Informal "Your Most Wanted Ship kit" Poll

I don't wish to start a debate here, so I'll just make a few observations and try to keep it neutral.

I have no access to the number of wooden ship kits sold every year. All I know is that personally I buy about 0.25 or so, yearly. And I do build them.

I probably buy about three or four plastic ship kits every year, and maybe one is a sailing ship.

As far as the subject matter, my plastic ship kits are top-down. In other words the more complex the better. The most recent plastic sailing ship I've bought is the Pourquois Pas? which is a fairly complex subject. A Fletcher, a couple of carriers and a Lindberg Q ship (two actually) round out the lot.

My wooden ship purchase this year was a Model Shipways Dapper Tom, and I was given a MS Virginia Privateer (Santa paid money). Both a little complicated, but both also very buildable.

So at least for consumer Morrison; there's no real overlap between wood and plastic kits. I could never imagine taking on a wood Constitution kit, as I would never get it built and the sheer tedium of making so many assemblies would wear me out. Likewise a plastic sloop or schooner, while it has some attraction, just begs to be built from wood, cordage, etc.

And I am going to guess with a pretty great deal of certainty that almost no big wood sailing ship kit, esp. from Europe, ever gets finished. I do read a fair number of wood model websites, something like a twenty gun frigate is about the upper limit .

I guess that my observation is the cost of kitting any plastic ship is pretty great, and needs a lot of units to sell. The first X number of thousand kits pay for the molds, the next for the box etc. So big complicated kits are a realistic choice. But how many of us ever will build more than one Royal Sovereign?

As for simple subjects, looking in the Privateer box, there's mostly the proverbial pile of strips of wood, some laser cut stuff and some Brittania castings. Nylon cordage (Ugghh!).

Not a very expensive product to produce, sold at a considerable sum retail (mine came from an estate sale), and probably profitable in small quantities. Yes Round 2 is selling those funny little plastic ships again, but they cost about 20-30 times what they did originally.

very well put kpnuts , we all live in hope of a soveriegn of the seas . I would definitely be at the head of the queue .from what I have read , they had the tooling just about done , so why not bring it out.

Why? There are literally hundreds of sailing ships in wood so there is a market for them (and in general wooden kits are 2 or three times the price of plastic kits) I would happily pay 200 quid for a 1/100 royal Sovriegn by Heller. There is definitely a market for them, or why produce them in wood.

I won't bother to list sailing ships; that genre of plastic kit is just about extinct, and there's little point in pretending that it isn't. In terms of modern warships, I'd like to see some U.S. Navy auxiliaries of the WWII period. (We now have quite a few Japanese ones; why not some American ones?) I'd particularly welcome a Haskell-class attack transport, because my father served in one, but an attack cargo ship, a hospital ship, and a fleet oiler would also be most welcome.

And I'll second TB's plea for more merchant ships. My mouth waters at the thought of a shelf full of great ocean liners in 1/700. A manufacturer could get double duty out of the molds for quite a few merchantment that had wartime careers as Navy vessels - e.g., the Victory ship. And how about a Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth with optional parts for wartime armament, and a choice of wartime or peacetime color schemes?

And how about an old-fashioned tramp steamer? It would make a great companion to any WWII convoy escort. If I built one I'd name her the SS Inchcliffe Castle. (If you don't know why - well, whurra, whoosh, and even foosh to ye.)

One interesting thing about this old thread: the number of kits that were gleams in people's eyes eight or nine years ago, and are now on the market. There's certainly no shortage of Prinz Eugen kits, for instance.

Let's not lose sight of the fact that we're living in a golden age of modeling. I hope I don't live to see the end of it.

I believe that Merit has released a 1/350 USS Enterprise (CV-6) earlier this year. You should look into it.

Bill Morrison

Hi,

I guess I'd probably be most interested in some reasonably priced plastic "Pre-Dreadnoought" and WWI era ships, in a reasonable sized scale.  (I know that there are resin ships out there but they all seem kind of expensive).

Other than that maybe some various merchant ships of just about any era.

uspsjuan

why hasen't anyone mentioned the USS Indianapolis ? you think with its history it would have already have made it in 1/350. i would get one.

yeah E.J.;

  There is never enough of any civilian ships from any era . The idea of these being ignored really torques me . There is always the gap between many .For instance where's all the 1/350 Victory ships ? Liberties we have .Where's the rest ?  T.B.

I'd like a reasonably priced Ironclad. Can't bite the bullet for one right now. Merry Christmas everyone.

