I am really wanting to build a USS Texas. It’s the BB just down the highway from me in 1/350 scale. Has anyone here built the resin kit I see advertised? Is it worth 300 dollars or should I keep waiting for a styrene kit? If I got the resin kit, it’d be my first.
There has been no rumors of a styrene Texas. Resin is your only choice.
Three hundred dollars for a battleship sized resin kit is actually a pretty good price. Consider that a plastic battleship (i.e. Trumpeter NC) will be 80 to 100 dollars. Photoetch for a kit will be another 80 to 100. In a resin kit - the PE is included. In a resin kit you do not need to go out and get aftermarket items to complete ther model. This is a fact that many people do not consider. They look only at the initial cost outlays. They do not consider the total package. Yes resin as a material is more expensive. Styrene runs about a dollar a pound – and there is only about a pound of material in the finished product. Bulk resin costs 10 to 20 dollars a pound. There may be 5 pounds of product in the kit.
If it is the Viking kit, walk … no run … away from the kit. Viking is out of business. They had piss-poor customer service. No loss to the hobby. If you have any problems with the kit – you are out of luck.
If you are talking about the Commanders/Iron Shipwright kit (ISW), it would be a good opportunity. ISW has excellent customer service. If you have any problems they will work with you to resolve them.
There is also an excellent resin & brass Texas in 1:700 scale by Samek models. Another by HP models is resin only (i.e. you need to buy aftermarket PE).
Working with resin is not a major difference. Resin requires CA as opposed to a solvent glue.
If you have never worked with PE on a ship kit you may want to consider a learner kit. For this I would recommend one of the small kits by ISW, the PC461 kit is an excellent choice.
If you’ve never built a resin kit before, I would by a “starter” kit to learn the differences between working in resin and styrene, and to learn the intracies of photoetch parts. My first model in more than 30 years was a 1/700 resin Victory ship, and yes, I learned a lot from building it, so the second one actually turned out the way I wanted it.
My third kit was a 1/700 plastic Perry class frigate, and although I bought the aftermarket photoetch, there were construction differences, primarily using plastic model cement as opposed to cyanoacrylate glue. The big thing that kept throwing me off was the weight - resin ships, no matter what the size, have a certain amount of “heft” to them, which makes them less likely to wander off and fly through space. I was constantly misjuding how much force I needed to apply to the much lighter plastic kit, resulting in a few trips “over the side” of the construction area until I got the hang of it.
Learning on a smaller, cheaper kit is the way to go - yes, it’s an additional expense, but in the long run, it will save you a LOT of aggravation, time and expense. BTDT!
Thanks for the info folks. Good to hear about what kits are good and the insight on application of parts. I think I’ll try a smaller 1/700 kit first. Can anyone here recommend a couple of types of paint that is best to use on resin, acrylics or enamels? I have been using acrylics. Do they stick well or should I use a primer coat?
Thanks again, I appreciate hearing from your personal experience.
By smaller, I wouln’t discard the thought of smaller 1:350 kits and jump directly to 1:700. My recommendation of a 1:350 scale resin subchaser (PC461) is the same size as a 1:700 scale destroyer - but the parts are bigger and allow you to practice on larger parts. Then if you then choose to go to a smaller scale it is easy to transfer the knowledge to the smaller size.
For example on a 1:700 scale ship the railings are about 1/8 inch tall. On a 1:350 kit they are about 1/4 inch.
My build of the PC kit on the ISW website
http://www.commanderseries.com/pages/PC472.htm
The kit lists for 25 dollars on the ISW website and includes resin & brass parts, plus the ISW customer satisfaction warranty.
A resin destroyer in 1:700 scale will likely cost that much or more.
See Phil Kirchmeier’s build article on the kit here at FSM
http://www.finescale.com/fsm/objects/pdf/fpb040422.pdf
One of the good things about resin is that you can continue to use the paint system which you are most familiar with, enamels or acrylics. I have found that I do have to prime the resin. After thouroughly washing the pieces and allowing them to dry (to remove the mold release) I spray them with some primer in a rattlecan from the local hardware store. American Tradition’s Red Primer from Lowes is my favorite - a good color match to the hull red.