Rigging Line

Joined
Aug 21, 2011
Messages
106
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38

Location
Phoenix, AZ
Hi All,
Does anyone know where a good place to get Mantua rigging line here in the US besides Ages Of Sail? I will not deal with them any longer. We all know that you never get enough rigging line in a kit anyway, and if you are trying to do some additional rigging that is not stated on the kits rigging plans you definately dont have enough.

Thanks,
Joe
 
I think the best rigging line is Amati and Ages of Sail is the exclusive US distributor. I know the owner and have been to his store a coupe of times. If you send me a personal email stating your problem, I will contact him and see if we can solve your problem.
 
Thanks Gary, but there are alot of other suppliers in the US that I can deal with. Appreciate you wanting to help. I would like to find Mantua rigging line only because it will match what I am already using.
Joe
 
Gary, Ages of sale is not the exclusive dealer of Amati rigging line at all. There is another company on line here in the US that is selling it as well with a larger verity of sizes. If he is telling you that he is the exclusive dealership, then he is selling you a bill of goods. But thanks again for wanting to help. I will be contacting Ages of Sale in a bit by email canceling my last order.
Joe
 
Yes, there are others but they are selling kits and things that they have and when they want another one, they have to get it from him. I have been there and seen his stock and he carries at least two of each of their models. If you need replacement parts for these or Mantua, you have no choice. I have got many replacement parts for my Soleil Royal from him throughout my build and am getting updated wood part for the old version of Soverign of the Seas before I begin it. They made several update to this kit in 2006 and mine was made in 1974. Mantua as you know is very slow and that is why Model Expo gave up on them because they take so long to send the parts. Mantua will only send the parts when they run a batch of kits for a particular kit. They cycle based on demand and set up production runs about 3 times a year. Thus, if you need a replacement part, you better order it well ahead since it might take several months to get the item. This frustrates Roger and he has even threatened to stop buying from them, but realizes that nobody currently makes the the advance models that make Mantua does.
 
OK I guess that I should make clear my differences with Ages of Sail. This goes back to January when I bought the Sovereign of the Seas from Ages Of Sail. When I received the carton, there were some additional brass parts in the carton as well as some blocks (I think) and some other things. I thought nothing of it, I have had kits that shipped under seperate cover before. A day or so after receiving my shipment, Roger, owner of Ages of Sail, called asking if I had received anything extra. Being the honest person that I am of course I said that I had. He explained that they were for another customer and that his supplier was trying to save shipping chargesby putting everything in one carton. His shipping staff just re addressed it and sent it my way. I told Roger that the parts would be express mail first thing in the morning, which it was. In return he asked me if there was anything thig that I needed for my time. I said that either the paint kit for the Sovereign or if that was a very costly item then just the royal blue would work for me. His answer was no problem he would wend it right out. Well that never happened, he never sent anything and quite honestly I really didn't think that he would.

Well time goes on and I placed an order for rigging line from Ages of Sail. They sent me an email saying that the "order was complete" and a tracking number. When I received the package it was one roll shy (of course it was the roll that I needed most). I called the store and the answer that I get is "the sales staff is busy now give me your name and number and I will have someone call you" I waited TWO days and no call. I called back again and received the same responce "give name and number and someone will call you" still no call. I called back a third time after getting the same responce I said no way I want to talk to someone. I finally get some kid and he said that they were on back order. I hit the roof. Why send out a complete order notice when it is on back order. I waited about 3 or 4 weeks and never heard from them again.

I send them an email the other day and told them to forget the back order and to keep my order when it came in I got my supplies from another dealer and that I would never do business with them again. I am thinking ov buying the Amerigo Vespucci, an $1100 kit by the way. So he lost that sale over a $5 roll of string.

That day I received a call from Roger explaining that he has grown so big that he has had to hire many new people. He thanked me for bringing all of this to his attention because he is worried if this happened once, has it happened to may other customers.

He did do the right thing and refunded all the money I spent on the the origional rigging order. He also asked me if there was anything else that I needed that he wanted to do something else for me. He is sending 2 kits of period sailors in the scale of the Sovereing. So he did do the right thing as a business owner. I was glad to see him step up to the plate.

I asked him if belonged to any of the model ship forums, and he said no. I invited him to join SOS saying that it would be a good idea to see what is actually going on in the hobby. He can see what modlers are saying is a good product, a bad product and where improvement in product lines as well as what products distribuiters ccarry more of.

Donnie I hope that I did not step out of line there, but maybe SOS can beniffit from that also.

Anyway that is my take or woe.

Joe
 
How interesting. I was the one that the parts you got were for. Being that the bay area is a very costly place to live, he has had a lot of trouble hiring staff to work for him. Only kids that are willing to work and do not want to flip burgers seem to be who he can hire. No one else seems to answer his ads and he has to play nursemaid for them. I do not envy him and he tries to oversea everything they do. He is a good person and really cares about this hobby. He opened the store because he realized that, being a modeler, the most frustrating thing about this hobby is trying to getting parts. He does not want to see the hobby die because of this type of frustration.
Some of his frustration is with the companies like Mantua. To be able to carry Amati, he had to agree to have all their products and parts on hand so his first order included everything in their catalog. He had wood that he will probably never be able to move and lots of cast items that will probably just take up space for years. Since Model Expo gave up on Mantua and most of my models are from them, if it were not for Roger, I would not have been able to get my Soleil Royal completed. If you have read on the other forums, Mantua will not deal with individual people and fill their parts request. Since I talk to Roger a lot, almost weekly, I understand why Mantua operates this way. They seem to face the same employee problems he has to deal with since Mantua hires seasonally based upon needing help when they do their retooling set up a few times a year.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
 
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