Poor kit from Model Shipways

[Bill Gray]

I have a fare amount of experience having built 3 Bluenoses, 2 Bounties, I Pegasus and a Constitution. All have been 1:64 scale. I purchased a Charles W. Morgan MS2140 kit from Model Shipways a little over 1 year ago. I am still working on it but I am very frustrated with the overall quality. The plans and the material provided do not always match up. The threads for rigging often don't match what is suggested in the plans. There are several more sizes noted on the plans but thread is not provided to match. Thereal kicker is the rudder hinges (pintles and gudgeons) are not provided and the suggestion is to "create pintles and gudgeons from paper or Brass sheet". This is the first kit that these were not provided. As I had the required items to make them I did so. Next time I will order them online if they are not provided as making them is very time consuming. I have to say they attempted to make the deck structures authentic which was good but there are so many you have to be very exact in their size as room on deck becomes a problem if the sizes very even slightly. I am at the rigging stage so I will "muster on" and finish. As you have gathered by now this is not a model I would recommend.

 

[Jack Sparrow]

I have a fare amount of experience having built 3 Bluenoses, 2 Bounties, I Pegasus and a Constitution. All have been 1:64 scale. I purchased a Charles W. Morgan MS2140 kit from Model Shipways a little over 1 year ago. I am still working on it but I am very frustrated with the overall quality. The plans and the material provided do not always match up. The threads for rigging often don't match what is suggested in the plans. There are several more sizes noted on the plans but thread is not provided to match. Thereal kicker is the rudder hinges (pintles and gudgeons) are not provided and the suggestion is to "create pintles and gudgeons from paper or Brass sheet". This is the first kit that these were not provided. As I had the required items to make them I did so. Next time I will order them online if they are not provided as making them is very time consuming. I have to say they attempted to make the deck structures authentic which was good but there are so many you have to be very exact in their size as room on deck becomes a problem if the sizes very even slightly. I am at the rigging stage so I will "muster on" and finish. As you have gathered by now this is not a model I would recommend.

did you try the MS Constitution kit? I am working on it and I agree with some of the things you say. But, it is said that it is an advanced level kit. There is a lot of building. I think that if you make a request to Model Expo for some missing stuff they will help you out. THat's what I did.

 

[Bill Gray]

did you try the MS Constitution kit? I am working on it and I agree with some of the things you say. But, it is said that it is an advanced level kit. There is a lot of building. I think that if you make a request to Model Expo for some missing stuff they will help you out. THat's what I did.

Thanks for the response Jack. The Constitution I did was the MS kit. It took me awhile to build but it turned out great. Not the easiest build. Can't say I can remember any real problems except the copper plating strips were not enough. I had to order more from China through Walmart. The problem was there might have been enough plating tape but it was not easy to handle and I lost some due to the tape sticking to itself. Ordered through Walmart the copper tape was cheap - about $10 a roll if I remember correctly. And it arrived in 3 days! I never thought about contacting MS about extra thread. I was going to order some from their online catalogue. Their price sale price was $7.99 but the shipping cost was around $30 I believe. Everyone seems to use FedEx or some other carrier rather than US mail for small items! So I decided I will try some local sewing/fabric store to see if they have anything that will do. I have lots of beige thread from other builds so I might try to stain it black but it is polyester, not cotton, so it probably won't dye.

 

[Rob444]

These may be of use to you.

Brass Rudder Hinges (5-6mm, AM4370/06) - Ages of Sail

AM4370/06 5 to 6mm Sold Individually

www.agesofsail.com

Rob

 

[Jack Sparrow]

Thanks for the response Jack. The Constitution I did was the MS kit. It took me awhile to build but it turned out great. Not the easiest build. Can't say I can remember any real problems except the copper plating strips were not enough. I had to order more from China through Walmart. The problem was there might have been enough plating tape but it was not easy to handle and I lost some due to the tape sticking to itself. Ordered through Walmart the copper tape was cheap - about $10 a roll if I remember correctly. And it arrived in 3 days! I never thought about contacting MS about extra thread. I was going to order some from their online catalogue. Their price sale price was $7.99 but the shipping cost was around $30 I believe. Everyone seems to use FedEx or some other carrier rather than US mail for small items! So I decided I will try some local sewing/fabric store to see if they have anything that will do. I have lots of beige thread from other builds so I might try to stain it black but it is polyester, not cotton, so it probably won't dye.

yeah i had a whole bunch of thread that was missing so I made a list and contacted Model Expo and they helped me out.
The shipping costs are insane. I don't order anymore because of that

 

[Jack Sparrow]

I 3D printed my gudgeons and pintles then painted them