Search the Community

My latest finished model. Is a beautiful detailed kit, even if it isn't the deluxe version which should be even more detailed. One anchor ⚓ disappeared on the carpet never to be found again.

My latest finish is this tiny 1/700 coastal defense ship used by Thai navy just before WWII. HTMS Thonburi was built in Japan for Thailand. She and her sister, HTMS Sri Ayutthaya, were commission in 1938. Together, the two sisters represented the largest surface units of Thai navy until long after WWII. Packed with 4 7.9inch guns on such a small hull, they had a very respectable fire power. They had such an aggressive appearance that the local people called them battleship. Thonburi was engaged by a French light cruiser at the battle of Ko Chang, during Franco-Thai war, in January 1941. Caught nearly unprepared, Thai navy lost two torpedo boats sunk while Thonburi was heavily damaged. She later capsized in shallow water. Although salvaged later, she was never returned to combat ready status, serving as a floating headquarter until decommissioned. Her superstructure and fore turret are preserved as a monument. Seed hobby released a resin kit of Thonburi in 2020. The resin parts are very well-cast and easy to assemble. The supplied PE and turned gun barrels are also very good. However, the deck is lacking in detail. I tried to add deck as many deck fittings as I could based on limited reference. Overall, this is a quick and enjoyable project. I can recommend it to anyone looking for a ship model from a lesser known navy. Nanond

My last finish is this 1/700 IJN Shimakaze from Tamiya. Good kit, it's been fun making her. A pre-painting shot first. Nanond N.

Hello all, Firstly, my apologies for disappearing off the ship scene for so long. I’m really an aircraft modeller that caught the ship bug some time ago but, although I was pleased with what I produced, I was always disappointed with my rigging at the end. I could never really get it to the same standard as the rest of the build. I’m also a perfectionist - that doesn’t mean I build perfectly - just I’m always disappointed at the end of a project! Anyway, it left me falling out of love with naval subjects and my FlyHawk Bismarck and Scharnhorst kits were left gathering dust in the stash. However, I recently saw a link for the upcoming FlyHawk HMS Hood and that re piqued my interest as the whole ‘Hunt the Bismarck’ story has always fascinated me - then I saw the recent build on here of the FlyHawk Bismarck by Haneto. I was super impressed by the rigging! Anyway, I’ve suddenly got my Naval mojo back and I’ve dragged the Bismarck out of the stash! And here she is - FlyHawk 1/700 FH1132S Deluxe edition: I wanted to finish her in the Hood encounter scheme, but when I got the kit originally I had some masks made up for the deck swastikas and I really want to use these (love a bit of bling), so I think I will have to build her as the ‘Operation Rheinübung’ version with the Hull stripes. Another reason to build is the imminent arrival of a display cabinet. I’ve never had that before and all my previous builds end up in a box, then the bin, but I’m now determined to actually keep my finished models, dust free(ish) and on display. As ships are so susceptible to handling damage it will be nice to know all the effort expended in building will actually have some meaning for once (well that’s the plan anyway 😀). With previous builds I made them waterline, but I think this will be fully hulled for the cabinet. I’ve got a Blue Wox deck… And the usual heavy tomes of slightly daunting instructions.. massively complicated by the PE! These FlyHawk kits are real modelling gems aren’t they? I have brass stands but, on reflection, I think these are too big for this scale, so I may just sit the finished model on a simple black Perspex base, luckily it’s flat bottomed. Here’s the intended colour scheme… And I’ve found a nice set of computer generated images online that show lovely detail and colour…. Any pitfalls I should be looking for? When is the Hood deluxe model available and from where? I did email Mike at Starling Models but had no reply? Any tips, criticism welcome, I always want to improve my modelling - I’m not proud! Can’t wait to get stuck in! I hope you’ll have me back 🥴 Thanks for looking in, Guy

PSA poor attempt of the PALLISER....need some extra photo etch from somewhere especially for the Omni directional HF ? Antenna. Please critique all welcome

Having gotten the Titanic for Christmas and not being too keen on modelling a subject that so many lost their lives on ( generally I don’t like to model subjects where I know someone died). I’m going to convert the kit to the Olympic, the only one of the White star trio to have a long career before being scrapped in the thirties. With the added distinction of having sunk a German submarine. I’m going for the Dazzle camouflage the Olympic wore while serving as a troop transport. Sprues. Even with the small scale it’s a fairly large kit. Step one will be to figure out the best way to modify the A Deck ( the most obvious difference between the two ships) then get a proper handle on the rest of the modifications needed.

