ZHL kits

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MOST forums consider the ZHL kits to be pure trash, pure garbage. Things "honest and reputable dealers" REFUSE to deal with.

The thing that has me baffled is that the ZHL kits seem to be considered decent to good and comparable to what European companies are producing these days, going across the whole price range.

Sure some of the ZHL models, in the factory photos, have serious flaws in them. Some of them in scale, some of them having two versions of the same things with huge price and quality gaps, Royal Caroline for instance, but the effort of a good many of their kits is quite nice I think from photos.

A lot of their models have all the wood carvings done for you. A lot of the deck furniture is laser cut and provided to you "lego style" smack together and paint. Their Nina, Pinta, Santa Maria have correctly styled cannon.

But I do see some issues in th equality of some things. Some kit photos show castings to be oversized, and in a good number various castings seem to be made from lead/zinc.

SO can anyone really provide GOOD input on them?
 
Hello “pocketshaver”, welcome to the forum.As far as I seen from Zhl on this forum, their kits are on a different level compare to most of the European kit mfgs but the members who build their kits are going to give you better insights.Just look at the build logs, just amazing.

Zoltan
 
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It depends on what particular model to are referring too. Some of the basic inexpensive kits are not something I would purchase myself, but at the other end of the spectrum, the high quality expensive kits are the best in the business.
 
I have been trying to get some opinions on them, this is the first forum I found them actually talked about. I TRIED creating a thread on a different modeling forum, but it got shut down because "no self respecting, honest company will sell these kits" and they didn't want to "dirty themselves" by giving ZHL any thread space.

I did notice something about a few of their models. The low cost 20" or less ones. Their little 20$ Holland yacht is 90% similar to some random plans I found online for a dutch yacht. To the point that they use the same basic paint scheme and dimensions, and I could swap the rigging out for the online plans for the kit.
IT actually is a cute little kit that has possibility.

I have seen the standard reasoning that a bit of their kits are copies of European companies, but the funny part is, on a different model sight one of the more accomplished staffers who does scratch built fun, featured a model of the Royal Caroline with the same identical dimensions, and internal cabin flooring, furniture, and decorations as the 1600$ KHL kit.

A
 
http://www.woodmodelboatbuilder.com...ducts_id=217&zenid=oum1viognou4linmho0a9d7hr7
Kind of thinking this would be a fun one to start with, I really wish I had purchased the Mamoli yachts when mamoli existed..

I do notice that in general there blocks and deadeyes are far far more closer to accuracy then when everyone else sells, so its a good mystery there.

http://www.woodmodelboatbuilder.com...oducts_id=29&zenid=oum1viognou4linmho0a9d7hr7

would anyone rank the KHL kits by "worth of getting" or possibly by ease of building for a person whose only wooden kit was a bad attempt at a mantua race horse?
 
$20 kit/I would not buy that from any manufacturer,as Brian said earlier he would not buy the cheap Zhl kits and also I have not seen anybody build one here on the forum>
 
hi Pocketshaver,
we are happy to help with advice if you are genuinely enquiring about the kits, but we have had many stooges from that other forum just wanting to stir up trouble, so please forgive us if we are a little sceptical with your questions.
 
As for the block sizes and deadeyes ,no kit mfgs providing the right izes,most of them oversized and crapy lts not talk about the rigging lines.
 
Well said, Brian.
I myself haven't build any ZHL kit and probably won't either. My reason is simple: I like to make the carvings myself so for me there is no advantage in a kit which supplies good quality carvings. I probably have to negotiate with Max one day whether he can sell me a kit without the carvings.
Having said that my opinion of the ZHL kits is very good on the basis whatever i have seen in other people's builds. And one important argument: I have never seen any serious negative comment on ZHL kits as yet from people WHO BUILD THEM. Negative comments came only from ones who have opposing, 'politically correct' views about the Chinese kits in general. Of course there are problems with every kit but I think at the moment there is a 10 year gap in favour of some ZHL kits opposed to any American or European kit.
Janos
 
BIllings kits seem to sell well, and the majority of them is supposedly made in china now..

I am interested in the ZHL kits because of the photos I saw in the mayflower build log here. I have never seen a plank on frame kit like that offered commercially. Personally the fact they have the pre carved decorations is a good point for them. I have no ability to do the carving myself, and premade wood decorations are extremely expensive in their own right.
Commercially available ones are premade for very specific kits from very specific companies, and as a result are extremely expensive. Sometimes a person who cant do the carving on their own doesn't want to spend 2-300 for the factory carvings. So a 2-300 dollar kit that has those included is something special for a person.

I started my wooden kit life with a Mantua Race Horse. Very screwy kit with non existent instructions. If I remember correctly, I was supposed to rig the masts BEFORE I planked the hull. And the only thing I had to go buy was the plans, which did not match the box photos.
Over all it was a bad experience that never got past the first planking layer due to issues with it.
Then I just go discouraged and played with left over kit wood and did some random scratch built toys basically.

