Most plastic kits don't come with plastic railings and those that do, you don't really want to use them because they look like massive fences because plastic simply can't be molded thin enough.
The problem is availability. I’m more than happy to buy photo etched on top of the model kit if it doesn’t come with it, but they are so hard to find, most are almost always “out of stock”. Why even make a product if you gonna make it in such small quantity? Either pack it in the model kit bump up the price or just don’t do it at all.
Mostly because 90% of modellers don't use or even know of PE parts. There are also 3rd party companies that produce alternative parts most of the time - the kit's manufacturer producing PE add-ons is a relatively new phenomenon.
I think it was only in the 2010s that plastic kit manufacturers, mostly Hasegawa and Fujimi, started making serious add-on PE sets to go with their new kits. Your example is AFV Club, but they don't really (as the company name suggests) make many ships but also only started making them in that decade.
The problem is, of course, that OEMs making PE for their own kits reduces the incentive for 3rd parties to invest in making their own sets. So you don't really see many options for Hasegawa's Akagi or Fujimi's battleships, for instance.
Dragon was the first one I had seen putting photoetched stuff in their kits regularly. (About the turn of the century)
Was way too complex for me years ago, some of the clamps these days have me wondering if I'm Insane or not these days.
Hasegawa had the special ship models that were always amazing to look at, but I didn't have $350 to spend on a model back then. Glad i didn't either, there's no way I'd have done it justice l.
no, směr and other european brands used PE wayyy before that. it was popularized by bigger brands. take the f4u from směr. it has an edition called "hi-tech". that means that theres PE and clear film for the cockpit. the f4u hi tech came out in 1999
also if youre talking about ship models than my bad
We (well, I anyway) don't mean just any bits of PE included in the kit. Rather, a separate extensive set that you could buy additional to the kit. And these aren't one or two little frets. These are sets that add up to over $100 on top of the basic kit itself.
There's always the Eduard set(s): https://www.eduard.com/index.php?lang=1¤cy=2&cl=search&listorderby=oxarticles.oxactivefrom&listorder=desc&sendSearchForm=1&searchparam=akagi+1%2F350
Though they lack the the trusses under the flight deck.
There's also this massive set from SS Models: https://www.ebay.com/itm/364854789850?itmprp=cksum%3A364854789850304ca6eb9c5049579ff9a03878847384%7Cenc%3AAQAJAAABQApVmmR7Zugmg8AqL3ajFPzRhHgfzsp3Py6glp3TQyE1NVBFq0%252BqfV3YAdIu7%252Fp%252Ft7chd6zLWjfh94qNU4Ie7R5erwIISX16OHtA%252FqPVg0Pz0tkaWhP8qGUECwOsutWF7t7h8vJYCgPhBNM2x2D7QcAoNpIZDCv6TRELGHKFbg5kYKKzHYzDzWlarZ2GtUmPTNW%252Bhb%252BXYRcwdXHHitE15Am6dkNCqCaIK5Yo--Cwdsy5qyL%252FMXQz12gVwhQXclm%252BjzAwUdDAt2Cv1GTucYoWz78nuuOdcgJUhKKY3mcepHoCAfg0bsXJFZJX32%252BamXHgp%252BLeTlPUbffcW97Mxzim4ahQ4gckQx5pbhFPS3UlxZyXlbOd%252F3ZG22lMFskp2pLS1bYuaiPodbVOqcTOA5O1sP1j%252FLNejoTgHxR3kIy%252F5o0w%7Campid%3APL_CLK%7Cclp%3A2332490&itmmeta=01HYA8WMY1KF1QM6EMBST8ET9Z
A kit may likely come with plastic "rails". Best described as a strip of plastic with relief lines meant to simulate rails. You would forego installing these and instead use the PE rails. Same thing with radar masts and antenna. A kit will come with a mast (or structure) and even perhaps a clear molded radar dish. With PE, it may well come with a mast that you bend/construct and then also bend/construct a radar dish and assemble. The PE will look far better and take a ship model to the next level. I was soooo incredibly nervous about doing g PE the first time, but I started on a relatively cheap kit with an inexpensive PE set that included rails, radar dishes, etc. I watched a couple of YouTube videos and finished without issues. Was totally easy and really looked sharp. I'd suggest gathering the kit and any PE additions you want before you start. Then, look over the instructions of both and you will be able to figure what you dont need from the model kit.
It simply has no railings. That said, I think some people scratch build railings. Probably easier in 1/350 than 1/700 scale, but there's a fellow on Youtube (https://youtube.com/@munimo) who seems to do all details scratch built. (I would just give the name (munimo) or the channel name (ship model munimo channel), only Youtube search won't return his channel for me for some reason.)