Ever so steadily, Flyhawk is working through the list of ship kits they announced in 2021. It appears the HMS Iron Duke is now available in 1/700. The model looks like it will be spectacular.

This is my Soviet submarine project 701 NATO name Hotel III from OKB Grigorov in 1/700 scale. Very nice kit, the only bad thing was that the build finished very quickly, as they were only few parts but I enjoyed all the 2 minutes of it

Hi, this is a build of HMS Bramham, a Hunt type II destroyer in 1/700 scale. This has been built from the IBG kit, in this case entirely from the HMS Zetland boxing. I had intended to have this finished in time to commemorate the 80th Anniversary of Operation Pedestal, the crucial supply convoy to Malta in August 1942, in which she played a significant role. Unfortunately I've overrun by a few weeks, but better late than never! It's a personal build as well, as my Grandfather was serving on her at the time as young Sub-Lieutenant. He would sketch the ship for me on occasion, and it would make regular appearances in my childhood drawing books, no doubt each time diverging further from reality to sprout missile launchers and lightning bolts down the side. I feel a bit strange talking self indulgently about this model first when really it's of no importance compared with the gravity of the subject matter. However, this being a modelling forum, I suppose I should start with the model, but for those interested in the history and some of his writings on the subject, I've opted to put that in the next post, so please feel free to skip that if it is of no interest to you. So specifically the build, this is my first ship build since returning to the hobby (although I know I rather roughly glued together without paint some old Airfix 1/600 kits back in the day). It being a relatively simple kit and an important model to me, I had intended to go the whole hog and upgrade it with the Shelf Oddity PE and various Flyhawk gubbins. However it quickly became clear first that my embryonic modelling skills were not equal to the task, and second that all the constant planning, checking references, making notes and apprehensive stalling were unlikely to yield any finished kit this side of the next ice age. I'd also put a little entirely unnecessary pressure on myself to get something out for the aforementioned anniversary, which was unlikely to lead to a enjoyable experience. So instead what we have is a mostly OOB build, completed with a deliberate lack of care, attention or sense of shame! A first attempt or prototype, if you will, built to the mantra of 'rubbish but fun'. There are many things that didn't turn out quite right and were I wanting to do a job to my satisfaction, I would go back and change or redo. So my apologies for putting such a rough model up for RFI! My hope is that, having thoroughly enjoyed carelessly bulldozering straight past any mistakes, and having learned the lessons from this build, I'll one day go back and update this thread when I've made version 2 with rather more care. With that in mind, it's an open invitation for any and all criticism, this being a learning experience and a model that I set no great store by; being a total beginner to ship modelling, I'd rather know what doesn't look right or hasn't worked so I can do it differently in the future. So yes mostly OOB, with addition of some rather nice Starling Models 4" turrets, pom poms and Oerlikons. There's a little scratch here and there, most notably a steel rod replacement for the oversize mast and some rather dodgy Type 285 radar aerials from chopped up PE bits. The kit is finished with a combination of Gunze primers and matt varnish, Tamiya and Colourcoats paints, and some rather over-enthusiastic oil paint washes and weathering, which turned out to be impossible to claw black without repainting entirely (turns out the matte varnish just ate the wash up and spread it indiscriminately around). Any pointers how to do a detail wash onto matte without just wicking the whole surface with grime? Anyway, it's my intention to practice building a sea base for her, but that being so far beyond my skills, and with time ticking, I will leave that for another day. The RFI can be found below, and some writings about the Operation by my Grandfather in the following post. Thanks very much for looking in! Cheers, Andy A little escort destroyer in this scale really is tiny. I was amazed on opening the (rather large) box. Here's it next to generic 1/72ishness

