Chinese POF kits

J

John Lyle

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Apr 7, 2018
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I have seen many POF kits from China that have come out. What sort of quality are they. I had a friend who purchased one of these kits and he did not have anything good to say about it. He referred to it as a "crap pirated kit" with bad fit and poor quality wood.
I have seen reviews of some of the kits which have mentioned some fit issues.
I want to try one of these kits but I am wary about putting my money down and ending up with a piece of garbage.
Could some of you tell me which of these companies are reputable?
 
In the moment I am working on my 5th POF chinese kit - all are very good quality and a lot of fun to work with

Take a look at my building logs - hope you will realize that the words by your friend were wrong

But be aware:
a cheap chinese kit is still a cheap kit - quality cost some money, also from china
 
John Lyle said:
I have seen many POF kits from China that have come out. What sort of quality are they. I had a friend who purchased one of these kits and he did not have anything good to say about it. He referred to it as a "crap pirated kit" with bad fit and poor quality wood.
I have seen reviews of some of the kits which have mentioned some fit issues.
I want to try one of these kits but I am wary about putting my money down and ending up with a piece of garbage.
Could some of you tell me which of these companies are reputable?
Click to expand...
Hi John

Can you tll us what ship was your friend was building?
 
John Lyle said:
I have seen many POF kits from China that have come out. What sort of quality are they. I had a friend who purchased one of these kits and he did not have anything good to say about it. He referred to it as a "crap pirated kit" with bad fit and poor quality wood.
I have seen reviews of some of the kits which have mentioned some fit issues.
I want to try one of these kits but I am wary about putting my money down and ending up with a piece of garbage.
Could some of you tell me which of these companies are reputable?
Click to expand...
John, I have built HMS Enterprise from CAF, and am currently building La Renommee from CAF. Both EXCELLENT models, detail superb! Followup with Tom at CAF is superb! Directions can be a bit challenging. Thanks, Paul
 
I get the kits offered by ZHL. I have built several and they have been as good as any kit offered by others. Good materials, good fitment of parts, hilarious translations of instructions to English. The decorations and carvings are the best offered by anyone. I can recommend ZHL as a source of kits from China.
 
I also have purchased e few kits from ZHL.
They are nice kits and decent quality as the Spanish and Italian counter part competition.
Currently build the POF version of the Bluenose. Other kits I have from the are a cross section kit and the Black Pearl (DeAgostini kit version) at under half the cost as the monthly subscription.
 
John Lyle said:
I have seen many POF kits from China that have come out. What sort of quality are they. I had a friend who purchased one of these kits and he did not have anything good to say about it. He referred to it as a "crap pirated kit" with bad fit and poor quality wood.
I have seen reviews of some of the kits which have mentioned some fit issues.
I want to try one of these kits but I am wary about putting my money down and ending up with a piece of garbage.
Could some of you tell me which of these companies are reputable?
Click to expand...
All of the POF kits I've seen from China are not offered by any other mainstream manufacturers, particularly European, as kits. So are they pirated? They may or may not have payed royalties to establishments such as the British National Maritime museum, but the NMM have commented about the fact that money is owed long before the Chinese hit the market. I daresay that mainland Europe establishments will say the same. There are more than likely plenty of producers who have no right to complain. Those who are fully paid up have a lot to moan about, but it can't all be directed towards China.
 
zoly99sask said:
Hi John

Can you tll us what ship was your friend was building?
Click to expand...
I would rather not as the kit is specific to one company and I would rather not get into any trouble with said company as my info on the quality is just second hand. If I had bought the kit and tried to build it and had issues then I would mention it. I would rather not spread rumours about any companies products. It was an early production of the kit. They may have fixed the issues by now for all I know.
 
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Thanks to everyone for your input. From the info people have given me I have looked at the Hayling Hoy by Model Dockyard as it looks quite simple and easy for my first POF kit, plus the price is right. I have David Antscherl's book on the model. Another I am looking at is the HMS Granado cross section by CAF. The price is right for that model as well.
I am in the process of building a 1/24 scale cross section of HMS Granado from scratch it is not 100% accurate when it comes to the shape of the frames but it looks good so far.
I am getting on in years and I am not sure I would have enough time to do a scratch built POF model so one of the kits looks like it may fit the bill.
I have included a photo of my scratch build of Granado, not quite done yet.

20210201_174410.jpg
 
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Judging by what you’ve done on Granado you should have no trouble with most Chinese kits. CAF seems to have a lot of positive reviews, especially their later offerings. I’m considering their Granado full hull. However, the quality of instructions with Chinese kits may not be as thorough and clear as those from Vanguard Models or Model Shipways. But, they don’t produce POF kits so you’re pretty much limited to Chinese if you want POF with few exceptions.
 
Realistically we cannot expect from the Chinese manufacturers to have an English written instruction manual ,by itself the knowledge of English language is not enough ,there are hell lot of nautical terminology too .
 
and when you have already scratch experience and understand in principle the ships structure with frames, beams etc -> no problem with not so detailed instructions -> never switch off the brain
 
John Lyle said:
I have seen many POF kits from China that have come out. What sort of quality are they. I had a friend who purchased one of these kits and he did not have anything good to say about it. He referred to it as a "crap pirated kit" with bad fit and poor quality wood.
I have seen reviews of some of the kits which have mentioned some fit issues.
I want to try one of these kits but I am wary about putting my money down and ending up with a piece of garbage.
Could some of you tell me which of these companies are reputable?
Click to expand...
This is a good one. Kit quality outdistances my meager building skills
drydockmodelsandparts.com

Hayling Hoy 1760 1:48 - PEARWOOD VERSION

Shipping is included in the total price!! Please allow 21 days to fulfill the order!! The product is shipped from China!! Dimensions Scale: 1:48 Length Overall: 675.5mm Height Overall: 653mm Width Overall: 341mm Width of Hull (only): 135mm Length of Hull (only): 488mm) Level: Intermediate to...
drydockmodelsandparts.com drydockmodelsandparts.com
 
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