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Ahoy Mates Please find my initial “out of box” review of Corel's Frigate Berlin. Please note that I am relatively new to this hobby and "easily impressed". I found the quality of the parts in this kit to be of a very high standard. The kit includes four sheets of single sided plans, an instruction manual, a vacuum formed plastic organizer of bits, another containing the gilded metal fashion pieces, canvas sail material and of course some wood. Also included was a very nice “coffee table style” book/catalog of Corel’s products and a small wooden bending jig. In the future, I will do a full inventory all of parts and post any issues or changes. The wood supplied in this kit was "gorgeous". There was no trace of any laser burn on any of the parts, bulkheads and keel parts were all precut, packaged in bags. The plywood bulkheads and hardwood keel items were impressive in their size and the thickness of the wood used; this is a big kit. The planking and other lengths supplied were clean, straight, and rich in color suggesting pieces were individually selected. There were very few dowels leading me to believe that I will be making masts from "scratch". The only disappointment so far in the kit supplied wood; the instructions suggest scribing planks for the deck. This leads me to believe I will be purchasing some additional wood for this kit. The long boat is a pre-carved “plug” style build and again; nicely done. The four sheets of plans or plates were crisp, highly detailed, and very informative; including images showing systematically how to complete some of the steps. The two dedicated to rigging were clean, well organized and gave the reader a very good understanding of the task. I cannot attest to the accuracy of these plans however. Although very well thought out and clear, there is no sheer plan, half breadth views, or planking layout on any of the included sheets. The plan notes are all in Italian too, and 'for me" will need to be translated. Overall I found the plans to be very good and of exceptional quality. The rigging plot is the best I have seen to date. I will use the word “included" to describe the instructions: They only convey an order to the build and not much more (It is listed as an advanced kit). On a plus, the index in the back of this book was very informative providing an excellent resource/appendix to the plans. Images and print quality were top notch. English translations were understandable and at times humorous. The bits were well packaged and again of a high quality. Quite a few are boxwood (Blocks, deadeyes and belaying pins), all are either hardwoods or metal (brass, copper, or the gilded metal). I found no Britannia or plastic except for the lantern glass. The photo etch was copper and much thicker then any I have seen before and well done. Five types of rope are included. In the minus column, the instructions state that the kit does not contain any blocks for the cannons. The cannons themselves are "gilded metal"; a milled piece of hardwood creates the carriages. The Gilded metal pieces are all nicely detailed. They are cast and quite heavy. I am uncertain of their make-up but can tell they will need to be securely mounted. I have a small reservation regarding how these parts will handle any tuning, changes, or touch ups. The construction of this kit will require some additional tools and skills for me to work the harder wood. Look for my build log sometime in 2014/15 here on MSW. Please feel free to post any questions you might have regarding this kit. I will do my best to answer them. For now I have re-sealed all the packages (less the plans and instructions) and stored the box in what I hope will be a safe location. I purchased this kit on sale from Model Expo (Presidents day sale). I feel I received much more then I paid for.
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