1/700 Is Too Damn Small!

The first 700 ship I built was the Tamiya Tama Light Cruiser. That was tiny.

Bill

Well friends, Happy New Year to all. Here's hoping that Santa brought everyone a whole pile of brand new, shrink wrapped shiny boxes full of sanity saving plastic pieces. Stockings full of cyanoacrylate glue, tiny paint brushes, thimble sized pains (I mean paints) and a whole assortment of other economy stimulating modeling paraphernalia. Me? Well I did find some time at opposite ends of a particularly painful visit north to put to the test a variety of water-building effects as suggested by my knowledgeable friends over at Fine Scale Modeler. Feel free to offer comments, criticism and even the occasional thoughts for more productive uses of my time.

http://littleplasticparts.tumblr.com/

DooogsATX, you're going to really like that Hasegawa Rufe kit - I am finally, mercifully, almost done with mine. The cockpit is great out of the box and there were no real fit issues anywhere. If I hadn't decided I wanted to put it on a Kiska beach in keeping with my Aleutian Theater theme it probably would have been done, oh, 4 months ago. 

P.S. - the "purple" Rufe is a myth!

rsog2000

Oh, pish-posh. Try building something in 1/1750!

Nope I'm good. lol

Oh, pish-posh. Try building something in 1/1750!

tankerbuilder

Hey , DOOGS how is it going ? I keep missing you when I go to AUSTIN .Do the fellows at KING,S know your handle here ? 

They don't, but they know me as Matt, especially if you mention that I just moved. 

Was actually just up there yesterday. For paint, I swear. I have no idea how that Hasegawa A6M2-N Rufe ended up in my car...

What I do with most of my 1/700 builds is mount them to a piece of cardboard with a few pieces of doubled-over blue tape. The cardboard extends at least 1-inch beyond the model on each side, giving me a convenient "handle" to grip the entire thing with while picking it up for close work, etc.

Since I do mostly carriers, I don't mind the scale at all.  I have built a 1/700 Burke-class destroyer and a Tico-class cruiser.

I find one thing that helps a lot.  When building a 1/700 ship, i use a box, stiff piece of cardboard in a vice, or some other manner to get the hull raised a few inches above the work bench level.  Not a lot, but an inch or so.  I've found that helps quite a bit.  You can rest your wrists on the bench and "work  up" to the deck level of the model.

Give it a shot.

Hey , DOOGS how is it going ? I keep missing you when I go to AUSTIN .Do the fellows at KING,S know your handle here ? Anyway I agree .I have a very big box in storage .Within it lies a ship .She,s 1/350 alright . all the whole length is to big for my display .Believe me when I say 1/350 modern aircraft carriers are BIG . I still haven,t glued anything .I have five I have to do for the NAVY recruiter here in NEW BRAUNFELS .other than that I am just coasting till JAN .Then it,s back to work on 1/96 product for BaD shipmodels .My stuff will be squeezed in between .I will be bringing a SUNCHASER ? Motoryacht up soon .They may not want to display it .It,s that large REVELL kit .They sold it to me so --he.he. you have a good holiday .    tankerbuilder

I recently decided to take a break from 700 scale and pulled a couple of 350s out of the stash.  First up was Trumpeter's Admiral Graf Spee.  That kit was truly a pleasure to build with great parts fit and little to no problems during assembly.  I added the WEM brass kit and the ArtWox wood deck.  Everything worked out well, even the deck was easy to apply and looked fabulous when finished.

Next up was Dragon's Z-39.  I should never have opened the box.  Step one consists of the construction of 4 AA guns of one type and 6 pairs of other types.  The first gun,when completed, is about a quarter inch or so in size and has 16 parts, six of them photo etched.  The mounting points are so small I can't even see them with a head piece magnifier on.  In two days I have managed to complete 2 of the first 4.  Well, kind of complete, I left off the gunner's seats because I can't even pick them up when I cut them from the photo etch fret (they are not much bigger than the dot that a .7mm pen makes on paper and they are of course, flat).  As soon as I put the completed guns into a daily pill box for safekeeping 'till I can paint them the elevation wheels fell off.

So, just because it's bigger in scale doesn't mean that some maniac hasn't decided to reduce the pieces in the kit to microscopic size.   Be careful what you ask for (and buy).

Yeah no thanks. While I could I guess see the point of 1/700 for something like the Yamato or a Nimitz-class carrier, for most ships, way too small for my liking.

Heck, even in 1/350 a WWII-era destroyer is something like what...12-15"? That's not very big as is. And they're slender. Honestly I think something like a 1/250 scale would probably be great for anything not a BB or CV.

I only have two 1/700 ship kits in my stash.  Both are Dragon (yes, I'm a glutton for punishment).  I basically bought them because I got a great price.  Till now I've never built anything smaller than 1/350, so we'll see how I do with 1/700.  The first one is the Deluxe U.S.S. Arizona kit, the other is the Deluxe U.S.S. Randolph kit.  Guess I'll find out if 1/700 is at all for me, or if I'm going to stick to 1/350 and above.  Fortunately, since I display my builds in my office, display space isn't a problem for me.

Wish me luck!

Bob

My little 1/700 destroyer fleet. Stretched sprue rigging came out ok. Thanks for all the advice on water building.  Picked up some liquitex acrylic gel and will give it a go ASAP.  Stay sane over this tough holiday season fellow modelers. 

Man, I love your little boat!  Well, that sounds kind of funny.........

The Opti Visor is your friend. I use a numder 7 lens for all my modeling. Couldnt build without it.

Bill

Now that is what I call the dead on truth ! I have acquired six 1/700 ships and I look at them and wonder, "Do I hate my eyes and rest of self that much "! The bare truth is obvious though . For certain vessels , that scale is the only game in town ! I would like to see ALL the manufacturers come out with the ships in 1/700 (yeah there are folks that like the scale) then up it to 1/400 then 1/350 that way we all could share in the joy of having the ship we want in the scale we prefer .  I will admit though  , even the 1/400 stuff can be a challenge ! All in all my preference is 1/350 or larger .1/700 has its merits.There are ships that I wouldn,thave room for even in 1/350 . In that regard 1/700 is the way to go.I recently invested in a 11x14 fresnel lens and other magnifying help . If you have the gear it isn,t to bad .  Now where did that little tug go ??  tankerbuilder

Oh, I don't know, I think 1/700 is justtttttttttt fine - if you are 1) Into self-abuse, and 2) Don't have any other choice due to space considerations. I know, my bad  :