I didn’t see this release when it came out, but was just directed here to take a look.
In my opinion - at, say, a $500-$800 US$ price point - sure, okay. If a person were merely interested in a large ornament for their living room, and not too hung up on accuracy of form, scale or detail, then I would say “go for it!” It would be fun to assemble, and who doesn’t like the visual interest of “exposed framing.”
For what they’re asking though, it is criminal. There is no potential with this kit, to make the sort of post-market modifications as Nigel has with the AL kit. The reason for that is that the frame shapes are all wrong, to begin with.
I keep a file of screen shots of Nigel’s SR for inspiration because in correcting the scale length of the model, and very accurately correcting the wale and top sheer, he has transformed a very disappointing offering into a true scale model.
What AL at least bothered to do was create accurate bulkhead forms, and they put some real care and attention into designing accurate bow and stern ornamentation. Almost no manufacturer gets the sweep of the headrails, for example, correctly.
If you have the time, the talent and the resources to upgrade materials, you can build something truly representative of the epoch:
As an out-of-box endeavor, Altaya’s L’Ambiteaux builds into a fairly good representation of a French First Rate from the 1680’s. Again, though, with time, talent and resources, one can catapult this kit to the realm of a true scale model, as Marc Yeu is doing:
So, I would encourage people to pass hard on this Occre version. At that exorbitant price, there just isn’t any foundation, there, to turn it into something better than the sum of its parts.
