I actually have this kit for over a month now. I preordered it in September when I first heard about it. At first, I wasn’t even interested because it’s just too darn big. Almost 54 inches long when fully assembled! That is almost two feet longer than my son is tall! But the history of this ship broke me down and I paid $340 for mine. Yes, you can find it cheaper online elsewhere but you also have to pay the shipping and handling charge (The price I paid have shipping and handling charge included already) and as can be imagined, shipping and handling charge can be a bundle with something that weighs 15 pounds and have a 47 inches long box.

Upon opening the casket size box, one’s breath is taken away by the huge single piece hull. Now, unlike the Bismarck kit (TR03702), the hull is divided into three pieces since the upward curving bow of this ship meant a single complete hull is impossible so the bow, along with a good portion of the hull (what I like to call the “headpiece) is divided in two. This mean there will be some seams to cure after you glued it into the massive 47 inch single piece hull. Other than that, the rest of the sprues are packed into boxes labeled A, B, C, and D, with D only containing the two monstrous deck pieces. And HOO BOY are there A Lot of sprues! Discounting the two superstructures (Held in the upside down hull), the deck pieces and duplicate sprues, there are still 13 sprues left, hence why only a sample is shown as there is no way to get all of them in a single frame. Along with that, there are also 11 (ELEVEN) frets of photo-etch, containing everything from the radars, ladders and all the railings for the ship. Overall, 1547 plastic parts are included. I didn’t count them but I don’t doubt them, what with having to assemble 56 (FIFTY-SIX) 20mm Oerlikon cannons alone here!

Instructions are proto-typical Trumpeter. There are 56 steps on 44 pages with mostly detailed and blown up black and white drawings. It’s highly suggested that one go through the instructions with a fine tooth comb first. Even with 56 steps, many parts of the instructions contain way too many small pieces with arrows colliding with each other on the way down to the ship below. Also, Trumpeter seems to be adamant that you assemble everything first, than as an afterthought 3,4,5 or 6 steps later, have you try to bend a railing and then glue it onto the pieces without knocking off plenty of others and feed the carpet monster. A single small decal sheet with the some flags, the ship’s number and the ship’s name is also included. Painting instructions are included on one color sheet. The ship is only offered in her 1945 surrendering scheme so if one want to do her in her earlier war service or post WW II years, then research is needed.