FSM Most Wanted Poll - Ships

Kits mentioned above that do exist and listed at Scalehobbyist.com:

Lindberg's 1/48 Jenny is available

Italian Warships: 1/350 BB Roma (Trumpie, pretty new), 1/350 Hobby Boss cruiser Pola is out there but is not well reviewed and hence cheap; 1/700 - BBs Vittorio Veneto; Littorio - both Trumpie

1/350 Scharnhorst - DML's version out two years ago - 1100 parts

1350 WWI - Dreadnought (Zvezda & Trumpie): Trumpie has a 1/350 WWII Queen Elizabeth and a 1/700 WWI version of the same ship: we can hope it will come out in 350 as did their Warspite. The ICM Konig class BBs are still widely available - it's a difficult kit as I can attest. Zvezda's new Svestapol has gotten very good reviews: like Dreadnought it's a relatively simple ship with no flak or radar and thuus has a low part count in the 300 area.  

(Pre-WWI vessels are represented by some terrific kits. Hasegawa's 1/350 Mikasa looks very good and certainly deserves a build. Bronco's Chinese warships are very sweet models: I have a BB and cruiser Chih Yuen - I believe both come with complete PE. The cruiser is a lovely vessel and will get a full hull build from me. Emden pops up on eBay (I have it) regularly and is still supported with PE. I can't say about Encore's 225 Olympia other than it's old: as I can attest the Encore Oregon is not for the faint of heart.)  

WWII Brit Carrier: no 1/350 but the 1/400 Illustrious (in WWII configuration) has been reissued by Heller and is considered one of their better effort. (Wonder if it could be made into Victorious? I was very bummed by I found out the Airfix 1/600 Victorious was Cold War) I'll refer this one to Model Warship because I too would like a WWII RN CV.

There is no Enterprise. I can't see doing surgery on Wasp - they were very different ships. You're in luck with Saratoga.

No doubt looking at resin kits makes you wish. But for me that's where it's going to stay. I've been moving to water based paints like Vallejo and Golden because it's a delight to do without the solvents. My experience with resin is limited but anything that requires heavy duty masks, soaks in tire cleaner and must be glued with CA is not going to be for yours truly.

I'm building 1/700 DDs now. The downside is pretty obvious. But I also have finite display space and a 1/350 capital ship will fill it fast. There's something else nice about 1/700 and 1/600: they either come waterline or are pretty easy to convert. Even though I don't build dios (I'll get around to that when I build decent models to put them in) I like waterline anyway. You just don't think of a ship at sea as full hull which makes weathering really abstract. (Subs are an exception here.) I've decided that in future I will do any full hull ships with shading, filters, modulation etc to give the color some depth but no weathering at all. A lot of fine ship modelers do that regularly and it would be a great challenge just to make a really clean build. A waterline almost cries for heavy weathering. It's odd in my view that so many ship modellers are restrained with weathering when a wartime ship is probably getting worked pretty hard and they live in salt water. Some ships could be validly weathered as enthusiastically as a tank.

Eric

Very interesting.  As a matter of fact I'm working on the Trumpeter Warspite at the moment.  (For the most part it's an excellent kit - though, the label not withstanding, it does not represent the Warspite in her 1915 configuration.  The kit is identical to the "Queen Elizabeth, 1918" except for the nameplate.)  

The Lindberg Jenny was a fine kit in its day, but that day was a long time ago.  (The same can be said of the Renwall 1/48 rendition - with "Aeroskin" fabric covering - and the one from Aurora.  Oh, for a Jenny from Wingnut Wings!)   The Heller Victorious was good for its day too, but far from what Trumpeter or Dragon could do with the subject now.

I'm a 1/700 fan too (for reasons of both space and budget).  Given that the period leading up to World War I arguably was the one in which naval affairs had more influence on world events than any other period, I think it's a cryin' shame that there's only one plastic capital ship kit (that Trumpeter one) from that era.  (Ok, if you're picky you can count the Arizona and the Hood - and for that matter H.M.S. Victory.  But....) 

