Just started on my first ship today

Keep the replies comin guys. 
Layed the second coat down yesterday before i went away, ill be back on friday and get some more pics up when i get home.  

actually the SS doesn't stand for anything, like BB for battleship. it's just a us navy, and possibly now universal, designation for a diesel electric attack submarine, . i have a chinese type 33 SS in my stash along with the chinese type 33 SSG whixh is he same basic sub with 6 guided missle launchers, 3 on either side of the sail. it must surface to launch them. granted our attack subvs can launch harpoons and tomahawks, an SSG or SSGN if nuclear is soecifically configured and has the primary mission of launching missles.

I avoided a ship with lots of small parts by building a submarine. It was a Bronco 1:200 YUAN SS. It has less than 50 parts total. This is the first model I have ever put together(completed last month). It was a relatively simple but satisfying build to get my start in the hobby. Subs are usually referred to as "boats", but the SS stands for "submersible ship" if memory serves.

I just completed a SONG SS in 1:200, and am now working on a KILO SS in the same scale. All by the same maker.

Enjoy your build. I look forward to seeing your progress and the finished work. 

USS Massachusetts- I believe it was an old Revell kit that I picked up at JCPenney or Sears about 30years ago!!

I do believe it was the U.S.S. SULLIVANS - FLETCHER CLASS destroyer . YUP,the old REVELL kit . Only I didn,t get it from a hoby shop or variety store (you know , S.S. KRESGE or FRANKLIN 5&10 ) I got it from our local GAS station.Well ,that and nine others . The operator was cleaning a defunct fountain so,s he could get it going again .I asked if I could have the ships he had in a pile.He said there were more.He also said if I finished the cleaning for him I could have ALL the models and money I found in there and he,d give me five dollars too! WOW !  That was a lot of money for a nine year old in 1952! I found seven more ships and numerous cars too ! Of course the older kids BB guns had really messed them up .But I put a piece of cheese cloth over the drain and caught all the parts . My daddy taught me this , for cleaning the fish we caught four days a week .I bought some lightweight typing paper (I didn,t know about paper grades back then) and some TESTORS bottle paint. That,s the little square bottles .I bought grey (gloss) and black (gloss) and of course chrome silver .Oh and a container of lighter fluid .(Kids could buy stuff like that back then .) The lighter fluid was for thinning paint and cleaning my two ten cent brushes . Do you know how we got flat paint back then ? We dumped some of the paint into another container and put in TALCUM POWDER ! , DERN TOOTIN ! It worked too.We carefully put the poured out paint back in, till the bottle was full and then shook the daylights out of it . I finished the (bombed out) FLETCHER in a week and I still have it somewhere .Anyway , sorry about being so long winded .Have a great THANKSGIVING .        tankerbuilder

Yep, thats the one. 
Thanks for all the replies guys, interesting stuff.  
Normally dont post pics, but i guess i will this time. Not sure how its gonna come up, relatively new to airbrushing and somewhat serious modeling. Gonna shoot the second coat either tonight or tomorrow, going away for thanksgiving, dont know when i can work again.  

i presume this is the short-hulled early FFG-7 OLIVER HAZARD PERRY. i have 2 plus the newer REUBEN JAMES, also an ffg. i think it's a good first build. it has plastic railings, granted a tad thick but still looks better than no railings. not a lot of ww2 type aa guns which is why i am doing ww1 and earlier (though they do have a lot of boats.

i got this answeered by someone in this forum. parts 40 and 41 are not explained in the instructions. part B-40 is the stern extension and B-41 is the extended hull flight deck. you don't use them for the early short hull. the purists have a number of other problems which are important for the "bolt counters" but not to the rest of us. biggest annoyance in building the short hull is the SH-60 helo that comes with the kit doesn't fly from them, only the later long hulls. the short hulls flew SH-2 SEA SPRITES .

i am currently working on a pair of predreadnoughts and a ww1 dreadnought in the CASTLES OF STEEL topic. i look forward to following your build.

Revells 3 foot long Cutty Sark back in the late 70's.  Spent the summer building it in my grand parents backyard on the picnic table.  Though the family all got together every weekend for dinner (sometimes also lunch) and if we grilled then I had to move the ship off the table.

I'm relatively new to the hobby since most of my experience was when I was in high school and that was mainly painting 35mm figures.  I seem to remember building a model of the Arizona, but can't remember the brand or scale.  Also I don't believe it turned out too well.

Since getting back recently, I have a ship on the table, a 1/350 Gato class in 1943 configuration that I am building as SS-246, the USS Croaker.  Reason I am doing that ship is that she currently resides in the Buffalo Naval park which is not too far from my home.  Though she is in her upgraded confuguration as SSK-246

Hello,welcome to the world of ships. You have 684 more builds to catch up to my fleet. Put down the planes and finish what you started ( ship ) made your mom proud. I build WWII ships in 1/700 and have a blast ( HA!HA! ). It's fun building all the different ships from different countries and seeing the size and gun placement difference. Good luck and keep on building.

I'm doing my first now! A 1/72 Revell VIIc u boat with interior.

I got started in the BP era (before plastic), so the first ship kit was a Guillows or Sterling (yes Guillows DID make a couple of ship kits) of a Revenue Cutter (topsail schooner).   First plastic ship kits I remember were from Revell, Constitution, Cutty Sark.  Then there were a ton of "box scale" modern warships.

Boy, that would be going back a few years. Probably a box scale Bismarck since I always liked that ship. It, and the rest I built in the early 60s, met their glorious end in the farmer's pond in the commons area of the village I grew up in. Amazing how many times you can sink a ship with with BB guns, salvage them from three feet of water, and do it all over again! In the end a load of firecrackers and pool of burning gasoline made for a fantastic finale!!

I've gotten a bit more serious on my builds since then, thank goodness. Now I actually use ALL the parts and I paint them properly and stuff like that. They sometimes even come out looking more or less like the real thing. 

I still wouldn't mind blowing up at least one more in that pond but I'll bet the cops would be there within 10 minutes now. It wouldn't be "It's just the kids having fun down at the pond". The EPA would have to be called in for the hazardous materials involved and there would be guns to be checked and licensed and confiscated and lots and lots of paperwork. And more than likely jail time. Ah the joys of youth!! 

Revell USS Helena, probably around 1965.

 I built lots of ship models as a kid. Starting with Revells 1/720 Prinz Eugen over 40 years ago. And I built many all they way thru my teen years. But only recently have I begun building ships again, and now in large scales. My first "grown up" build being Tamiya's 1/300 HIJNS Yugumo.

I have since completed several 1/350 Modern USN and Soviet submarines, and have a few other ship kits curently in progress (DKM Graf Spee, a couple Type VII U boats, USS Chicago SSN, Akula Class SSN, and USS Ramsey FFG- all 1/350 except for the Ramsey) I have that OHP Frigate in the stash as well and will get around to it one of these days. It is a beautiful looking kit.

Fujimi 1/700 Lexington (CV-2) last summer--I posted photos in the forum.  Lots of tiny pieces, and it takes practice even to learn how to hold on to them, while you work on them.

Currently stalled on the Saratoga (CV-3) while I finish some GB committments.

Will look forward to photos, if you can post some.