Hi,

I'm wondering if there are any mftrs of a 1/350 scale Battleship USS Texas BB35 an any configuration. I'm really surprised that it's so hard to find since it has a rich history of having served both World Wars and was a flagship at one time. It it has been released, can someone post the company so I can watch for any re-releases?

thanks

Not in plastic but Iron Shipwright has one in resin. BIG bucks and not for beginners in resin ships... but a very nice model when finished. http://www.steelnavy.com/ISWTexas44BB.htm

I'm not experienced in resin. the hull and superstructure look like it's a single piece of resin. Why would this kit not be for beginners? Does it require a degree of scratchbuilding?

thanks again

I'm not experienced in resin. the hull and superstructure look like it's a single piece of resin. Why would this kit not be for beginners? Does it require a degree of scratchbuilding?

thanks again

resin requires Cyanoacrylate glue and some puttying/filling if there are bubbles in the castings. Its not really harder than working with styrene, just a little differant

You have to clean up the resin and there are often large mold blocks to remove. The parts are cast more like ceramics than plastic injection molded kits. Each piece will have a large plug where the resin was poured into a rubber mold.

There can be a lot of scratch building and a lot of the small details are usually photo-etch... ladders, railings, cable reels, gun shields, antennas and radar, etc.

If you have not built a resin and especially a large resin kit, you would want to work on something small first to get the hang of things. Even if its something like a submarine.

You will need some different tools than you usually use just to build a plastic kit ootb... dremel tool, wet and dry sandpaper, pin vise and drill set, hand saw or fret saw, etc. Resin must be glued with CA glue or epoxy as well. Large parts should be drilled and pinned so they dont pop apart.

This is some of the etch details from their USS Iowa (not the World War II one)

http://ironshipwrights.com/pages/iowa011.jpg

It used to be the price of big resin ships seemed high (the Texas is $140) but now with some of the new plastic stuff like Tamiya's Japanese cruiser thats $170 for a smaller ship... the $140 doesnt seem so bad.

thanks for the info and the link. Not sure if I want to spend that kind of money for a resin ship. I think I'll wait and hope one of the companies puts out a plastic Texas. They got to sooner or later before they run out of ships to put to market.

If it comes out as a plastic kit (sadly doubtful) its not going to be any cheaper than the resin kit. Aoshima's new 1/350 plastic Kongo is $260 and Fujimi's 1/350 version is $220. Trumpeter's upcoming Prinz Eugen cruiser will MSRP for $140...

Eyow !!, I didn't realize that the prices had gone up that much.
I have 4 of Tamiya's battleships I picked up some years ago and I'm just getting around to building them. I also have a 1/350 Arizona. I hadn't priced ship kits lately. The Iron Shipwright model is going for 325.00. It's a bit more than I can afford right now. I'm gonna hold out and hope.