I originally started building the 1/350 Titanic about 3 years before the Cameron movie came out. Mostly out of a love of historical accuracy and research. Back then I wasn't too good with model building and I really did a number on the hull, despite all the research I had done. I melted plastic around portholes from my high-speed dremel, left enough putty on seams to sculpt Mt. Rushmore and did a paint job that looked like the latest "faux finish" in interior design. You get the idea. I pretty much gave up as soon as the hull was painted. Anyway...many years later, on a trip to Maine, I wondered into a hobby shop that had the "New and Improved" kit on display. I decided to get it and try again. That's been sitting in a closet until just recently, when I moved to a new place and came across it. Since then, I've been researching as much as possible, determined to built it right this time around. Hopefully, it'll pan out. The good thing is that now I have a ! spare kit to canabalize.