A while back, we discussed the best sailing ship kits on the market, past and present. IIRC, the focus of that discussion was more about accuracy-- were they "true scale models" or not. (As opposed to some of the renaming stunts Revell has pulled in the past.)
I have a slightly different question-- of the kits that we we considered to be decent on our last go-round, which ones are the best kits? By that, I'm talking about the quality of the moldings, the absence of flash, the quality of fit of the parts, etc.
What I'm really after is to come up with a (short?) list of kits that I'd recommend to a typical, moderately experienced aircraft or armor modeler who wants to try something different. (My local club has a number of such folks.)
For example, I know that some of the Airifix kits are considered to be reasonably accurate models of the subjects, but we all know that older Airfix kits can vary widely in the quality of fit and detail. An aircraft modeler used to the quality of a typical Hasegawa or Tamiya kit may not want a kit that is basically accurate, but needs a lot of work to fix or replace poorly molded parts.
Keeping in mind that I'm aiming my list at first time sailing ship builders, a big Revell Consititution is probably not a good choice. Smaller, simpler vessels would be preferred.
One kit that comes to mind is the Lindberg (ex-pyro) Topsail Schooner/baltimore clipper/Morris-class Revenue Cutter. It has been a couple of decades since I built one, but I sorta remember it as a decent kit, with details a bit sparse, but what was there was of OK quality and fit. (Does anyone have more recent experience with this kit?) My other conern about this kit is that it is currently OOP, and may be hard to find.)
The Revell Yacht America also seems to be a good candidate for this list, but it even harder to find.
So, what other kits would you nominate for this list?