Im wanting to get a good destroyer kit because i want to do more ship kits ive only built three all together one carrier and a schnellboot also im working on a wooden kit can you guys give me a few good moderately priced kits to look for next time im at my grandpa’s shop?
TIA, Brian
There’s always the venerable Tamiya 1/350 Fletcher. You can’t go wrong with that one.
Revell just came out with a 1/144 scale Fletcher tin can. I think its around $120 or so. It looks really nice. Here’s a review:
For WWII destroyers, any from the Dragon Smart Kit Destroyer series are excellent. They have quality that far surpass earlier offering from others. The Dragon Smart Kit destroyers include serveral ships in the Bensons-Cleaves class and one Gearing class.
For modern destroyers, the Dragon Arleigh Burke class ships are good value.
I prefer 1:350 scale or larger for destroyers. 1:700 scale is too small for my taste. All the above Dragon kits are in the $30-40 range and easily found at LHS. I hope that these are your “moderate price” range.
If you are interested in Russian or Chinese destroyers, Trumpeter has 14 kits in 1:200 scale. Sometimes, you can find them at dirt cheap price at local shop or Ebay. See the 1/200 warships posts recently.
The Dragon destroyers are excellent kits, but their detail may be intimidating to a ship NOOB. If you have built any Dragon armor you will understand when I say that they appear to have often decided … ‘why do something in 5 parts when 20 will do’! If you have a couple of Dragon armor kits under your belt - have at it.
Another excellent choice is Trumpeters USS England destroyer escort. Not quite as big as a destroyer, but still a lot of detail. PitRoad has just come out with a new 1:350 scale DE USS Cannon which I’m hoping to get a look at soon. If it is anything like their IJN Hei patrol craft - it will be a winner.
A warning to stay away from the Trumpeter USS The Sullivans. There are issues with the kit which make it a choice for an experienced ship modeler (i.e. a project kit).
While we’re at it, can anybody recomend a reasonably priced WWI era ship of some kind? NOT of the overly-complicated Dragon variety, thanks [:P]
Reasonably priced?? I’d settle for an expensive one! Good luck finding any! There are some out there, but aren’t easy to find.
Here is a reference to the Tamiya Fletcher: http://www.modelwarships.com/reviews/ships/dd/dd-445/350-tamiya-fletcher/tamiya-fletcher.html
It really is a good value and builds into a very nice model straight from the box. They go for around $25-$30. You have a good choice for aftermarket stuff too, if you want it.
Here’s a photoetch set for it: (Just to give you an idea on how crazy you can go!)
The Emden by Revell. Builds up nicely by itself or it can be tricked out with a photo-etched set by GMM and a laser cut wooden deck from Vectorcut [?].
There is also the sister - Dresden seen occasionally. It is currently OOP. The difference is one prop vs two. A separate lower hull plug piece accomplishes the difference
The Emden is on my list of first ship kits with PE for a NOOB, along with the Tamiya Fletcher and the Trump England.
Go with one of the new Dragon kits…awesome kits…
Glencoe Models just re-issued the WWI Sub chaser. It is not quite a destroyer. In 1:74 scale, the kit builds up to a good size model. Best, you never have to worry about “overly-complicated” design from Glencoe. Is the less than $40 price reasonably priced?
I concur with EdGrune’s recommendations. Those are excellent kits to begin with.
Bill Morrison
Personally, I’d go for the Tamiya ‘Fletcher’ in 1/350, and as a good companion piece, the recently released Tamiya ‘Yukikaze.’ In both cases, they are fine models with great detail and excellent molding, but at a better price than the Dragon offerings, and all the aftermarket PE you could want. Try either or both of these two kits first, and then if you decide you really want to go whole hog on ultra detail destroyer kits, go for the Dragon ‘Buchanan!’
The Tamiya Yukikaze is about $20 more than the Hasegawa 1:350 scale Yukikaze, and both are double the price of similar Dragon destroyer kits. They are all wonderful model kits. However, I don’t believe either Yukikaze are easier built than the Dragon Buchanan.
I have not seen any IJN destroyer kit out of the box and am really interested in know how these two Yukikaze compare. The Hasegawa definitely has more PE set readily available, the Hasegawa, Edurad and Lion Roar. Have not heard any PE for the Tamiya Yukikaze yet.
