Funny you should mention that precise kit, Roberto, as last week I finally probed the rumors about this kit, and got the true story, direct from Revell executive (operations manager?, project manager?) Ed Sexton, who told me the mold is indeed broken - sufficient that Revell has indeed cancelled its re-release.

However Ed told me many specifics - they're not any secrets - in an enlightening conversation of some length. The sole but major damage to the mold is a split in the (single-piece) hull - running the entire length of the keel, from stem to stern. The crack is sufficiently long/large as to not just create a huge burr along the keel but to actually shoot out so much (hot, injected) plastic as to starve the mold for adequate pressure/volume. (Not to mention make one helluva mess, I assume! )

Although such a large/long crack (like probably theoretically anything) can be repaired, the durability of such a repair cannot be guaranteed - at least, in this case, Revell's best subcontractor choice(s) for such repairs wouldn't guarantee it - to last through enough further usage to pay for itself. We did not get into just what that minimum, further production run, or the additional break-even cost(s) of this repair would be. However, one can reason that, by definition they would have to exceed - perhaps by quite a bit - whatever new production Revell had been considering, for an undamaged mold. All together then, you can see how the associated risks would snowball - clearly to a level Revell judges simply to be too great - so they have indeed cancelled the repop indefinitely. The hull is simply "gone", in terms of any further, cost-effective use.

On the other hand, note it is only the hull which is damaged - the rest of the sprues are all completely viable - and meantime, Matt Stein Models has been developing - what - hull corrections for exactly this mold, that's what! Which (more than) provocative coincidence immediately provokes some hypothesizing on several tantalizing possibilities - which takes us directly into "classified" territory, about which I can tell you nothing further for now. (But, no doubt you can imagine something(s) pretty close to, if not exactly, the ideas I am evaluating.) And of course, I will let you know ASAP, if/when anything concrete may actually come of this...

Meantime, there's older kits and/or boneyard fixer-uppers from eBay. And my development of hurricane bow corrections will go forward - now with even more reasons, not less, due to the above possibilities.

Cheers,

-Matty