Bryan

I know...
 
I like the Arizona for historic value, but it is sort of an ugly and primitive looking vessel.
 
The Bismark and Iowa are just overall awesome and have great lines, and with the Iowa you have the option of about 5 different configurations, all quite different.  You could even build the 1980s version with Phalanx, Tomahawk, and Harpoon (I personally wouldn't...but it's an option).
 
But Yamato/Musashi would win hands down....we just don't know when/if they might come out.

I think even more than that.....
 
I used to be sort of a battleship nerd, and the Iowas were designed and built to comply with the Washington Treaty on capital ships which limited them to 45,000 tons displacement.  I think they got heavier with retrofits when the war started, but initially it was taken very seriously to comply with the treaty.  The Yamato and Musashi were built in secret and in violation of the Washington Treaty, and I think they were both nearly 70,000 tons as designed and completed.
 
The Montana Class battleship was designed once it was realized the treaty was no longer being honored, and it was to be a ship in the size class of the Yamatos, with 4 main gun turrets of 3 16"/50 guns each and displacement of nearly 70,000 tons.  But none were completed nor I think even started because by then it was recognized the battleship was obsolete.
 
On top of all that, the 18" guns on the Yamatos are reason enough to build one!  I wonder if we wait long enough Trumpeter will do it in 1/200...?  If I was going to invest that time and money I would definitely want to start with the best kit possible.

I think it is sad that a long term member has been frustrated to the point of bailing out, and hate to see anyone go, but I am sure he knows what is best for him and once he cools off and can think clearly will decide accordingly.
 
Beyond that, I think the less said about the incident the better.  Things take on a life of their own on the internet because the usual moderating influences of face-to-face contact are absent.  I know I have unintentionally offended and pissed off people, and others have certainly done the same to me.  I just drop it and move on...but that's just me.  It's hard to stay pissed off very long.
 
And I know online moderating is a thankless job.

I know little about car shows, but it is absolutely 100% true about models....
 
I cannot count the number of times I have followed a build thread wherein the builder was super talented....correcting every minor inaccuracy....adding every detail...however minute.  I mean really going to the extreme in a quality build sense.  Then when the model is completed and painted, I find it a little....meh....because the eye/mind cannot really absorb all the work that went into it.
 
Then there is a build thread where a kit is just put together, with decent proficiency but no heroics....and topped off with a stunning paint job.  The latter build might have only 1/50th of the work put into as the former....but it typically draws much more attention.
 
I think this is why many armor and aircraft modelers often have a tendency to over-weather their builds a bit, at least in the sense of portraying scale reality.  Even if it is not completely "realistic", it draws the eye and makes people look.  At least it does me....
 
I have never participated in model competitions, but I would wager this factor has huge influence in the judging there, even if the judges are not aware of it fully.

This all rings so true to me...
 
In general I strive for quality over quantity, partly because my display space in my man-cave is very limited and I don't want to crowd it with 200 models anyway. 
 
This equates to complex, large scale kits, often with aftermarket accessories.  The downside is I often get bored with the tedious details of these kits, and walk away from them for a while.  If I don't feel like working on a kit, I usually don't.  The result is that I generally only finish one or two models a year.
 
The other thing that really hits home....the model I finish and have in my hands never lives up to the completed model that I envisioned in my head when I started.  Never.  I have come to accept that fact and can manage to be happy with the result sometimes regardless.

More....sorry....

 

 

 

 

 

Another MFH kit....these have been conspiring to keep me away from LSPs for some time now.
 
Difficult build....some instructional/engineering problems with the kit that made it so....but I guess that is to be expected with limited run kits like this.
 
For those of you not into cars, the 1962 GTO has recently been bringing $50-60 million when they go up for sale.  So while it is not an LSP, the real thing sure seems to be worth more (to someone) than nearly any aircraft!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Thanks for looking.

I have coveted one of these MFH kits for years, but for a long time they didn't do any subjects that I couldn't resist (although the Porsche 917 was tempting me....still is).
 
When they released the 1/12 Porsche 956 I think I whipped out my credit card the same day.
 
So I started this kit in November of last year, and just finished it.  It was a long and complex build but by and large I greatly enjoyed it.
 
Thanks for looking.
 

 

 

 

 

I know little about car shows, but it is absolutely 100% true about models....
 
I cannot count the number of times I have followed a build thread wherein the builder was super talented....correcting every minor inaccuracy....adding every detail...however minute.  I mean really going to the extreme in a quality build sense.  Then when the model is completed and painted, I find it a little....meh....because the eye/mind cannot really absorb all the work that went into it.
 
Then there is a build thread where a kit is just put together, with decent proficiency but no heroics....and topped off with a stunning paint job.  The latter build might have only 1/50th of the work put into as the former....but it typically draws much more attention.
 
I think this is why many armor and aircraft modelers often have a tendency to over-weather their builds a bit, at least in the sense of portraying scale reality.  Even if it is not completely "realistic", it draws the eye and makes people look.  At least it does me....
 
I have never participated in model competitions, but I would wager this factor has huge influence in the judging there, even if the judges are not aware of it fully.

This all rings so true to me...
 
