Reddit mentions: The best watercraft model kits

I picked up the Lindberg Jolly Roger from Hobby Lobby. with the 40% off it was less than $20. It's been a lot of work to paint everything and get it together so far, but it's been really enjoyable. This is my first model aside from some bandi snap kits and metal earth.

I've been using cheap acrylic paints and I think it's turning out pretty good. I don't have an air brush so have been hand painting them. After reading a bit here I think I should really be thinning my paints for an improved look.

I've mostly gotten the boat together and the next step is working on the masts, sails and rigging which seems like it will be the most time consuming part.

Here's my progress so far: http://imgur.com/a/Lh9eB

It needs some touch up paint in a few places, but for a first painting model I'm pretty happy with it. I think it's pretty easy so far, just time consuming.

I've said this a few times when these threads crop up. I'm building a beginner model ship by Constructo, called the Albatross. It's a good starter kit, and has pretty decent instructions in various languages and with pictures. Always read a couple of steps ahead and do some research before you take the plunge as the instructions aren't 100% and some terms don't go between languages well.

I have quite a collection of hobby type tools about after many years as a kid in the hobby, but the kit comes with a decent knife, blades, sanding block, tweezers and pliers. Constructo also do other, smaller, cheaper kits too, but I thought if I'm making a ship, I want a half decent square rigger, since I work on a real one so it's a bit closer to my heart.

Since you're a newbie, let me elaborate on what might make your life a little easier when making the kit.

A few things I would suggest additionally you may need, would be definitely some dress making pins, maybe a vice that's bolted to your desk, just so it's easier to hold, and some decent wood glue. I also use the odd mini cramp. A small razor saw is a good plan too, as it makes chopping wood a little easier than just using the supplied craft knife, especially when the planking is on the model and you can't press down with a knife. I wouldn't bother with using the metal tacks in the kit, use the dress making pins instead, the tacks are shite and leave big holes, they also bend horribly. When you need to bend any wood, soaking it is a good idea, makes it a lot more malleable, there is a lot of resource online to help you with these techniques.

You can view a finished Albatross by /u/Sun_Searcher here.

For the money, I think it's a good one to have a crack at as a starter. I'm after building HMS Surprise, but she's a bit big and advanced for a newbie to contemplate, so when this one is done, perhaps Surprise shall be next, much to my Mrs's consternation.

Here's my last picture, I've gotten a bit further but life seems to be getting in the way at the moment.

Have to built models before?

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If not get something like a Tamiya, Hasegawa, or Aoshima of something like a destroyer. 1/700 scale is what the battleship the OP posted is, 1/400 or 1/350 is a far bigger model (or an average sized model of something very small like a PT Boat); 1/144 tends to be huge: I have a 1/144th scale U-Boat that is wider than the file cabinet it sits on.

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Get two tins of grey paint one tone darker than the other (darker one for a metal deck), if your doing IJN get some XF-79 Linoleum Deck Brown and if it is a full hull kit (you'll either find kits of the whole boat like the OP posted or ones where it stops at the waterline) get some XF-9 hull red, get some black paint as well since it is always useful. Get a box of artist pastels and some sandpaper, you'll use this stuff to make dirt, smudges and to bush some black over details to make them pop. Get some brushes of course, tweezers, a small file, an exact-o knife, sprue-cutters (optional; nail clippers are a cheap alternative for someone just starting) and a tube of plastic cement (warning this stuff melts plastic together so be careful with it). Get some Tamiya masking tape if you want to do camouflage.

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Now build and paint your kit. Look at it and realize it looks like crap. Buy another $10 kit from Japan or from some store offering a bargain and do it again and realize it looks better, because building models is a skill you have to work at. Do some more and when you start to feel comfortable move on to something like a Dragon or Trumpeter kit or a cruiser or battleship from one of the Japanese companies.

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Go to /r/modelmakers check out photos or ask questions, they are a great resource.

Alternatively, there will be a Hasegawa kit for half the price coming out this February.

The kit was a little fragile, but overall very easy and friendly to build. I wish it had more weight, it kept falling over and running away whenever I put the slightest amount of pressure on it. My biggest challenge was to not accidentally destroy it while building it. I broke a piece, but it was easy to reattach. I think one of the selling points was ease of build. This build was a chance for me to test out how gloss and matte paint would look.

The only Kancolle part of the kit are the figures and color booklet (extremely helpful but only in Japanese) it comes with. They're kinda small. I haven't colored in the Shimakaze figurine herself yet. I'm not good at painting people, but I'll get to her eventually. I'm starting on some GuP tanks、so probably after those are done.

Bandai has made Yamato kits for years. lately they have been making some really cool ones.

the 1/500 kit looks pretty amazing
http://www.amazon.com/Space-Battleship-Yamato-Scale-Model/dp/B0045T1JDY

the 1/350 kit looks really amazing and HUGE
http://www.amazon.com/1-350-Space-Battleship-YAMATO/dp/B000KCI9LK

Overcoming depression, step by step.

