What's new in 1/350?

I got a look at the contents of the Trumpeter North Carolina; it's a beautiful kit, though I'd strongly recommend a set of aftermarket photo-etched parts to replace such things as the cranes, catapults, and radar screens. To those of us with eccentric taste, though, the most exciting recent release is Hasegawa's Japanese battleship Mikasa, from the Russo-Japanese War. I haven't seen it in the flesh, but on the basis of the review on the Steel Navy website it appears to be a masterpiece. Hasegawa is also issuing a set of photo-etched detail parts for it.

I see on the Squadron site that Zvezda is about to issue a 1/350 Kniaz Suvarov, the Russian flagship at Tsushima in 1905. That one would be a fine mate for the Hasegawa Mikasa. I've never seen a Zvezda ship kit; I wonder if the detail will be on the Hasegawa level. The Russian kit has one conspicuous virtue: it costs about a third as much.

These are interesting times for warship modelers.

Styrene or resin? What are your interests?
In resin ...
Iron Shipwright has their new Guam-class amphib They also have a Mars-class underway replnishment ship (AFS ?) They also have a nuc cruiser due soon. If you're looking for something smaller, the Hamilton-class cutter is cute, as is the short-hulled Perry-class frigate.

Yankee Modelworks is still churning out their kits without much information as to what is new. They are supposed to be working a Montana-class battleship.

The Classic Warships molds have been picked up by as part of Chris Decker's consolidation of Midship Models/ Yankee Modelworks/Classic Warships. I understand that several of the old 1:350 kits are being reworked and brought up to current state of the art standards.

As far as styrene, almost everything on FSM New Kit Trumpeter's list has appeared with the exception of the Saratoga. Since Trumpeter generally announces prices & release dates approximately 90 days before release - and that hasn't happened yet - don't look for it before the end of the year.

Midship Models has said that they were working on a Massachusetts battleship. No date nor current status on the project is available.