The most challenging model boat

[Guest]

What would people say is the most difficult model boat to build? I'm looking for inspiration for my next project

[Ian M]

Are we talking plastic or wood. Modern or Historical?

If you fancy a wooden challenge, I personally think you will have to look long and hard to find a bigger challenge than this:

HMS Vanguard The site is in Danish but I think that Google translate should cure that. Other than that the pictures say it all-

HMS Vangard in 1/72 scale. 13.5kg of bits. the plans alone way 3kg!!! I have seen the set and it is bloody wonderful: The copper clad hull is infact just that copper clad with individual plates.

As well as HMS Vangard there are all the optional parts to build HMS Elephant or HMS Bellerophon.

Have a look at the link you will be gobsmacked (if you like that sort of thing). Should keep you busy for a couple of years.....

Ian M

[Guest]

An idea of style, period, material etc would help a lot

[Guest]

I'm talking about plastci models but i'm not to fussed about era or style just a challenging is what I'm looking for

[Ian M]

Define difficult. Do you mean so hard that you will want to pull out your hair and scream, of do you mean you dont want a ship that builds its self. It also depends on what you find difficult. I peronally have an avid fear of rigging, so for me a Galleon would be the biggest challenge I could think of.

Others might have issues with camouflage painting a battleship. Others might have problems painting a large ship in "battleship grey" and getting a uniform result.

If its a question of the number of parts and being big. The 1/200 Arizona is about as big as they come. I have heard of a Bismark and a Hood in 1/72 scale, but as of yet have never seen one. The assault ship USS Wasp has more parts than I can imagine. I small torpedo boat painted in Zebra disruption camo?

Its all pretty subjective and almost impossible to say what others would find hard or easy.

I think that you should just have a look in the shops and find a kit that you like the look of. Then go and find all the aftermarket extras you can and then you can make the build as hard or as simple as you can manage.

Ian M

[Guest]

Definitely the latter, its not a challenge unless you get stressed, what about this ship would this be classed as a difficult Galleon Model Kit or is there harder ones out there?

[Ian M]

I would say there are much harder kits out there than that one. The one I linked to for example would be much more challenging. That however is a wooden kit. With the emphasis on kit. All the parts are laser cut. so its really a case of glueing it together. lol.

I think that almost every one will say that the hard part about a Galleon is the rope work. Maybe the painting of some of the smaller detail.

can we Ask what your last project was? It might give us an idea as to how challenging needs to be.

Ian M

[Guest]

My last project was the R.M.S Titanic was quite difficult very detailed

[Ian M]

Might I suggest one of the many 1/350 scale battle ships? There are many to be found from makers such as Tamiya, Trumpeter Academy and Dragon.

Maybe one like the HMS Warspite or Bismark/Tirpitz All a fair size with good detail, an interesting paint job and rigging.

An other option might be go smaller, Tamiya do some great ships in 1/700 and Airfix in 1/600. You could even go right down to 1/1200 and do a whole navy fleet or battle with several ships from both sides.

If you are more to the civil side of shipping, Revel do a fair number of cruise ships. Queen Elizabeth 1 and 2, The Queen Mary 1 and 2 as well as a few others.

Ian M

[spanner570]

To my mind there is only one kit that would suit your needs.....

A big scale model of Nelson's flagship, Victory.

If that isn't the ultimate challenge then I give up. It will have you cursing, going up the wall, down on your knees looking for the smallest of bits. Going to Specsaver each week for stronger glasses (Or new ones if you don't wear them yet!)

Killing the cat, divorcing the wife and selling the children....

Yep, one mother of a kit!

Ron

[Guest]

Thanks for all the advice I've been looking at the HMS Victory Model kits and also HMS Illustrious aircraft carrier model kit, any thoughts?

[papa 695]

I would love to do the Illustrious but if your wanting hard there are more difficult kits out there than the Illustrious. Like others have said the Victory would most likely be top of the list hope you find what you want

[Ian M]

Truth be known its really down to your own personal view of what would be the most challenging. If we take the two ships mentioned just before. The Illustrious and the Victory. Two very different ships. Two very different challenges. In some ways the Victory could be more strait forward as the only record of it are drawings and artists paintings. No one really knows how it actually looked. This would make painting and detailing much easier.. The Lusty on the other hand is a very well known and much photographed ship. OK lots of reference pictures to fall back on. The challenge being to get it looking as correct as possible so you do not get a load of "wrong colour/shape/size/ the landing deck was not as dark light....bla bla"

The most important thing to remember is that you are building the ship that you want to how you want to. Have a good look a the two ships you mentioned and ask your self this.

Could I be happy building that and will I be pleased with the result. Aiming at the toughest challenge you can find might end up being a nightmare to build and the result disappointing.

I have said what I consider to be the ultimate challenge in my first reply. But to get back to the case in hand only you know what you are capable of and what you like. So if you have narrowed it down to the two, its coin tossing time.

Ian M

[Guest]

A fairly "fun" kit is the Trumpeter 1/350 Roma. Especially if you want to do some extra accurizing. The basic kit is actually pretty nice, with LOTS of parts, but due to poor choices at where to put the sprue gates, nearly every part will need special attention in clean up. Details are also very nice, when they are there, a bit blank in other areas. She also has both a disruptive cammo finish as well as red and white identity stripes on the fore deck, so is a painting treat too. Getting Warship Pictorial 37 on the Roma is a must for the fiddly details the kit misses as well as an accurate representation of the ID stripes. A very striking ship when finished, both as a battleship design and a colorful bit of model work.