In the spirit of equal time, what are some of the best ship kits of all time. These would be kits that exceeded our expectations. Might be new kits or “classic” releases that keep on giving. I would like for you to name your choice(s) and then explain why you chose the kit(s)…
I would say that the new Lindberg 1/72 scale I-53 is the finest …
Really though, I think, from what I’ve heard, that the new USS Buchanon is supposed to be a fine piece of work. But as far as nautical subjects go, my favorite so far, it might not be the best of all time, is the Tamiya 1/35 PBR. I have a thing for it as I volunteered for duty for service on them during Vietnam but missed the chance as they turned them over to the S. Vietnamese Navy before I could. (It was probably a good thing, now that I look back on it, stupid 18 year old). There is good detail (large scale) as you would expect, and excellent fit.
But getting back on the subject, price will have to be a factor. Best for the price or best, the sky’s the limit?
Good point. I’d say sky is the limit for your pick. But if you chose a $900 limited-release, resin, signed and numbered kit that sells for $900, qualify your answer with that information. Then pick a second choice from those directed at mass market.
Well my vote would go for the new Dragon 1/350th scale Destroyer kits (Buchanon, Laffey, etc.) Also, the new Tamiya 1/700th scale “early” Akagi is a real gem…especially if you trick it out w/ the wooden flight deck and other AM parts…
second vote, hands down, for Dragon’s 350 destroyers.
Unlimited funds? I have heard/read tons of praise heaped at the 1/350 resin Commander Series offerings
I would get the Mikasa with all lion roar accessories.
bang for the buck? you cant go wrong with the classic Tamiya Fletcher
The RoG 350 Bismarck is quite nice too.
I dont think you can pick any “oldies” except out of nostalgia.
And, unfortunatelly, no plastic sailing ships would make this list (or even a top 100 list… )
I’m going to presume styrene kits here as I don’t think wood builders are on this forum.
Heller Victory, Revell Constitution 1/96, Revell Cutty Sark 1/96, Revell Kearsarge 1/96th
Possibly the Revell Bismark and possibly their QM2, and many have said their Viking Ship is quite accurate.
I would choose these based on accuracy or the ability to make them accurate with little effort and that a finished model would faithfully represent the real thing.
I might throw in the 1/96 CSS Alabama—Revell, I think?
I would vote on the 1/72 scale Matchbox Snowberry. When I built it years ago it was a rather enjoyable kit, bur remember haveing to modifify soldiers to sailers to outfit her. She sat produally on the fireplace mantel till my old cat decided it was in the way. Both have long departed and I bought a revell version and built the hull and bagged it up and put away just could not get into the project one day I will restart again.
I have built the CSS Alabama as I wanted to try a ship like this however the kit is not accurate, and is a reboxing with little change, of the Kearsarge which apparently is accurate. There are lots of threads along on that topic.
I would add that I have built the Snowberry within the last two years and found it to be extremely enjoyable. There is a strong argument around however that it needs serious work to correct the innacuracies of the real thing. Looks great to me however. I’ve really got to get some photos up.
Is the Snowberry a corvette?
Yes Manstein I beleive she was.
My vote for one of the best AND the best model for the money goes to the Trumpeter 03612 1:200 scale Sovremenny Class Destroyer Type 956. Not my most favorite modeling subject. But a high quality kit with small PE frets that makes possible a nice display model out of the box without after market parts. It is one of the few recent (2002/2003) model release that caused a stir in the modeling community. See the multiple parts build report by Guido Hopp for details. I paid $45 for one in 2006. It is still on the Trumpeter online catalogue, but getting more difficult to find in the US. A 2009 release from Bronco of the same ship, same scale is priced over $200.
The Dragon 1/350 USS Buchanan and USS Gearing WW2 destroyer series are both outstanding kits. But the finished model is relatively small and they need aftermarket parts for railings. They should be in the top 10 for the quality at moderate price.
I have the Revell 1:144 scale Fletcher on special order by a LHS. Based on published reviews, it should be a good top 10 candidate. I will update when I see the kit.
There are many excellent injection molded kits above the $200 or more price mark, but they will not get my vote. If sky is the limit, there are many outstanding models or kits from motionmodels.com, modelshipmaster.com, BaD ship models and others. And the best among them is Fine Art Models. You can get a 1:96 scale Fletchers for a mere $6,500.00.
Yes. You can find information on all the different scale Flower Class Corvette on this site, including the Matchbox/Revell 1:72 scale Snowberry kit.
It may be a touch off topic but since people have brought up the Snowberry kit and I’m considering it for a project in the near future. Those of you who have mentioned maybe getting some photos up online, could you please do so? I’m especially interested in builds that have not been done with aftermarket stuff, so I can evaluate the debate about the kit’s inadequacies for myself.
Well you could spend upwards of $1000 to get all the great stuff available for it through that site, however I paid $72 dollars for the kit and it looks pretty good. I had to thin out the funnels etc to get them to scale and use evergreen clear sheet styrene for the radar house glass. I also had to sand off the wood deck in most places as its not accurate.
