Hi everyone!
Being a 1:35 military vehicle modeler for years, mainly tanks and tracked vehicles, I´ve just seen some interesting kits in 1/700, like trumpeter´s Kuznetsov carrier, and other modern russian stuff
What manufacturer do you recommend for this nationality and era, if choices are available for the same ship, Trumpeter/Dragon/Bronco/Hobby Boos/other??
Also, what manufacturer do you suggest for same scale Tirpitz, Prinz eugen and other WWII german stuff?
Please remember that I have experience modelling other scales and vehicles but none with ships and this scale
Thanks for your help!!

Gidday and welcome to the datk side. If you want to build modern Soviet, you have some choices. An easy place to start would be some of Pit Road's modern stuff. They are generally pretty good and are waterline only. Same for the Kiev or Minsk by Aoshima. You can get pretty involved work with the Trumpeter Kits though in 700. They are a choice of Full Hulled or waterline so the Choice is yours. They have far more detail and more tiny parts compared to Pit Road. Trumpeter also do the German Vessels including Bismarck, Prinz Eugen and the Graf Spee in 700. Other 700 German Ships can be found in most leading Brand's 700 Range so the choice is yours. Tamiya's go together beautifully but you only get the Eugen and a Z Class DE. Depending on what you wish to build will let you know which Kit to get. Hope this helps you out.....Cheers Mark

Alejandro, welcome to the world of ship modeling! Once you get your teeth into this you may never build an AFV again! Let me caution you that there is a big difference between a 1/35 anything and a 1/700 ship, especially a BB or other big kit. You might want to consider trying a 1/350 first to get used to the different skills and techniques inherent to ships. My usual recommendation for a first ship kit is Tamiya's 1/350 U.S.S. Fletcher. Its a great little kit with no real vices and a great way to get your feet wet, especially in using the PE unique to ships. I'd suggest adding GMM's PE set for Fletchers, which includes the PE for both early war and late war Fletchers. Also, the turrets for the 5/38 guns are under scale in the kit and best replaced with resin. Alliance Model Works and L'Arsenal both make very nice resin replacements.

Happy modeling and please, don't forget to share pics of your builds with us. We just love eye candy!

Bob

In my first venture into the wet element from being a diehard armor builder, I choose some submarines in 1:72 and 1:35 to get a hang of it. Later I have been working almost only with 1:350 - which is very different than building 1:35 armor.

If you are really interested in Soviet navy, may I suggest trying out some submarines first either in 1:700 og 1:350 to, sort of, getting the hang of it ?

I did a 1:350 sovremenny with full etch set, luckily not as my first naval experience....

Wellcome aboard!

Cheers/Jan

If you like german stuff start off with a Dragon or Trumpeter Zerstorer. Good way to get feet wet with german subjects. I've got the Dragon Z-31 well underway and it's a very nice build if you can handle detail. People who have troubles with small pieces usually enjoy the Trumpeter Zerstorers better for their simpler parts break down.