ANYONE ELSE NOTICE THIS?

Here is what I have noticed about ships.

Shipmodels are sometimes a bunch of little models combined to make one.  My present project has guns, cranes, boats, and aircraft that are all multi-part, highly detailed, little kits that take a lot of time and then are attached to the ship.

Scott

I'd be reluctant to make any generalization.  I imagine the most sophisticated plastic ship kits (e.g., the Heller H.M.S. Victory) have more parts than any other kind of plastic kit.  (That one has well over 2,000.)  That does not, however, relate directly to the amount of time it takes to build the model.  A decent modeler can whip out a good 1/700 destroyer in a couple of evenings - just as a decent modeler can whip out a good 1/72 fighter in a couple of evenings.  But we've all seen (via photos, if not in the flesh) incredibly detailed airplanes, on all scales, that had years of work lavished on them.

I guess there's something to the observation that, all other things being equal, since a ship is, almost by definition, bigger than an aircraft (careful:  the 1/720 Revell Hindenburg is longer than the 1/720 Revell Graf Spee), and a real ship takes longer to build than a real aircraft or tank, ships as a category take longer to reproduce in model form.  But all other things rarely are equal.  I've seen plenty of aircraft and armor models that took longer than plenty of ship models.

Ships are large complex machines. Cars and airplanes are streamlined and have significantly fewer details. Submarines are quicker to build due to a lack of external details.

I took two years to build my 1:350 Maximum Battleship, but built about 15-20 other kits during the same period.  A lot of the problem is finding enough space because of the bi .... uh ... wife.

*chuckles at MTB* Good recovery there, mate!

So far in the second half of my modeling career, the three 1/700 ships have each taken longer than the 1/72 bomber I am currently working on, because as others have noted, steel ships at least are really a series of sub-assemblies that are then attached to the hull.

Some of these sub-assemblies are almost models in themselves. I still have vivid memories (well, OK, deep emotional scars) of folding the SPS-49 photoetched radar antenna for my 1/700 Perry class frigate. The suggestions I got on here were about the only thing that enabled me to win that particular battle.

But for me, it is the process, not how long it takes, that is what I derive enjoyment from. That, and spending an evening detailing the cockpit of a B-25B is wayyyyyyyyyyyyy cheaper than a prolonged stay in a padded cell.

It always seems like I drag them out even longer than they already are too. I got a Queen Mary on the way in 1:600 scale as well as all the PE goodies etc... and I already have plans in the works for real wood decks, PE rails, scratchbuilt deck houses... the list goes on and on and on and on............