My entry for this GB is Trumpeter’s 1/700 Liberty Ship, the SS John W. Brown. Launched in 1942, the SS John W. Brown made 13 voyages to the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean. Was present at Anzio and part of the invasion force of southern France. After the war carried cargoes to help rebuild Europe and returned American troops to the US. After serving as a training ship, the John W.Brown is now a museum ship in Baltimore. More information can be found here. https://www.ssjohnwbrown.org I will be building this OOB as a waterline model using the Great Escape Option, due to having a number of activities planned across the weekend.

Converted to the D-Class HMS Daring with a bandstand cut from scrap plastic card. It was necessary to fabricate the two 2pdr guns on the signal deck and searchlights atop. Pavanes are moulded into the stern deck. I removed them with a sharp scalpel. I used some left-over etch in my spares box. I scratched the 3in. AA with circular platform. I applied 8” serial letters from Ventura Decals sheet V7252 and added some railings left over from the Niko kit.

On 10 February 1940 HMS Daring joined the Third Destroyer Flotilla in Scapa Flow, which was assigned to escort duties. On 18 February 1940 she was escorting Convoy HN12 from Bergen, Norway to Methil in Scotland, commanded by Commander Sydney Alan Cooper, RN. At 0354 hours (Berlin time) Daring was approximately 40 nautical miles east of the Pentland Firth. German Submarine U-23, commanded by Otto Kretschmer, torpedoed HMS Daring at 58o39’N 01o40’W. HMS Daring capsized and sank very quickly after her stern was blown off. 157 of the ship’s company were lost, including Albert John Clarke, service number C/JX 137478. He was either a Leading or Able Seaman and was 19 years of age. He was my mother's uncle. HMS Thistle, a British submarine, witnessed the attack and rescued five men from the sea, they were the only survivors.

Dear Fellow Modellers I completed the Flyhawk HMS Legion earlier in May but was not satisfied with the results, so did some more photos today. As some of you may know, HMS Legion took off many of the crew of HMS Ark Royal when she was torpedoed in the Eastern Mediterranean on 13th November 1941 Hope you like it? Andrew

Dear Fellow Modellers I finally completed the Graf Spee. The Panzerschiff Admiral Graf Spee needs no introduction in the community of Naval historians, nevertheless the inter-war Panzerschiff concept remains one of the most radical of the pre-war period. . The design was extraordinarily radical with two battleship turrets carried aboard a light cruiser hull and powered by 8 MAN diesel engines. The design was so tough on weight that the ships were slightly underweight and needed ballast. MAN wished they could have been allowed more weight to have produced heavier, more robust diesels. The result was a ship with extraordinary range potential, and with the help of auxiliary supply ships, to operate distant ‘cruiser warfare’. In the new era of radio direction finding, signals intelligence, aircraft reconnaissance and radar, cruiser warfare turned out to be not viable. The Trumpeter 1/700 kit is now rather old and shows its age. This model has 3-D printed turrets from Micromaster, barrels from Master, ships boats, searchlights, light AA, paravanes, reels all from Flyhawk. The characteristic shuttered scuttles on the upper deck have been laboriously added from a Lion Roar set. The masts are all scratch built brass Hope you like it? Andrew

Hiya, I normally make 1/48 aircraft and am making a trio of Malta era aircraft (Spit V, Re.2001 and 109G2). Below these three in flight, I am going to try (emphasis on try) to make a water base and have a period merchant ship in smaller scale for forced perspective. Never made a ship but got some great advice on water bases from Telford IPMS when there. Does anyone know of a nice kit that would fit the bill of a Malta merchant ship of that era, the 1942 convoys? Or at least point me in the right direction of what to look for / best places to look / manufacturers likely to have something suitable. I had begun by using this site https://www.naval-history.net/xAH-MaltaSupply01b.htm which has a lot of the individual convoys ship by ship and searching for kits of them but haven't had much luck that way. Thanks

