I was talking to a retired Pastor who is a modeler but can’t doo ships well and he wants me to build him some Battleships. At the hobbyshop in town there usually are a few 1/350th scale ships and he is looking at the Prince of Wales, Bismarck, and Yamato.
I went to the store today and the only ship they had in that scale is the Revell version. It comes in a rather large box and the packaging on the box states that there are 659 parts and it is a level 5 kit.
This is the first time I have ever seen this versionand have never heard of it. Does anyone have any information about it? How might it compare to the Academy kit or Tamiya kits?
They only had one, before I put out money for it I could use some information and advice about it.
It’s supposed to be a newer and better detailed kit than the Tamiya 1/350 Bismarck. It is more recent in its’ molding. The Academy kit is a clone of the Tamiya kit.
I don’t recall who, but somebody had a large scale Bismarck (1/350 or larger) back in the 1970’s. It was pretty simple and rather devoid of high detail as I remember, and was made for motorization, so I’m thinking Lindberg, but I could be wrong.
When i was looking to get a 350 Bismarck i read all the reviews and the revell kit came out top, so thats the one i went for. Have not built it yet (its penciled in for the end of next year) but it looks a very nice kit with some nice detail. I have never done a ship kit of that type before, a couple of 72nd kits and 350 modern subs and some smaller scale is about it, so to my eyes it does look a bit daunting.
I built the Tam Bismarck years ago, not a bad kit. Like was stated, the Academy is the same as the Tam, still not that bad. My wife got me the Revell and will start it somtime in the near future. All kits will need some extra help with PE and such but OOB, I’d go with Revell.
IIRC the Lindberg kit was close to 1/300 scale. I built it 10 or so years ago – after having been given it, as a gift – and I can’t say it had much to recommend it beyond its size. Detail varied between sparse and lumpy, and there was a major surgery required to correct hull/deck contours in the area beneath the catapult for the Arado floatplanes.
I picked up the new Revell Bismarck Friday. In justa casual look I noticed the instruction sheet apears to be a bit more complex, with the actual building instrurctions not really getting started until a bouit page 10.
Just a few things, the hull is split down the middle for some reason and the detail on the parts seem to be good. I will be ordering brass barrels and P.E. for the ship, actually two Ships since I also have to build one for my kid’s collection of Battleships. The parts include the raliing but I think I’ll save them for some other project.
One thing I was hoping for would be the Nazi Emblem for teh deck infront of the forward turrets. Does anyone know where that can be obtained?
After this I’ll need a Italian and French Battleship. Any suggestions, and did I miss any other countrie’s ships?
On a side note, I finally found my 1/350th Cerebus monitor. I have been looking for that thing all over the garage for a couple years. Aboiut that line of doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result…Worked this time.
Revell being a German company is never going to include the swastikas. I believe there are several AM sets on the market, i got the ones from Peddinghaus. And the kit is not that new, being released in 2007 and re-boxed in 16.
You mention the hull being split down the middle. I thought this was normal for most ship kits.
I have bought a couple of more recent 350 ship kits that don’t have the split hull, but i thought this was a more recent introduction mainly for ships with a waterline option. But then i don’t build many ships.
Only metal props i know of are by G-factor, but i am not sure if they are still going.
Trumpeter released a new tooled 350 kit last year, i think thats the most recent. I have their Graf Spee which looks nice, i imagine the Bismarck would be a nice kit.
Metal props are considered rough and not accurate, IMO.
If the interest is so specific that the model owner cares aboout things like how a Midway carrier had four-blades on the inner two keelsons , opposite handed, and five-blades on the outer two shafts, opposite handed to each other and also to the inner prop on that side- so be it.
The Revell 1/350 Bismarck and Tirpitz are outstanding kits! The others are good as well, especially the newer Trumpeter kits. The differences between the two are that the deck planks on the Revell kits are too pronounced but are fine on the trumpy version. However, only the Revell kits have lower hull details of the hull penetrations. Both are great kits.
Unfortunately, the Tamiya/Academy kits, while being very accurate, suffer from plain bulkheads. The builder needs to purchase photoetch sets to correct this discrepancy. Finally, there is no lower hull detail.
I strongly recommend first, the Revell kits, and, second, the Trumpeter kit.