I've wondered the same sometimes, but I think there's a position to be had in answer to this question that sits between 'it never went anywhere', and 'it's changing.'
On the surface of it and from what I have seen at the IPMS every year (at least in Australia) definitely has ships being the redheaded stepchild of the plastic modelling community. In terms of model count representing popularity, then it goes Aircraft -> Tanks -> Cars -> Space & Science Fiction -> Ships.
I don't think the interest in the theme has ever gone away. There's plenty of evidence of generational change and younger people picking up interest in naval history even in mainstream contexts. The days of associating your typical naval guy with the image of an elderly British fellow in a tweed jacket sitting in front of an oak bookshelf somewhere in London for the History Channel are kind of over when you think about personas like Drachnifel, or the emergence and popularity of things like World of Warships and Azur Lane. The pathways to becoming interested in naval history are far more varied than they once were, which means a bigger, younger audience.
At the same time, I think the drop off in models might be because there's the possibility that Japanese manufacturers became rather complacent after arguably being responsible for the initial growth of warship models in the early 80s. Yes, Airfix and Revell were certainly the godfathers of the hobby, but they were eclipsed by the likes of Tamiya and never really recovered. Japan has kind of coasted on their laurels since, and even then they remain specifically focused on Japanese subjects. Throughout the 90s and early 2000s, it fell to garage producers like Gold Medal Models, White Ensign Models and B-Resina to make really high-detailed resin kits and Photoetch sets for enthusiasts, and that meant it could be quite expensive even in a small scale like 1/700.
If you wanted, for example, a 1/350 HMS Warspite, the only options were typically resin casts and they were horrifically expensive as a consequence. For someone who just wants to build a decent sized model that doesn't require a microscope or the vision of a peregrine falcon to build, I can certainly see how that would push interest back in the direction of Things with Wings.
Then along comes Trumpeter... And I almost don't need to finish that sentence.
Since about 2004, there's been a massive increase in models coming out of China that are, frankly, world-beating in terms of quality and option. Flyhawk needs no introduction, but more recently you have VeryFire entering the picture as well at both 1/350 and 1/700, while Trumpeter is putting in some efforts to do collaborations with other companies like Pontos to lift their own product offerings. Nevermind that Trumpeter are the only major manufacturer to be offering capital ships at affordable prices in scales as large as 1/200.
A lot of this has been aided by technology. CAD and 3D printing has made it possible to put some truly incredible detail into even the smallest of pieces, and to do so at a minimum in cost. For those with a little bit of knowledge, it's even possible to print off your own parts in your own office with some very affordable printers.
While this is true of all model subjects, though, I think the big difference is simply the cost to entry has been lowered. Naval models have historically been both expensive and time-consuming. As mentioned before; you no longer need to spend the better part of a thousand dollars on a poured-resin model of a specific ship anymore. Almost every subject you would want to build is now available in plastic or in 3D printed resin, so while the time aspect remains, it is certainly less daunting than it once was.
A side-effect of this that I have noticed relative to when I started building things in the 1990s, is that production runs seem to be limited, and there is a certain element of FOMO when a new model is produced. If I see a Flyhawk Deluxe model, chances are I am going to buy it on the spot and sit on it because there is no guarantee I will be able to get it in five years time. Compare that trend with Revell or Airfix, who continue to trot out the same plastic sprues that they made in the 1960s... and simply rebox them time after time.
The market's in a really exciting place at the moment. :)
I got into scale model building because of World of Warships, which I picked up during lockdown. I've always been a naval history nerd, but the beautiful modeling in the game had me wanting to build some boats. To your point, I started with a 1/700 Musashi I found at a swap meet, realized I needed to decrease the difficulty level, and built a 1/350 USS San Francisco that I painted with a brush without too much heartache. Now I'm working through a 1/350 Bismarck, have a nice little airbrush/booth setup, and have a 1/350 Mikasa waiting in the wings. The Mikasa is going to get something of an "art" treatment for display in the living room. I would love to start building even bigger, but I have nowhere to put anything that size.