1. Make a commitment to yourself to cut 200 junk calories from your diet by the end of the weekend. (This is one soda and one oreo per day.)
   
   
2. It's Friday. By Monday have a plan to work out at least three days next week. Lift two days and do light cardio (walking or elliptical) on the other. Find a gym, workout center, weight room at your school, whatever. Make it happen.
   
   
3. It's Friday. By Monday have a plan for one hobby you're interested in. Buy a model (There are some cool metal models on Amazon. ). Find an instrument you might like to play. There is free shit on YouTube and elsewhere to teach you to play any instrument from the alpenhorn to the piccolo trombone. Want to write a novel? National Novel Writing Month started two days ago. You're not too far behind to catch up.
   
   
4. It's Friday. By Monday, I want you to have read No More Mister Nice Guy by Robert Glover. If you don't have it, PM me and I'll help you get it.
   
   Don't worry about anything except for these four steps right now. We are your brothers and we will hold you accountable. Do this, and we'll worry about style, approach, and social life later. The first step is to find a direction for you that doesn't spiral downward.
   
   I'll follow up with you on Monday.
   
   RemindMe! Next Monday

Many thanks for your extensive response.

I do believe there is not much need for crimping as bending the wood after soaking it in hot water works quite well. But I'll resort to that shouldn't the curve end up tight enough.

In the guidebook to the ship the planks are bent along the deck curve, so that's what I did. The strain isn't too bad so I hope it holds. I tried steam bending after making this post, plank snapped and I just used the hot water bent one.

Of course I'll attach the planks one after the other alternating the side after each (or a few), but it won't make a diference for the strain of the lateral bend (Thank you for teaching me that word alone!) since the planks on both side pull towards the keel.

You made a lot of sense, thank you very very much for your response!

Links to the Bounty kit:

• https://www.amazon.de/Constructo-D80817-Holzbausatz-H-M-S-Bounty/dp/B000S369MW?ref=icp_lop_en-GB&language=en_GB
  
  
• http://www.krickshop.de/Products/Static-Models/Bounty-HMS-1-50-Baukasten.htm?shop=krick_e&a=article&ProdNr=23817&p=80
  
  I hope hotlinking those is OK here.
  
  

A good option may be the One Piece submarine:

https://www.amazon.com/Bandai-Hobby-Trafalgar-Submarine-Piece/dp/B006Q4SQWS

It's snap together, molded in colours, has stickers for the decals and IMO looks really cool. No fine details so should survive playtime in the bath too.

There's also a few other ships in the collection so options for some sailing ships, etc for future builds.

Edit: Congrats on getting him onto models early on! There's also a cartoon (anime) series for One Piece if he's interested. And I've built the kit, easy and goes together well.

Well, I certainly can't say you aren't ambitious.

While I have no experience with De Agostini nor have I built any version of HMS Victory. That being said, I'd warn you away from this one. First it's INCREDIBLY EXPENSIVE for starters ($1200 for a kit!?!?!), and what if you find you really are not in to model building. Second, a fully rigged ship is a rather daunting task for even an experienced builder. Finally, and perhaps least importantly if you're really determined is the sheer size of this kit. 49 inches long and 34 tall with a 17 inch beam. This is a HUGE display when completed. Make sure you'd have room to display it.

I understand the want, however, I'd recommend starting out much smaller and much less difficult.

If you're hell bent on HMS Victory, how about a smaller, plastic kitof the same subject?

If it's a wooden kit that you're after, I would strongly recommend cutting you teeth on something much less involved. There is a reason that beginner kits exist. It's not to make you feel like a novice, but rather to build your skill set as you build your model kit. Take a look at something like this Flattie or this Schooner? Both fairly inexpensive and will give you some hands on with wooden model building and rigging.

I have been building models for 25 years or so. I have built exactly 2 sailing ships. One was the Cutty Sark when I was 14-16 years old and rather impatient and inexperienced in the grand scheme of things. More recently I finished my USS Constitution that I started several years ago. Tall ship models are great to look at, but they are not something that in my experience just falls together.

TL;DR: Don't set yourself up for disappointment. Start small, learn your craft, work up to a museum level kit like the one you linked.

There are some plastic kits of the HMS Victory, for example, but honestly, that's a pretty poor choice for a first model kit. Actually, most tall masted ships of the type you describe are probably not suited for beginners.

For example, this one:

https://www.amazon.com/Airfix-180-HMS-Victory-Gift/dp/B003UNB9M2

However, if you want to get a feel for how it would be built in wood, this kit might be decent, and it's on sale right now:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Model-Shipways-18th-Cent-Longboat-Wood-Model-Kit-Save-57-/201591578436?hash=item2eefcb5f44:g:tMsAAOSwBahVU3T5

That'll teach you some basic woodworking. It also looks like the models you're looking at are wooden kits, which take huge amounts of time to build and are very expensive.