I have a Combrig resin Friedrich der Grosse in my stash; it's a  superb kit (my eyes can barely see the deck planks under magnification and a bright light), but I sure wish it was plastic - and cheaper.  The same goes for Combrig's 1/700 Dreadnought.

1/350 Maryland or Tennessee. Yay for cage masts!

1/350 Nachi-class cruiser.

The super-dreads would be nice indeed - but we want the post Pearl Harbor ships. They were into the Pacific War in the way few ships were - and even sunk IJN capital ships. It's irony that the USN fast battleships except for some shore bombardment were there to serve as flak platforms for the CVs while the old ships did the work. DML used to have a Pennsylvania in 700 but it's no longer with us.

Tis true that 700 only has Warspite and Elizabeth for WWI. But at 350 ships like Varyag, Mikasa and the Chinese ships aren't much bigger than a WWI Dreadnought in 700 and they were right in the middle of the mad naval race of the time. Naval affairs was moving like the wind in the late 19th century and it was ships like Mikasa that Fisher wanted to get rid of to make way for the big boys. But it would be nice to have a battlecruiser - and one that wasn't gunked up with torpedo protection on the hull as happened to all the postwar BBs. War is the enemy of art.

Eric

Eric,

Actually, the fast battleship USS Washington sank the Kirishima whil USS Iowa and New Jersey sank several Japanese ships including DD's. The old battleships ships served principally as shore bombardment platforms but got their moment at Surigao Strait in 1944.

I am grateful to Trumpeter for providing kits of the Littorio class but I would like to see the earlier ships of the Conte di Cavour and Andrea Doria classes.

As for the old American super Dreadnoughts, I would like to see them pre- Pearl Harbor as well as after. And, Aoshima does make the various Nachi class heavy cruisers in 1/350, as well as the Takao class ships. These are excellent kits.

Bill

EBergerud

The super-dreads would be nice indeed - but we want the post Pearl Harbor ships...

"Whaddya mean "we", Kemo Sabe?"

I prefer the pre-war configuration of the Navy's battle line, for the same reason I like yellowwings aircraft.  There's just something about the USN in the Thirties and happier times.  Not that I don't like WWII subjects, but I'd like to complete a collection of the fleet from around 1935.

I wish someone would mold a collection of large scale Donald McKay *American* clippers......namely the *Great Republic*.  The Lightning or Bald Eagle would be very nice.

Rob

I'm well aware that Washington sunk a BB and it would do splendidly for a WWII BB which I'm looking for. There isn't one in 1/350 - it didn't get sunk I guess. As for the fast BBs, I'm not saying they didn't earn their supper considering their post-WWII work, but they were not designed to serve as flak platforms which is what they did. (One wonders how many DDs or AA CVLs one could have built for the cost of one Iowa. They all carried flak.) I wouldn't discount the importance of shore bombardment. Allied navies probably saved the Anzio campaign and were key at during the first six weeks of Normandy. And all of the PTO landings would have been a lot worse without it.

HI :

  I have to pipe back in here . I forgot to mention the U.S.S. MIDWAY  , CORAL SEA , BON HOMME RICHARD angle decked carriers  .I spent eight months on the MIDWAY and after working as a docent at the HORNET museum  ,we NEED one of the ships in this class too . Don't forget the straight deck ENTERPRISE either !

  Now as to those support vessels I mentioned earlier .Let's go to the COAST GUARD .There's  room for a BOUY TENDER and the Smaller cutters used in harbors .There was a company years ago (around the late 60s early 70s) that made some . I think it was OTAKI .They were about 1/35 in scale I think . To round it out   ,How  about a really good BELLATRIX or others like her ? Not to be selfish , but I really don't want to see them smaller than 1/400 . I have a very hard time getting the EYEBALL-MK-1s  to focus on 1/700 even with help from magnifiers . Thanks     Tanker - builder

In WWII USN ships in 1/350 I would love to see USS Enterprise, and USS Nevada. In late Cold War ships I would love to see some of the RN types such as the Type 42 Destroyer, and Type 21, Type 22, or Leander Class Frigates that fought in the Falklands in 1/350 plastic. I wish that Airfix would re tool their Illustrious to represent Invincible as fitted out in 1982.

