Kit review USS BONHOMME RICHARD - Full rib Cross Section (Pear version) - Scale 1:48 - Unicorn models

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I got a nice surprise when the kits arrived, as you can see the wood is nice and clear, it looks almost like the Pear
wood version,

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Now this is where the main difference between the pear and cherry versions differ, the wood for planking has a
fleck in it and looks like beech wood, so I ordered some extra wood in Pear and Cherry for the planking, see pic below,


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These are pics of how the kit looks if built from the box, without the upgrades, this is supposed to be the Cherry
version, you can clearly see the difference in this wood and the wood I received, I am wondering if they packed
the wrong wood, not that I'm complaining,


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another couple of views,


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even with out the upgrades and with the wood shown it still makes a beautiful kit,

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Uwek said:
Good question, but too early to answer now in detail. Will clarify this during the work on the section
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donfarr said:
UWE, BEAUTIFUL KIT, ONE QUICK QUESTION HOW DO YOU NFINISH THE FRAMES IF YOU WERE TO USE OIL AND LEFT MORE OF THE PLANKING OFF, BEFORE OR AFTER INSTALLATION IF AFTER HOW DO YOU GET THE OIL BETWEEN THE FRAMES WITH SUCH SMALL SPACING. THANKS Don
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Once the frames are assembled and the fore and aft surfaces sanded, those surfaces will not be sanded or faired again, so apply the finish to those areas before mounting the frames on the keel. Then they’re is no need to try to get finish “in between “ the tightly spaced frames. The inboard and outboard frame surfaces can still be faired smooth and then finished without disturbing the finish “between “ the frames.
 
Looks like another nice kit from ZHL. A couple of comments I would like to point out from a strictly engineering point of view:

- The laser char is a bit heavy. Typical of industrial size lasers producing volume versus quality parts. No masking on either side.
- The tabs on the laser cut parts are far too big by modern standards, especially on the thicker billets. If vector cut correctly, laser cut parts should need no tabs.
- The carvings are actually a combination of CNC, laser etching, and laser cutting.
- Regarding the single-sided CNC machining. This was probably an economic decision. I have been doing two-sided machining on my Shopbot for about 6 months now.
- All of the materials look great with the exception of the rigging line. Looks substandard compared to the rest.

It seems China and Russia are definitely out pacing most other makers with innovation, quality and engineering. Unfortunately, high volume manufacturers
will never be able to fully take advantage of current state of the art technology primarily due to the amount of time required to produce such results. However,
for most modelers, these new kits are fantastic. I expect you will continue to see this trend. Onward shipmates!!!
 
mrshanks said:
It seems China and Russia are definitely out pacing most other makers with innovation, quality and engineering. Unfortunately, high volume manufacturers
will never be able to fully take advantage of current state of the art technology primarily due to the amount of time required to produce such results. However,
for most modelers, these new kits are fantastic. I expect you will continue to see this trend. Onward shipmates!!!
Click to expand...

I agreed to bad for me that my buying kits time is finish because they do have nice model now
 
mrshanks said:
Unfortunately, high volume manufacturers
will never be able to fully take advantage of current state of the art technology primarily due to the amount of time required to produce such results. However,
for most modelers, these new kits are fantastic. I expect you will continue to see this trend. Onward shipmates!!!
Click to expand...
Aren't challenges a part of our great hobby? Manufactures will not come close to producing state of the art kits. This is not their goal. They want a profit in the first place, they will make production as much cheap as they can, just to make kit profitable enough. But I have to agree with you, for the most part (especially novice) those kists are great resources to start with, and for the rest of us - it is a bashing (the way we want!!!) Once you bash 80% of the kit, it is time for scratch build! :p
 
I agree Jim, and even if you are at the scratch building stage of modelling these kits are still a great project, you can see from the three photo's that Uwe posted at the start of his review that the builder has done a marvelous job of enhancing the kit, I have downloaded the pics from the net and I am in the process of going through them to determine how they have enhanced it so well, for starters I believe they have widened the top rail and also done a lot of work on the scroll work etc, if mine comes out anything like this one I will be really pleased, everyone enjoy your modelling,

best regards John,
 
Hallo friends,
I started a building log of the section model - so if you are interested, please have a look here:

USS BONHOMME RICHARD - POF - Cross Section in Pear - 1:48 - by Uwe

Yesterday I started the first activities on my section model - in order to warm up At the end it should look like this a kit review you can find here...
shipsofscale.com
 
The talk about "upgrades", what exactly do you mean? Are you just substituting the supplied timber with hardwoods or is there an actual upgrade kit with all that's needed?
 
TKAM said:
The talk about "upgrades", what exactly do you mean? Are you just substituting the supplied timber with hardwoods or is there an actual upgrade kit with all that's needed?
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You can order the basic kit in different kind of timber Pear or Cherry (and I think in China also a lower quality timber)
you can order in addition the upgrades:
1) Inside Structure in Cherry or Pear
The internal structure Contains 3 main interior cabins：
  • A pump well (NO 19)
  • two cabins on both sides of the living deck ( NO 20)
  • a bread oven on cannon deck (NO 21)
And also included other part to increase the detail :
  • Fence （NO 23）
  • Barrel kit ( NO 24) ( 24 big barrel , 24 small barrel)
2) Handrail Upgrade with 3D-cnc carved boxwood rail

Search - bonhomme

www.zhlmodel.com www.zhlmodel.com
 
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