Hi Guys I am looking for 3D parts to replace Aoshima's 1/700 HMS Norfolk and Flyhawk's 1/700 HMS Aurora's fire control (gun director). Norfolk Direct Control Tower For Norfolk, my best guess is it is a 8' director control tower with 2 x Type 284 Gunnery Radar antennas + covered HACS MKIII with type 285 antenna? Not sure about the stern bridge. Aurora Director Control Tower For Aurora, is there 2x HACS MKIV with type 285 antennas + 1x Leander Class 6" Director? My first choice is MicroMaster in NZ. However, I am not sure which one I can use, can anyone shed some light on this topic? https://micromaster.co.nz/collections/royal-fire-control/1-700-scale https://www.shapeways.com/product/WB9W2BX2W/1-700-rn-ww2-hacs-mkiv-open-4?optionId=61579815&li=shops And any suggestion on 3D parts?

Dear Fellow Modellers Flyhawk do a charming but miniature set of their Type VIIB against a dry dock backdrop. Here is a tired Type VIIB back for repair Hope you like it? Andrew

Hi All, This is my recently completed rendition of Flyhawk’s wonderful 1/700 scale HMS Campbeltown. This was a first kit for me from this company – and wow! Things have really come a long way from the “Water Line Series” 1/700 ship models of the 1970s. Aside from replacing the slightly oversized 20mm guns and the main mast (which I broke), I made very few changes to the kit.

Hi folks, I've been rather busy with work lately (and spent my one week off spring cleaning) but managed to finish off this review build. It's a definitely-not-Space Battleship Yamato submarine from Suyata. And to be fair it's actually pretty different in detail and overall shape from the Yamato Dimensional Submarine. I guess it's starting with the same idea (U-boats in space) and going in a different direction. (click for bigger) I particularly like that it's a nod to the IJN Seiran carriers, and even includes a scarily tiny "float" plane. I thought I'd uploaded a close-up of this, but apparently it's AWOL - will edit in later. The meteor armour and camouflaged torpedoes are specific to this version - they also do a minelayer which replaces the armour plates with dangly robot arms for placing mines. More here: https://www.themodellingnews.com/2021/11/soujou-combined-fleet-space-submarine-i.html And here it is in the majestic depths of Outer Space 👽 Edit: Found the pics of the plane - it's quite petite! Cheers! Will

Hi all, New month, new project. This has been rattling around in my head for a while and I think is sort of picking up on the stalled Gundam-wreck-in-desert thing I started a couple of years ago. I'm starting it now because I think it'll be quick, and it gives me some cutting and sticking to do as well as a break from painting and weathering. I got some board game pieces from Kickstarter last year (for Cthulhu Wars) and one of the freebies was an extra copy of most of the miniatures. One of them (the Bhole) looks rather like a sandworm, and I liked the idea of using it as one. It's moulded in some kind of horrible vinyl/resin/restic stuff which is a bit bendy, but the detail is fine. I started by hacking it off the moulded base (with a full-size hacksaw, no less!) and giving it a wash since I'm pretty sure it'll have been covered in mould release gunk at some point: (click for bigger) Modelling: It takes you to strange places. Open wide! I thought of just basing it up on its own, but I reckon a small diorama will be more interesting to photograph and should make it clearer what kind of worm it's supposed to be. So I started fiddling around with some Bandai add-on Gundam parts and some other spares to get the start of a spice harvester: The wheels are thrusters from the MS Marine set, each one needed the propeller cutting off and the four blocks paring off the "tread". I then sanded the blocks smooth and cut new grooves to join up the ends and match the existing grooves. I haven't added hubcaps yet but I suspect something from a tank will do. The left hand wheels are unmodified, the right ones are almost ready to use. I found some sprue which fitted them so I could get an idea of how it'd look: This is also made from some Gundam aqua backpack parts from the MS Marine set. It's not supposed to be a model of the David Lynch harvester, but should have some echoes of that design. The right hand side is the back and should have some storage tanks sticking out. The left is the front, I haven't decided how to do the harvest-ey bit yet, but I like the idea of the control cabin being up above like the Lynch model. The round holes are going to be hatches, with a little platform under/around them. It would be better if there was only one on each side so they might end up changing, not sure yet. Since I took these I've made up most of the chassis, with poseable leading/trailing suspension arms. But the camera battery ran out Will put it together for a mockup tomorrow. Cheers, Will

