Can anyone out there give me any comments on the 1/400 Hood that Heller do? I love the ship but the kit is very expensive here in Australia so I was hoping someone knows what it is loike.Does it compare favourably with the Tamiya 1/350 Kits?
You should go to the HMS Hood site. They have an extrndive review of all of the models of teh Hood. White Ensin Models makes a superb ste of Photo Etch for thr heller kit and I think a french firm L’Arsinel makes some after market resin parts as well.
Good lock on building her, she is one of my favoriates as well
Dick Wood
Thanks fro that Dick, I’ll try the site.
If you can wait…I’m told there’s a Hood coming in 1/350 very soon… 
Jeff Herne
1/400 scale hood would go nicely along with my bismarck from heller.
Jeff the 350 Hood would be great! I’ve read the review of the Heller Hood on the Association website and they weren’t very impressed.Alot of work for an acceptable end. Is the 350 Hood Trumpeter,Tamiya or elsewhere?
Uhhhh…I plead insanity. Now you know that I really can’t divulge any information as to who is doing this kit…
There has been some talk recently (within the last few days) that ICM is back on course and actually talking about Hood again, so who knows…
Jeff
Can’t have you divulging your sources,now can we!! I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.
A mate of mine saw me yesterday and told me he had seen a 350 or 400 scale Hood and Bismarck by Lindberg.Anyone know of these?
The Lindberg Hood and Bismarck kits came out almost simultaneously in the 1960s, at about the same time as the “Blue Devil” (i.e., Fletcher class) destroyer. The Hood and Bismarck are on a much smaller scale - about 1/400 - but share some of the same ideas. They were equipped with electric motors and simple cam systems to program the rudders so the ships would “follow a pattern pre-set by you!” in your swimming pool. An additional mechanism rotated the main turrets and made their gun barrels elevate. If memory serves, they sold for the relatively high price of $5.00 each. (The “Blue Devil” was one of the most expensive kits on the market at the time, at $10.00.)
As scale models both these kits are, to put it bluntly, pretty awful. If memory serves, the Bismarck is the lesser of two disasters; the H.M.S. Hood website, referred to earlier in this thread gives the Lindberg kit the label “worst Hood ever” (or words to that effect). It’s crude, almost utterly lacking in detail, and owes a great deal to somebody’s extremely strange imagination. I seem to recall that it has, for instance, a purely fictitious twin or triple medium-caliber gun turret on one side but not the other.
They’re great for nostalgia buffs, and would make nice presents for kids to build with some adult help. (At about age 12 I got my Bismarck to run around my cousin’s swimming pool in a circle, but I wasn’t able to handle the cam arrangement for the rudder.) But for scale models, look elsewhere.
The Heller Hood is a nice kit if you’re willing to invest the time and effort into updating the model. White Ensign does a great detail set for her, and you can buy aftermarket AA guns, UP launchers, and all sorts of stuff for her, but I warn in advance, the the cost of the PE is about equal to the cost of the kit. That being said, it’s the only way to get a decent model of the Hood without spending upwards of $500 for an Iron Shipwrights kit, or $1000 for a White Ensign kit.
Your only other option is to scratchbuild, at least until someone (ahem) releases one in 350th.
In the meantime, build a Bismarck…Tamiya with GMM or Tom’s PE sets is the way to go.
Jeff
I’ve actually just got Tamiya’s 1/350 KGV, but the chance to but a Heller Hood came up so I thought I’d enquire.I think I’ll wait until something better comes along and stick with the 1/720 Italeri Hood for now!
If you are going to do a Hood in ~700 scale I would recommend the Tamiya kit. Yes, the kit is old but it stands up very well to today’s best-quality kits. Add some photoetch and you’ll have a winner.
Absolutey…Tamiya’s hood still looks awesome when you add in WEM extras.
I’ve wanted a Hood in 359th scale for a long time, I built a WEM Hood years ago for a client, never got a chance to show it, once it was done the client was right there to scoop it up and take it home.
I have enough stuff to keep me busy for the next 3-6 months until the 350th version shows up.
Jeff
Reading the reviews on the association website some of the reviewers favour the Italeri Hood for various reasons.
I bought the Tamiya and Italeri kits and eventually ended up building the Italeri one. They’re both high-quality products, but to my eye the Italeri one is a bit better. It’s got more detail on vertical surfaces (e.g., the sides of the aft end of the shelter deck are separate pieces, with scuttles, ladders, etc. whereas those on the Tamiya kit are completely barren). I made use of the Conway “Anatomy of the Ship” volume on the Hood, which has superb and detailed drawings, and found that the Italeri kit compared quite favorably with them. It’s been quite a while since I built it, but if I remember right the only significant deviation was that Italeri left the roof off one of the platforms making up the foremast structure.
That book , incidentally, is essential and fun reading for anybody modeling the ship. It contains lots of fascinating details that can be incorporated into a model. For instance, the fact that one of the hatches on the forecastle deck is covered with translucent glass, to give illumination to the ship’s surgery. And the big tubes that carry signal halyards from the yardarms on the foremast to the communications room below the shelter deck. And the fact that one of the ladders running up the starboard bulkhead at the aft end of the shelter deck has a polished wood handrail (it leads to the Admiral’s day cabin). And the locations of the jettisonable gas tanks stowed alongside the ship’s boats. You get the picture.
My biggest reason for picking the Italeri kit, though, was that it represents the Hood relatively early in her career. (I added the “flying-off platforms” to the main battery turrets, to put her in the late '30s.) The Tamiya version represents her at as she appeared when the Bismarck sank her. I guess this is a matter of personal taste. Those last days in 1941 were arguably the most important in her career, but to my eye none of the modifications made her look any better. I know of few examples of ships that got better looking as they got modified.
You can’t go wrong with eithr of those kits - especially if you augment them with any of the excellent aftermarket photo-etched metal sets available. My suggestion is to be guided by the period in the ship’s career that you want to represent.
I built the Heller Hood many years ago - before after sales products were as well marketed as they are now. The majr reconstruction required was the widening of the shelter deck and the flush fitting of the hull sides accordingly…
Humbrol filler, plasticard and stretched sprue figured heavily in the construction but a good replica was achieved of what many people believe waa the most elegant capital ship of the Royal Navy.
I hope ICM will produce Hood and if their WW1 German Dreadnoughts are anything to go by there is a treat in store for anyone wishing to model the lost battlecruiser.
Not a chance…it’s common knowledge at this point in time (this is an old thread) that Trumpeter will be releasing a Hood this year.
Jeff
Well, that’s good news! Let’s hope that Trumpeter does a good job with this kit - if they do, they’ll definitely have a top-seller.
Looking forward to the kit,but not the price tag!