Looking to buy a WW2 Warship

[allyby]

Bearing in mind that I've only started the hobby again fairly recently and only built WW2 aircraft I'm looking for a long term project to do in between builds, I've seen a very nice and good priced Tamiya 1/350 scale Tirpitz, is this suitable for my needs or is it maybe a step too far at the moment?

As I say I'm not intending to batter out this build and I feel a bigger scale will probably be better for my clumsy fingers.

 

 

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

It's a nice kit. The good thing about Tamiya ships is that the parts fit, which isn't something I'd stick my neck very far out to say about some alternatives.

 

Plastic surgery is well and good on aeroplane models, but ships are more complicated builds and ill-fitting parts are an absolute pain in the backside on a ship.

 

The Tamiya Bismarck and Tirpitz kits are pleasant builds. There are some known inaccuracies on the Tirpitz kit in particular (i.e. it's too similar to Bismarck whereas the real Tirpitz had more differences) but if it's a return to hobby build and you want to have a straight forward build without headaches, I think it is probably suitable for what you want.

[dfqweofekwpeweiop4]

How about the Tamiya Fletcher as a start? Bit more simple to begin with than Tirpitz.

 

thanks

Mike

[Jockster]

Despite their reputation amongst the aviation modellers, Trumpeter produce some nice ship kits. Tamiyas Tirpitz is a great kit though and a good long termer!

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

1 hour ago, Jockster said:

Despite their reputation amongst the aviation modellers, Trumpeter produce some nice ship kits. Tamiyas Tirpitz is a great kit though and a good long termer!

 

I hear Trumpeter's 1/200 Rodney and Nelson go together well from someone I'd trust and I'm keen to get the 1/200 Hood although I'm fully aware of all the errors on that kit which need to be corrected to look like Hood.

 

Based on their 1/350 Hood, Repulse, Graf Spee and 1/700 Renown though, the impression of Trumpeter ship kit niceness is highest when the parts are still on the sprues. The 1/350 ones have all needed a few evenings leaning over the bath wet sanding putty away between the upper and lower hull halves and the why-use-one-part-when-5-would-do policy on superstructure parts also needs a lot of corrective work (cutting, filling, sanding) too as the parts simply don't fit. I had to saw Renown's lower hull in half to shorten it to the same length as the upper half, you may recall.

 

Based on the sample set so far, I'd still buy Trumpeter kits if there wasn't a better alternative out there, but I couldn't recommend them to a beginner or indeed to anyone who wasn't prepared to undertake a lot of corrective work.

[Shar2]

Strange, I've not had this problem myself with Trumpeter kits, except with the 1:350 Saratoga, which was an interesting build. Although they do seem to make a habit of getting the hull shapes wrong, yet the 1:350 Hood is one of their best, but then they actually called upon the Hood Association for help, and boy does it show, when compared with the 1:200 kit.

 

Tamiya kits are great, but not always accurate, the best Bismarck and Tirpitz are actually the 1:350 ones from Revell, they go together well and are pretty accurate.

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

Hood's easily the best of those I have built (or mostly built), but there's still a lot of filler on the superstructure.

 

Renown

 

Graf Spee

[Jockster]

I'm the same, USS England, German Z-25, HMS Kent, Arleigh Burke, Sovremenny, Udaloy, Slava, Kirov, HMS Hood and others all went together without issue. They tend to favour mitred joints on superstructure parts which mate well and virtually eliminate any seams. The only issues I find with their kits is in the smaller details such as doors and windows missing or needing removed. Even the upper and lower hull joins have needed very little clean up.

I agree with Dave on the Revell kits too, USS New York, USS Iwo Jima and the massive Queen Mary 2 have all been excellent.

I think I may choose Revell over Tamiya if I decide to do Bismarck but the new tool Tamiya Yamato is almost flawless if you take it as a model of the 1/10 Scale Yamato in the Kure museum.

It's just a shame that Tamiya weren't as diligent with their CVN65 Enterprise..

Any of the former above would suit a beginner.

 

[Jockster]

I think you've been unlucky with yours Jamie, although I don't have the Graf Spee yet so it could be a pig waiting to drive me daft. I don't recall ever having had to use filler other than a little bit of super glue here and there.

I think, as far as Trumpy goes, we have been far more blessed than our aircraft counter parts. (I have the 1/32 EE Lightning!)

 

Allyby should do fine with the Tamiya Tirpitz though. At least it has a one piece hull and a good level of detail straight from the box. 

[allyby]

Thank you all for your input, latest update is that I ordered the Tamiya 1/350 Tirpitz earlier today and I think for a good price of £37.50, after all when you think about how long it's going to take me to build this it's probably going to be very good value for money.

 

But now I have a few questions to ask of all you good folks!

 

I'm painting it all by hand with the hairy stick so to speak so what paints do you advise me to use and purchase, as I have to wait on the model coming to see what colours I need, am I better with?

 

Acrylics or Enamels?

What's the best make to buy, Humbrol, Tamiya Ect?

What finish eg Matt, Silk, or Gloss?

 

Anything else I've missed out paint wise but I think you all get the idea where I'm coming from, any help I get is much appreciated, looking forward to starting a Works in progress thread with this build.

 

Hope to see you all there!

 

Ally.

Edited February 17, 2017 by allyby

[dfqweofekwpeweiop4]

I like and use the Lifecolor Acrylics on ship models.

 

thanks

Mike

[allyby]

16 hours ago, Mikemx said:

I like and use the Lifecolor Acrylics on ship models.

 

thanks

Mike

Are these paints suitable for the paint brush?

[dfqweofekwpeweiop4]

Certainly are!

 

thanks

Mike

[Rob 1]

Life Colour are good, they airbrush very nicely but seem to brush paint ok too.

 

Also Revell Aqua are really nice paints and are very easy to use and apply with airbrush or paint brush and cover very well, and are easy to get hold of as most Hobbycraft stores seem to stock the range which is very handy (if you have one nearby).