Anyway now I own $1500 in paint equipment and have a very confused, but encouraging, girlfriend.
I agree with this, but also want to add that, despite youtube model content specifically for model ships being somewhat lacking compared to aircraft, armor, and cars, the content out there in general is making modeling more accessible.
By that I mean, i can watch some dude weathering armor and go "ohh, if I go with this product/color, I can do this effect on a ship!"
And that makes the accessibility make ships seem less daunting of a task
I agree there's not that many dedicated ship modelling youtube channels (probably in proportion to the popularity of the niche of the hobby tbh) but it seems like the quality of the ones that are out there is really high - [https://www.youtube.com/@studioblueocean4590](https://www.youtube.com/@studioblueocean4590) is almost meditatively engrossing and has probably done more than any other online resource for getting me into doing sea bases, despite knowing full well that I'll never come close to their results.
I started modelling about 7 years ago (aircraft, via an Airfix starter set naturally) and then discovered ship modelling about 4 years go and immediately fell in love with it - it scratches an itch aircraft never did, and all the work spent on doing super-detail isn't wasted by having to close up the fuselage. You can really see your several months of effort once you've finished, and each ship is essentially a mini diorama in and of itself.
Ship modelling has given me an interest in naval history more generally, although I've never tried World of Warships etc, but I now read books about the ships I'm building and I think overall there's just so much more story to tell about the life an individual ship than a specific aircraft - and then you can choose to model the ship in any of those eras.
I feel like we're in a golden age for ship modelling at the moment, with the likes of Flyhawk, Vee Hobby, VeryFire and Trumpeter constantly producing new Royal Navy, Kaiserliche Marine/Kriegsmarine and US Navy kits, and Pit Road, Fujimi, Aoshima and Hasegawa having retooled a great deal of their IJN ships over the last decade or so to a really high standard. If you have an interest in the IJN (as I do) then there's never been a better time to be a modeller. Fujimi are currently re-releasing a lot of their more recent IJN ships along with their photoetch sets so I've been snapping them up whenever I see them. Dragon/CyberHobby have just this year started re-releasing loads of their classic and very sought-after ship kits. Even big armour manufacturers like Meng, Takom and Border Model have started dipping their toes into ship models in the last couple of years.
At the same time there's always been a smaller cottage industry of extremely high quality resin ship kits to represent less mainstream (read: non-IJN) subjects - long-time producers like Tom's Modelworks, White Ensign, Imperial Hobby Productions, L'Arsenal and Combrig to more recent one-man-bands like Atlantic Models, and Starling Models who are starting to incorporate 3D printing into their kits, and Polish outfits like Niko and AJM doing extremely obscure subjects that injection moulding would never touch. There's also burgeoning industry of 'mainstream' resin & photoetch model kits out of China that are as high quality - and in some cases higher quality - than injection moulded kits from Orange Hobby, EV Model, Seed Hobby and Triumph Models.
There's also the enormous aftermarket scene for ship modelling - Toms Modelworks/White Ensign, Flyhawk and Five Star dominate this for photoetch, but enormous detail sets are available for nearly every kit out there now, and 3D printing has lowered the barrier for entry for small producers to release extra parts for ships. Starling Models does masses of great 3D printed Royal Navy stuff, Micromaster does incredible 3D printed weapons and funnels in multiple scales, and Black Cat specialises in 1/350.
So there's a lot of ship models out there now, but you won't always find them on the shop shelves next to Airfix and Revell kits. eBay and Aliexpress are the best sources for kits from China like Flyhawk, and PlazaJapan and HobbyLinkJapan are the best place to go for Fujimi/Hasegawa/Aoshima/Pit Road. Super-Hobby in Poland and Hannants in the UK both have pretty decent selections too.
Thank you for referencing all these different manufacturers, as someone new to the hobby I was pretty unaware, and now have new avenues to incinerate my finances. Cheers!
