It's a Small World - the modelling thread.

[Foxbat]

Yes but he was specifically carefully opening the old matchboxes themselves to give him really thin sheets of wood that he used for decking etc. A really clever use of them I thought.

I too was wondering how he gets the old style boxes and presume he must be a bit of a hoarder. Perhaps he has the world’s largest stockpile of old style match boxes

 

[Parson]

Those kind of matches are available in a Wal Mart or a Camping supply store, and perhaps in a good hardware store in the states. I occasionally use them. Right now I'm loving what they call "Typhoon Matches" to light my fire pit. They can burn up to 30 sec. and are not easily put out by wind.

 

[Pyan]

You can get similar ones over here, sold as survival gear.

Love that the French name for them translates as "Irrepressible Matches"...

 

[Foxbat]

My main area of interest is in warships - Japanese warships in particular. I just like the design styles. To top it off, their capital ships had such great names. Here are a list of a few with translations.
Shokaku - Flying Crane
Zuikaku - Lucky Crane
Akagi - Red Castle
Soryu - Deep Blue Dragon

1:350 scale is probably the ideal size for a model ship but I don't have the room for this size once built so I've decided to go 1:700. I bought a kit of King George V to use as a practice run and it was, more or less, successful. Incredibly fiddly (some of the parts are close to microscopic). For the scale size, I thought the tamiya kit (only £14) had a lot of detail. A plus side is that there's a large saving on paint usage. Overall, not ideal but it's probably the only practical solution for me. I've gone for a 'waterline' kit (meaning it has no bottom end to its hull). One major learning point is that I will never again use a macro lens to photograph a model I've built. It shows up so many flaws that are not really visible to the naked eye (to my naked, failing eyes at least).

Anyhow, here are the results...

I'm currently trying to track down a kit of the Chitose sea-plane tender (before it was converted to a carrier). I thought it would make an unusual and interesting build. I'm regularly checking the Scale Model Shop but currently out of stock.

 

[Pyan]

Looks good, but I completely agree with the non-use of macro lenses (from personal experience)!

How about the IJN Mikasa? In stock at Amazon.

Built in Barrow-in-Furness, and still afloat today (slightly modified) as a museum ship in Yokosuka.

I've the 1/350 version. As it's a pre-dreadnought, it's handy if after-build space is a problem. Hasagawa do lots of 1/700 scale waterline IJN kits.

Hasagawa 1/700 scale waterline IJN kit list

 

[Pyan]

I'm currently trying to track down a kit of the Chitose sea-plane tender (before it was converted to a carrier). I thought it would make an unusual and interesting build. I'm regularly checking the Scale Model Shop but currently out of stock.

Aoshima 1/700 Japanese Seaplane Tender Chitose 00123

In stock...

 

[Foxbat]

Mikasa is one I have my eye on but I fell in love with the Chitose. I've already acquired the Shokaku and Akagi (Fujimi) but both look incrdibly intimidating - even the the 1:700 aircraft need to be built (admittedly only three parts for each but there are a lot of planes). I had to import both of these direct from Japan and I'm trying to avoidanything like that from now on -partly to avoid import tax and partly just because I've never liked importing. For those reasons, I'd rather wait until I can purchase Chitose from a UK supplier.

I think Tamiya, Hasagawa and Fujimi are my favourite kit makers.

Here's a question I'll just throw out there: anybody any idea why Trumpeter kits are so expensive?

 

[HareBrain]

anybody any idea why Trumpeter kits are so expensive?

It's always taken brass to make a trumpeter.

 

[Foxbat]

I have the willpower of a Mollusc

After fruitlessly searching for a UK supplier of Chitose, I went back to look at the link @Pyan posted. I noticed that it was in Burbank, California and I thought, hmmm. If I'm prepared to buy from California, why not go the whole hog and buy direct from Japan?

So I went to Plaza Japan. It's where I bought both the Shokaku and Akagi kits. Sure enough: Chitose at 1,700 yen. It sounded a lot until I changed the website to pounds: £9.75. Shipping costs were £18.24 for a final cost of just under £30. It sounds a lot for shipping but you can make it more cost effctive buy ordering multiple items (but watch out for import tax at our end). They've got a cracking range of Japanese ships in stock, including some unusual ones - another seaplane tender, an oiler, a food supply ship and even a repair ship.

