I just picked up the 1/350 USS England. It comes with a small fret of PE, for the depth charge racks, radar aerial, and the rack for the ahead throwing weapon, which I'm happy with. I'm interested in trying out 1/350 scale PE, since I find I have little to no patience with 1/700, and figure this might be a good kit to start with. Any thoughts on what would be the best value, bang for the buck, of the various PE sets out there? I see Toms Modelworks and Gold Medal Models have full sets, and Eduard seems to have some smaller kits that do specific things, rails, etc. Any ideas on which might be best?

Hi Rodger

I would go for the Toms Modleworks set - the brass is good and the level of detail is great!
But any generic 1/350 DD set would do, although I am more familiarized with the 1/700 scale sets

Hope this helps

Skipper

Hi Rodger,

Don't forget that WEM also has a PE set for the Trumpeter Buckley kit: PE 3594.
This set includes extra details such as a 6-pounder bow chaser gun that will allow the modeller to create a Royal Navy Captain-class frigate. You can have a look at it here:

http://www.whiteensignmodels.com/brochure/images/wembrass/wempe3594.jpg?SSImageQuality=Full

And you can order it here:

http://www.whiteensignmodels.com/acatalog/U_S__Ships___Aircraft.html

I think I would lean towards the Tom's s well. I have found that their level is as good as the others. WEM I think is way over-priced though they do add a bit more smaller pieces. I like the Tom's instructions better. Eduard's smaller sets offer great value if you are looking at just doing a couple of things. If you have the radars and racks yu may just want to go with railings, or maybe ladders as well. Even in 350 scale, I find things like doors too fiddley and aftr some paint is applied tend to have that super sharp detail dulled a bit.

Too me, what I want is radars, railings, cranes, aircraft propellors, and screens (CV mainly). I have seen a couple of sets that have the perferated walkways which may be kind of cool too. I have dne some of the fold up ladders , but genrally unless the ladder in plastic is a molded on wedge will skip using them.

Thanks guys.

I actually decided to order the Toms PE set for the USS Sullivans, because I want to do that kit for the Leyte Gulf campaign. Now I just have to build it in the next 3 months. It arrived today and it looks pretty good.

As far as the England I think I'll take your advice Steve, and just get the rails, depending on price. The radar and depth charge racks that come with the kit look to be nearly as good as the Tom's kit for the Sullivans. I'm not 100% sure I'd pop for the price of the full set. Depends on money.

One thing is to save all the unused pieces. I had enough railing left from various kits that I was able to rail out my Ticonderoga kit with it. When you order the Eduard rail set make sure it says how many (like 3 or 4 rail) or that it specifies US. Generally, you want 4 rail