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Where to buy

Patrick

Patrick

Joined
Mar 4, 2018
Messages
174
Points
113

Location
Charlotte North Carolina
I have been shopping around looking for my next build. I see some on eBay, amazon and online stores but I really can’t get a feel for how good the quality is from the post. I was wondering if you experienced builders would share your information on where you buy your kits from ? I am currently working on the Virginia 1819 and it says on the box that it is 1:41 scale. It appears that the main part of the ship is going to be about 16 inches in length. I would like something a bit bigger in scale for my next build that my old eyes could work with better. Although I am enjoying this build. Thanks for any advice you wish to provide.
 
The black pearl and also the San Francisco have a scale of 1:90......so everything is very small....the rigging will be not so easy with very small blocks.....

It is not so easy to find good models in bigger scale.
What do you think about a gun boat?
A very good quality with good instructions is f.e. the HM Gunboat William 1795 from company Jotika / Caldercraft. Double planked on bulkhead, one mast so reduced rigging and most important a scale of 1:32.
You can find some prototype construction photos on their website......
www.jotika-ltd.com
 
G'day Patrick
I was looking for a nice kit to buy last year and when I saw John's (Neptune) version of the Royal Caroline from ZHL, I knew I have to get it.
This kit is only for advance builders because it still quite difficult. ZHL has many other kits available and what I can see from their web site, the quality are in most of them.
You can look around and choose what you want and the website is
http://www.woodmodelboatbuilder.com
The price versus quality is a lot better than any other kits manufacturers that I have seen.
I will be buying my next kit and the ones after etc. from them in the future.
Havagooday and happysearching my friend
Greg
 
Yep, the larger kits to have an advantage in the fact that everything for one thing is scaled up more for more realism. You have a lot more area to work with -- etc.
I have found that the smaller scale kits in some ways are really much harder to build. As far as online goes, my personal opinion is to stay clear of eBay. A lot of kits have been scavenged and then put there to sale.
I have had so many people in the years past very disheartened that plans and instruction manuals were missing from a kit they bought on eBay (yes, it was very low cost compared). I could not help these people - I wanted to and tried, but no plans I could find for them. It is not worth it to take a chance. Now the china kits I think are selling on eBay - BUT, someone else that has bought from china kit manufacturing might want to ring in as well.
I will be buying my next box from China. So, I am in the same situation -- not knowing where to buy.
 
Peglegreg said:
G'day Patrick
I was looking for a nice kit to buy last year and when I saw John's (Neptune) version of the Royal Caroline from ZHL, I knew I have to get it.
This kit is only for advance builders because it still quite difficult. ZHL has many other kits available and what I can see from their web site, the quality are in most of them.
You can look around and choose what you want and the website is
http://www.woodmodelboatbuilder.com
The price versus quality is a lot better than any other kits manufacturers that I have seen.
I will be buying my next kit and the ones after etc. from them in the future.
Havagooday and happysearching my friend
Greg
Click to expand...
Great! I will check them out!
 
Peglegreg said:
G'day Patrick
I was looking for a nice kit to buy last year and when I saw John's (Neptune) version of the Royal Caroline from ZHL, I knew I have to get it.
This kit is only for advance builders because it still quite difficult. ZHL has many other kits available and what I can see from their web site, the quality are in most of them.
You can look around and choose what you want and the website is
http://www.woodmodelboatbuilder.com
The price versus quality is a lot better than any other kits manufacturers that I have seen.
I will be buying my next kit and the ones after etc. from them in the future.
Havagooday and happysearching my friend
Greg
Click to expand...
I just checked out the web site. They have a lot to offer but my concern would be shipping from Hong Kong to here in North Carolina. Orders are done by email which is a bit strange to me but does allow you to say no if shipping is a bit much. I also checked out the Royal Caroline! It will be a while before I tackle one like that. I am currently looking at the Hermione La Fayette in 1/89 scale from Artesania Latina. It looks plenty complicated enough for me.
 
The link Greg mentioned in post No 6 is the company ZHL of Max, he is a very reliable and correct Dealer. You can find his name on several locations in this forum.
ADC and myself bought via mail from him the kits of the Le Salamandre, Brian bought from him his HMS Enterprise, and I am sure several others have also a very good experience. Safety and well packed, very fast postage and also good service if needed. Highly recommended Chinese dealer.
I am not saying in principle, that Chinese kits are better than others, some are (i think) also not value for money, but some are realy great. Maybe not all good for newbies, due to the fact that instructions are very limited......but great quality in wood and the design......
 
HI Patrick, just a word of caution re AL kits, They are based on a price model, but the instructions are very average. If your experienced its okay, as you can worj out he missing process. Also the rigging plans are very poor and require Lenth Petersons rigging books.

The Jotika kits are excellent and very detailed. Any of the newer kits are great. You should be able to get the Jotika / Caldercraft kits in the US easiliy. They rate them from beginner to advanced. Most are 1.64 scale. The instructions are in english and are not translated. This scale is a lot of detail for its size. finished kits are normally around 800 x 400 x 900 in size which is a big kit. There are aslo a lot of build logs for them. Whilst not as cheap as AL, the kits contain very detailed and accurate plans.
 
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