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Hi All, So yes I know you may or may not be thinking "he's got two carriers on the go what is he doing starting something else!". Well truth be told is because of a recent purchase I made which builds into a grand (well I think its grand) plan. More on the purchase below and you can see it in the photo's. Some time ago @ArnoldAmbrose made a suggestion on my 1/350 Dunkerque build that I could do one of each of the treaty battleships as a collection. Im not sure how serious it was but Jeff - the idea took hold well and truly! So I've been gathering kits and extras as a result, still much to get but enough now to make a start. The one frustration is no available injection kit of Nelson or Rodney in 1/350 but we can hope. I think when we think of naval arms races we often think of WW1 but it was well and truly underway before WW2 as well, just not in the numbers as twenty five years before. The plan is that this thread will be the first in the series that I'm hoping to do over the next few.....um .....years. So far i've got hold of the following in the stash; Admiral Graf Spee Strasbourg (having built Dunkerque0 Littorio Scharnhorst 1940 Richelieu Prince of Wales To add North Carolina and Alabama/Massachusetts (although i have some detail bits for them). In some ways Nelson and Rodney sit outside of this as they were outside of this build up towards the second world war, existing almost in isolation. Im pretty sure this lot will take quite some time as I juggle life and hobby, not to mention the other things i have to build as well! I wanted to make a start though. I picked up Strasbourg for a steal the other day (£40) and want to build her desperately as i love the French ships but the first in the line of treaty battleships was Admiral Graf Spee (AGS). Not that she was a battleship at all of course, the word pocket always added to any introduction of her and her class was later reclassified as heavy cruisers. I've been doing little bits and pieces on the kit over the past 12 months or so, pulling it out when I wanted to stick bits of plastic together/first try colourcoats paints by brush. This is the Academy version, and imho it's not great, its not terrible but its a real mixed bag. I chose it over the trumpeter as I thought it had better lines but its certainly not great in terms of engineering. It has some parts that are nicely detailed, others that are bland and it doesn't go together seamlessly shall we say! A few photo's of where I'm at and what I have to use: Whilst watching the very disappointing rugby yesterday I began drilling out scuttles, id previously started then changed my mind, filled and then changed my mind again hence the filler smear at the bow. Seams - seams everywhere! Luckily the detail sets will correct lots of the very soft detail. Im surprised really each time i think about this one. Academys Warspite is great, clean and crisp moulding - AGS by comparison is just a bit messy. Sets from Eduard, MK.1 and Master barrels for her; I still need a deck for her - the plastic one is alright but has a noticeable join so I'll try a wooden one, and her AA guns are woeful so need replacing! So that's where I'm at. My carriers will continue to be the main focus whilst I get them over the line but my hobby evenings are normally Tues, Thurs and a bit on the weekend and AGS will take one of those slots. Thanks for stopping in, S-boat