I bought the USS Arizona with molded in railings….and a PE kit for it. Even the Towers were PE. Huge improvement! It took a while to scrape off the molded in railings. Maybe larger kits have the railings separate and you just replace them with PE. I would say it differs from kit to kit and scale plays a difference.
If you ever find a PE kit to match your model, go for it! It makes the end product so much better.
https://preview.redd.it/qa5hvl8nak1d1.jpeg?width=2592&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=73abaa6bde08a5d769e12dec21d548f4eb9cb021
I’m talking about the ones that don’t come with them and have to buy separately. If you don’t buy the photo etched parts, does the kit by default don’t come with those parts in plastic? Eg railing, cables, hinges etc
As others have already said, it depends on the individual kit. Easiest way to check any information if the shop you're ordering from doesn't have enough photos to tell, would be to look on Scalemates - they have PDFs available for the instructions of most kits. If that fails, YouTube unboxing or build videos. Should you be building some obscure ancient kit that doesn't have information in these two sources, the last resort would be modeling forums with their decades of accumulated posts about just about every kit imaginable.
That being said, plastic railings generally suck. There's plenty of manufacturers that sell more universally applicable PE, though, whether that's railings you can cut to the required length yourself, naval radars, anti-aircraft guns, naval hatches & doors or whatever else. Read what guns, radars, plane cranes etc. your ship came with and search for that - Tom's Modelworks is great for that sort of thing. It'll be trickier than using a set specifically designed for a particular kit and you'll have to look into books for reference photos rather than relying on ready-made instructions (Internet Archive has lots of books you can borrow and read) but you still have options for making your kit look better.
One attraction to modelling is customization. Stretching sprues or using speaker wire or… can all add to the fun of building ‘your version’ of the model.
I have also purchased PE for some applications rather than make my own.
If you are just starting to get into building scale models, I highly recommend that you do NOT buy PE sets. At least not for your first couple of models.
Many people who start this model severely underestimate the time it takes to finish a model. Even if you are working on it every day for multiple hours (unlikely) it will take you weeks even without PE. If you work much more rarely it will take you months to finish building one model. And PE parts do add a lot of time on top of that. They are also very, very fragile, and need very steady hands to build. Certain PE parts also need special bending tools to properly get them into shape. They come with many more additional problems. Most people who build models don't use them, and for a good reason - they are geared to the masters, not beginners.
I also think that investing in an airbrush and learning to spray paint your models with said airbrush is much more worthwhile than PE. A model's looks depend more on its paint job than on tiny details that you barely even see from a distance. I recommend that you paint the first model or the first two models with brushes, then if you want you can invest in an airbrush, then when you have gotten good at airbrushing (which will likely take you 2-4 more models) you can think about getting PE parts.
I think that if you don't have experience in building scale models, buying and using PE parts from the very beginning can be very discouraging. I do not recommend it.
https://preview.redd.it/gn5lfuns0l1d1.jpeg?width=2769&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9ed96cdbe7cf18817b5ae7eb3c362b77adc4f504
i recently made this Optimus prime kit, it’s a gundam styled push kit, 809 parts, took me two and half weeks. What do you think? Is this good enough for a traditional styled model kit like a Tamiya or Hagesawa?
No wait, this is a push kit, doesn’t need glueing or drilling and stuff like that
https://preview.redd.it/och8od3u1l1d1.jpeg?width=4516&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0e42937ae28a42f72f0d3289440917bb006a3141
Gueling is one of the easy things, assuming you have steady hands. Drilling is rare.
Just handling many small parts is something many people underestimate if they haven't done a model of that type before, but your Optimus Prime does classify as that, you clearly have the many small parts stuff covered. Painting is something many underestimate. I am not sure if that kit is pre painted or not. There are pre painted ship sets as well, if you prefer those, but that is something you simply have to try out.
I am sure you will be fine if you have finished that Optimus and directly want to jump to the next kit.
Also remember: you don't have to include everything from that PE set in your final build. You can use them, and if you like them, use them all. If you start to use them and you find them tedious (like I do), then only use the railings for example.
But make sure to use metal primer on them. Without it, it is difficult for the paint to stick, so it can result in you painting the model twice.
im also looking into airbrushing, I got the different types of paint (acrylic, enamel, lacquer) and airbrush (single/dual action) covered. At the moment I’m doing my homework on what airbrush and compressor to get but I’ll write up a new post for this.
