Battleship Opinions?

I suggest that you may wish to add the Revell 1/350 Bismarck as it is an excellent kit and has a lot of PE available for it.  You may also wish to consider the Hasegawa Mikasa as that is also in the same price range.  It too is an excellent kit with lots of detail parts available as well.  Of the three you noted they are all good, but the Tamiya kits harken back to the '70s as far as the technology goes, the Alabama is of newer design.  All have plenty of detail kits available.  WS

I saw the Yamato kit for like half-price somewhere. Maybe Greatmodels? I don't know if that would influence you or not.

If you are so inclined to vary a little, I'm just wrapping up the Trumpeter USS San Francisco. While it's a heavy cruiser, it's a very pretty ship and a good kit.

If you can wait a couple of months Dragon's Scharnhorst should be available. We're just starting to see the test shots and the detail is exquisite.

They are all good based on reviews from different sites.  Usually the best pick is the one you have most interest in that provides sufficient motivation to follow through with the build.

Try the clearance section at hobby stores or online or HobbyLobby when they have a coupon for 40% off model kits. Or Ebay from private owners. Or post on some of the shipmodeling forums, there are always folks who realize they have too many and need to sell.

www.steelnavy.com

www.hyperscale.com

www.modelwarships.com

www.modelshipwrights.com

I suppse there are others as well

Try academy 1/350 Bismark. Big scale with decent detail at a budget price. Even you might ruin it(since its your first attempt after so many years), it might not cost you too much cash damage.

Tracy White

If you can wait a couple of months Dragon's Scharnhorst should be available. We're just starting to see the test shots and the detail is exquisite.

I hope that the Scharnhorst is the first of many battleships to come. Dragon did a wonderful job with their Smart Kit Series of 1:350 destroyers, I already got several in my stash.

I feel that current 1:350 battleship kits are all overpriced. The Tamiya kits are particularly bad when they doubled the MSRP overnight by changing the kit number and box without doing anything to the kit.

The recently released Revell Bismarck is the only exception. Academy's premium kit of the Admiral Craf Spee Pocket Battleship is another interesting approach by including the wood deck and tons of PE. I am waiting for a modern kit of any of the WW2 US battleship for a while. The new Trumpeter kits look fine but not exceptional and are too over priced.

The new Revell Bismarck & Tirpitz kits are very well done for the price, and can often be found at significant discounts.  The Hasegawa Nagato is very nice as well, but quite a bit more expensive.  The Hasegawa Missouri is showing its age, but might not be a bad choice for your first ship kit-they are often available on ebay at very reasonable prices.

a6m5zerosen

The new Revell Bismarck & Tirpitz kits are very well done for the price, and can often be found at significant discounts.  The Hasegawa Nagato is very nice as well, but quite a bit more expensive.  The Hasegawa Missouri is showing its age, but might not be a bad choice for your first ship kit-they are often available on ebay at very reasonable prices.

The Hasegawa Missouri in 1:450 scale seems to commend premium price on Ebay. How is the accuracy and detail of this kit? It is probably more for collectors than for modelers.

I suspect the poster was referencing the Tamiya Missouri, not Hasegawa.  Any of the 1/450 kits still floating around are for the collector, not the builder.  Stick with 1/350 where there is a wealth of detail parts for the scale. As for the Academy Bismarck/Tirpitz kits I would say that you should pass on those as well as the detail is not as good as the Tamiya kits they are based on.   WS

Thank you, everyone, for your input! Here's the latest:

I went to Hobby Lobby last night, my 40% coupon in hand. I have never really given the ships there much notice, so I didn't know what to expect, but I honestly didn't have high hopes for finding anything.

There were a couple of Trumpeter CVs and "The Sullivans" in 1/350, and several 1/700 BB's. Then there was the Tamiya Missouri. And it was priced at $80. So it didn't take me long to decide to get that.. The 40% coupon was a huge help, I took the Missouri home for about $50. Not a bad deal.

I also looked online when I got home and found a nice looking Eduard PE set (4 frets!!) and a set of Aber turned metal barrels. So those are on order.

I think the Mighty Mo will be a good place to start... there are a lot of good resources online and it is apparently a very popular kit, so there are a lot of inspiring buildups and reviews to glean from.

Thanks for your help deciding... I hopefully will be able to start on it in the spring.

I bought that same model and PE set last year.

One of the things that was the best things I did was to buy the book, Ship Modeling.

http://www.kalmbachstore.com/12220.html

That tell a ton of stuff about how to build ship models but it tells a lot on how to build Tamiya's 1/350 USS Missoui. It helped me to not make some mistakes.

Kentucky Colonel

I bought that same model and PE set last year.

One of the things that was the best things I did was to buy the book, Ship Modeling.

http://www.kalmbachstore.com/12220.html

That tell a ton of stuff about how to build ship models but it tells a lot on how to build Tamiya's 1/350 USS Missoui. It helped me to not make some mistakes.

I also found Mike Ashey's books on ship modeling to be the best for plastic ship kits. His other book, Building and Detailing Scale Model Ships, is available on his web site. You can also find the Tamiy Missouri model in his ship gallery.

keilau-
Those are some great resources. I'm sure they're showing their age, but for a first time ship modeler, I need the basics.

I think I got a little over zealous and went ahead and got started on the Missouri. I have the Eduard PE set and the Aber barrels for the big guns. Turret #3 is complete and some of the other details have been put on. It's a lot of work and is time consuming, but wow, it's going to be awesome when it's done!

Whenever I get around to uploading some pics I'll start a WIP thread. I've been a good boy and have managed at least some work on it every day this week.

I'm still waiting on WEM colourcoats to arrive so I can start painting some of the sub-assemblies. It should start to look really good then.

Thanks to everyone for their guidance!

I'm a big fan of the Big Mo so I think that including it in your list is a good decision. But anyway, the 1:350 kits has a lot of PE details available which will make your built a good one. You can also include the USS Arizona but the current kit need a lot of surgery. Eduard has a good PE set to compliment it. Keep us posted on your choice.