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Best 10 Ship kits of all time...

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  • Member since
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Best 10 Ship kits of all time...
Posted by Anonymous on Friday, October 9, 2009 7:17 AM
In the spirit of equal time, what are some of the best ship kits of all time.  These would be kits that exceeded our expectations. Might be new kits or "classic" releases that keep on giving. I would like for you to name your choice(s) and then explain why you chose the kit(s)...
  • Member since
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  • From: Spartanburg, SC
Posted by subfixer on Friday, October 9, 2009 7:39 AM

I would say that the new Lindberg 1/72 scale I-53 is the finest ....

Really though, I think, from what I've heard, that the new USS Buchanon is supposed to be a fine piece of work. But as far as nautical subjects go, my favorite so far, it might not be the best of all time, is the Tamiya 1/35 PBR. I have a thing for it as I volunteered for duty for service on them during Vietnam but missed the chance as they turned them over to the S. Vietnamese Navy before I could. (It was probably a good thing, now that I look back on it, stupid 18 year old). There is good detail (large scale) as you would expect, and excellent fit.

But getting back on the subject, price will have to be a factor. Best for the price or best, the sky's the limit?

I'm from the government and I'm here to help.

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Posted by Anonymous on Friday, October 9, 2009 7:46 AM
 subfixer wrote:

...price will have to be a factor. Best for the price or best, the sky's the limit?

Good point. I'd say sky is the limit for your pick. But if you chose a $900 limited-release, resin, signed and numbered kit that sells for $900, qualify your answer with that information.  Then pick a second choice from those directed at mass market.
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Posted by Anonymous on Friday, October 9, 2009 11:51 AM
Well my vote would go for the new Dragon 1/350th scale Destroyer kits (Buchanon, Laffey, etc.) Also, the new Tamiya 1/700th scale "early" Akagi is a real gem...especially if you trick it out w/ the wooden flight deck and other AM parts...
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  • From: NJ
Posted by JMart on Friday, October 9, 2009 8:10 PM

second vote, hands down, for Dragon's 350 destroyers.

Unlimited funds?  I have heard/read tons of praise heaped at the 1/350 resin Commander Series offerings

I would get the Mikasa with all lion roar accessories.

bang for the buck? you cant go wrong with the classic Tamiya Fletcher

The RoG 350 Bismarck is quite nice too.

I dont think you can pick any "oldies" except out of nostalgia.

And, unfortunatelly, no plastic sailing ships would make this list (or even a top 100 list......  )

 

 

 

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  • From: Boston
Posted by Wilbur Wright on Friday, October 9, 2009 8:44 PM

I'm going to presume styrene kits here as I don't think wood builders are on this forum.

Heller Victory,  Revell Constitution 1/96, Revell Cutty Sark 1/96, Revell Kearsarge 1/96th

Possibly the Revell Bismark and possibly their QM2, and many have said their Viking Ship is quite accurate.

 

I would choose these based on accuracy or the ability to make them accurate with little effort and that a finished model would faithfully represent the real thing.

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Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, October 10, 2009 8:40 AM
 I might throw in the 1/96 CSS Alabama---Revell, I think?
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  • From: Sunny Califorina
Posted by Sherman1111 on Saturday, October 10, 2009 8:57 AM
I would vote on the 1/72 scale Matchbox Snowberry. When I built it years ago it was a rather enjoyable kit, bur remember haveing to modifify soldiers to sailers to outfit her. She sat produally on the fireplace mantel till my old cat decided it was in the way. Both have long departed and I bought a  revell version and built the hull and bagged it up and put away just could not get into the project one day I will restart again.
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  • From: Boston
Posted by Wilbur Wright on Saturday, October 10, 2009 11:56 AM

I have built the CSS Alabama as I wanted to try a ship like this however the kit is not accurate, and is a reboxing with little change, of the Kearsarge which apparently is accurate. There are lots of threads along on that topic.

