Hasegawa's Hikawa Maru is a fine kit in it's own right, but many modelers today are not satisfied with the fidelity of all plastic parts. Photoetch allows for thinner, higher detailed parts to enhance the scale appearance of your model. Since Hasegawa's first 1/350 ship offerings, they have released supplementary photoetch detailing sets for their kits, usually in "Basic" and "Super"; this set is the Super detail set.

The Super set has a wide variety of items, with many parts focused on detailing the various ships boats. There are a large number of etched oars, and pulleys for the boat davits. Kit supplied boat cradles have etched replacements, and Hasegawa has also supplied an etched alignment jig so each boat sits squarely in the new cradle. Rounding out the boat parts are some etched rudders and seats.

This set does have parts that have nothing to do with the boat, however. There are some nice hoist assemblies for the cargo booms, and they should look good when applied. There are also some additional ladders, an awning support for the bridge areas, and two accomodation ladders in a stowed arrangement.

A large double-sided folding sheet of instructions is included. These instructions have both illustrations and photos of the parts installed on the kit.

Thanks to Great Planes Model Distributors for the review sample. It is listed as #72150 1/350 Hikawa Maru Detail Up Etching Parts Super with a MSRP of $59.99 US. Great Planes is the exclusive US importer for Hasegawa.