I plan to build a ship for a change from aircraft. Since I have not much knowledge about the quality of available kits, I need experts opinions: Are both Academy 1/350 Bismarck (the one with the wooden deck) and / or the 1/350 Trumpeter HMS Repulse recommendable ? These two are the ones I fancy. Please let me know your opinions. Thanks.

Lothar

Hood(completed) and North Carolina(in progress) I have are great kits. If the Repulse continues this trend, it should be a fun build as well. Prinz Eugen, too! The level of detail is decent for a "quick" OOB build. If you want to go nuts, there are lots of after market photo-etch sets. If you are wanting a Bismarck, I recommend the current RoG Bismarck in 1/350 scale. Comes complete with injected plastic railings!

Hood, completed.


North Carolina, WIP.


Have fun, and hope to see some pictures in the future.

Ciao fer now.

George Tufnail
IPMS Vancouver, BC, Canada

Try everything. Only insects should specialize.

Trumpeter kits can be hit and miss, the the Repulse is so new that there really haven't been any good, hands-on reviews of it yet.

Hood was a good kit, but the North Carolina suffered from poor engineering and accuracy issues; it looks like North Carolina to the untrained eyes, but there's lots of problems once you look closer.

The Academy Bismarck is okay, but is definitely eclipsed by the more-recent Revell of Germany offering.

At least the one I have is.

I've followed your advice and ordered the current edition of the RoG Bismarck (at a very good price too ! ). Looking forward to something new. Thanks again.

Lothar

Go with the newish Revell kit (or the new Tirpitz) they are some of the best 1/350 ship kits on the market, and not that expensive for what you get. Academy's base kit is a copy of hte old motorized Tamiya kit that dates back to the 70s

NEW ISSUES... awesome looking...

probably far cheaper than trumpeter, at least in the USA...

I mention the Revell kits very clearly