 

I would add that I have built the Snowberry within the last two years and found it to be extremely enjoyable. There is a strong argument around however that it needs serious work to correct the innacuracies of the real thing. Looks great to me however. I've really got to get some photos up.

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Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, October 10, 2009 12:26 PM
 Wilbur Wright wrote:

I have built the CSS Alabama as I wanted to try a ship like this however the kit is not accurate, and is a reboxing with little change, of the Kearsarge which apparently is accurate. There are lots of threads along on that topic.

 

I would add that I have built the Snowberry within the last two years and found it to be extremely enjoyable. There is a strong argument around however that it needs serious work to correct the innacuracies of the real thing. Looks great to me however. I've really got to get some photos up.

Is the Snowberry a corvette?
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  • From: Sunny Califorina
Posted by Sherman1111 on Saturday, October 10, 2009 1:14 PM
Yes Manstein I beleive she was.
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  • From: Windy city, US
Posted by keilau on Saturday, October 10, 2009 1:49 PM

My vote for one of the best AND the best model for the money goes to the Trumpeter 03612 1:200 scale Sovremenny Class Destroyer Type 956. Not my most favorite modeling subject. But a high quality kit with small PE frets that makes possible a nice display model out of the  box without after market parts. It is one of the few recent (2002/2003) model release that caused a stir in the modeling community. See the multiple parts build report by Guido Hopp for details. I paid $45 for one in 2006. It is still on the Trumpeter online catalogue, but getting more difficult to find in the US. A 2009 release from Bronco of the same ship, same scale is priced over $200.

The Dragon 1/350 USS Buchanan and USS Gearing WW2 destroyer series are both outstanding kits. But the finished model is relatively small and they need aftermarket parts for railings. They should be in the top 10 for the quality at moderate price.

I have the Revell 1:144 scale Fletcher on special order by a LHS. Based on published reviews, it should be a good top 10 candidate. I will update when I see the kit.

There are many excellent injection molded kits above the $200 or more price mark, but they will not get my vote. If sky is the limit, there are many outstanding models or kits from motionmodels.com, modelshipmaster.com, BaD ship models and others. And the best among them is Fine Art Models. You can get a 1:96 scale Fletchers for a mere $6,500.00.

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  • From: Windy city, US
Posted by keilau on Saturday, October 10, 2009 2:19 PM
 Wilbur Wright wrote:

I would add that I have built the Snowberry within the last two years and found it to be extremely enjoyable. There is a strong argument around however that it needs serious work to correct the innacuracies of the real thing. Looks great to me however. I've really got to get some photos up.

Yes. You can find information on all the different scale Flower Class Corvette on this site, including the Matchbox/Revell 1:72 scale Snowberry kit.

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  • From: Toronto
Posted by BGuy on Saturday, October 10, 2009 5:15 PM
It may be a touch off topic but since people have brought up the Snowberry kit and I'm considering it for a project in the near future.  Those of you who have mentioned maybe getting some photos up online, could you please do so?  I'm especially interested in builds that have not been done with aftermarket stuff, so I can evaluate the debate about the kit's inadequacies for myself.

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  • From: Boston
Posted by Wilbur Wright on Saturday, October 10, 2009 7:51 PM

Well you could spend upwards of $1000 to get all the great stuff available for it through that site, however I paid $72 dollars for the kit and it looks pretty good. I had to thin out the funnels etc to get them to scale and use evergreen clear sheet styrene for the radar house glass. I also had to sand off the wood deck in most places as its not accurate.

I would go for it. That site link in this thread is fantastic for reference. I'll get photos up as soon as I can.

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Posted by rsog2000 on Saturday, October 10, 2009 9:29 PM
 keilau wrote:

A 2009 release from Bronco of the same ship, same scale is priced over $200.

 I guess that would explain why my LHS has a Bronco 1/200 Ka-28? I was trying to figure out why they didn't put it in 1/144 scale, this must be it, they just took the molding for the one included with the full kit and boxed it separately.

