Hey folks, long time lurker here.

This winter I'm going to build my first ship the USS New Jersey circa 1983, I mainly do Armor, thought I'd try something new. Back in the early 80's I was in Lebanon as a Marine Recon and one of our jobs was to call for fire from the 'Jersey' so I though this winter I'd build one with some PE and other improvements.

My question is which model in 1/350 is best (I'm looking at the Tamiya) and what PE and/other upgrades would recommend? Veteran Resin upgrades? etc.

Thanks in advance

Haunt ebay for the kit. You can usually get a Tamiya version for $50 or so. I got the Tom's PE set for mine.As for other stuff. I am sure there are replacement gun tubes and LE Arsenal stuff. You might also check White ENsign as they have some additional stuff. Gold medal models does a super set, and it is possible Lionroar does a set as well. Usually Lionroar also comes with gun tubes and propellors made of brass. Depending on how far you want to go, there is a lot of stuff out there in the aftermarket world. This kit has been out for 25 years or so.

Actually I've found a kit cheaper at a hobby store than on ebay ... odd huh?

Lion Roar doesn't make a NJ PE set to my knowledge.

I was looking at GMM and Veteran after market stuff. I can get the NJ and the GMM for right at $100, I guess that's a good price. As I said this will be my first ship model in well over a decade, close to two.

Price goes up if I add Veteran Resin add ons and metal barrels, etc.

Lion Roar does make a nice North Carolina set for Trumpeter 1/350 that I might build IF I enjoy building the NJ. Just looks super detailed and that's up my ally.

I was wanting to build all the ships I was on in the Marines (Never on the NC, just like it), but most of them have not been made into a model and would require conversations from other models. Ships like LPD's, LST's, LPH's and other green cargo carries. There are ships of that class just not the ones I was on.

Thanks for the info, anything I get is helpful.

The NOrth Carolina is a Trumpeter kit and there ae some problems that you need to be aware of before you start building it. Easy fix (( I just used a sawed off popsickle stick to fix mine). The Lionroar set is really super and you get MUCH MORE than you really want or need unless you just like cutting off the plastic and bending and shaping PE to replace those itsy bitsy little details you need a magnifying glass to see. But there are a ton of other things that make it a cost effective set. Lionroar for other ships I wouldn't use as they really jacked the price up after the initial North Carolina one.