I have a choice between these two, but not sure what the differences are or which is a better build. Also, for added detail, am I better off with the Revell Platinum kit with it’s wood deck and 1 sheet of P-E, or should I opt for an after mkt P-E set that seems to provide a lot more pieces. It wont be RC motorized, nor will I be reshaping pieces for 100% accuracy.
This is for a commish build, so the client will pay the costs, I’ll just pay with my sanity. (to be honest, I wont likely use all the P-E, just the obvious and essential ones.)
I have the older Matchbox offering with it being fully R/Cd . It has flaws , Yes .But with judicious planning and a good eye she is an attractive little ship that can be operated in real world wind and water , waves and wakes shedding out of her freeing ports like they are supposed too .
Some off scale adjustments had to be made to get scale performance ( like an oversize rudder and prop . ) Everything else is O.O.B. and if done right , tough as nails so far . She’s now four years old and has cruised in the Susuin straight , the Sacramento river and the lakes and bays of the Guadelupe and Comal rivers here in Texas .
She has weathered well with all her paint being Humbrol ( when you could get it as easily as Testors ) . The only thing new is the turned gun barrels and the real metal Depth charges . I did the top hamper and radar cage in brass when I built her .The two life rafts are cotton netting with real painted cork for the float areas .
With her Battery ( a 12 volt Motorcycle battery , This one is number two ) and an all electronic speed control with a four Channel Futaba radio . She is a jewel to run and seems very much at home in water. Now as a Static kit she is and can be impressive O.O.B. or Build it like this must be your most detailed ever ship model .She will be beautiful both ways . T.B.
I built the old Matchbox kit and converted it to RC almnost 30 years ago. I used a scale size prop and the scale rudder, and had no issues with running it that way. IMHO, you don’t need an overscale rudder-- if you’re concerned about the turning diameter, you can go with greater than scale deflection.
I think the Flower is the perfect plastic model for RC conversion. It is big and beamy, with a displacement of about 5.5 pounds, and looks great on the water, even “rough” seas!
I saw the contents of the new Revell Platinum edition just last week-- ti was nicer than I was expecting. The wood decks are not those over-thick plywood things–it is a sheet of real wood veneer with adhesive backign that is abotu the the thickness of a vinyl sticker. I found it interesting that Revell repeats the Matchbox error by providing the wood veneer for nearly the entire model, when the real FLowers only had a small amount of wood decking. (The guy who was building it was only using it on the foc’sle bridge, and are by the K guns.)
I was also impressed by the nice metal barrels that the Platinum kit includes. plus the nice PE set.
Bottom line: If I was to buy a model today, I still don’t think the Platinum kit is worth it, unless I was doing a diplac model. For an RC project, the old kit would be good enough.
Underneath all the extras in the Revell kit, the plastic is the same. The Revell kit is a rebox of the Matchbox, plus all the add-on goodies. It comes down to whether there’s a significant difference in the price.