hello Gunny,
in november i am going to buy a waterline battleship.what i would like to know is which one you would suggest.remember i have not built a ship before.i am still trying to do the boot strap for my tirpitz.
thx Gunny,
Bruce

Wow Bruce. That's a good one.

Dragon's battlewagons are pretty good but limited. Trumpeter has a new 1/700 North Carolina that is better than anything I've seen in 1/700. Then you have Tamiya, Hasegawa and Aoshima's IJN battleships along with the Iowa class. Also, Trumpeter has the modern Iowas.

hello mr.Gator sir,
i have tamiya cataloge but not knowing what the scale are i just asked all the old salts.Gunny has answared my questions before,so so for not asking you for your help.do you need a boot strap for a water line model?ihope not.been fighting the tirpitz for 2yrs now to get it right(the model is winning)
thx sir,
Bruce

Technically yes, you would need to bootstrap them as the bttom piece is red. Japanese battleships did not have them. There are several really good ones that have come out lately. I'm extremely biased, I would recommend one of the Tamiya new Yaaato kits.

Now here is a thought, as the red piece is a separate piece, I would take one of those permanent sharpie pens and just put the upper hull on tp and run it around. I do that on my 350 scale Trumpeter kits

hello Steve,
what is the differance between tamiya and trumpeter.also what does the differant scales mean.i do armor and planes so i know scales for them.i have seen 1/700,1/800.1/650.i guess the smaller the number the larger the model?
thx for the info,
Bruce

Exactly. 350 scale is twice as big as 700. My 350 Yamato is close to 3 feet the 700 version is a couple of inches over 1 foot. Almost all the 700 scale are waterline, only the Trumpeter 350 scale gives you that option. The newer 700 stuff is coming out full hull, but I just don't know if you have a waterline option or not as I do 350 scale only right now.

Trumpeter is out of China and Tamiya is out of Japan. Both make excellent kits and are priced somewhat close in price. Usually going on line using Ebay you can get a better deal, though Great MOdels in Utah ad Lucky Models in China are nicely priced. (Don't order 350 scale from China though as shipping goes by weight and size and will cost through the nose)

hello Steve,
thx for the info.i have a tamiya catologe and it shows a lot of there waterline ships.as i mostly model tamiya afv's i will most lickly buy from them.i read some things on the forums about trumpeter stealing? raisen kits to sell as there own.i don not know if true but china gets a lot of my money so i think i will stay with tamiya.please do not think i am dismissing your suggestions,as i will be asking alot of questions when i do this build.
thx again,
Bruce

Bruce the one thing I would suggest is to pick your subject based mostly on what you are interested in. If you really like German subjects, then go for a good German kit. If you go for British, as I do, then something British. If you go across type and pick something you're not that interested in just because somebody recommended it then you'll probably lose interest. For my money Tamiya is the class act, and you'll probably not go wrong with one.

As to scale there are basically four main scales. From smallest to largest they are 1/700, 1/600, 1/400 and 1/350. Each has pros and cons. 1/700 is probably the most common, and most of them are waterline. You can get just about every Japanese ship that ever sailed in 1/700, and a good number of other nationalities. 1/600 is an older scale and mostly the kits are old Airfix kits, which are quite old, but buildable. If you like British ships 1/600 may be your best bet. The 1/600 kits I'm familiar with though are full hull. 1/400 is much more common in European kits. Finally 1/350 is the largest, so if you're not used to working with very small parts might be your best bet. The problem with the two smaller scales being that they are harder to work with. The two larger scales cost more, and take up a lot of space on the work bench.

There is also a lot of debate between waterline and full hull. Again 1/700 are mainly waterline. Personally unless you're going to put the ship in a water base I prefer full hull. Most of the larger ships are either full hull, or have the option of going either way. I like the large ships full hull as they look more like museum kits to me. That said I've gotten more positive response from my wife and kids the two waterline kits I've made on water bases.

Bruce
Tamiya makes some very nice warship kits in both 1:700 and 1:350 so if you like their kits then that is a sensible place to go. On the whole they are Japanese but they also have some German, US and British subjects which although in some cases older models are still very good ones. As others have said the larger 350 scale battleships are over two feet long with the 700 scale half the size. The choice depends on a number of things but space to display the model is a big consideration. The larger scale models come as a full hull so you have that option, with the 700 scale all waterline.

Cheers
Mike

hello Rodger and Mike,
thaxs for all your help.i am going with the tamiya 1/700 waterline bb.i do model small tanks/areoplanes so the small parts not scare me .i get to order anything for my b-day,so i want a ship.when i was younger i built a 1/650 british bb then put a 1/4 stick of dynomite in floated out and set it off.was i trouble for months.the joy of youth.
thanks for all your help,
Bruce

Hi Bruce
Let us know what you decide to ask for

Mike

hello MikeM,
i think i am going mto buy the tamiya bc Hood with the E-class destoryer.
kit #31806.i also would like to get a Nelson/Rodney class bb.it will not be till nov. before i buy them.any help is greatly appicated.
thx Bruce

Hey Bruce,

Glad to see you building the Mighty Hood. This is the best small scale Hood out there. Here is a wonderful site for all things Hood.

HMS Hood Association

~Gator

hello Kenny,
thanks for the site.you made up my mind about which ship to build.i am going to order it in nov. for my b-day.in exchange for the site,would you like a pair of allygator shoes i got by skinning some LSU students hahaha.
thx again,
Bruce