Need some professional advice

What's good/suitable is subjetive and changes as a modeler progresses. Here's one trick, rather than provided with a list of kits of varying degrees of difficulty/detail/age/price,

1. show us some pictures of built up ship models that you like

2. the outcome you are aiming for relative to the model picture

3. your price range

then we can offer you suggestion on the approximate kit to achieve that result.

Again, more "thank yous" to everybody for some pretty great advice. I do appreciate all the help. I love this forum

As Will said above, I'd suggest one of the less expensive, older kits for your first ship.  The latest kits out by Dragon, etc., are pretty pricey and crammed with lots and lots of fiddly detail that I can't even see, even in 1/350, without my magnifying visor.  Trumpeter makes a nice U.S.S. North Carolina in 1/350 (that's the smallest scale I build in, so I can't give an opinion about the 1/700 ships) that, while not without its inaccuracies, builds up into a nice model.  I know you are interested in battleships, but in all honesty, for your first ship I'd suggest something less ambitious.  Tamiya makes a nice U.S.S. Fletcher in 1/350 that I think makes a great first ship kit.  Builds up pretty nicely OOB and looks really nice if you want to add some PE.

IMHO

Bob

Try doing an airfix or two, then try the revell arizona. Big kit at a very reasonable price of 15 bucks (plus S&H)

Hello and welcome to ship modeling!

The ships you mention are readily available in 1/700 scale in exceptionally high degrees of detail.  Aoshima manufactures both the Nagato and the Mutsu, as well as the Fuso and Yamashiro.  Dragon manufactures an equally outstanding Bismarck and Tirpitz, as well as the USS Arizona (1941) and USS Pennsylvania (1944). Tamiya manufactures an excellent USS Iowa and USS Missouri, as well as HMS King Georg V, HMS Prince of Wales, HMS Rodney, HMS Nelson, Scharnhorst, and Gneisenau. Tamiya and Fujimi manufacture excellent kits of Yamato and Musashi; the Fujimi kits are full hull and waterline.  There are also outstanding kits of the Kongo class, but I am not sure who manufactures them.

These are the best of the best in affordable 1/700 scale. You can expect to spend anywhere from $15.00 to $50.00.

Good luck! If you run into any trouble, just ask . . . anyone in this forum would be glad to help!

Bill Morrison

Not much out there for early war US BB's, quite unrepresented my the manufacturers in styrene. The Arizona is available thru Banner or possibly Trumpeter. All the other Pearl BB's are unavailable as far as I'm aware. I'd love a Maryland class one myself.

Tirpitz...or Zuiho...

Thanks emo07, that's some of the information I was looking for too. What about opinions between Trumpeter kits, Tamiya kits, etc? Or is it just personal preference and am I opening up a can of worms here? Again, thanks for everyones help.

Don't forget about the other classes of American battleships. The North Carolina and South Dakota classes were great ships and carried the load in the early years of WWII. The USS Washington ( North Carolina class ) actually sunk a Japanese battleship in a night battle off Guadalcanal in 1942. Cant remember which,posibly the Kirishima. The North Carolina earned 15 battle stars, most of any US battleship. The South Dakota shot down 26 enemy planes in one attack. Trumpeter makes these classes in 1/700 and 1/350 scale. Nothing against the Iowa class, it just seems to me the earlier classes get overlooked .

emo07

Thanks guys, this gives me more to consider before jumping in with both feet and a lack of sense ;)

gormoneeye

I'm not a "ship" guy, sorry ;), but I am looking to take a leap from armour to try my hand at a few battleships. Unfortunately, I'm not too familiar with what would be a good brand name to purchase from? I am looking to build 1) The Bismark, 2) The Nagato and 3) an equally powerful American warship from WW2. Scale is unimportant at the moment, but I like quality and a reasonably accurate kit, and any advice on #3 would be welcome. I appreciate any help from here on, thanks.

Tim :)

The Airfix Bismark, I think abt 1/400 scale if i recall correctly, for a start isnt a bad choice. Its also moderately priced compared to the tamiya 1/350 version. Of course the tamiya is of greater detail & parts but you could always get it later on if you find that you enjoy the feeling of ship building. American warships perhaps the Iowa, Missouri Or New Jersey 1/700 scale from tamiya. Missouri & New Jersey also available in 1/350 tamiya kits. Those are about a metre in length after completion.

Brush  painting a ship is quite a challenge tho. Very steady hands needed especially when trying to paint the hull & the black waterline. But good masking tapes makes the job a whole lot easier nowadays.

I'd recommend a more modest kit for a first attempt, so if you hate it/ make a mess of it you can afford to throw it in the trash. Having said that, there's no point buying a kit of a ship you're not interested enough in to motivate yourself to complete!I'm not sure I'd recommend trying a first rate battleship in 1/350 as a first model though- they are significant undertakings!

If however you want a big battleship, I'd have a look at the Trumpeter 1/700 series of battleships. They have had glowing reviews and shouldn't be much bother to put together in a week or so of evening modelling sessions.

If you're interest stretches to it, I would not dismiss the older models from Revell and Airfix. The Revell Emden or Campletown are excellent introductions to small scale (well, they're quite large scale actually)  plastic ship modelling. Similarly, If you don't mind a lot of filing, filling and general titvation, don't dismiss the older kits from manufactures like airfix such as their Iron Duke, HMS Belfast, etc etc.  They are good fun and only cost pocket money!

cheers

Will

Actually I don't have a lot of room in my house so I aim for 1/48 and 1/72 scale armour. I'll check out the kit though, thanks :)

I would think that, as an armor modeler, you would be more comfortable with larger scale.

1/350 Nagato your choice is limited to one kit by Hasegawa AFAIK. Looks very nice.