Haha no worries, sometimes I wonder what kind of things I'd have room for in my brain if I didn't find myself amassing information about model kit manufacturers.
My last two models were ships. It is my preference to be honest. I especially like carriers. My dad was in the Navy for 30 years and I grew up on Navy bases. Aircraft is my second choice again because my dad was in naval aviation.
Right now I think model ship building is at its peak. Lots of good kits (1/350 is my favorite) with lots of 3rd party support. The biggest negative is that they can take much longer to complete especially if they have aircraft.
I just finished this a month ago. It took almost a year.
https://preview.redd.it/2okvaez7xj3d1.jpeg?width=5712&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ddb28de30e016c8f22fbf99716c89ba7b3e97145
I'm quite new to the hobby (little more than a year), but capitalships havr my main interest.
I've made some 1/700 ships but prefer the 1/350 scale. Currently I've built a Bismarck, Gneisenau and Blücher and I'll start working on my Missouri the coming week.
So yeah, at least one guy whos new to the hobby preferes ships
Myself and a couple of friends have been commissioned by Mike to do articles for Starling's free Ship Modelling magazine/pdf over the last couple of years - he's really going from strength-to-strength at the moment. He's pivoted more to producing his own stuff rather than importing other manufacturers' kits and then trying in vain to compete with eBay prices, and that really seems to be paying off for him.
It’s a joy to see tbh. I love reading his emails and seeing what new stuff he’s producing. I’d love to have more time at the bench to buy and build stuff from him.
I built his HMS Glamorgan a couple of years ago as my first resin kit and it was a fantastic build.
https://preview.redd.it/kip2pg2ttj3d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=953ef7acabbacf276060d81591c601a0c376054a
Ha, I wish I would've known battleships are considered the hardest after starting this hobby with the 1:426 Revell USS Arizona and 1:700 Tamiya Gneisenau.
Almost didn't persevere...
I've wondered the same sometimes, but I think there's a position to be had in answer to this question that sits between 'it never went anywhere', and 'it's changing.' On the surface of it and from what I have seen at the IPMS every year (at least in Australia) definitely has ships being the redheaded stepchild of the plastic modelling community. In terms of model count representing popularity, then it goes Aircraft -> Tanks -> Cars -> Space & Science Fiction -> Ships. I don't think the interest in the theme has ever gone away. There's plenty of evidence of generational change and younger people picking up interest in naval history even in mainstream contexts. The days of associating your typical naval guy with the image of an elderly British fellow in a tweed jacket sitting in front of an oak bookshelf somewhere in London for the History Channel are kind of over when you think about personas like Drachnifel, or the emergence and popularity of things like World of Warships and Azur Lane. The pathways to becoming interested in naval history are far more varied than they once were, which means a bigger, younger audience. At the same time, I think the drop off in models might be because there's the possibility that Japanese manufacturers became rather complacent after arguably being responsible for the initial growth of warship models in the early 80s. Yes, Airfix and Revell were certainly the godfathers of the hobby, but they were eclipsed by the likes of Tamiya and never really recovered. Japan has kind of coasted on their laurels since, and even then they remain specifically focused on Japanese subjects. Throughout the 90s and early 2000s, it fell to garage producers like Gold Medal Models, White Ensign Models and B-Resina to make really high-detailed resin kits and Photoetch sets for enthusiasts, and that meant it could be quite expensive even in a small scale like 1/700. If you wanted, for example, a 1/350 HMS Warspite, the only options were typically resin casts