For what little it's worth - I forgot when I did my last two posts that, when I filled out the online form, I put  "American clipper ship" under "Ships - all other scales."  I'd be happy for any clipper in 1/96 or 1/100 scale.  There have only been two genuinely different ones:  the Revell Cutty Sark and the Marx/Lindberg Sea Witch.  (I can't count the Revell Thermopylae.  It's just a strangely - and utterly unrealistically - modified reissue of the Cutty Sark, and the two real ships only looked like each other from a distance.  Just one more Revell marketing stunt.)

I certainly endorse the votes for a new CV-6 Enterprise.  There should be a state-of-the-art 1/350 version - and, for that matter, a state-of-the-art one in 1/700.  The 35-year-old Tamiya one, with its skinny island and primitive 20mm guns, just doesn't cut it nowadays. 

Are you listening, Trumpeter?

Eric,

In a recent post, you wrote, "The super-dreads would be nice indeed - but we want the post Pearl Harbor ships. They were into the Pacific War in the way few ships were - and even sunk IJN capital ships. It's irony that the USN fast battleships except for some shore bombardment were there to serve as flak platforms for the CVs while the old ships did the work. DML used to have a Pennsylvania in 700 but it's no longer with us."

The post-Pearl Harbor battleships sank one battleship at Surigao Strait while DD's and PT's sank the other. The Washington, a new fast battleship also sank one battleship, indicating that the fast battleships actually did more than act as AA escorts for the carriers (a role that they were, in fact, designed to perform.) And, I in no way mean to diminish the shore bombardment role for either the old or the new battleships played in WWII and after. Yes, the fast BB's also served in that capacity and did quite well. The old ships in no way did all the work; most did not return to the line until late 1943 or well into 1944. The two North Carolina's and  the four South Dakota's were fighting as early as mid-1942 while the two earliest Iowa's (Iowa and New Jersey) were on the front lines in late 1943, and sank several Japanese ships. And, we cannot forget Massachusett's duel with Jean Bart. Finally, South Dakota still holds the record at 27 for the most enemy aircraft shot down in a single battle. To say that the fast BB's did not do the work ignores their many extraordinary contributions to the war effort.

That said, I agree with you that I would like to see kits of the older American battleships. USS Pennsylvania is distinguished as having fired more ammunition during the war than any other American battleship (and no, simply substituting an Arizona as Pennsylvania does not work.) Texas, Nevada, and Arkansas served with distinction in the European theater as well as in the Pacific. But, I do not want these limited to post-Pearl Harbor; I love them as they appeared in the 1930's as well.

Bill

I just like the lines and of these two ships. The Alaska and Guam need to be represented in 1/350 if even just for me alone. I am a greedy miser.

The photo in the middle is the USS Guam.

Now don't be greedy . . . I love those two ships!

Bill

I agree....I have built the revell CS 5 times and the Sea Witch 2x...not to mention the smaller Flying cloud and Stag Hound. The Revell Thermoplylae is a bad attempt at transforming the CS.   I intend to get another Cs and convert it correctly..

We need more models.......Donald Mckay clippers..to be exact.

We had a thread in here a couple years back about what kind of materials would be best used to make a model sailing ship. As it stands it's a field that belongs to dedicated and remarkably skilled scratch builders and people willing to spend big bucks on wooden kits - usually with planked hulls. (This excludes the area of the big RC ships - and planes for that matter - that requires modelling skills of the highest level and - at least I think - very good knowledge of tools and a decent shop to work in. In Edina Minnesota every nice Sunday the RC Navy brings out their amazing ships - we're talking at least three feet long, maybe five - complete with fishing boats carrying rescue guys with fishing nets to prevent one from going glub: extraordinary.) Someone made a very strong argument that a "multimedia" kit that included styrene, PE, white metal and perhaps some wood would best display a sailing ship at normal scale. Might be right actually. The best plastic molds today might do a very good job on a hull. I'd be very interested. In the meantime, Zvezda makes sailing ships. I just don't know whether it's good Zevezda (a Russian modeling company that makes fine models) or bad Zvezda (a Russian modeling company that makes terrible models.)

