The scale of dioramas and figures works on water too. 1:35 ship model kits cover assault and patrol boats, river barges, harbour tugs and naval weapon systems — sharing a size with military vehicles means a boat can be crewed with figures, loaded with stores and set into a scene that holds together. The shelf reaches right up to the present day, including an Ukrainian naval drone. Large parts carry full deck equipment, wheelhouse interiors included, and on open boats you can see the hull framing and the engine bed.
Smaller vessels built in the largest everyday modelling size: landing craft, fast patrol boats, a hovercraft, river barges and a tug. A group of their own are modern shipboard weapon systems, gun mounts and launchers, which work either as a detailed miniature in their own right or as the armament of a harbour scene.
An assault craft with troops aboard, a patrol boat at a jetty, a barge on a river: at 1:35 the vessel, the figures and the vehicles all match, so the scene reads as one moment. Water can be cast from clear resin or built up with texture gel. Allow for the size, though — a fast attack boat runs to a good half metre.
Unmanned surface drones and shipboard weapon mounts bring present-day conflicts onto the bench; the build is quick and the result striking. If you want to go under the surface, the same size covers 1:35 submarine model kits.
Boats at this size carry heavy wear well: chipping along the boot-topping, rust streaks below the fittings, bleached deck timber. Reach for weathering products and pigments, and finish wet effects around the hull with a gloss coat.
Open boats are the real argument for this size. With the deck off you can see the hull framing, the engine bed and the wheelhouse fittings, so a little work inside is visible for ever afterwards. Paint the interior before the halves close up, and dry-fit the deck repeatedly — large single-piece mouldings rarely drop in first time.
Smaller boats and large surface ships alike are listed under ship model kits.
