Being rather new to ship modeling. ( I am basicly an A/C and Auto modeller) I am attracted to the Italeri series of 1/720 aircraftcarriers. How are they?
How does 1/720 scale up to 1/700? Are the scales close enough to display together? Is their new Ron Reagan the same kit as their Abe Lincoln but just reboxed?
Thanks in advance for any info on these kits.
The Scale question:
1/700 is 1 inch scale = 700 inchs reality or 1 inch = 58.3 feet
1/720 is 1 inch scale = 720 inchs reality or 1 inch = 60.0 feet
Nimitz class is 1083 feet long so:
1/700 = 18.57 inchs long
1/720 = 18.05 inchs long
difference = 0.52 inchs (13.2mm) ~ half an inch difference. Thats a 2.8% difference.
Not much of a difference 1/720 kits will be ok in a 1/700 collection.
The Italeri kits for CV and CVN are not as detailed as say Tamiya or Hasegawa 1/700 kits but are not bad. The Reagan kit has better detail than the older kits, and does reflect the changes from the older Nimitzs.
The scale difference is negligible, displaying both scales together is not a problem at all, IMHO.
so that means I can display the 1/700 scale modern carrier aircraft on an 1/720 scale modern carrier then. I have 2 sets of the same set.
i built the HMS hood by italeri and it was a very detailed ship…for carriers of 1/700 scale, i like nichimo and hasegawa.they are very detailed…PLus nichimo’s plastic is darker in color.
I’ m currently building the Italeri Theodore Roosevelt as the George Washington.
While the fit, etc., on the Nimitz class kits is fine, you do need to do a lot of work if you want to make the ship anything more than the 1975 Nimitz with different decals.
Currently, all Nimitz-class ships after Dwight D. Eisenhower CVN 69 through the Harry S. Truman CVN 75 have extensions aft along the upper decks of their islands. Oddly enough, the Nimitz and Ike “lost” those extensions during their refueling and complex overhaul and the “basic” island shape returned to closely resemble their original configuration. The details are much different though. Of course, the Reagan’s island is very different. I’m sure that is reflected in the kit.
Having good documentation, doing some scratch building and using a good PE set will make the model work very well, particularly at this scale. I’m using the Gold Medal set which is wonderful. It contains lots of choices, such as the different types of radar masts for making each individual ship.
You’ll need better aircraft too as the Italeri ones are just rotten. Fujimi and Sky Wave make very nice 1/700th scale planes and helos.
Mike
Nimtiz and Eisenhower now have islands/main masts very similar to Reagan, though the do retain their pole masts/mounts for the SPS-49 Radars aft of the island. Carl Vinson will get the same refit after completion of her current deployment.