If WWII, there are a lot of kits out there, a lot of them retail for under 100 dollars, in 1/350 and 1/700 scale.

Finally, there are some paper models, but these definitely aren't for beginners (though they do come precolored, which makes painting a non-issue):

http://model-shipyard.com/gb/

For paper models, they are on the high end of the market; other eastern european companies also make battleships, carriers, etc, from WWII and some other masted ships.

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0071QGXES/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_WuGYAbMJD1SFA

Here's the Amazon Canada link at the very least. My buddy gave me the Going Merry one for Christmas, it was really fun to put together and looks nice on my tv stand.

Hello! I'm someone who has very little experience with any kind of modelling, but recently I've become interested in putting together some model warships.

I'd like to put together a ship kit, rather than attempt to build one from scratch, and was thinking about getting something like this, or perhaps finding a smaller destroyer to put together.

So, before I go ahead and buy something, I have a few questions.

Firstly, do these kits usually come prepainted? I'm pretty decent at putting things together, but if I have to paint the thing too then it'll probably end in tragedy. Secondly, anyone have an estimate for how long these sort of kits might take to put together? Finally, will I need anything beyond the model kit to put it together? In terms of tools or any other little things?

Thanks in advanced!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/191089943366?lpid=82

http://www.amazon.com/One-Piece-Unlimited-World-Red-PlayStation/dp/B00K2O4O5G

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B006Q4SQKA/ref=pd_aw_sims_3?pi=SY115&simLd=1

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00KRVJ77E/ref=pd_aw_sbs_9?pi=SY115&simLd=1 (different version of a similar item on here)

http://www.amazon.com/One-Piece-Luffy-Straw-hat/dp/B00BGP4OY6

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0071QGXES/ref=pd_aw_sims_1?pi=SL500_SS115&simLd=1

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00IAGUSAS/ref=pd_aw_sims_7?pi=SS115&simLd=1

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00IAGUSG2/ref=pd_aw_sims_4?pi=SS115&simLd=1

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00FKL6IH8/ref=pd_aw_sims_9?pi=SS115&simLd=1

The first one and the ps3 game are really nice, the other ones are great too. This is just a couple of things I found

The one that your friend gave you is a vending machine capsule toy. It looks like Aoshima has released two different collections so far (Vol.1, Vol.2). They're only a few dollars each.

The instructions you link is from the line of models that /u/Afaflix posted. It looks like a Kongo.

I did the Roosevelt awhile back so I knew what to expect this time because keeping those levels even was the most annoying part.

The other biggest tip is always bend around objects. If you need to do a cylinder, wrap it around a drill bit. I used one on this even for this tiny circular corners for those walls. Find household objects to press against when you need to do complex bends and it will always turn out better than trying to do it by hand.

Like with Iron Man https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61Qn15g8N5L._SL1080_.jpg I was using that baster to get the sloping curves for his legs, torso etc. A marble for the head and the joints that make his shoulders. It pays to be creative.

You could check out some of the Bandai Hobby ships. Most of them are around $20 on Amazon.

Here's the Red Force. They look pretty nice.

?Por qué no los dos?

Any favorite tanks? If I built a tank it would probably be an Israeli Super Sherman. It's kind of a FrankenTank, with modern features grafted on to a Sherman hull.

I personally collect figures. I'd recommend this one. Any One Piece fan would recognize and appreciate it and it wont break the bank.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005JABN8Y/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

There's so many parts I'm gonna have a good couple hours of fun right now.

If you like painting minis, you can get the Customizable Ship Models 1 and 2, and make them look really nice.

You can buy some 3DS One Piece game? The latest one was Unlimited World Red or maybe some keychains or necklace perhapes?

Here's a necklace in fact

....Wall scroll

Wanted posters, A5 size not worth it in my opinion.

Uh, Strawhat Flag

....Wallets?

Robot Chopper thing

And this gem

There's more but these are the things I can remember from the top of my head ahhah.

It seems that your comment contains 1 or more links that are hard to tap for mobile users.
I will extend those so they're easier for our sausage fingers to click!


Here is link number 1 - Previous text "1"

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Cool, thanks for the response!

Edit: Over $200 CAD Holy Crap! Still, seriously considering getting this, thanks for posting!

Baby oil pls, step up your game. haha Pero no son kleenex es uno de Estos Solo que en la cajita.

There's a Thousand Sunny in the same series that's about 15cm but I there's this one which is a bigger version at 25.4cm long, 30cm high (10 by 12 inches)

https://amzn.com/B0071QGXKW

They have it on amazon.

Yamato
Kongo
Akagi
...
...
unboxing video

https://www.amazon.com/Mechanic-Model-Space-Battleship-YAMATO/dp/B000KCI9LK/