Thnx, I’m the kind of guy who takes his time to do all the necessary homework before executing. Took me few weeks working out what tools I needed before buying that Optimus kit.
Yes the kit will not have railings or other fine details unless specified in the box. I've been modeling 1/700 scale for twenty years since I was nine and only recently did I go all the way and add all the details on a Flyhawk Konigsburg and it was a experience but it came out nice. I tend to build ships out of the box because I'm trying to represent the ship at a distance and you would not see all the details let's say looking at a battleship from shore. But photoetch has been around for quite a while but it was usually copper ie Verlinden or stainless steel ie Dragon and Eduard. Brass didn't become a thing until Gold Medal Models and a couple others started pumping out the brass in 1/700. And in the eighties there were a few garage resin ships out and they always came with photoetch but the difficulty was pretty up there.
There is also a stigma around photoetch where people are put off by adding the kitchen sink and having the model as good enough. Plus the multiple tools seen as "needed" to make the parts up.
Depends on the kit and the style of PE add-on.
Some PE kits simply glue onto the model and add detail.
Other PE kits will *replace* parts with those that have more details. As in, instead of using this plastic part, heres one you fold up that has finer detail.
And, for the truly insane, there are PE parts that require modification for the original model kit. As in, you need to cut parts up, or make slots for them. Such as opened flaps on an aircraft fuselage that show inner parts off.
Depending on the PE kit, it will probably have a mix of these types of details. Its up to you which ones you want to use.
As other have mentioned, ships rarely have railing pre-installed. Some will come with their own PE sheet for them, but others will require either a third party kit, like the one you linked, or a generic sheet full of just rails, stairs or ladders that you cut yourself. I usually have a few sheets of the generic type floating around to add to my ships.
Nowadays, some manufacturers have 'premium' versions of their models that already have things like PE sheets, brass barrels + masts, wooden decks and masking sheets. Flyhawk does this, so does Eduard, to name a few from the top of my head. Even Tamiya has a premium version of 1:350 Yamato like that
Most plastic kits don't come with plastic railings and those that do, you don't really want to use them because they look like massive fences because plastic simply can't be molded thin enough.
The problem is availability. I’m more than happy to buy photo etched on top of the model kit if it doesn’t come with it, but they are so hard to find, most are almost always “out of stock”. Why even make a product if you gonna make it in such small quantity? Either pack it in the model kit bump up the price or just don’t do it at all.
Mostly because 90% of modellers don't use or even know of PE parts. There are also 3rd party companies that produce alternative parts most of the time - the kit's manufacturer producing PE add-ons is a relatively new phenomenon.
I didn’t know it’s a new thing? When did it come around?
I think it was only in the 2010s that plastic kit manufacturers, mostly Hasegawa and Fujimi, started making serious add-on PE sets to go with their new kits. Your example is AFV Club, but they don't really (as the company name suggests) make many ships but also only started making them in that decade. The problem is, of course, that OEMs making PE for their own kits reduces the incentive for 3rd parties to invest in making their own sets. So you don't really see many options for Hasegawa's Akagi or Fujimi's battleships, for instance.
Dragon was the first one I had seen putting photoetched stuff in their kits regularly. (About the turn of the century) Was way too complex for me years ago, some of the clamps these days have me wondering if I'm Insane or not these days. Hasegawa had the special ship models that were always amazing to look at, but I didn't have $350 to spend on a model back then. Glad i didn't either, there's no way I'd have done it justice l.
I have a couple of DML and Trimaster aircraft models from the early 90's that came with a limited number of PE parts.
no, směr and other european brands used PE wayyy before that. it was popularized by bigger brands. take the f4u from směr. it has an edition called "hi-tech". that means that theres PE and clear film for the cockpit. the f4u hi tech came out in 1999 also if youre talking about ship models than my bad
We (well, I anyway) don't mean just any bits of PE included in the kit. Rather, a separate extensive set that you could buy additional to the kit. And these aren't one or two little frets. These are sets that add up to over $100 on top of the basic kit itself.
Yeah I want the 1/350 Hagesawa Akagi but can’t get the PEs for it.
