# Eduard vs. GMM PE for Tamiya 1:350 Missouri



## Millenniumfalsehood (Aug 22, 2012)

I got an incredible deal on a Tamiya 1:350 USS Missouri model: 0$. Yeah, I got a free battleship. Yay me!  See, Hobby Lobby had one on sale for $30, which I convinced my mom to get me for Christmas a put it up, then she offered that to me in order to move some furniture for her. A $90 kit for roughly twenty minutes of work? Woo-hoo! 

Pardon my gloating. 

Thing is, I want to build it up really nice, with photoetch parts. I've looked at the offerings, and the only ones that stand out are the Eduard set and the Gold Medal Models set. 

I trust Eduard as far as quality, but I've really only bought their airplane kits (love the new P-38). Could someone tell me a bit about both of these and the pitfalls associated with them so I can make an informed decision? I'm a bit concerned about not having enough railing, as my LHS owner put PE on his cruiser model and it didn't have enough rail to complete the kit. I could get by with simply cutting strips out of the fret and using that to complete it, but I'd rather not (not that I haven't done that before, but it's tedious, and photoetch work is tedious enough as it is).

PS: if anyone knows a source for turned brass cannons, I'd appreciate that as well.


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## ryoga (Oct 6, 2009)

Both GMM and Eduards are good sets, and congrats on getting the Mighty Mo. I got mine from another ship modeler who have since given up the hobby, and at a very good price too.

Anyway, I did some research on the available aftermarket sets before I bought mine and decided on Flyhawk Ultimate Missouri set. It came with over 18 PE frets, resin replacement parts and brass barrels 




























And don't forget the wooden decks. I got Pontos for mine - pre-cut decks with chains for the anchor, more in that set


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

It will really depend on your skill level in working with photo- etch and modifying kit parts to accept the etch details. Eduard is fairly simple but GMM and Flyhawk, etc. are much more complex and take more skill. You definitely want some top quality photo etch shears, a bending tool, etc. in any case.


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## Millenniumfalsehood (Aug 22, 2012)

I have a pretty high skill level, and do have experience bending photoetch (I've even made my own brass parts before, though I'm not anxious to repeat the process; too many harsh chemicals). Precision bending is no problem either; I've got one of those photoetch benders, as well as a set of smooth-jaw hemostats that I use for bending small parts and dowels to form rounded parts.

I'll check out that Flyhawk set. I really want my Mo to shine, and if it's worth the price IMO I'll definitely get it. The resin bits and brass cannons are attractive, as is the fact that the anchor chains are separate pieces.

If this build goes well, I want to get the other three Iowa-class kits, as well as the Arizona, Tirpitz, Bismarck, and Yamato. I'm a bit of a battleship nut, and I'm finally in a financial position to get these awesome kits, with the skill level to build them up nice and deck them out. Tamiya also has good prices and a nice parts-to-detail ratio. Trumpeter's kits a great, but with the sheer number of parts (I think it was close to 600 for the Iowa?), I'd go crazy building them, especially since I'm wanting to do all the famous battleships of WW2.


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## ryoga (Oct 6, 2009)

Whoa ... sounds like you caught what I have ... Battleshipius Collectilingus :tongue:

Trumpeter recently came out with the 1/200 scale USS Arizona. Impressive kit but a tad too big for me. They're coming out with the 1/200 scale Bismarck soon too. 

As for the Yamato, Tamiya's retooled version looks impressive. I'm actually saving up for this baby. Not sure by the time I can afford her, she'll still be around. 

There's also the recently released USS New Jersey with some retooled extra parts and a PE fret.


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## Millenniumfalsehood (Aug 22, 2012)

The new New Jersey kit is at my LHS, begging me to take her home. But I have to finish the Mighty Mo first. 

And yes, I definitely have, er, whatever that is. There's just something about battleships that gets me. It might be the fact that they're generally some of the biggest ships in the fleet, save for the carriers, or maybe that they're basically a floating pile of guns and missiles. They really tacked them on wherever they could find a flat spot on the hull of Missouri (and all the other Iowa class ships). 

I've looked into the Flyhawk parts, but they're a tad too expensive for me. After carefully looking over both Eduard and Gold Medal Models' frets, I've decided to go with the GMM fret. They're both great and about the same price, but the GMM kit has a few little extras, like the Admiral Halsey fig. I know New Jersey was his ship, but since I'm going to be building that one eventually anyway, I might as well get acquainted with this photoetch so I can use it for BB-62. Funny how I'm going in reverse order with those hull numbers . . .


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

There isnt a WW2 NJ kit so you will need to convert the Tamiya Missouri. Tamiya's NJ is the modernized version. I suppose you could work with the 50 year old, motorized, Otaki/Revell 1/350 kit but its pretty doggy.

The New Tamiya Yamato is awesome. For the Bismarck, go with the newish Revell kit.


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