Eric  

John,

I was interested in finding out if Wingnut Wings would ever produce a Jenny and emailed them a while ago. I got this reply:

Hi Mike,

Thanks for your email about your father and the Jenny that he landed on the tree.

Currently, Wingnut Wings has no plans of releasing a Jenny in a kit. However I have added your suggestion to our customers wishlist.

Thanks

Dave

Dave Johnson
Warehouse Operations Manager
Wingnut Wings
PO Box 15-319, Miramar 6022,
Wellington , New Zealand
www.wingnutwings.com

So, the more people who request a JN-4 from them, the better the chances...... that they'll make a kit.

Mike

Well, Bellatrix (c.f.)  does rigger a question.  How has the history of modern model kits managed to skip over the 74?

A kit company need only (if that was their intent) only build dies for a French 74.  They were captured and reused by a large number of combatants.  A smart kit manufacturer could make a "board room"  version with open frames and minimal planking that would sell well.

I know I'd want one of each.

I'd prefer 1:96/1:100; but could be talked into 1/150 or 1/162

When you get down to it historic planes dont get offered - except by Lindberg maybe. How about a Wright Flyer? A Bleriot? Spirit of St. Louis? One of those neat fighters from the 30s - I'd buy a Peashooter. Think about it. What if Tamiya or another big gun came out with a 1/32 scale Spirit of St. Louis with all the modern trimmings. Be a great model and I'd bet it would sell nicely.

I remember that, when I was in 3rd grade, a girl bought me a two-in-one 1/72 kit by Hawk of the Spirit of St.Louis and the Wright Flier for the class Christmas party.That is when I first got interested in girls! I also remember a Lindbergh kit of the Curtis Jenny.

But, back to ships . . . I suppose that I can boil down my list of most preferred (in no particular order)

1. USS Midway class carriers (axial deck or angled deck)

2. any American first and second generation Dreadnoughts

3. the British Royal Sovereign class battleships

4. pre-WWII Queen Elizabeth class battleships

5. HMS Tiger (battlecruiser)

6. the Italian Conte di Cavour and Andrea Doria class battleships

7. the British Illustrious class carriers

8. HMS Nelson and Rodney

Bill

EBergerud

When you get down to it historic planes dont get offered -  Spirit of St. Louis? 

Revell did a new tooled 1/48 Spirit of Saint Louis in 2010

http://www.revell.com/model-kits/aircraft/85-5244.html

http://manuals.hobbico.com/rmx/85-5244.pdf

tigerman

1/350 Maryland or Tennessee. Yay for cage masts!

1/350 Nachi-class cruiser.

Hi Eric,

Aoshima has a 1/350 Nachi Class

http://www.hlj.com/product/AOS04425

I'd like to know a little more about this one. I found one review from 2005 and and it implied the model was new but said nothing like "new tool."  The part count is 50 and they certainly took a spartan approach to the engine. (Likewise the interior, but the real interior was spartan.) And they approached the odd dappled metal look of the cowl with decals. You can also buy it for $13 at Scale Hobbyist. I checked another review of the Revell Ventura by Tom Cleaver and he claims it was Revell's first 1/48 new tool kit since the Do-217 in the late 90s. (I found one of those on eBay and it looks like a neat kit: recessed lines etc. There's a 1/72 available.) I wonder if this Spirit isn't a rebox of something a little older. Maybe not. Perhaps Cleaver is wrong and this an early version of the new tool kits put out by Revell and Airfix starting a couple of years ago that offered decent modern kits at modest price to appeal to a broad range of modelers. I've got the new tool Airfix Spitfire XII and it's very nice - but appears a real leap from the Spirit shown in the instructions. Twice the part count even though it has no engine. The Ventura parts out at 150. I'll check around.