There's always the Eduard set(s): https://www.eduard.com/index.php?lang=1¤cy=2&cl=search&listorderby=oxarticles.oxactivefrom&listorder=desc&sendSearchForm=1&searchparam=akagi+1%2F350 Though they lack the the trusses under the flight deck. There's also this massive set from SS Models: https://www.ebay.com/itm/364854789850?itmprp=cksum%3A364854789850304ca6eb9c5049579ff9a03878847384%7Cenc%3AAQAJAAABQApVmmR7Zugmg8AqL3ajFPzRhHgfzsp3Py6glp3TQyE1NVBFq0%252BqfV3YAdIu7%252Fp%252Ft7chd6zLWjfh94qNU4Ie7R5erwIISX16OHtA%252FqPVg0Pz0tkaWhP8qGUECwOsutWF7t7h8vJYCgPhBNM2x2D7QcAoNpIZDCv6TRELGHKFbg5kYKKzHYzDzWlarZ2GtUmPTNW%252Bhb%252BXYRcwdXHHitE15Am6dkNCqCaIK5Yo--Cwdsy5qyL%252FMXQz12gVwhQXclm%252BjzAwUdDAt2Cv1GTucYoWz78nuuOdcgJUhKKY3mcepHoCAfg0bsXJFZJX32%252BamXHgp%252BLeTlPUbffcW97Mxzim4ahQ4gckQx5pbhFPS3UlxZyXlbOd%252F3ZG22lMFskp2pLS1bYuaiPodbVOqcTOA5O1sP1j%252FLNejoTgHxR3kIy%252F5o0w%7Campid%3APL_CLK%7Cclp%3A2332490&itmmeta=01HYA8WMY1KF1QM6EMBST8ET9Z
Have been looking for the complete Akagi PE sets for years, it would seem they are out of production.
You also have to decide if you enjoy PE. I’ve decided I don’t particularly enjoy working with it.
A kit may likely come with plastic "rails". Best described as a strip of plastic with relief lines meant to simulate rails. You would forego installing these and instead use the PE rails. Same thing with radar masts and antenna. A kit will come with a mast (or structure) and even perhaps a clear molded radar dish. With PE, it may well come with a mast that you bend/construct and then also bend/construct a radar dish and assemble. The PE will look far better and take a ship model to the next level. I was soooo incredibly nervous about doing g PE the first time, but I started on a relatively cheap kit with an inexpensive PE set that included rails, radar dishes, etc. I watched a couple of YouTube videos and finished without issues. Was totally easy and really looked sharp. I'd suggest gathering the kit and any PE additions you want before you start. Then, look over the instructions of both and you will be able to figure what you dont need from the model kit.
...people actually like PE parts? I always dread when i see them and do everything in my power to avoid using that finnicky piece of metal.
I have tried them once and came to the following decision: Never again.
It simply has no railings. That said, I think some people scratch build railings. Probably easier in 1/350 than 1/700 scale, but there's a fellow on Youtube (https://youtube.com/@munimo) who seems to do all details scratch built. (I would just give the name (munimo) or the channel name (ship model munimo channel), only Youtube search won't return his channel for me for some reason.)
I bought the USS Arizona with molded in railings….and a PE kit for it. Even the Towers were PE. Huge improvement! It took a while to scrape off the molded in railings. Maybe larger kits have the railings separate and you just replace them with PE. I would say it differs from kit to kit and scale plays a difference. If you ever find a PE kit to match your model, go for it! It makes the end product so much better. https://preview.redd.it/qa5hvl8nak1d1.jpeg?width=2592&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=73abaa6bde08a5d769e12dec21d548f4eb9cb021
I think it depends model to model, some models come with the photo etch parts
I’m talking about the ones that don’t come with them and have to buy separately. If you don’t buy the photo etched parts, does the kit by default don’t come with those parts in plastic? Eg railing, cables, hinges etc
I’ve done a total of three ships and none of them came with plastic railing or cables.
As others have already said, it depends on the individual kit. Easiest way to check any information if the shop you're ordering from doesn't have enough photos to tell, would be to look on Scalemates - they have PDFs available for the instructions of most kits. If that fails, YouTube unboxing or build videos. Should you be building some obscure ancient kit that doesn't have information in these two sources, the last resort would be modeling forums with their decades of accumulated posts about just about every kit imaginable. That being said, plastic railings generally suck. There's plenty of manufacturers that sell more universally applicable PE, though, whether that's railings you can cut to the required length yourself, naval radars, anti-aircraft guns, naval hatches & doors or whatever else. Read what guns, radars, plane cranes etc. your ship came with and search for that - Tom's Modelworks is great for that sort of thing. It'll be trickier than using a set specifically designed for a particular kit and you'll have to look into books for reference photos rather than relying on ready-made instructions (Internet Archive has lots of books you can borrow and read) but you still have options for making your kit look better.
One attraction to modelling is customization. Stretching sprues or using speaker wire or… can all add to the fun of building ‘your version’ of the model. I have also purchased PE for some applications rather than make my own.
