Hi guys new in this forum and I need some advice, I wanted to build a battleship in the dreadnaughts campaign but im a total novice with ships, could some one reccomend a decent kit to start on nothing to difficult .Im leaning towards the U.S. or Germany .Thanks for any help

Ship models are easy mate.The key question is how much do you want to spend buying one and do you want to dress it up with Photo etched. Personally, I love the large 3 foot long 1/350 scale ships. Tamiya makes the best Battleships. I think if you go to ebay and bid, you can get one for mid 30's (retailers and discounters go for mid $40 to mid $50). These are all easy straight forward builds and look really good. I think y0u've played with PE before, and generally the PE here is easy to bend and shape and you can go whole hog with a White Ensign Models or get a nice set from Tom's MOdelworks for about half of that. There are several companies that make excellent 1/700 or 1/720 scale ships. Tamiya, Hasgawa, even Dragon and Trumpeter. There is also PE available for them. I haven't built a 1/700 scale ship in 15 years so I.never have used PE on any of the them. I've seen some of these kits go for under $20 to over $50.

Welcome to the" Dark Side" John

I agree with the other Steve, the 1/350th kits make a nice display and IMHO, are easier to build. If 1/350th is a bit expensive, you can find some nice kits in 1/400th. The Revell Arizona is not a bad little kit...considering it's a Revell.

Again, welcome to Warships.

Ahoy John!

Welcome aboard!
I can only say that once you build one... you're hooked :-)
As Steve (both of them) said any of the above mentioned models will make a good first model...
Also I would like to add that if you'll need any kind of help, just post it here - the team will help for sure!

Skipper

Thanks for help guys, I wanted to do one for Garry although we never met I liked him a lot and know how much he loved his ships. I will have a look at the Tamyia kits I saw some photo's of academys offerings they look pretty good.

I think in 350 scale, the academies are "rip-offs" of the Tamiya kits. They are essentially the same kit the plastic is a bit softer and some of the detail is not as "crisp". However, if they are considerably cheaper it's worth it. I'm planning a Bismarck build. Kit is from Minihobbies. I paid $20 for it and with the PE it'll build up as good as the Tamiya

John, welcome to the wet side of modelling.

Revell 1/350's look good (USS New Yersey or Arizona like Steve mentionned for exemple, but you will need some Pe railing and ladders to spice things up a bit. In Belgium a revell 1/350 sells for about 40 to 50 € , that's about 30 - 35`£ (Tamiya is not as known as Revell in Belgium, don't know about which brands sell better in the UK)

Although not being dreadnoughts, I can also recommend the new Revell s-100 and VII- U boats. They are a modellers dream come true concerning general fit and detailing.

I just had a look on a few site, the Academy 1/350 work out £10 pounds cheaper thats about $25, for a starter would it be worth paying the extra?. your council would be appreciated on this.

I would second the nomination of the Tamiya 1/350 Fletcher-class destroyer kit. Though certainly smaller than a battleship, it is also less complex for your first ship model, but can be detailed out to an amazing degree. If you decide to go for that kit, then I would recommend the Gold Medal Models photoetch detail set for it (mostly because we don't do a set for it ourselves--yet).

Both the kit and the GMM PE set are normal stock items here at White Ensign Models, and we've got all the accurate paint colors for that, or for any battleship you may choose to do. Feel free to contact me off-list for any advice.

Cheers,
John Snyder
The Token Yank
White Ensign Models
http://WhiteEnsignModels.com

Hi John,
If you just want to get started on a ship then as already mentioned the Tamiya 1:350 Fletcher is a good starting point. However you say you want to build a battleship and prefer USN or KM. Again the Tamiya Bismarck, Tirpitz, Missouri, New Jersey are your best options in 350 scale, they also do Musashi, Yamato, King George V and Prince of Wales, all good kits and a good starting point.

If you don't want to start on a large scale model my advice would be the Tamiya or Italerei Hood kits, they are both excellent models and build into a very handsome ship and have the benefit of not being covered in tiny AA weapons.

Have fun!
Mike