Dear Colleagues The ‘A Class’ heavy cruiser Chokai was built at the Mitsubishi shipyards in Nagasaki in 1932. Following the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 which capped battleship building, many nations went on a mad dash to build the most potent 8” (20 cm) gun heavy cruisers. Before WWII up to a 1/3rd of Japanese taxes went on the Navy. Of all the Japanese heavy cruiser designs, the Takao Class was probably the most extravagant. Envisaged as flagships, the bridge structure could easily accommodate a flag staff. As Admiral Mikawa’s flagship, the Chokai led the Japanese Navy to its most astonishing victory in the Pacific War over the cruisers defending the transports off Guadalcanal in a night action of 7th August 1942. Eventually Chokai was sunk at the Battle of Samar in October 1944. Her wreck has been recently found and is perhaps the most complete warship on a sea bed anywhere in the world RV Petrel find IJN Chokai - YouTube I have been building the Fujimi Chokai on and off for a number of years. For reasons that still cannot be explained I managed to lose sprue C entirely so had to scratch build quite a lot of parts. I was helped by the 3D printed gunnery control units from Shelf Oddity and a PE fore mast structure from an old Fine Molds set. The 12.7 cm AA guns are Fine Molds NanoDread whilst the 25 mm units are PE from Veteran Models. The boats are also Fine Molds but the Daihatsu barge is from Five Star. I was pleased to add the truly minuscule ships lanterns from Five Star. These are beautifully turned miniatures in brass that can easily be lost inside your finger nails! Here is the ship at an earlier stage in the outfitting yard Hope you like it? Andrew

My WIP of 1/700 IJN Aboba. The work on the bridge was started in 2019 and halted for almost a year. I recently resumed the work on her and managed to complete the foremast and fore funnel. The hull was cut to the low tide level of her sunken state at the end of WWII. Nanond

This is one of the later modified versions of the Type 1936A (known to the Allies as the Narvik class) destroyer. There were seven ships in the class, five of them surviving the war. One of those five has also been kitted by Heller, depicting her when she had been taken by the French Navy as a war prize and renamed as the Marceau. Oddly, that is the only other ship in my stash This is the Revell re-pop of the Matchbox kit, but I thought it would be OK to build it now as I have half a dozen other kits lined up for the Matchbox GB. Box: Sprues - there's not too many parts, so I'm not scared yet. Instructions and painting guide. Some of the schemes look wonderful but would take more than 24 hours just to paint. The one in step 23 only has 2 main colours though, so think I can manage that. I'm committed now, let's do the thing Andy

Glued the hull and waterline together ready for priming while I’m staying in Hospital for PTSD in Sydney as we Zero Clinics in Darwin and also you would notice I have another L Class Destroyer in the background just to keep me busy. But wait I have a big surprise coming up on another ship build, but more on that later.

Hi all, long time lurker, first time poster. Just getting back into the ship modelling. Just finished a half started Tamiya IJN Junyo and then moved straight onto this one. IJN Oyodo. Wouldn't have been my first choice, really wanted to do a Takao class cruiser but prices and supply make choices limited currently it seems. It did tick a few boxes for me however, I was keen to work on another IJN subject, it came with a fairly comprehensive photo etch sheet and I managed to snag it for £15 delivered. It's a late 70s kit, and boy does it show. The hull in particular is absent of any detail save a poorly molded anchor and some port holes. The photo etch I've added so far only replaces two plastic parts, the rest is all new detail so thank goodness I got the DX version with the PE. Saying that I'm enjoying the build and the photoetch is probably just at the right level in terms of complexity and amount for me getting back into the game. I've also never made a sea base so that's on the list of things to have a crack at. I'm trying to decide if it's worth picking up some brass barrels for the main 6.1inch guns but they're so small already I'm not sure if it's worth the money and time to install.