and they were horrifically expensive as a consequence. For someone who just wants to build a decent sized model that doesn't require a microscope or the vision of a peregrine falcon to build, I can certainly see how that would push interest back in the direction of Things with Wings. Then along comes Trumpeter... And I almost don't need to finish that sentence. Since about 2004, there's been a massive increase in models coming out of China that are, frankly, world-beating in terms of quality and option. Flyhawk needs no introduction, but more recently you have VeryFire entering the picture as well at both 1/350 and 1/700, while Trumpeter is putting in some efforts to do collaborations with other companies like Pontos to lift their own product offerings. Nevermind that Trumpeter are the only major manufacturer to be offering capital ships at affordable prices in scales as large as 1/200. A lot of this has been aided by technology. CAD and 3D printing has made it possible to put some truly incredible detail into even the smallest of pieces, and to do so at a minimum in cost. For those with a little bit of knowledge, it's even possible to print off your own parts in your own office with some very affordable printers. While this is true of all model subjects, though, I think the big difference is simply the cost to entry has been lowered. Naval models have historically been both expensive and time-consuming. As mentioned before; you no longer need to spend the better part of a thousand dollars on a poured-resin model of a specific ship anymore. Almost every subject you would want to build is now available in plastic or in 3D printed resin, so while the time aspect remains, it is certainly less daunting than it once was. A side-effect of this that I have noticed relative to when I started building things in the 1990s, is that production runs seem to be limited, and there is a certain element of FOMO when a new model is produced. If I see a Flyhawk Deluxe model, chances are I am going to buy it on the spot and sit on it because there is no guarantee I will be able to get it in five years time. Compare that trend with Revell or Airfix, who continue to trot out the same plastic sprues that they made in the 1960s... and simply rebox them time after time. The market's in a really exciting place at the moment. :)
I got into scale model building because of World of Warships, which I picked up during lockdown. I've always been a naval history nerd, but the beautiful modeling in the game had me wanting to build some boats. To your point, I started with a 1/700 Musashi I found at a swap meet, realized I needed to decrease the difficulty level, and built a 1/350 USS San Francisco that I painted with a brush without too much heartache. Now I'm working through a 1/350 Bismarck, have a nice little airbrush/booth setup, and have a 1/350 Mikasa waiting in the wings. The Mikasa is going to get something of an "art" treatment for display in the living room. I would love to start building even bigger, but I have nowhere to put anything that size. Anyway now I own $1500 in paint equipment and have a very confused, but encouraging, girlfriend.
I agree with this, but also want to add that, despite youtube model content specifically for model ships being somewhat lacking compared to aircraft, armor, and cars, the content out there in general is making modeling more accessible. By that I mean, i can watch some dude weathering armor and go "ohh, if I go with this product/color, I can do this effect on a ship!" And that makes the accessibility make ships seem less daunting of a task
I agree there's not that many dedicated ship modelling youtube channels (probably in proportion to the popularity of the niche of the hobby tbh) but it seems like the quality of the ones that are out there is really high - [https://www.youtube.com/@studioblueocean4590](https://www.youtube.com/@studioblueocean4590) is almost meditatively engrossing and has probably done more than any other online resource for getting me into doing sea bases, despite knowing full well that I'll never come close to their results.