Only a few prefer liberty; the majority only want fair masters. --Sallust
  • Member since
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  • From: Windy city, US
Posted by keilau on Saturday, October 10, 2009 9:53 PM
 keilau wrote:

My vote for one of the best AND the best model for the money goes to the Trumpeter 03612 1:200 scale Sovremenny Class Destroyer Type 956. Not my most favorite modeling subject. But a high quality kit with small PE frets that makes possible a nice display model out of the  box without after market parts. It is one of the few recent (2002/2003) model release that caused a stir in the modeling community. See the multiple parts build report by Guido Hopp for details. I paid $45 for one in 2006. It is still on the Trumpeter online catalogue, but getting more difficult to find in the US. A 2009 release from Bronco of the same ship, same scale is priced over $200.

Free Time Hobby has this 1:200 scale Sovremenny Class Destroyer kit in stock for $91.15. Still an excellent value.

  • Member since
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  • From: Greenville, NC
Posted by jtilley on Tuesday, October 13, 2009 1:50 AM

This is an interesting topic.  It seems to me that if we're going to factor in price, we also should take the age of the kit into consideration.  Depending on whether we do or don't do that, I think I can make an argument for putting the same kit close to the top of both the "Best" and "Worst" lists.

The old Revell 1/535-scale U.S.S. Missouri was originally released in 1953.  It was Revell's first ship kit, and one of the very first plastic warships from any firm.  Varney and Lindberg have some claim on the title "First," but the Revell Missouri certainly was a major figure in the first generation of plastic kits.  It featured a level of detail that kit purchasers had never seen before.  (Compare it to the balsa version from Monogram, for instance.)  It captured the imagination of tens of thousands - probably hundreds of thousands - of kids and adult modelers.  It surely was a huge factor in creating the hobby of plastic ship modeling.  If we evaluate "quality" in terms of importance and influence, this kit may well belong among the "top ten."  Certainly the "top hundred."

But by the standards of 2009 the kit is, regardless of what new-fangled box it's packed in, a real dog.  Its hull is inaccurately shaped (largely because the hull lines of the Iowa class were still classified in 1953).  It has no screws, and it's missing a rudder.  The Oerlikon guns are represented by three-pronged blobs cast integrally with the deck.  The guardrails look like slabs, several feet thick.  The barrels of the Bofors guns are flat on their bottoms.  By modern standards the thing looks more like a toy than a scale model - and it could well be argued that it's one of the worst ship kits ever. 

Matters of deep philosophy aside, I'll take the liberty of disagreeing somewhat with my cyber-friend JMart and suggest several sailing ship kits that I think belong among, or close to, the "top ten":

Heller 1/100 H.M.S. Victory

Heller 1/75 La Reale

Revell 1/96 Constitution

Imai 1/120 Cutty Sark (and probably several other Imai kits; I haven't seen all of them)

Revell 1/64 Viking ship

Revell Mayflower (either scale)

Revell 1/96 Golden Hind

Revell 1/110 Charles W. Morgan

Airfix 1/144 Wasa

Sheesh - that's nine.  I wouldn't want to argue that nine out of the top ten ought to be sailing ships; comparing sailing ship kits with modern steel ship kits really is like comparing apples and oranges.  But those nine, despite the fact that all of them are at least thirty years old, can, in my opinion, hold their own against anything the industry has produced since.

As for the "bottom ten" - taking into due consideration the date factor I mentioned earlier, I nominate the Aurora U.S.S. Halford.  It was labeled a Fletcher-class destroyer (which the real Halford was) equipped with an aircraft catapult (which the real Halford was).  And the picture on the box showed a catapult-equipped Fletcher-class destroyer.  But inside the box was an extremely crude model of either a Sumner- or Gearing-class ship.  (It was so crude that it would be hard to tell which.)  It had a catapult, all right - which none of the Sumners or Gearings did.  And the aircraft on the catapult bore no resemblance to - well, much of anything.  Even by mid-fifties standards, that was a lousy model.