I would go for it. That site link in this thread is fantastic for reference. I’ll get photos up as soon as I can.
I guess that would explain why my LHS has a Bronco 1/200 Ka-28? I was trying to figure out why they didn’t put it in 1/144 scale, this must be it, they just took the molding for the one included with the full kit and boxed it separately.
Free Time Hobby has this 1:200 scale Sovremenny Class Destroyer kit in stock for $91.15. Still an excellent value.
This is an interesting topic. It seems to me that if we’re going to factor in price, we also should take the age of the kit into consideration. Depending on whether we do or don’t do that, I think I can make an argument for putting the same kit close to the top of both the “Best” and “Worst” lists.
The old Revell 1/535-scale U.S.S. Missouri was originally released in 1953. It was Revell’s first ship kit, and one of the very first plastic warships from any firm. Varney and Lindberg have some claim on the title “First,” but the Revell Missouri certainly was a major figure in the first generation of plastic kits. It featured a level of detail that kit purchasers had never seen before. (Compare it to the balsa version from Monogram, for instance.) It captured the imagination of tens of thousands - probably hundreds of thousands - of kids and adult modelers. It surely was a huge factor in creating the hobby of plastic ship modeling. If we evaluate “quality” in terms of importance and influence, this kit may well belong among the “top ten.” Certainly the “top hundred.”
But by the standards of 2009 the kit is, regardless of what new-fangled box it’s packed in, a real dog. Its hull is inaccurately shaped (largely because the hull lines of the Iowa class were still classified in 1953). It has no screws, and it’s missing a rudder. The Oerlikon guns are represented by three-pronged blobs cast integrally with the deck. The guardrails look like slabs, several feet thick. The barrels of the Bofors guns are flat on their bottoms. By modern standards the thing looks more like a toy than a scale model - and it could well be argued that it’s one of the worst ship kits ever.
Matters of deep philosophy aside, I’ll take the liberty of disagreeing somewhat with my cyber-friend JMart and suggest several sailing ship kits that I think belong among, or close to, the “top ten”:
Heller 1/100 H.M.S. Victory
Heller 1/75 La Reale
Revell 1/96 Constitution
Imai 1/120 Cutty Sark (and probably several other Imai kits; I haven’t seen all of them)
Revell 1/64 Viking ship
Revell Mayflower (either scale)
Revell 1/96 Golden Hind
Revell 1/110 Charles W. Morgan
Airfix 1/144 Wasa
Sheesh - that’s nine. I wouldn’t want to argue that nine out of the top ten ought to be sailing ships; comparing sailing ship kits with modern steel ship kits really is like comparing apples and oranges. But those nine, despite the fact that all of them are at least thirty years old, can, in my opinion, hold their own against anything the industry has produced since.
As for the “bottom ten” - taking into due consideration the date factor I mentioned earlier, I nominate the Aurora U.S.S. Halford. It was labeled a *Fletcher-*class destroyer (which the real Halford was) equipped with an aircraft catapult (which the real Halford was). And the picture on the box showed a catapult-equipped *Fletcher-*class destroyer. But inside the box was an extremely crude model of either a Sumner- or *Gearing-*class ship. (It was so crude that it would be hard to tell which.) It had a catapult, all right - which none of the Sumners or Gearings did. And the aircraft on the catapult bore no resemblance to - well, much of anything. Even by mid-fifties standards, that was a lousy model.
And then, of course, there’s the Revell “H.M.S. Beagle,” one of the more egregious marketing scams in the history of the hobby business. And the same company’s “S.M.S. Seeadler” and clipper ship “Staghound” - more of the same. The grossly misproportioned Heller “Oseberg Ship” surely belongs on that list. Come to think of it, I’d include quite a few of those old Heller kits that used identical hulls dressed up with decorations that turned them into travesties unlike anything that ever floated.
That “bottom ten” list is a pretty depressing subject. Better go to bed.
I remember the visit of Battleship New Jersey to Hong Kong in 1953. It anchored outside of the inner harbor. My father took me on a ferry ship curise that circled around the New Jersey.
I saw the Revell kit shortly after. It took a year or so for the Revell Missouri kit to reach the Hong Kong Hobby Shop. Every week, I made a trip after school to look at the box art in the display window and started saving money for it. It would have taken me forever to save the HK$17.50, but my mother helped with the 90% balance. Compared to all the other Airfix kits I had, it came together relatively easily. It remained the flag ship of my collection until I left Hong Kong for college in 60’s. I was proud of the rigging I did, but the brush paint job was no so good. It has to be in the top 10 if rated by impact on modelers.
Revell Mayflower, Golden Hind, Morgan.
Hasegawa Mikasa
Zvezda Borodino
Trumpeter USS San Francisco
Revell Campbellton, The Sullivans
Tamiya Bismark
Lindberg Lightship