In general I strive for quality over quantity, partly because my display space in my man-cave is very limited and I don't want to crowd it with 200 models anyway. 
 
This equates to complex, large scale kits, often with aftermarket accessories.  The downside is I often get bored with the tedious details of these kits, and walk away from them for a while.  If I don't feel like working on a kit, I usually don't.  The result is that I generally only finish one or two models a year.
 
The other thing that really hits home....the model I finish and have in my hands never lives up to the completed model that I envisioned in my head when I started.  Never.  I have come to accept that fact and can manage to be happy with the result sometimes regardless.

It's around 14" long...weighs about 5 pounds because most of the parts are metal....
 
Thanks for all the comments guys.

It's around 14" long...weighs about 5 pounds because most of the parts are metal....
 
Thanks for all the comments guys.

I have coveted one of these MFH kits for years, but for a long time they didn't do any subjects that I couldn't resist (although the Porsche 917 was tempting me....still is).
 
When they released the 1/12 Porsche 956 I think I whipped out my credit card the same day.
 
So I started this kit in November of last year, and just finished it.  It was a long and complex build but by and large I greatly enjoyed it.
 
Thanks for looking.
 

 

 

 

 

More....sorry....

 

 

 

 

 

Another MFH kit....these have been conspiring to keep me away from LSPs for some time now.
 
Difficult build....some instructional/engineering problems with the kit that made it so....but I guess that is to be expected with limited run kits like this.
 
For those of you not into cars, the 1962 GTO has recently been bringing $50-60 million when they go up for sale.  So while it is not an LSP, the real thing sure seems to be worth more (to someone) than nearly any aircraft!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Thanks for looking.

More pics....
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 

 

More....sorry....

 

 

 

 

 

Another MFH kit....these have been conspiring to keep me away from LSPs for some time now.
 
Difficult build....some instructional/engineering problems with the kit that made it so....but I guess that is to be expected with limited run kits like this.
 
For those of you not into cars, the 1962 GTO has recently been bringing $50-60 million when they go up for sale.  So while it is not an LSP, the real thing sure seems to be worth more (to someone) than nearly any aircraft!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Thanks for looking.

More pics....
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 

 

Thanks for the comments guys...  I agree with most of the comments regarding iconic cars, but for models I am most fond of the "pure" competition cars.
 
So what I am dying for them to release is a 1/12 Porsche 917/30 in the Sunoco colors....Mark Donahue's car.  They already make the 917/30 in a smaller scale...so maybe it will happen some day.

I have coveted one of these MFH kits for years, but for a long time they didn't do any subjects that I couldn't resist (although the Porsche 917 was tempting me....still is).
 
When they released the 1/12 Porsche 956 I think I whipped out my credit card the same day.
 
So I started this kit in November of last year, and just finished it.  It was a long and complex build but by and large I greatly enjoyed it.
 
Thanks for looking.
 

 

 

 

 

I have issues on the with people on this planet, doesn't mean I'm going to remove myself, just ignore them and carry on.

I think it is sad that a long term member has been frustrated to the point of bailing out, and hate to see anyone go, but I am sure he knows what is best for him and once he cools off and can think clearly will decide accordingly.
 
Beyond that, I think the less said about the incident the better.  Things take on a life of their own on the internet because the usual moderating influences of face-to-face contact are absent.  I know I have unintentionally offended and pissed off people, and others have certainly done the same to me.  I just drop it and move on...but that's just me.  It's hard to stay pissed off very long.
 
And I know online moderating is a thankless job.

It is amazing too how even the apparently most "informed" opinions can be wrong....
 
My grandfather (long deceased) was the foreman of his shift on the P-47 assembly line.  As a kid I had a fascination to warbirds similar to what I have now, so I talked to him about it as much as possible.
 
He told me over and over again how the P-47 had a gun that fired through the center of the prop spinner.  When I was young and insensitive (rude) I corrected him a couple of times...."no grandpa....that was the P-39...."  He would insist and probably wondered how he could have a grandson who would be so uppity as to question his knowledge of the aircraft he built for so long.  He was not senile or anything at this time, but he somehow had the strange idea about the spinner gun....  When I finally approached my teen years I wised up a bit about people and my place in the universe and stopped arguing with him.  I know for a fact that he was not embellishing his role building the P-47, because my mom remembers visiting her dad at the factory and seeing a finished P-47 (remembering "that thing was so huge I didn't believe it could fly").
 
When I wasn't pushing him about the accuracy of his beliefs, he did admit that his team had nothing to do with installing actual guns, and that the aircraft were moved to a more secure area some distance from the main assembly line to have guns installed.  But you would still have thought he would have know where the guns went on the aircraft.  Somehow, he didn't.

I think it is sad that a long term member has been frustrated to the point of bailing out, and hate to see anyone go, but I am sure he knows what is best for him and once he cools off and can think clearly will decide accordingly.
 
Beyond that, I think the less said about the incident the better.  Things take on a life of their own on the internet because the usual moderating influences of face-to-face contact are absent.  I know I have unintentionally offended and pissed off people, and others have certainly done the same to me.  I just drop it and move on...but that's just me.  It's hard to stay pissed off very long.
 
And I know online moderating is a thankless job.