first maritime model

[waylander]

what would people recommend as a first maritime model? i was looking at tamiya's 1/700 mogami on amazon as it looks like an interesting ship but was a bit put of that theres no uk sellers, also the 1/350 academy Bismark as its good value for money. do you think its a good idea to start with a smaller scale first?

[Luftwaffe]

smaller scales are always harder to build than the larger ones. In opposite to this there is the higher price of larger models. If you can afford it, i would start with a larger scale.

[Shar2]

I wouldn't advise getting the Academy Bismarck, have a look at the review here on BM. Perhaps something like the Academy 1/350 Oliver Hazard Perry, or Tamiya 1/350 USS Fletcher.

[Graham Boak]

Larger scales have many more pieces. Whatever the scale, the smallest piece is likely to be much the same size, unless you go with some particularly crude kit. A small gun that's a single piece in 1/700 will have separate mount, barrel and shield (at least) in 1/350. I would put Tamiya before Academy in terms of ship modelling. Choose the subject that appeals to you the most, that's much more important than scale for a first subject. I would however avoid the Dragon US destroyers, which are beautiful but do have very small pieces in 1/700.

No UK sellers? Have you tried White Ensign Models?

Edited August 21, 2014 by Graham Boak

[bootneck]

You could try Airfix's 1:350 HMS Illustrious. It is currently advertised as 50% off with a price of £27.99 at Hannants.

Mike

[waylander]

i checked white ensign and hannants and couldnt see the 1/700 mogami or kumano, i might pop into manchester tomorrow and see if the shop there can order them my local shop is overpriced and run by arseholes. as for the Illustrious carriers are kind of boring and unless its a recent kit id rather not buy airfix as there older ones have lots of flash and bad part fit

[Jockster]

I think your first move would be to reign in the bad language as there a a lot of youngsters on the site and you'll only have the mods on your back for it. :-) :-)

Don't dismiss the Airfix Illustrious just yet though, it's a really nice kit and there are a few examples in ready for inspection.

I recently got myself a Zvezda 1/700 Sovremenny class destroyer which is an easy build but still quite detailed.

Most Trumpeter 1/700 & 1/350 kits are very good too.

[Ravens]

I always recommend the Tamiya 1/700 HMS King George V for this question. It is a crisp, well moulded model and has a low asking price compared to others in the scale, usually around £10-£15.

Regards, Ross.