite a while in the Forum that the plastic sailing ship business is almost dead. It needs a jolt to bring it back to life - but I question whether the arrival of a bunch of reissues that cost well over $100 apiece will do it.
Youth, talent, hard work, and enthusiasm are no match for old age and treachery.