And then, of course, there's the Revell "H.M.S. Beagle," one of the more egregious marketing scams in the history of the hobby business.  And the same company's "S.M.S. Seeadler" and clipper ship "Staghound" - more of the same.  The grossly misproportioned Heller "Oseberg Ship" surely belongs on that list.  Come to think of it, I'd include quite a few of those old Heller kits that used identical hulls dressed up with decorations that turned them into travesties unlike anything that ever floated.

That "bottom ten" list is a pretty depressing subject.  Better go to bed.

Youth, talent, hard work, and enthusiasm are no match for old age and treachery.

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  • From: Windy city, US
Posted by keilau on Tuesday, October 13, 2009 10:17 PM
 jtilley wrote:

The old Revell 1/535-scale U.S.S. Missouri was originally released in 1953.  It was Revell's first ship kit, and one of the very first plastic warships from any firm.  Varney and Lindberg have some claim on the title "First," but the Revell Missouri certainly was a major figure in the first generation of plastic kits.  It featured a level of detail that kit purchasers had never seen before.  (Compare it to the balsa version from Monogram, for instance.)  It captured the imagination of tens of thousands - probably hundreds of thousands - of kids and adult modelers.  It surely was a huge factor in creating the hobby of plastic ship modeling.  If we evaluate "quality" in terms of importance and influence, this kit may well belong among the "top ten."  Certainly the "top hundred."

I remember the visit of Battleship New Jersey to Hong Kong in 1953. It anchored outside of the inner harbor. My father took me on a ferry ship curise that circled around the New Jersey.

I saw the Revell kit shortly after. It took a year or so for the Revell Missouri kit to reach the Hong Kong Hobby Shop. Every week, I made a trip after school to look at the box art in the display window and started saving money for it. It would have taken me forever to save the HK$17.50, but my mother helped with the 90% balance. Compared to all the other Airfix kits I had, it came together relatively easily. It remained the flag ship of my collection until I left Hong Kong for college in 60's. I was proud of the rigging I did, but the brush paint job was no so good. It has to be in the top 10 if rated by impact on modelers.

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  • From: Carmel, CA
Posted by bondoman on Wednesday, October 14, 2009 2:48 PM

Revell Mayflower, Golden Hind, Morgan.

Hasegawa Mikasa

Zvezda Borodino

Trumpeter USS San Francisco

Revell Campbellton, The Sullivans

Tamiya Bismark

Lindberg Lightship

 

  • Member since
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  • From: Warrington PA
Posted by oceano75 on Wednesday, October 14, 2009 8:20 PM

I'll join in here.

If the main criterion is "kits that exceded expectation", I suggest a modest offering from our good friends at Lindberg.  Their "Coastal Patrol Boat", the Cape-class Coast Guard Cutters, known service-wide as "95s".

The kit, out of the box, is a fairly accurate representation of the A-class boats as they were commissioned in 1953.  I have pictures of ones complete with mousetraps.  The fit is good and the kit goes together well and looks good when done.  The only real change to out of the box would be to file off the molded on hand rail across the front of the superstructure and replace it with Plastruct or Evergreen rod.  With very little work it can be converted to a later C-class boat with a longer pilot house and no ASW weapons.  So, if you are "expecting" a "typical" Lindberg kit, this little one surpasses expectations. 

I built the kit 30 years ago and did a typical early modeler job on it.  I immediately bought 2 kits when Lindberg reissued them.  I have one completed as an out of the box A.  I replaced the handrail with .045 Plastruct rod, replaced the 40 with an HR offering and added HR draped fire hoses.  If I can figure out how to post pictures, I'll post a couple.  The second is in my stash and will be built as a C boat some time in 2010. 

That is my offering.

