What kits would you recommend to a newbie

If I were you, I would try the Revell Arizona at 1/700. The Tamiya 1/700 line of ships are not difficult at all just be careful when cutting them off from the sprues. Some parts can break if you are not extra careful.

If you want to start building 1/350 ships, the Tamiya line of 1/350's are excellent. However, they have more parts and more amount of painting is required. But when you are done with one, the awe that comes out is more than when you build a 1/700.

Just my 10 cents....

Noel Carpio
Contributing Editor
Modelwarships.com

would you recommend 1:700 scale?

Price is a pretty big concern, as I'd like to get some practice before working on anything expensive.

QUOTE: Originally posted by dans1120 would you recommend 1:700 scale? Price is a pretty big concern, as I'd like to get some practice before working on anything expensive.

I gave these brands because I thought that you were concerned with the details. Ok, you can opt for Revell Monogram Missouri or Arizona can do well for you. The Lindberg LST is also an easy kit considering it is 1/125 scale. You can practice your painting on it as well. This is a good start. Paint it correctly and practice on it. The trumpeter line of kits are fairly priced as well. I also find the Italeri line of 1/720 ships ok on the budget.

Hope this helps.

Noel

Now if you are tight on the budget and want to go for a 1/350, the Academy ships can be a good start.

I'll take the liberty of recommending the recently-released Dragon U.S.S. Arizona in 1/700. It's probably the nicest kit in that scale I've encountered. It features turned brass gun barrels and comes with a sheet of photo-etched detail parts (including handrails), and the aircraft and boats are molded in clear plastic. (Paint everything but the canopies and windows.) The price is a bit high for a model of that size, but if you can handle that the kit will give you many hours of pleasure.

Other good recent kits in 1/700 include the Tamiya U.S.S. Missouri (the best rendition of an Iowa-class battleship yet) and Prinz Eugen. For that matter, virtually anything offered by Tamiya is a pretty safe bet. I'm also a fan of the Italeri range (sometimes sold in Testor's boxes). Their H.M.S. Hood and Graf Spee are beautiful - and generally quite a bit cheaper than the Japanese lines.

That scale is a good one if you plan to buid up a collection in a relatively small space. On the other hand, it's awfully small - though in recent years, with the help of photo-etched detail sets, modelers have done some astonishing things with 1/700 kits. If you want something a bit bigger you might consider going into 1/350 scale. There are some fine battleship and carrier kits in that scale (most notably the recent offerings from Trumpeter), though, as one of the other participants has noted, they tend to be pretty expensive and take up quite a bit of space. A terrific way to start in 1/350 would be the Tamiya destroyer U.S.S. Fletcher. It's a nice kit, isn't terribly expensive, doesn't involve a great deal of repetitive work, and doesn't take up much space. Gold Medal Models offers a really spectacular aftermarket photo-etched detail set for it, too.

Hope this is of some use.

Tamiya kits ROCK!
Period.
That's all there is too it.