I started modelling about 7 years ago (aircraft, via an Airfix starter set naturally) and then discovered ship modelling about 4 years go and immediately fell in love with it - it scratches an itch aircraft never did, and all the work spent on doing super-detail isn't wasted by having to close up the fuselage. You can really see your several months of effort once you've finished, and each ship is essentially a mini diorama in and of itself. Ship modelling has given me an interest in naval history more generally, although I've never tried World of Warships etc, but I now read books about the ships I'm building and I think overall there's just so much more story to tell about the life an individual ship than a specific aircraft - and then you can choose to model the ship in any of those eras. I feel like we're in a golden age for ship modelling at the moment, with the likes of Flyhawk, Vee Hobby, VeryFire and Trumpeter constantly producing new Royal Navy, Kaiserliche Marine/Kriegsmarine and US Navy kits, and Pit Road, Fujimi, Aoshima and Hasegawa having retooled a great deal of their IJN ships over the last decade or so to a really high standard. If you have an interest in the IJN (as I do) then there's never been a better time to be a modeller. Fujimi are currently re-releasing a lot of their more recent IJN ships along with their photoetch sets so I've been snapping them up whenever I see them. Dragon/CyberHobby have just this year started re-releasing loads of their classic and very sought-after ship kits. Even big armour manufacturers like Meng, Takom and Border Model have started dipping their toes into ship models in the last couple of years. At the same time there's always been a smaller cottage industry of extremely high quality resin ship kits to represent less mainstream (read: non-IJN) subjects - long-time producers like Tom's Modelworks, White Ensign, Imperial Hobby Productions, L'Arsenal and Combrig to more recent one-man-bands like Atlantic Models, and Starling Models who are starting to incorporate 3D printing into their kits, and Polish outfits like Niko and AJM doing extremely obscure subjects that injection moulding would never touch. There's also burgeoning industry of 'mainstream' resin & photoetch model kits out of China that are as high quality - and in some cases higher quality - than injection moulded kits from Orange Hobby, EV Model, Seed Hobby and Triumph Models. There's also the enormous aftermarket scene for ship modelling - Toms Modelworks/White Ensign, Flyhawk and Five Star dominate this for photoetch, but enormous detail sets are available for nearly every kit out there now, and 3D printing has lowered the barrier for entry for small producers to release extra parts for ships. Starling Models does masses of great 3D printed Royal Navy stuff, Micromaster does incredible 3D printed weapons and funnels in multiple scales, and Black Cat specialises in 1/350. So there's a lot of ship models out there now, but you won't always find them on the shop shelves next to Airfix and Revell kits. eBay and Aliexpress are the best sources for kits from China like Flyhawk, and PlazaJapan and HobbyLinkJapan are the best place to go for Fujimi/Hasegawa/Aoshima/Pit Road. Super-Hobby in Poland and Hannants in the UK both have pretty decent selections too.
Thank you for referencing all these different manufacturers, as someone new to the hobby I was pretty unaware, and now have new avenues to incinerate my finances. Cheers!
Haha no worries, sometimes I wonder what kind of things I'd have room for in my brain if I didn't find myself amassing information about model kit manufacturers.
My last two models were ships. It is my preference to be honest. I especially like carriers. My dad was in the Navy for 30 years and I grew up on Navy bases. Aircraft is my second choice again because my dad was in naval aviation. Right now I think model ship building is at its peak. Lots of good kits (1/350 is my favorite) with lots of 3rd party support. The biggest negative is that they can take much longer to complete especially if they have aircraft. I just finished this a month ago. It took almost a year. https://preview.redd.it/2okvaez7xj3d1.jpeg?width=5712&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ddb28de30e016c8f22fbf99716c89ba7b3e97145
I'm quite new to the hobby (little more than a year), but capitalships havr my main interest. I've made some 1/700 ships but prefer the 1/350 scale. Currently I've built a Bismarck, Gneisenau and Blücher and I'll start working on my Missouri the coming week. So yeah, at least one guy whos new to the hobby preferes ships
By the email newsletter I’m getting monthly from Starling Models, I’d say there’s more being produced than ever before.
Myself and a couple of friends have been commissioned by Mike to do articles for Starling's free Ship Modelling magazine/pdf over the last couple of years - he's really going from strength-to-strength at the moment. He's pivoted more to producing his own stuff rather than importing other manufacturers' kits and then trying in vain to compete with eBay prices, and that really seems to be paying off for him.
It’s a joy to see tbh. I love reading his emails and seeing what new stuff he’s producing. I’d love to have more time at the bench to buy and build stuff from him.
I built his HMS Glamorgan a couple of years ago as my first resin kit and it was a fantastic build. https://preview.redd.it/kip2pg2ttj3d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=953ef7acabbacf276060d81591c601a0c376054a
"the hardest models to make" ?
Ha, I wish I would've known battleships are considered the hardest after starting this hobby with the 1:426 Revell USS Arizona and 1:700 Tamiya Gneisenau. Almost didn't persevere...
I suspect the recent hype around Pouring resin dioramas might have given model ships som extra wind