The Dusek kits are very nices, excellent instructions.

I am trying to get a currently offered kit from a company that is still able to be contacted if kit issues arise. The mamoli kits were good, the Gretel and Hunter kept the idea of getting a ship kit going for several years, but as there is no customer support its somewhat worse then a ZHL kit.
 
Having built 19 kits from various manufacturers including two from Billings, I would say that Billings in my opinion has the worst quality parts and fittings from my experience. Quite often the tackle blocks and deadeyes are plastic instead of wood, the ships boat is always plastic and most of the cast decorations are plastic. Their cannons are generic and not accurate.Most of the deck structures and cannon carriages are made out of cheap plywood instead of solid timber.

I could go on and on about it, but I do sincerely wish for this company to prosper and improve in the future, rather than close down.
 
a few words about kits from someone who designs and produces kits.

it is very difficult to rate kits which ones are good and which ones are bad. Much of kit building rest with the skills of the builder, I have seen some very nice models built from inexpensive kits. a kit is just the starting point it depends how much you want to bash the kit. If the castings for the carvings are poor then what I would do is get some clay that you bake and push the carving into the soft clay then bake it, now you have a negative press mold. Get a piece of clay and press it in the mold you now can reshape or sculpt in finer and better detail. As far as finish I have seen clay pieces you would swear is a piece of old ivory or wood.
All commercial produced kits are all built to the basic acceptable standards. so differences between kits comes down to small details.

one reason you see different manufactures producing the same ship is because they are the proven sellers. These are ships the general public are familiar the "Bounty" how can all these different companies all make the same ship? Well they don't they produce their version. It works like this builder A goes to the Smithsonian and traces the original plans and builds a model, builder 2 traces builder 1s plans and creates his version of the ship, kit maker 1 uses the original, builders 1 and 2 as references and comes up with a kit,

I make a kit and over the years sold 100s of them. Once in a while people send me pictures of their finished model. some are works of art. Then once in a while I get one returned with comments they can not possibly build from the supplied material. The milled wood of .007 thousandths of an inch to big and the wood has scratches on it. The laser cutting is .006 thousandths off over 18 inches.

I can tell you kit from company X is the best kit I ever saw and someone else will tell you it is the worst thing they ever saw.

someone says he had a great time building the kit and it was enjoyable and easy. What you don't know is this is his 9th kit and before that he was into model railroads, a wood worker, and skilled craftsman. That very same kit an intermediate builder would struggle with because he built 2 ships and had zero sills in modeling building and craftsmanship.

are ZHL kits good kits? I never saw one but I hear they are quite good
I would not be all that concerned about the kit as much as picking a subject that interest you. Being interested in the subject really helps you to stick with it when you run into problems.
 
To date I have purchased only one of those kits. I started a build log here at S.O.S. after I had completed the planking. That was the only reason I bought the kit in the first place, to get some much needed practice with planking a hull. Those under $20 kits are severely lacking in supplying the materials needed to completely build a model ship. Mine didn't even contain enough planking material. I'm sure the higher end ZHL kits are much better and more complete in what is provided.

This is a message of caution to those of you who maintain a membership with other forums that do not have the same policy as SOS. After I had already purchased an unbranded wooden ship kit on ebay I discovered that another forum had imposed a ban on posting about model kits from manufacturers they claim have pirated the information used to make the kit.

The response was that the kit I bought, while not a pirated kit itself, was from a manufacturer they claim has pirated plans and kits from other makers. So I made no further mention of the kit.

I had scanned over their statements regarding their position on pirated manufacturers and what action they would take against anyone making reference to such manufacturers or their kits but I had failed to read that if they discovered posts by one of their members on a different forum the same action would be taken.

Well a couple of weeks ago I started a build log about that unbranded kit showing the progress I had made on planking the hull.
The only reason I had bought that kit was to get some experience with hull planking before moving on to a much more expensive kit like the Model Shipways Pride of Baltimore II. No more than just a few hours later I found I had been banned with no explanation.

When I inquired to the admin I was told it had been reported to them that I was in possession of a banned kit and had started a build log for said kit here in S.O.S.
I also discovered that ALL of my posts in had been deleted. At first I protested but my protests fell on dead ears and now, even if they were to remove my ban I would no longer participate in their forum. I don't necessarily disagree with their opinion about pirating kits but I do disagree with their actions against those who buy the kits. I bought my kit for one reason, it's price. Had there been a similar kit for under $20 from one of their approved manufacturers I would have purchased it.
I also think it is wrong for them to lurk around in other forums so they can take action against members who post in other forums about banned kits in their forum. This is all I will say on this subject. I think this is taking things too far, controlling, and upsetting the good spirit of the hobby.
 
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pocketshaver,
here is the best advice I can give you like anyone else that has been building for a long time.

Build what you like, and like what you build !

The world of model ship building will continue to evolve. New companies will come on the scene, while some stay just like they are, or maybe don't last. In the long run, it doesn't matter. Chose a model that you like, and build it, and create a build log of it here.
 
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