starting to get into moddeling and was wondering what was easier for a starter like me. i know Tamiya is the recommended brand but as someone who loves world war 2 ships ive always heard they are much harder to finish then a plane or tank. advice would be appreciated
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Welcome to the forum Billy, whilst I am not the best to answer this as I am in the same situation. I will be watching for some of the experienced modelers to reply, all the best.
Probably armor, their WWII kits are very simple,they use link and Length tracks or one piece Vinyl ones.But you can try a Tamiya Fletcher Class destroyer,not too expensive to try out.The 1/350 battleships and cruisers are upwards of $100 and more,but not overly complicated if you build it out of box.
You could try 1/700 if you have good eyes and fingers,somewhat smaller but a decent sized battleship.
Definitely a different process,but not bad.
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Welcome to the forums Billy! Tamiya models are a great brand to start with as they are well engineered and go together reasonably easy, and the instructions are clear. If I had to choose (and this is strictly my opinion) a plane would be the easiest of the three you mentioned. Ships are a major time commitment to do right (up to a year depending on the subject), tanks can be quite fiddly (the tracks, stowage, weathering) while planes have the fewest parts and can be built well in a month or three. All of this depends on how far you want to take them. You can build out of the box, or add any number of aftermarket details with Photo Etch details, 3D printed parts, etc. The biggest thing to remember no matter what you choose to build is take your time to fully understand how things go together and have infinite patience. If you get stuck, check these forums for guidance. The search bar is your friend, and all of us here are available for advice and questions. Good luck with whatever you choose to build first.
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Thanks for the greetings, i will most likely check out the planes then as it sounds right up my ally as a starter
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Welcome Billy! Tamiya is a great brand and you can’t go wrong with one of their models. I’ve built exactly 1 ship in my life and I built it oob. It was a fun build and went together quickly. So I’m not an expert at ship building but I realized that each type of build has its own tricks that you learn as you go along that are unique to that type of model. I mainly focus on 1:48 scale aircraft and I’ve developed my own process for building them. If I were to build more ships, the process and my thinking would have to be modified some. There were a few times when I was building that one ship where I followed my airplane process but shouldn’t have. I remember thinking to myself that I should have assembled these parts as a subassembly and painted them before attaching them to the deck because it would have worked out better.
This is getting really long, but to shorten it, build what you love and have fun doing it. Along the way you’ll learn things from your mistakes and from others.
Tamiya P-51B is a good beginner’s kit.
Though for a true beginner, I’d recommend an old Monogram kit. A little simpler, so you can practice basic skills, but looks like the subject, too, so you can enjoy your work.
And like I said,if you love WWII ships,you can’t go wrong with a Tamiya 1/350 Fletcher or Kagero as a starter built out of box
I am an armour and a diorama guy…always have been. So my builds are always a bit more work to both finish the vehicle, build the diorama…and of course figures. But I find all of that easier than building aircraft…though I have built a 1/48 F-18C. Finishing aircraft seems more challenging to get symmetrical and sharp demarcations between colours. I have a couple ship models under construction and a couple waiting in my stash. I agree that ships are a tougher build given their size and given the same painting challenges as aircraft. My advice is to build what strikes your fancy, but start with simpler and less expensive kits until you find your groove.
Welcome to the forum and the hobby! I second the 1/48 Tamiya P-51B. Building another one right now. Goes together well and the olive drab over gray is a relatively easy paint scheme.
Let me be a voice of caution here regarding a first ship build.
I have often read of a NOOB who wants to build a ship kit and they want to go with the biggest, badest subject – they want to start with a Missouri, Enterprise, Bismarck, or Yamato. The repetitive assembly of the often small secondary/tertiary weapons leads to burnout & disinterest. The project gets shelved and forgotten
Start with a smaller, more manageable canvas. The recommendation of the Tamiya Fletcher is a good one as is the Kagero. The Trumpeter USS England is another. Build your first out of the box. It will look rather plain – all the ones in the magazines have photoetch rails and details. First attempt out of the gate with PE will lead to more frustration. Get one under your belt then add some PE to your skill set. It is a learner kit – it may look like a smoking pile of c__p, but learn from it. Take what you have learned and move on to a more challenging subject. Take your 15 dancing thumbs on to the big battleship or down to a 700 subject. Its muscle memory. It takes practice to become proficient
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Update: i have decided to do some more research and have gone with the M41 Walker Bulldog from Tamiya as ive heard its one of the best starter kits
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I started my 8 year old on the M41 back in the early 2000s. It was a good starter for sure. I helped him a bit but left most to him. I know he finished it, but I have no idea what he did with it afterward. He is in his early 30s now and questions my fascination with scale modeling. He obviously didn’t get enough of my genes.
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If he was anything like me it was probably blown up with firecrackers. 
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I am a tanker myself. Ive built planes,ships,cars,etc,but a 1/72 armor kit will get you used to small parts handling without worrying about finish. Some modpoge mud covers many mistakes! Everything else require better finishing to look right, but a battle worn Sherman, mistakes just look like “damage”! Some happy mistakes to quote Bob Ross!
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I suspect you are correct. Fathers are always the last to know.
FYI, my 8 year old is in my avatar later in life when he was a member of the Nova Scotia Highlanders and was posted to sentry duty at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Ottawa.
The Tamiya M41 is an excellent kit for beginners, as is their Panzer II F/G kit.
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I have the Panzer II F/G in my queue…I am currently building a diorama that will include the Panzer II F/G crossing the Meuse River in May 1940. I started building the diorama as I am currently building three other diorama bases and figured I might as well get the mess of cutting and finishing the plywood and adding the insulation foam terrain in one go.
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If I’m not mistaken, the F version did not appear until sometime in 1941, so you may want to make your diorama in Russia or North Africa instead of France for historical accuracy 
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