Kits I wish they would make.
For Belknap you just need to burn the top of a flat board (hee, hee)
1/72nd. C.W Morgan
1/72nd. USS Constitution
By Heller of Course Man what detail!
1/72 US Fleet Boat P L EEEEZE REvell
1/72 US Fleet Boat
1/350 Type Vllc and Type lX U Boots Plastic or resin
1/350 USS Parche
Seasick - One of your wishes has already been granted. The British firm Skytrex makes a series of 1/700 sailing warship kits in white metal, including the Constitution.
I don’t have the kit, but I do have the Skytrex H.M.S. Victory. It’s a remarkable little piece of merchandise. The one-piece hull casting is excellent, and thoroughly researched. (It is, to my knowledge, the only Victory kit on the market that gets the forecastle bulwarks right.) There are separate castings for the poop deck, the beams in the waist, the anchors, and the ship’s boats. A meticulous paint job would turn this thing into a masterpiece.
Some of the other components of the kit are a little more problematic. The masts and yards are also cast in white metal. They’re ok in terms of size, but extremely flexible. Wood or brass would be better. The kit also comes with a sheet of photo-etched brass parts. These include the shrouds and ratlines (good idea, but a little too coarse for the scale) and most of the sails. (The fore and main courses are furled, and are cast with their yards. The topsails, topgallants, headsails, and spanker are photo-etched brass.) Skytrex’s biggest market, I gather, is the wargame community, and those brass sails are clearly designed to be sturdy enough to survive on the game table. They aren’t bad looking; they have reef points etched in relief. But there’s just no way a brass sail can be treated to make it translucent, which a sail ought to be. My intention, if I ever get up the nerve to build the thing, is to replace the masts and yards with wood and the sails with paper.
The instructions include a rigging diagram, but it’s pretty simplified. For most modelers, though, I suspect it will be plenty detailed enough. We’re talking about a hull length of four inches.
The Skytrex range is worth a serious look. It covers British, French, Spanish, and American ships - including the only U.S.S. Chesapeake kit I’ve ever heard of. The website is www.skytrex.com . From the home page, click on “Navy World of Models,” then on “Meridian Trafalgar Series.” The site includes an online sample of an instruction sheet.
Oh - my wish list includes ANY sailing ship, in ANY scale, from ANY good manufacturer. Apart from a couple that Trumpeter and Zvezda have released recently, there have been no new plastic sailing ship kits for more than twenty years.
I actually kitbashed a 1/700 resin Leahy into a pseudo Belknap. I made a few mistakes but its decent.
1:144 scale Los Angeles class sub
1:144 scale Ohio class sub
1:144 scale Trafalgar class sub
I’m with Butchy. Give me a 1:72 US Diesel Boat.
Mike K.
A 350 scale of the U.S.S San Franisico also the Long Beach and Chicago,Digger.
You guys know mine already…
HMS Hood
IJN Takao
IJN Myoko
HMS Shefflield
DKM Scharnhorst
Jeff
As much as I like kitbashing and scratchbuilding these things, I would still love to have a good kit of a post SCB27 or SCB125 Essex class carrier.
Also, maybe a plastic 1/96 kit of the Frigate Essex. Or the Chesapeak, Or any fifth rate with less than 38 guns, I won’t be too picky. I’m just really really bored with 44s.
And since I am wishing and had the subject come up last night in conversation, which may lead into building one some day, the CSS Florida. Or the Warrior?
Scott
I’ve picked up rumors that a 1/700 Essex-class carrier in post-WWII configuration may be around the corner.
Let Me Guess:
Trumpeter or Dragon?
1/72 Kuznetsov. Man that would be massive.
Jeff,
I see Hood at the top of your list … if you haven’t already found it, go to
and link to their graphics and photos section. Best Hood site on the internet and they have the grand lady rendered in computer graphics in considerable detail. You’ll love it!
How about these !
HMCS Protecteur
HMCS Calgary
HMCS Annapolis
A Canadian WW 2 Tribal Class Destroyer
All in 1/350 scale , and not resin !
Frank
" PERSEVERANCE "
PS . My brother in law’s ship was the HMCS Protecteur , I would love to build a model of that ship , for him !
My wish list may be a little bizarre:
Novgorod/Admiral Popov (circular ships)
Any of the US “ABCD” ships from the 1880s-90s
HMS Devastation (1872?)
Somewhere around 1/200 scale would be nice.
It’s nice to see the number of turn-of-the-(last)-century coming out. Just ordered the Borodino but haven’t received her yet. Anxiously waiting on the Mikasa too.
ERic
A nice plastic 1/350 USS Vestal would work for me. And a 1/350 USS Indianapolis.