T was just given as a gift the Revell/Germany 1/144th Fletcher. The detail on this kit is fantastic. Going to purchase the Nautilis photo-etch set for this…will be a fun build
I bought the Tamiya ‘Yukikaze’ for $30. Last time I checked, the Hasegawa ‘Yukikaze’ goes for something over $50 (even on Ebay). The Dragon destroyer kits seem to market for around $30-$40. The Tamiya Fletcher’ can be had for $20. If you look for a PE set for the Hasegawa ‘Yulikaze’ you will pay through the nose (there is a ‘full detail’ Japanese destroyer by Hasegawa selling for $125!!!), but the Tamiya kit COMES with a fair bit of PE detail, though you might want to buy some railings. In other words, Dragons are nice kits, but not the ‘be all and end all’ of kits that is advertised; you pays yer money, and you takes yer choice!
I want one too if you can help me find it at that price. Sprue Brothers want $72.49 for one plus tax and shipping.
That is an excellent price for the Hasegawa Yukikaze too. You must be an expert in finding model kit at lowest price. Care to share your secret?
Yes, the best thing to do is to pre-order stuff via Freetime Hobbies, or keep an eye on Ebay, as everything eventually shows up there at a reduced price. For instance, right now there is a Tamiya Yukikaze on Ebay for $39, plus $16 for shipping (.http://cgi.ebay.com/Tamiya-1-350-Japanese-Destroyer-Yukikaze-78020_W0QQitemZ260437876949QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3ca34ea0d5&_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116). Yesterday, there was one for only $34 and $8 shipping. The other trick is to simply Google for what you are looking for, and compare and contrast the different prices. And the differences are significant!!!
There is a Hasegawa Yukikaze available on Ebay for $42, but the shipping is $24, so you see which is the better deal! http://cgi.ebay.com/HASEGAWA-IJN-DESTROYER-TYPE-KOH-YUKIKAZE-1-350-40022_W0QQitemZ320390671091QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item4a98c5aaf3&_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116
Comparing these “one time only, expensive shipping” prices to the $30-40 regular US hobby store price of the Dragon kits are not a fair comparison.
BTW, Lucky Models in Hong Kong will ship the Yukikaze kits to US for $8 by airmail. But they cannot sell at your $30 price. US$49 for the Tamiya Yukikaze kit.
Sounds to me like you are a Dragon Models employee. I’m not knocking Dragon models, but I have found that the Tamiyas can be found and had for cheaper IF you are willing to hunt a bit, bide your time and not insist on having something right now! In fact, the reason I ended up buying the Tamiya version rather than the Hasegawa kit was because at the time, the Tamiya kit was selling for almost $20 cheaper! The Ebay link for the Tamiya I sent says they have 10 of these available at that price, which means it is not just a ‘one time offer,’ and that is from Ebay stores, not the auctions. Watch the auctions for a couple weeks, and you will see another Tamiya Yukikaze come up for cheap money. Also, I haven’t bothered to set foot in a hobby shop for about 10 years, as the selection is necessarily so limited, the prices are inflated by overhead, and by the time you figure in the time and gas for travelling around to different shops in hopes of finding something particular, you would be much better off buying online. Sad about the hobby shops, but I am afraid they are simply obsolete for the most part (along with newspapers, Walkman, and a lot of other once-cool things). I have seen the Tamiya 1/350 Yukikaze selling in various online sites for as much as $92! But that doesn’t mean you have to pay that much if you are willing to look.
Hey ED GRUNE --WASSUP!!! I just finished the EMDEN and I used p.e. that was given to me by friends i.e. scrap they had left over from their projects . It isn,t a bad kit . The thing I didn,t like was the pilot house windows were ,like the rails over the wheelhouse on the signal bridge were insets . Have you ever tried to put little decals in little depressions that were slightly smaller than the decals .??? Other than that ,DON,T use the thread they give you in the kit . The darn stuff is waay out of scale . Despite all this ,it builds into a nice little W W 1 warship . I wish there were more like the S.M.S. KRONPRINZ that I,m scratchbuilding , using the 1/200 papermodel as patterns . catcha later ----be good ----TANKERBUILDER