As for the Revell Conny in 1/96...  I was working on one about 10 years ago.  I thoroughly enjoyed it and would have to include it in my personal top 10.  (FSM included it in their top 10 classic kits)  I had the hull complete and the masts constructed.  I had the fore mast rigged and was about half way through the main rigging.  Then a section of drop ceiling fell on it.  Totally demasted.  I could not believe it when, a week later, I was helping a friend clean out his attic and he came across a 1/96 Revell Conny still in the box.  He mused "how did that get here", looked at me and said "can you use this?".  So now I have another Conny in my stash.  

 

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  • From: Warrington PA
Posted by oceano75 on Wednesday, October 14, 2009 9:25 PM

Further musings...

I like Bondo's Lightship also...  If you can over the flags.  They have to be replaced! 

 

  • Member since
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  • From: Sydney, Australia
Posted by Robert on Thursday, October 15, 2009 12:42 AM
Of the kits I have built, nearly all sailing ships, I found the best are: Revell CSS Alabama and USS Kearsarge, IMAI Susquehanna -  everything fitted together perfectly -, Revell Mayflower and the greatest of them all, the Pyro Harriet Lane. I'm about to build it (actually a Lindberg reincarnataion) for the 7th time in 44 years.
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Posted by Publius on Thursday, October 15, 2009 3:26 AM

     Glad someone got on this idea. I would say that my list goes like this: 1. Pyro Roman Merchant because its so unique. 2. Revell Cutty Sark large because of what it is (fantastic). Is anything wrong with this kit besides the blocks? 3. Revell 1959 HMS Victory because I have one built and rigged with plastic sails now and it looks great and I had one in 1960 when I was 10 years old and won a first in a contest with it. 4. Revell Great Eastern because of the ship that is the subject. 5. Trumpeter's heavy cruiser San Francisco because I suspect it is an accurate modern kit and it's very close to USS Indianapolis, my fathers ship in WW2. He got off just before the loaded the bomb to go to the war college. "44 months in the Pacific." 6. Heller galleons because there aren't enough galleon models, but be careful what you buy. 7. Revell and other ships from Colombus' fleet. Big or small they look good to me and they are contemporary to the first western ships to visit Siam where I live now. What's know about early ships to the East?  8. Aurora USS Hartford because of the propeller and all those cannons on deck. Seems to build into a nice piece even if the kit looks a little thick and crude? 9. Airfix (?) Wasa. Looks super cool of a super cool ship. 10. Revell aircraft carrier Hornet. I got the kit but haven't seen it yet. I think it's a shrine. Model will be OK I'm sure.

     Final note, I'd sure love to see a model of the Atocha, Mel Fishers treasure galleon and anything from the Spanish Armada. Galleons are cool. Phillipines? Big ones with interior detail please. Thanks, Paul

How does this work?

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Posted by tankerbuilder on Thursday, October 15, 2009 6:24 PM
 VELL! HERR MANSTEIN, are ve looking for targets, ya? The 10 best in my humble opinion are as follows One- the swift boat by MONOGRAM. Two -The 36 foot express cruiser(FORMERLY made by LINDBERG) haven,t seen it in years. Three -REVELLS U-47 . Four-The ORIANA/CANBERRA kit by REVELL. Five- The H.M.S.Snowberry-I R.C.d mine and she still runs! Six- The N.S.SAVANNAH-by REVELL. Seven-The BRAZIL by REVELL. Eight-The COAST GUARD CUTTER by LINDBERG. Nine-The Minesweeper by LINDBERG. And Ten - the CHRIS-CRAFT CONSTELLATION by LINDBERG. I choose these because of the opportunity they ALL have given me in the past to develop my scratchbuilding skills. The LINDBERGS are special that way. Revell has also allowed me to stretch the boundaries with these kits. The very first kit bash I EVER did was to a damaged pair of models, the BRAZIL and the SAVANNAH,The SAVANNAH was damaged BEYOND repair aft, The BRAZIL was severely damaged in the forward area.Solution I put the SAVANNAH bow on the BRAZIL where the contours matched almost perfect.Thus my conversion skill door was opened.   tankerbuilder
  • Member since
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  • From: brisbane australia
Posted by surfsup on Thursday, October 15, 2009 7:08 PM

For me it is the following and not in any order.....