Plastic Model Ships | Battleship Models | Plaza Japan

Do you love warships, submarines, and other marine vessels? Find authentic plastic model ships and battleship models shipped out fast from Plaza Japan!

www.plazajapan.com

I'm not sure but it seems the shipping (cheapest option) I chose is air freight and should take about 5 days to arrive. The order won't be processed until monday at the earliest because it seems they don't work weekends. The actual cheapest shipping option (which didn't seem to be available) would take up to a month to arrive. Either way, don't care. Chitose will be on her way soon

 

[Pyan]

Postage is a funny thing. I've just received a set of wooden decks for my HobbyBoss 1/350 kit of SMS Seydlitz, all the way from Melbourne. 9 days to travel 10,550 miles. I've also ordered a book from an Amazon seller in the South of France, 600 miles away. Ordered 22 days ago, not arrived yet...

 

[CupofJoe]

This morning in a local Charity shop, I bought a Dynavector 1/48 TSR-2 vac-form kit [and a few metal bits].
I've not done vac-form before but for a long time, I have been looking for a TSR 2 kit.
I think it has to be someone's abandoned project. It is to be all there, but there are also a lot of printed out web-pages showing how other people build their kits.

 

[Pyan]

This morning in a local Charity shop, I bought a Dynavector 1/48 TSR-2 vac-form kit [and a few metal bits].
I've not done vac-form before but for a long time, I have been looking for a TSR 2 kit.
I think it has to be someone's abandoned project. It is to be all there, but there are also a lot of printed out web-pages showing how other people build their kits.

Excellent find, CoJ...

Contents for BAC TSR-2, Dynavector 4809 - In-box reviews

 

[Pyan]

Out of curiosity, I googled Dynavector kits - they seem to run up to nearly £100...

1 48 Dynavector FOR SALE!

 

[Foxbat]

I've never heard of Dynavector before but they seem to have some really nice and unusual plane models. I did see that they are no longer in production so any of these kits will probably rise in price as time goes by. I love the look of the TSR 2. Did Gerry Anderson design it?

I've just received a set of wooden decks for my HobbyBoss 1/350 kit of SMS Seydlitz, all the way from Melbourne.

I was looking at the versions of Akagi and Shokaku at Plaza Japan that came with photo etched parts etc. The standard models I bought were around £28 each but the PE versions were both over £100. I can just imagine me fumbling and breaking all those expensive extras

 

[paranoid marvin]

As much as they are no doubt far more effective, modern military class ships just look plain weird, thanks to their anti-radar (or whatever) flat bits and golf balls. In fact they resemble the Civil War era 'ironclads' more than more recent WWI and WWII ships. Whereas previous era warships will reman in demand for model buildings, I can't see there being a similar appeal for replicas of today's designs.

 

[Pyan]

As much as they are no doubt far more effective, modern military class ships just look plain weird, thanks to their anti-radar (or whatever) flat bits and golf balls. In fact they resemble the Civil War era 'ironclads' more than more recent WWI and WWII ships. Whereas previous era warships will reman in demand for model buildings, I can't see there being a similar appeal for replicas of today's designs.

Absolutely. Why would you want a (say) Reuben James on your display shelf? Yuk.

Or worse still, a Type 45?

 

[Pyan]

Compared to possibly the best-looking modern warship ever, the 1913 battlecruiser HMS Tiger...

Ok, I've dismounted from my hobby-horse...

 

[paranoid marvin]

Absolutely. Why would you want a (say) Reuben James on your display shelf? Yuk.

Or worse still, a Type 45?

Yep the 45 was more the kind of thing I was thinking of. Very odd looking.

Quite some difference in looks between the more modern Reuben James and its four-funnelled or later single-funnelled destroyer predecessors of the same name.

 

[paranoid marvin]

I agree with Foxbat that Japanese warships of the WWII era did look really stylish, especially the Yamato. Although I also think that one of the most iconic warships is the Royal Navy destroyer as seen with the HMS Torrin / HMS Kelly in 'In Which We Serve'. Things of such deadly force probably shouldn't look so good, but that's humans for you.

I think as time goes by, the look of war ships will go far more in the style of Type 45 destroyers, with (eventually) them looking like a floating piece of armour with concealed railguns and missile/torpedo/mine/depth charge launchers.

 

[Pyan]

Or the stealthy Zumwalt class US destroyers...