Eric

I've seen the kit. Japanese modellers appear willing to pay real money for Japanese ships. The new tool Yamato isn't much more money that other 1/350 IJN BBs and less than some of the new CVs. And there are other 1/350 cruisers. I checked Scale Hobbyist and they sell 36 WWII era IJN warships in 1/350 scale. (I like the look of the coal transport but bet the rigging would be very complex.) There are another 120 kits in 1/700. Almost all of Combined Fleet is in styrene. Considering the premiums demanded I'm glad I picked up Yukikaze for a mere $40 a couple of years back and not much more for Mikasa. Hats off to Japanese ship junkies - I'm sure they're the intended audience. And houses are small over there - bet that helps keep the 1/700 market alive.

Eric  

Those aren't small houses in Japan, they are large closets with toilets and hotplates.

Japan is about the size of California, has 125,000 people (for now - far less in 50 years) and a whole lot of mountains. I bet land is costly and the 3500 SqFt USA burb special a rare item. So more reason to build 1/700 - I've got a full hull 1/350 Konig and a 1/240 Oregon that's almost as big and they fill a shelf. (Bet the new Yamato is a whopper.) I was going through the 1/700 IJN offerings on Scale Hobbyist - amazing selection and this is an American dealer. They range in cost from $9 for a pair of shallow water escorts to $100 for a little new Tamiya Yamato. Lots of ships in the $30-$40 range if they have full hulls. I'm working on two 1/700 DDs now and they do stress the eye - especially as both required surgery. Fun in an odd way though. Can't see building more 1/72 aircraft or armor, but I'm already planning a 1/700 Tamiya Scharnhorst. And I see I have two 1/700 IJN cruisers, a 1/700 Cushing and two 1/600 Airfix cruisers in the stash - not even sure where I got them. Luckily WEM makes very hardy and cheap generic PE for both scales.

Eric

Just got a couple of replies on the aircraft forum on the Revell Spirit. It is about ten years old and considered a good kit although both respondents noted that the decal solution for the aluminum cowl lacks finesse. The DO-217 mentioned by Cleaver was an early DML effort and reboxed by Monogram under Pro Modeler label and hence to Revell. Early Dragon aircraft, as I understand it, can be a headache. I've got a "yellow box" Ju-88 and I think it looks very good indeed. Hope so. And for $13 the Spirit would might a really nice "Zen build" when the need appears for a styrene fix without work or worry. An honest "week-ender." Pity WingNut won't build a Jenny - then we could hope for a Bleriot and a Wright Flyer. I've got a WNW Pfalz and the mold quality is amazing.

Eric

Although I am not an avid ship builder I do have a few in my stash that I would like to build. Anyway I was intrigued by this thread and thought I'd cast my lot in. I would like to see in either 1/700 or 1/350 a model of U.S.S. Utah. Preferably in here pre Pearl Harbor active duty configuration.

stikpusher

Revell did a new tooled 1/48 Spirit of Saint Louis in 2010

www.revell.com/.../85-5244.html

manuals.hobbico.com/.../85-5244.pdf

EBergerud

I'd like to know a little more about this one. I found one review from 2005 and and it implied the model was new but said nothing like "new tool."  The part count is 50 and they certainly took a spartan approach to the engine. (Likewise the interior, but the real interior was spartan.) And they approached the odd dappled metal look of the cowl with decals. You can also buy it for $13 at Scale Hobbyist. I checked another review of the Revell Ventura by Tom Cleaver and he claims it was Revell's first 1/48 new tool kit since the Do-217 in the late 90s. (I found one of those on eBay and it looks like a neat kit: recessed lines etc. There's a 1/72 available.) I wonder if this Spirit isn't a rebox of something a little older.

I agree with the question; I thought the late Revell release was a re-release of a kit originally issued by Monogram, back in the Sixties.  I'm curious to know, too.

Three gents replied to the Spirit question on the aircraft forum and everyone said it was a good kit and one person thought it was relatively recent - I did find a 2006 review that said that also. I admit that the instructions show a pretty simple plane but certainly more complex than the Lindberg antique that's also around in 1/72. (And no, Lindberg was not named for Lindbergh - only we Minnesota natives know how odd Norwegian spelling can be. Lindbergh's father was a Congressman from MN and the main terminal at surprisingly large Minneapolis International is named after Lindbergh and contains a full scale replica of the Spirit.) Hard to miss at $13 I guess.

Eric