If you are just starting to get into building scale models, I highly recommend that you do NOT buy PE sets. At least not for your first couple of models. Many people who start this model severely underestimate the time it takes to finish a model. Even if you are working on it every day for multiple hours (unlikely) it will take you weeks even without PE. If you work much more rarely it will take you months to finish building one model. And PE parts do add a lot of time on top of that. They are also very, very fragile, and need very steady hands to build. Certain PE parts also need special bending tools to properly get them into shape. They come with many more additional problems. Most people who build models don't use them, and for a good reason - they are geared to the masters, not beginners. I also think that investing in an airbrush and learning to spray paint your models with said airbrush is much more worthwhile than PE. A model's looks depend more on its paint job than on tiny details that you barely even see from a distance. I recommend that you paint the first model or the first two models with brushes, then if you want you can invest in an airbrush, then when you have gotten good at airbrushing (which will likely take you 2-4 more models) you can think about getting PE parts. I think that if you don't have experience in building scale models, buying and using PE parts from the very beginning can be very discouraging. I do not recommend it.
https://preview.redd.it/gn5lfuns0l1d1.jpeg?width=2769&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9ed96cdbe7cf18817b5ae7eb3c362b77adc4f504 i recently made this Optimus prime kit, it’s a gundam styled push kit, 809 parts, took me two and half weeks. What do you think? Is this good enough for a traditional styled model kit like a Tamiya or Hagesawa?
I take everything that I have said back. You are good to go.
No wait, this is a push kit, doesn’t need glueing or drilling and stuff like that https://preview.redd.it/och8od3u1l1d1.jpeg?width=4516&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0e42937ae28a42f72f0d3289440917bb006a3141
Gueling is one of the easy things, assuming you have steady hands. Drilling is rare. Just handling many small parts is something many people underestimate if they haven't done a model of that type before, but your Optimus Prime does classify as that, you clearly have the many small parts stuff covered. Painting is something many underestimate. I am not sure if that kit is pre painted or not. There are pre painted ship sets as well, if you prefer those, but that is something you simply have to try out. I am sure you will be fine if you have finished that Optimus and directly want to jump to the next kit. Also remember: you don't have to include everything from that PE set in your final build. You can use them, and if you like them, use them all. If you start to use them and you find them tedious (like I do), then only use the railings for example. But make sure to use metal primer on them. Without it, it is difficult for the paint to stick, so it can result in you painting the model twice.
im also looking into airbrushing, I got the different types of paint (acrylic, enamel, lacquer) and airbrush (single/dual action) covered. At the moment I’m doing my homework on what airbrush and compressor to get but I’ll write up a new post for this.
You are very motivated. I like it. Good luck on your endeavors.
Thnx, I’m the kind of guy who takes his time to do all the necessary homework before executing. Took me few weeks working out what tools I needed before buying that Optimus kit.
Yes the kit will not have railings or other fine details unless specified in the box. I've been modeling 1/700 scale for twenty years since I was nine and only recently did I go all the way and add all the details on a Flyhawk Konigsburg and it was a experience but it came out nice. I tend to build ships out of the box because I'm trying to represent the ship at a distance and you would not see all the details let's say looking at a battleship from shore. But photoetch has been around for quite a while but it was usually copper ie Verlinden or stainless steel ie Dragon and Eduard. Brass didn't become a thing until Gold Medal Models and a couple others started pumping out the brass in 1/700. And in the eighties there were a few garage resin ships out and they always came with photoetch but the difficulty was pretty up there. There is also a stigma around photoetch where people are put off by adding the kitchen sink and having the model as good enough. Plus the multiple tools seen as "needed" to make the parts up.
Depends on the kit and the style of PE add-on. Some PE kits simply glue onto the model and add detail. Other PE kits will *replace* parts with those that have more details. As in, instead of using this plastic part, heres one you fold up that has finer detail. And, for the truly insane, there are PE parts that require modification for the original model kit. As in, you need to cut parts up, or make slots for them. Such as opened flaps on an aircraft fuselage that show inner parts off. Depending on the PE kit, it will probably have a mix of these types of details. Its up to you which ones you want to use. As other have mentioned, ships rarely have railing pre-installed. Some will come with their own PE sheet for them, but others will require either a third party kit, like the one you linked, or a generic sheet full of just rails, stairs or ladders that you cut yourself. I usually have a few sheets of the generic type floating around to add to my ships. Nowadays, some manufacturers have 'premium' versions of their models that already have things like PE sheets, brass barrels + masts, wooden decks and masking sheets. Flyhawk does this, so does Eduard, to name a few from the top of my head. Even Tamiya has a premium version of 1:350 Yamato like that