Thats a massive build. Congratulations for buying it. 
Look forward to following your build. Good luck and have fun! Magic Mike
Tai is my dream ship kit, but wery expensive with tax in europe. Maybe in future I will have enough money to buy it. Bonhomme richard.
Very nice parts. Even the blocks look great!
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I kinda wish there were boxwood ones available, these seem alright but the boxwood parts that I'll show you in box 3 are amazing and I would like to match them. So I wish there was a box wood set of blocks for the kit as well. I know I can source them elsewhere, but this is just such a nice kit that it would have been great if everything was a one stop shop, so to speak.
If you don't mind me asking. Where did you purchase this kit and was the freight charge expensive ?
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I got it from the ZHL shop on AliExpress. The kit is the upgraded Swiss Pear one, and it includes the CNC milled boxwood decorations. It was $1480 plus tax. From what I understand it comes with some extras the cherry version doesn't. Anyway, shipping was $177.89 and it was fast as hell. I bought it on the 4th, it shipped from Hong Kong at 1AM my time on the 6th and was delivered at 5 pm on the 7th.
Great kit. What is your opinion about the supplied parts : blocks, metals and especially LINES ?
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I'm sorry, Luiz, I am not ignoring your question. I planned to answer when I have time to post the third box. However life, like always, can get in the way. For the most part I am impressed with the parts. The swiss pear parts are AMAZING. They feel so nice to the touch. The CNC boxwood carvings look awesome with an incredible amount of detail. More on those in the next box posting.
The blocks and tackle are nice, I think they are cherry. I plan to find boxwood ones to replace them but I don't plan to throw them out, they are still nice and can be used in other projects.
The lines are pretty good. I am not sure if they are synthetic or not, but they hold their twist and don't stretch at all.
I am unsure about the colors, though. The tan is a bit on the glossy and, I don't know how to say it, but shiny side. It is very nice thread, but I think it should be a bit duller, less reflective. Here it is compared to some rope I just made Gutermann Sew All, which is synthetic. Don't try to compare it to the quality of my rope, I suck so far, still learning. The quality of Unicorn's rope is far superior. That said, there has been some recent discussion about black rope on ship models, and I think I would prefer colors like Gutermann's 722 tan for running rigging and 696 dark walnut for standing rigging. Plus, I just bought a ropewalk and REEEEEAAAAALLLLLYYYY want to make some nice looking rope on my own, similar to Ohla Batchvarov's, Chuck @ Syren, and Ben @ Rope's of Scale.
There are also a few castings, like the fantail lamp. If you look REALLY close you can see they were made from 3D resin prints, but you really have to look close to tell. I am pretty happy with them. There is some PE, it seems run of the mill, which is to say it's nice, but we all know what PE looks like these days.
I promise, I have all the pictures for Box 3 ready, I just need some time to sort them and pick which ones I will use, then I'll get it posted ASAP. Kinda been burning the candle at both ends with work, researching the Bluenose, building and testing the ropewalk, and this. Fortunately I had today off for my b-day and next monday we have a holiday at work. So there has been some me time to focus on stuff, and I'll get a little more this weekend. toodles.
Good morning. That is an outstanding kit. The parts and wood look fine quality. Even the ropes seem to be usable. Looking forward to your build. Cheers Grant
Hi rtwpsom2
this looks like a very nice kit to me, the scale at 1:48 is great too. I am looking forward to a build log and will follow it.
this looks like a very nice kit to me, the scale at 1:48 is great too. I am looking forward to a build log and will follow it.
this ship model has already been built and a construction log has been created in this Internet page. I really liked that the was builder bought some additional cannons and installed them in all the openings
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I think this is one area where the upgraded swiss pear kit get's some of it's extras from. Bonhomme Richard is a 40 gun frigate and I received all 40 guns, I don't remember the exact type, but 12 of the small ones, 28 of the mid-sized ones, and 12 of the big ones. At least that's how I think they were ordered. I also got all three ship's boats, where I think the cherry one only has 1 boat. That along with the swiss pear pieces and the boxwood carvings are where this set has the advantage.
Kurt Konrath
Kurt Konrath
Try Dry-Dock Models & Parts for boxwood blocks and other items, they have great products and good cost.
The owner is a member of SoS and is a great help when you are not sure of things.
Dry-Dock Models & Parts
Dry - Dock Models & Parts is providing high quality ship model fittings and parts
www.drydockmodelsandparts.com
The kit looks nice. I have been told that ZHL copies kits and that they are cheaply put together kits? I do not have any personal dealing with them so I am only going off what I have read and been told. Is the kit a good grade? I will be following your build to find out. I sure hope shes a good kit.