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I found set
9795 at a Wal*Mart in Western PA over the weekend. The price was $49.99,
which, if memory serves, was the MSRP of the
Kittyhawk set a few years back. Here are a few observations:
The design of the Nimitz is vastly different from the Kittyhawk, in terms of the
constituent bricks. Whereas the Kittyhawk made use of black 8x12
half-brick-height tiles for the flight deck, the Nimitz uses an abundance of
1x2, 2x2, and 4x4 plate-height tiles, so you get a more versatile selection of
pieces. Also, the Nimitz features retractable blast-shields (not sure of what
they’re really called) to deflect jet exhaust on take-off, a nice detail absent
from the Kittyhawk. Also, the Nimitz includes the newish 2x2 turntable plates
for gun mounts. The mast-tower appears to be the same as the one used in the
recent Destroyer.
Naturally, the bulk of the 1400 pieces in the Nimitz are gray, with a good
number of black as well. The set also includes several one-piece miniature
jets, which I believe are identical to the ones included with the Kittyhawk.
The box was well designed and was more square than the Kittyhawk box, which
seems like smart marketing to me; if you don’t take up as much shelf space, the
retailer will probably be more willing to showcase your stuff. The back of the
box had thumbnail pictures of the forthcoming
Steam Locomotive and the two new
NASCAR ProBuilder sets, the latter of which retail for about $13.00. Also, the
box had an emblem on the top-right corner proclaiming some award that MEGABLOKS
had won, or perhaps ProBuilder in general, or maybe even this particular kit.
I’m not familiar with the award, but I don’t really track the industry, either.
One last note--the Kittyhawk and
Battleship
sets had concealed wheels to allow the ships to “sail” across the floor. These
were the old-style treaded wheels as shown in
this picture. The
Destroyer and Nimitz use the smooth-style wheels like the ones shown
here. Not
a big deal, but it caught my attention.
If someone grabs this set, please post a review!
Dave!
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