1:- Revell Cutty Sark 1-96

2:-Trumpeter HMS Hood 1-350

3:-Tamiya Bismarck 1-350

4:- Revell Savannah

5:- Airfix HMS Prince

6:- Dragon USS Buchanan 1-350

7:- Trumpeter USS Essex 1-700

8:- Revell S100 1-72

9:- Revell/Matchbox HMS Snowberry 1-72

10:- Revell QM2

They are my favourite Ships at the moment but everyones list will always change with new kits coming out at a fairly rapid rate.

 

If i was your wife, i'd poison your tea! If Iwas your husband, I would drink it! WINSTON CHURCHILL

  • Member since
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  • From: Miami, FL
Posted by Felix C. on Thursday, October 15, 2009 10:21 PM

1/350 Hasegawa Mikasa

1/400 Academy Titanic

1/72 Revell S-100

1/48 Revell Rag Boat

 

  • Member since
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  • From: Sunny Califorina
Posted by Sherman1111 on Friday, October 16, 2009 7:45 AM

Has any one done a talley yet or you want to run a little longer. I gusss for classics, you could list the Tamiya series of 1/350 Ships. they have stood the test of time. amd another vote for the large REVELL CLIPPERS I saved my money as a paper boy 40 years ago, at least it seams like that to buy The CuttySark. Never finished her but for days i would just  get the box down and look at the rigging drawings when I did get brave enough to start I remember warping masts pulling string to tight, never finished he , but for a 10 year old dreaming of sailing while building was everything. now with video games and tv I am afraid we are looseing our modeling base. I tried to get my son interested, lost to the video games, but i have one more chance with my Granddaughter and grandson,and if I live long enough Great grand children . as soon as they are a little older we will try again. i still find my self maleing an airplane noise as I fly her by me or bang as the tank fires a round,

jd

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Posted by thunder1 on Friday, October 16, 2009 8:37 AM
It's all in the eye of the beholder....Nichimo's YAMATO when released in 1970 was a real milestone in ship models. I had just finished up building the Lindberg Fletcher and was looking for a new project. A trip to  the original Hobbytown in Boston had the Yamato on the front counter, heck, it took up the whole counter... I was used to 18" boxes containing diminutive plastic ships and the owner pointed out the HUGE Yamato box to me. He popped the box open and the the size of the hull alone sold me on this kit.  The quality(and quantity) of the parts was state of the art for 1970, even today they hold up pretty well. But the price, a whopping $49.95, it was a monthly car payment! But I had to have it, scratch building wasn't part of my modeling vocabulary in 1970. Being a seaman in the Coast Guard I wasn't able to front the purchase but the owner allowed me to make installment payments. I recall making the final payment and carrying the model back to my ship, all on foot, quite a distance from the hobby shop. I remember the Officer of the Deck remarking at the size of the ship model box "there goes a career man", I guess he was right. Thirty years later I retired and still build ship models.
  • Member since
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  • From: Warrington PA
Posted by oceano75 on Friday, October 16, 2009 9:00 AM

I agree with thunder1.  It really is in the eye of the boholder.  Many kits mentioned in this thread as "best" are mentioned in the companion thread as "worst".  Sail builders would not include power ships and vice versa.  One person said no sail ship should be in the top 100 and another rattled of a dozen that should be in the top ten.  It's all personal opinion and preference.  You would almost need 2 or 3 compilations: sail, non-sail, and possibly classic.  It is just interesting to see who likes building what and why.

By the way, thunder1.  When were you in the Coast Guard and where?  Sounds like you were at Base Boston at one time. 

 

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