Where do I buy a wooden Kit from?

[iutar]

I don't understand why people recommend the outdated kits from Amati and Caldercraft, where they are outright garbage for a lot of money and where you have to invest a huge amount of effort and nerves. After all, in the UK there is an excellent manufacturer with modern high-tech models, high quality and copying. Look at the website, look at the models, accessories, watch YouTube videos on assembly. After that, you will never go anywhere near Amati or Caldercraft. And one more detail: the owner of the company, Chris Watton, is the developer of the best models of Amati, Caldercraft and Victory Models. This is his design and development. But now he does many times better, you can't even compare!

Vanguard Models – Wooden Ship Kits & Accessories

Explore high-quality wooden model ship kits, fittings, and accessories designed by Chris Watton. Perfect for beginners to experienced modellers. Shop online today.

vanguardmodels.co.uk

 

[Chelseafan]

The problem with Billings is the materials. The ply for the skeleton is truly apalling, the externals timber the cheapest. 40 years ago the choice was limited, other companies hit the market but Billings made no effort to upgarade to compete. How they've managed to survive must be first time kit buyers? My advice is 'not even with a barge pole'! The Caldercraft is generally considered a class apart. But NOT for a first build! If you MUST build a full rigged ship check out Vanguard, Amati Victory line, Modellers Shipyard. Many Chinese kits are very good quality. Other companies available at Cornwall include Corel, Mantua, Mamoli, OcCre, Dusek etc...all best avoided.
Caldercraft's Victory is also highly accurate. It's always an idea to check this. Their HMS Pickle is another vessel entirely! Ballahoo does not correspond with the NMM plans. The plans can be downloaded from the NMM website for free.
Expect to buy extras, cannons, good quality blocks, planking etc. These can make all the difference.
Probably most 'modellers tools' are useless money wasters, plank benders, nail pushers. There are many ways of bending planks...and pins and nails cause damage and are unnecessary. Mine are in the bin along with all the daft tools I bought!!!
Before you start learn the entire building process, Facebook can help but the advice can be limited by the experience or bad habits of the writer, SOS is a better option.
Fitting and squaring the skeleton, faring the bulkheads, tapering and fitting planks. Research these first.

Great post.....especially on the useless tools! I bought them all and nearly all were about as useful as chocolate frying pan!
Most went to the back of the tool chest never to see the light of day again.
And Utsav so true about pins for planks too. I'm not sure why those myths persist.

 

[Scheepshoorn]

Hello Daaveyboy,

Making a choice, one where the kit you choose should help you progress in our hobby, is different for everyone. I see that you've been involved in model building for quite some time and have already created various things. For that reason, I wouldn't necessarily classify you as a beginner. In practice, however, it's often your ambition that determines which kit you move on with.

I myself started around 40 years ago with a simple kit from Billings, the Nordkap. I was completely inexperienced, but I managed to turn it into a nice ship. I wanted more, so I bought the Smit Rotterdam from Billings. Once the hull was finished, it sat in a cabinet for over 30 years, during which I didn’t do any model building at all. When I retired, I bought another kit from Billings, the Elbjorn, to get back into the swing of things. After that, I finished the Smit Rotterdam.

For a long time, I believed that the Smit Rotterdam would be the limit of my model building abilities. That changed when I happened to come across a build log of the Victory. Although I felt this meant setting the bar even higher for myself, I immediately knew: “I want to do this too!”

I began researching the various brands that offer the Victory as a kit and quickly concluded that Caldercraft was the best choice. You pay more, but you also get a lot more. Especially the materials used are of superb quality, certainly when compared to Billings. And I must say, that makes things a lot easier, especially with a 1:74 scale.

That said, the Victory is by no means an easy ship to build, far from it! However, it is a ship for which there is a wealth of documentation, and you’ll need that. There’s also plenty of support available through the forum.

But when choosing a ship of this level of difficulty, I think there’s another important consideration: What do I want to achieve?
If you're looking for a new kit with quick results, then a simpler model is the way to go.
But if your challenge lies in the building process itself, and in the interest of constructing as historically accurate a model as possible, where time is not a factor, then the Victory is a magnificent challenge. It requires great care and a lot of patience to bring such a project to a successful conclusion.

When I started with the Victory three years ago, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. At the moment, I’ve just begun working on the rigging, and I hope to be completely finished in about two years. What I do know is that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it so far and still do. And I believe that’s the whole point of it all.

If you’d like to get into the mood a bit, take a look at my build log on SOS, where I’ve written down my experiences ( both mistakes and successes) on a topic-by-topic basis:
https://shipsofscale.com/sosforums/threads/hms-victory-of-caldercraft-by-wil.16072/

Best of luck with your choice!