"Panzerschiffe v. GHQ" Topic

The feeling I'm getting is that I might like to get GHQ large vessals where the details will matter, and go Pzschffe on the destroyers, etc, which are pretty small anyway – perhaps too small to notice the details.

Does anyone have good comparison photos of the raw metal ships from these two manufacturors? I know people do side-by-side comparisons of WWII tanks, I figure someone must do it for 1:2400 ships, too!

Also, wouldn't mind seeing pics of either painted up, especially if someone has done outstanding work on them.

Hesse:

Actually, I think the economics of cost make Panzerschiffes a better deal for big ships and GHQ cheaper for the smaller ones. But, horses for courses as they say.

Take a look at My Wife Paints Battleships gallery page to see painted versions of pretty much everything.

link

Dennis

I keep waffling on this question myself, and throwing NavWar into the mix as well. Your wife, by the way, paints battleships very well, Dennis. :-)

Doug

My collection is almost exclusively GHQ (with a smattering of CinC I bought 25 years ago). I think their detail is worth the price. I don't care for Panzerschiffes' appearance (personal preference, nothing to do with their quality). I just discovered Viking Forge on the web link I haven't seen any of their figures but the photos of their newer castings make them appear to have all the detail of GHQ for quite a bit less expense, though still more than Panzerschiffes. I am considering Viking Forge for my future fleet expansions.

I haven't found that any 1/2400 scale manufacturer makes a complete line (GHQ, CnC, Viking Forge, or Panzerschiff) so my fleets are a mix in order to get the right model.

PZ are resin, not metal. but at five feet and painted, it's not a big deal to me. I consider myself a gamer, not a collector.

GHQ are nice but expensive, and have too many fiddly bits that need to be glued in place for my tastes.

I have a friend who has many of the Viking Forge RJW ships and they look nice.

Dennis,

Your wife does a wonderful job making all the miniature products look great.

All,

For my money I would tend towards Panzerschiffe. While it does not have the detail, it has enough and the prices are right. Also, you drop these by mistake and you won't be crying over bent or ruined metal parts. However, as Brian mentioned, in the end it is a personal preference.

Jim

I'll add that the 1/3000 Navwar line and the 1/6000 line seem to be the most complete, if you want to only have ships from one maker.

Speaking of Viking Forge ships dmclellan, one of these days, you, me, and Shagnasty need to break out our RJW ships and have at

Dave

I hadn't really thought about VF … some of those (apparently the newer ones you mentioned) do look pretty nice. Some of the others, though, are not as good.

Doug

How do the 1/2400 makers compare "size" wise. I.e. not all "15mm" figures are 15mm (whatever that means).

So does the same ship from each of the 1/2400 manufacturers come out to the same size?

Personally, I tend to CinC first and GHQ second. Have a couple of Viking Forge and plan to get more when finances permit.

My biggest problem with GHQ is the detail – portholes the scale equivalent of barn doors and tertiary gun mounts the size of small planes. Paying more for the privilege is just frosting on the cake. If CinC doesn't have the particular ship I will go with GHQ, but my hope is that CinC will be able to expand their line (would be nice if they could work with Viking Forge to not step on each others toes).

I have ordered a couple of Panzershiffes models where nothing else was available and they are acceptable models (bare minimum). Given a choice though I prefer metal.

For the record. . . Leslie at 'My Wife Paints Battleships' is *MY* wife. . .

At least last I checked. ;) I can be out of the loop sometimes.

As far as GHQ vs. Panzerschiffe goes first and foremost is the price consideration. If you're willing to pay GHQ prices, I personally would recommend going with the GHQ – then just maybe leaving off some of the extraneous bits like cranes and such.

Panzerschiffe is significantly cheaper, its true can can be painted up to look good.

mywifepaintsbattleships.com is offering some already painted panzerschiffe stuff that even comes with a custom label. The painted & based panzerschiffe will cost you less than than the unpainted & unassembled GHQ.

link

If you stuck on the GHQ, I'd recommend miniaturemarket.com as the place to go for them. A little cheaper there.

I've only ordered a couple Viking Forge ships (Iowas & Yamatos) and was very pleased with both. Kinda middle of the road between panzerschiffe & GHQ. But I can't vouch for any of their other models.

Personally, I tend to CinC first and GHQ second. Have a couple of Viking Forge and plan to get more when finances permit.

CinC is another option that I keep forgetting. I suppose I just need to pick 3 or 4 ships/classes and order them from each manufacturer, then paint them up and compare. After all, what difference does it make if GHQ has that much more detail, if my painting skills cannot bring it out.

Doug

For the record. . . Leslie at 'My Wife Paints Battleships' is *MY* wife. . .

How about that! She does paint wonderfully. However…… I am pretty sure she has the fore and aft superstructures each at the wrong end on the Honolulu. :)

Yeah, I think she did get a couple of them turned around early on. LOL!

Well, she paints what she gets. I'm pretty sure those were sent to her pre-assembled. :)

I own CnC, GHQ and Panzerschiffe. I like them all. My WWI are all GHQ. My Predreads are all Navwar as are my Ancient galleys. My personal favorites are my 1/700 WWII ships. Surprisingly they aren't that much more expensive than GHQ ships. If I was just starting out aside from my large ships I would do CnC and mainly Panzerschiffe. Decent quality and priced right. If I was only doing a few ships I'd do mainly CnC with some GHQ. I don't know the meaning of FEW so I buy as I describe above.

;-D

Thanks,

John

Sorry Harry, I wasn't trying to steal your wife or her business; just give her a boost for the nice work she did on my ships. Anyway, I think the boys were just winding you up.

Oh, and I just got some of the Viking Forge corvettes and trawlers, and I recommend them. Nice detail but not a lot of bits to break off.

Dennis

LOL. . . I just thought it was funny.

My friend and I decided to do our first venture into the pacific with Panzerschiffe, mainly due to the cost and b/c the pics we saw looked fine. I didn't realize at first that Pzsch has thier pics hidden in little tabs next to the "cart" button.

In any event, a fleet of one manufacturor seems fine. I think it may look odd with a highly detailed cruiser next to a lesser detailed one. I may go GHQ for the Med theater instead, just to try a different sculpt.

side-by-side pics would still be nice!

I've bought nearly make out there in 40 years of gaming 1/1200 and 1/2400 naval (I've also sold off nearly all in that time too).

I'm now building French and Italian fleets for WWII with models from Panzerschiffe. The models are crisp, paint up easy, don't cost that much (I figure I'll spend less than $100 USD US for either fleet with all ships), are difficult to damage and don't have little bitty parts that one has to either glue on or not lose.

Dan

Here's USS North Carolina

Panzerschiffes- $5.00 USD
picture

Viking Forge- $6.95 USD
link

CinC- $10.00 USD
picture

GHQ- $13.50 USD
link

well, that's one way to do it!

Eventually I'll do some GHQ even if it's just to make some highly detailed models. Maybe a "sink the Bismark" theme, or some other famous engagement.

I like fiddly bits, as long as the final result looks great.

Got my Panzerschiffe ships and am happy with them. At 1:2400 the detail disappears anyway. I like the price and clean casting ,think they'll paint up well and be durable.

Have to admit I'd feel I wasted the money on GHQ here, so thanks for the advice I'll go for some jap'se ships later to host games of both sides. The price makes it easy to do.

For a Matt I'm looking at Terrain Mat ocean with clear plastic bases, and am almost ready to paint!