im getting a little bored of AFVs at the moment and a naval model seems like a good break, so as the title suggests what would you more experienced fellas recommend?

there are conditions though:

-It must be British/Royal Navy(are you surprised?-thought not)
-preferebly WW2 to present
-easy enough for a beginner to naval models
-reasonably compact

i was looking at the new tamiya Hood with destroyer set or the tamiya O class destroyers, are these any good?

regards

joe

Before I read the bottom of your post, the Hood was the first thing that came to my mind. I have the Bismarck and plan to get the Hood. The Tamiya kits are reasonably detailed and the 1/350th scale means you needn't use tweezers and a magnifying glass.

I think that would be a good choice for a first ship. If you should find another ship later on down the road, you could build it as part of the Dreadnought campaign.

Take care
Steve

I bought the Tamiya O Class at the weekend, to go with the Skywave ones I already have. They're nice, if not stunningly accurate.

http://smmlonline.com/articles/onslow/onslow.html

With the Tamiya ships, I preferred the Prince of Wales to the Hood, but it does have a lot of very small pieces

Tamiya 1/350 POW (Prince of Wales)

Best fitting kit ever made, looks great in the camo scheme and is easy to build. Looks great out of the box but you can go wild on PE and rigging!

cheers

Matthijs

Hello Joe!

Welcome to the Dark Side
I have to agree with David Maynard on the O-class
Good and really compact!

It should be an easy build, if you don't use PE... which I might had, for someone not used to work in 1/700 scale, that it is very small...

Give it a try and if help is needed, you know where to ask

Welcome (again)

Skipper

Just to avoid any confusion, i have the 1/700th POW, haven't the room for the bigger version

Really anything by Tamiya. It depends on your eyesight and coordination. 1/700 series are less money, and take up less space. If you don't go in for PE then you could probably build one in an evening or two. 1/350 is certainly better as far as size, but for more money and more room. For a first ship I'd go with 1/700 and see how you like it. Personally I like unusual ships. Maybe the Rodney or Nelson?

Oh, and welcome to the dark side.

If you want compact, 1/700 is the way to go. I know everyone has been tossing battehips at you, but there are other alternatives in that scale. There used to be some aircraft carriers and crusiers out there, you just have to look for them a bit. However, as the guys point out on 1 August we kick off the Dreadnaught campaign and I would encourage you to build a battleship for it. Ships are generally easy builds, adding PE railings and replacing the cranes and radar assemblies isn't too difficult. They are a lttle more intense than tank building because of small parts, but much more absorbing.

Right now building the 1/350 King George V, which makes it a little under 70cm long..

I probably will have some pics up shortly. I can not goot too far yet, as I am still waiting for a PoW sprue and manual (I am trying to build the kit in the 1943 fit).

The kit is awesome, fit almost perfect (except for front deck, there is a gap there, but putty should cure this easily.

Almost ready to go wild on the PE. I might have some pics up tomorrow.

Harm