I would still like to see the Napoleonic Wars ships I listed a few posts ago. I would also like to see a 1/350 USS Charles Adams class ship (preferably USS Benjamin Stoddert).  I also agree that we need more Soviet era ships, perhaps Kynda, Kresta, Kashin, Kara, or Moskva in 1/350 and in 1/700.  USS Bainbridge would make an excellent addition to the fine 1/700 USN Cold War ships by Dragon, as would other destroyer and frigate (DLG) classes of the period.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

Bill Morrison

tankerbuilder

Well , although it seems complete , there's no mention of Civilian ships ;

   So here's mine

                            Matson's Lurline and Monterey

                          But I definitely would like all of them in 1/350

 

YES and Yes. My dad was on the first boatload of men from the 32nd Red Arrow Division sent to Australia then New Guina on theLurline. I'v got a few nice pics of her from his scrapbook.

EJ

Well , although it seems complete , there's no mention of Civilian ships ;

   So here's mine .S.S.Andrea Doria .

                           "" Christoforo Columbo

                            Matson's Lurline and Monterey

                           Moore-Mcormack's Brasil

Any of the Maersk Vessels and one or two Great Lakes tourist boats like the Canadiana

       I do have to add a military vessel because she was my home Before and After F.R.A.M. - The U.S.S.Ozbourn D.D.846 a  Gearing class ship  There are many others , But I definitely would like all of them in 1/350 and they can throw in the Normandy the Kaiser Wilhelm ( the Liner ) . any of the unsung Cunarders , States Lines ships  T.B.

I would love to see a 1/100 royal Sovriegn. Or a proper 1/100 1/96 cutty sark and thermopylea 

I would also love to see most of those in kit form too. My preference would be in 1/700 scale though; especially for the Cold War era Soviet warships. I have an extrensive collection of Soviet/Russian ships already in that scale and they would fit in nicely. I even have all four Kirov class ships built! Add to those (if they are not already mentioned) Kashin, Kara, and Kynda-class ships as well. The Argentine cruiser would also be a great subject to see.

I'd like to see a manufacturer come out with the idea of 'twin kits,' i.e. two models in one package.  So many ships worked either together with another ship, or are famous for being antagonists that it makes sense to me to either release two kits ina single package, or two kits concurrently.  For instance, it seems ridiculous to me that there are so many kits of 'Bismack' out there, but it's companion ship, 'Prinz Eugen' is so rare (and usually in the 'wrong' scale too!).  If a company is going to release something like 'Kongo,' they should also release something like USS New Mexico.  This is particularly the case with ships of WW1.  ICM released three 'Koenig' class German battleships in 1/350 scale, but nobody has thought to produce a British ship in the same scale (HMS Lion, or HMS Iron Duke).  Very frustrating, and it seems so obvious as to beggar belief!  Just look how many 1/350 aircraft carriers have been released by Trumpeter in the last few years, but only now is there some indication that a Japanese carrier will hit the shelves ('Akagi' in Autumn 2008)!  And where are the Italian ships????

As for sailing models, well, we all just have to keep plugging away at the model companies in hopes they will produce something worthwhile one day.  Personally, I would think that a few large scale models of say, the schooner 'Bluenose' or maybe the schooner 'America' could be excellent subjects in 1/50 scale, if for no other reason than they could be converted to RC, as well as make impressive display models that many people would actually want in their living room (no matter how hard I try, my wife will never allow a 1/200 scale 'Yamato' in the living room!)........

I agree with most of the listings. How about HMS Elephant, HMS Vanguard, HMS Bellerophon, HMS Bellona, HMS Captain, HMS Shannon, HMS Foudroyant, HMS Queen Charlotte (all of the Napoleanic Wars)? Someone also mentioned in an earlier posting that they would like to see Bucentaure and Santissima Trinidad; I second the motion! Are you listening Airfix/Hornby Hobbies?

Bill Morrison

constructor wrote:

My "wish for" list is practically out now as models in my favorite scale, 1/350. I used to wonder then when the manufacturers will come out with famous WW2 ships in 1/350 scale and Trumpeter answered my prayers. when I was a young modeller, (12 years old) there was a Revell model of an attack transport. That is my wish, a 350 scale attack transport just like what they used in the movie, 'Away all boats!"

Since we're all dreaming, I's love to see the following:

A 1/400 scale line of famous ocean liners like the QE1, QM1, Normandy, US, Rex, Liberte,

Aquatania, Mauretania, Constitution etc.

Also a good three island "tramp steamer" like the "Lakers" built on the great lakes

during and after WW I.

Does anyone remember the "Flying Enterprise". How about the Stockholm or Andrea Doria?

I'd love to see more commercial ships.   modelbob@hotmail.com