loupy45

Hello Alain, welcome ! You live in a lovely picturesque place. I like your model. Salut! Renato

Welcome Frank, congratulation on your beautiful boat. Regards, Renato

Ola Angel, congratulation, well done. Regards, Renato

Hello from Cape town and welcome to the forum, I wish you good luck with your reallocation.

Welcome to MSW. Frank Mastini's " Ship Modelling simplified" is an very good book. This book is invaluable to kit builders. Good luck. Renato

Ola Angel , I am building the AL 74 guns San Juan Nepomuceno. The SJN 's life boat that you are building is very good. Regards, Renato

Welcome on board from the Southern Banana republic

Hello Angel , welcome to MSW. As well I am busy building the AL "San Juan Nepumuceno maybe we can share some ideas? Good luck.

Welcome Shane , you will find MSW absolutely amazing!

Hello Herb, welcome from down South.

Welcome, to To MSW : patience, perseverance, innovation, and determination. All the best. Renato

Hi Don, Thank you for point out the sails issue. I see you have purchase and build excellent quality kits. I bet that the AL Mayflower was made in Spain?

Hi Paul, Thanks for your concern I still find it difficult to work around the ship I am missing her presence.

Hi Don, Thank you for point out the sails issue. I see you have purchase and build excellent quality kits. I bet that the AL Mayflower was made in Spain? Hi Robert , Thanks. Was your kit made in Spain?

OK let me know. I will be away fro 3 weeks.

Two years ago I purchased my second kit from AL. The first kit (HMS Endeavour) was made in Spain and the quality was OK. The second kit (San Juan Nepomuceno) is made in China. The quality is horrendous!! Starting from the packaging right through the whole kit. Warped wood, warped false keel, plywood chipping off and full of holes, chain and nails are not made of brass, bent anchors, keel assembly made in plywood, cannons bores off center, sails not made according to the drawing measurements. More over I discovered that the top and bottom capstans parts were glued off center. As I am on the 22 second months of building I am not sure what else I will encounter. My advice to all modellers is to stay away from the AL Elite Series as it is definitely not elite! I live in Cape Town South Africa and I purchased the kit in Spain. AL replaced some wood but it took 4 to 8 weeks to arrive, the keel assembly was sent twice as first one arrived broken. Sourcing parts for ship modellers in this country is like looking for water in the desert! The local distributor is very good but parts are limited he does not stock wood. The wooden parts of the SJN are supplied in various shades of walnut therefore one needs to keep the same consistency. To repair the plywood I had to use glue mixed with saw dust. The main mast is 10mm thick in dark walnut, I tried everything, steam, boiling water, then placed it in a vise with an aluminum angle and left it for a week, to no avail it would NOT come straight, it just bounced back. Eventually I received the mast from AL after 3 months. In February this year I "abandoned ship" as my loving supervisor and companion Smokey (my cat) passed on and I am still suffering her loss. It is a shame that the quality of AL has deteriorated so much. For a modeller to put so much effort on a mediocre supplied kit is a waste of time and money. Anyway i didn't give up. I am attaching photos and my current progress so far. Regards, Renato

Hello and welcome on board. I live in Durbanville ( Cape Town) as well and i understand the frustrations in trying to source anything in South Africa for the ship modeller. My first model was the HMS Endeavour and now i am building the San Juan Nepomuceno both from AL. The quality of AL sucks!!!! Specially the Elite Series made in Hong Kong. Lots of patience,lots of perseverance, and lots of swearing will get you there eventually. Let me know if you wish to contact me. Cheers, Renato

Welcome on board Bob, Good luck with your model. In my experience the AL's kits that are made in Hong Kong are a disaster the so called Elite Series. The kits made in Spain are of much better quality. Renato

Hi Richard, welcome on board. As per Vince comment it will be a great tribute to your late brother.

Hello Paul, greetings from sunny Cape Town South Africa. I too am new to this forum and a newbie at model ship building. So far I have built the Endeavour and currently I am busy with the San Juan Nepomuceno. Both are from Artisana Latina. I would be glad to assist whenever I can, and good luck with the Amerigo Vespucci. I made my navy apprenticeship on the AM many moons ago. Renato

HI Gerry, I would be grateful if would check the thickness of the cannons frames of your AL SJN. Is it 1,5 mm or 2.0 mm thick? My model has a 1,5 mm thickness cannon frame too small if i want to add the cannon's harnesses. My previous model AL kit the HMS Endeavour the cannons frames were supplied with 2 mm thickness. Al has already replaced my SJN complete rudder assembly as it was supplied in 4 mm plywood in stead of 7 mm walnut. The quality made in Spain was much better. Kind regards, Renato

Hi Gerry, I have just started building the SJ Nepumuceno. I purchased the kit in Barcelona during my holiday from a shop called Casa Palau. The Artisania Latina kits in South Africa are very expensive hence the reason of purchasing the kit in Spain. However the AT kits are somewhat mediocre and very challenging in trying to make something decent out of it.. This is my second kit from AT the first one the HMS Endeavour was a present from my wife fro my 60th birthday. It took me 5 South African winters to finish the kit. I never have build one before and since then I have been "bitten". When I unpacked the kit to my disappointment I find that it was only 4 mm thick instead than 6 mm. The kits from AT are now made in China. I had to reinforce the middle section of the bulkheads as they were all twisted. Further they made some modifications from the previous kits for the fore and the stern and the ship but kept the old instructions and this can be confusing. Therefore my advice is for you to toss out the AT instructions and refer to the drawings and pictures. From my previous experience I was advised to do the same by one the member's forum while building the HMS Endeavour. Via the NGR'S MODEL SHIP WORLD I have find a friend in USA which assisted me during my first build. Regards, Renato

Thank you sailors, i received the packaging sizes from a shop in Spain.

Hi the tag is the AT San Juan Nepomuceno. I need to know the size of the box as I'm going to buy this kit in Barcelona and then packet in my suit case and I'm not sure whether this be possible.