Battleship Question - Appearance

If I voted with my head I'd have to go with the Iowa class BBs. 

If I voted with my heart, then it's the Bismarck/Tirpitz.

I'm currently building the Richelieu and she's a fairly nice kit I suppose. Just keep in mind she's an older kit (25-30 years maybe) so she won't be a shake and bake kit but I got her for the same reason your looking at her she's pretty, plain and simple. Very nice and busy in the post 1943 refit camo too.

Thanks for those other tips, guys. The Kirov has all the slinkiness I want, but with one drawback, alas: no big guns.

As for the others, Renown does nothing for me ( in general, I find Brit BBs amazingly clunky in proportion and design- and this from the country that foaled Jacky Fisher), as do the WWI capital ships. Kongo does nothing for me either. Yamato would, but for that odd hump in her sheerline. The Iowas are generally pretty nice, but that AA pod/bulb at the bow feels like a big zit on a beautiful girl's nose, sorry. Littorio is cried up as being beautiful, but not as good looking as Richeleiu. Bismarck is very purposeful looking, but too squat for my taste.

However, thanks for that tip on USS Alaska, SHE looks quite promising, even tho a battlecruiser. As does KM Scharnhorst (w/North Atlantic bow). But my gut tells me that Richeleiu's sweeping bow lines and towering superstructure is going to take the prize.

And if you extend the definition out to Battlecruisers, the Alaska class is one of the prettiest ships ever made, although they were white elephants by the time they got wet.  Another glamour girl is the Kirov nuke Battlecruisers.

On the other end of the spectrum ... there are some BBs that are so ugly they're cute, like the old Russian hulls that got punctured at Tsushima ... or Mikasa, who was on the winning team that day.  Then you got the Oregon/Olympia.  Ugliest one ever ... Rodney.  Lopsided lines ....

simply great looking things

Let me make a vote for three other "possibles."

IJN Kongo, for really being a "pagoda" ship, and having al sorts of shapes and curves and the like.

HMS Renown, for being another graceful ship.

And an under-rendered ship:  The Tennesse Class (like USS California).  That "clipper bow" makes for a unique look.

if you're one of those warped individuals that thinks ships start at the waterline....;)

LoL!

Well, maybe it's because when ever I've typically seen a ship out of water, there's all sorts of sheds, tarps, powerlines, trash cans, CONEXs all cluttering the ship up, that "from the water up" seems more natural to me.

(And I did experiment--just the once--with a case that had an acrylic "sea" at the w.l.--ne'er again <g>.)

Hi Gerard,

At the moment, you've only got one choice for RICHELIEU: 1/400 scale plastic from Heller, a kit which goes in and out of production (in production at the moment). We stock the kit, which is among Heller's better efforts. Our good friend, Jacques Druel of L'Arsenal is working on a photoetch set for the kit, but that's not yet available. Feel free to e-mail me directly with any other questions.

Cheers,

John Snyder, White Ensign Models, http://WhiteEnsignModels.com