Aurora & Admiral Nakhimov - card model reviews by Captain Slog (publisher - Dom Bumagi, scale 1:200)

[Captain Slog]

Hi All,

 

Keeping in line with my interest in Imperial Russian ships I have purchased two more card models to add to my stash.  It was partially by accident that I choose these particular ships, both being present at the Battle of Tsushima to go with Borodino, which I am currently building.  I want to touch on a number of reasons why I choose these ships.

 

The main reason was they are published by Dom Bumagi.  If you have been following my Borodino build log you will know I have a few minor issues with my current build, particularly to do with overcrowding of parts on the pages (really just nit picking), lack of spare colour ‘swatches’, lack of fold lines for mirrored parts (annoying but not the end of the world) and the paper (which might just be my perception but nothing that can’t be overcome with some care for certain types of assemblies).

 

So why go for more of their kits you ask?  On the whole I am really impressed with Dom Bumagi’s Borodino and the benefits far outweigh the niggles above. Firstly the printing is very nice in my opinion and I think that Borodino’s decks are absolutely gorgeous.  Other parts are richly coloured and on the whole very crisp.  Secondly the parts fitment are perfect and so far have had no issues with Borodino in that regards and most importantly (for me) the amount of detail they provide for the builder to add.  Some publishers only print the ‘detail’ on and provide no instruction/diagrams for the additional parts to add.

 

I purchased both kits and their respective laser cut forms from GPM in Poland http://gpm.pl/en

 along with some photo etch generic railings, stairs etc.  Surprisingly they didn’t list any brass gun barrel sets or photo etch detail sets for either ship.  I have sourced a gun barrel set for Aurora in Australia from BNA https://www.bnamodelworld.com/   but waiting on stock.  I also found a source for the photo-etch detail sets in Ukraine but the prices of these are excessively inflated compared to what similar sets from GPM cost.  One set is US$60+ compared to approx. US$18 for a typical set from GPM.  I will keep looking for the time being.

 

On with the review; 

 

Aurora

 

Aurora is one of three Pallada class protected cruisers (Pallada, Diana & Aurora) and is still afloat today, harbouring in St Petersburg.  For those interested in the ship here is a link to the Wikipedia page. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_cruiser_Aurora

 

Several publishers offer Aurora, Diana and Pallada kits and some stockists do discounted bundles of all three.  Although seeing all three ships in on-line shops I always skipped over them until I came across a review of Dom Bumagi’s Diana and that closed the deal so to speak and of course I chose their Aurora  kit for the reasons discussed above and due to its participation in the Battle of Tsushima.

 

The kit is presented the same way as Borodino in that all the pages are loose leaf and stored in a plastic sleeve which surprised me when I first got the Borodino.  I believe the Aurora is one of their earlier kits as the thick card front cover sheet follows the same design and layout as the Borodino.

 

Aurora comes in the same A3 loose leaf format stored in a plastic sleeve and all the pages are numbered this time.  The front cover shows a render of the ship and the reverse side is some history and the specifications (all in Russian) as well as some assembly diagrams of the ship’s boats.

 

 

 

There are 7 A3 pages of parts, 2 of which are fully black on the reverse side as these have the upper hull components.  Several of the other sheets also have reverse colour sections and which include inside printed planks for the ships boats.

 

There are some plain colour swatches which is nice to see as this was one of things that annoyed me about Borodino.  The lower hull skins have plates printed on and have a shiny(ish) metallic finish to them which is pretty nice (IMHO)

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are 4 thin pages of templates for the underlying forms /skeleton which I won’t be using since I have the laser cut form set.  Saying that I notice some of the templates have gold coloured sections for the lower hull so may need to use these even with the laser cut forms.

  

There are 6 double sided pages of assembly diagrams and these are line drawings.  I mentioned in the Borodino log how I liked that the assembly diagrams were renders but after using them for a while I think the line drawings may be clearer after all.

 

 

 

 

Page 17 is another thin paper sheet with rollable parts like gun barrels etc and also contains all the ‘ironwork’ details for making yourself.

 

 

 

The last 2 thin paper sheets are double sided, 3 of which are instructions; this is probably the most instructions I have seen on a card model so far.  How useful they will be is yet to be seen.  The last PAGE shows the ship in profile.

 

 

 

The laser cut form set has 7 A3 sheets; 4 of which are thicker forms for the underlying hull and structures.  There are 3 thinner smaller sheets for detail parts like davits, braces, supports etc.  One thing of note is the Aurora hull shape is relatively simple but contains quite a large number of form work similar to Borodino. (Admiral Nakhimov has considerably less forms)

 

 

 

First Thoughts: I am really impressed with this kit.  The printing and colours (mostly) are really nice and particularly like the underwater hull colour and effect.  The only thing I don’t like at the moment is the yellow colour for the funnels, which is a really bright primary yellow.  Borodino’s yellow funnels look reserved in comparison!

  

 

Admiral Nakhimov

 

Admiral Nakhimov is an armoured cruiser which was sunk at the Battle of Tsushima and again for those interested in her here is a link to the Wikipedia page. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_armoured_cruiser_Admiral_Nakhimov

 

Admiral Nakhimov was another of those kits which I hadn’t noticed before but again I came across a review and found her to be such an interesting shape and construction and after discovering her participation at the Battle of Tsushima was added to the stash.

 

I believe this is one of Dom Bumagi’s newer kits as the front cover has changed design to show a smaller picture (in this case a real photo) surrounded by a large border. This is more conventionally presented as an A3 book, bound along the top long edge. 

 

 

 

There are 7 pages of parts and again some sheets have full reverse colour and others have selective reverse colouring.  The lower hull has the same shiny metallic finish as Aurora but in a darker shade.  There are a lot of nice parts and colours on this ship like the raised decks and different coloured cabins.

 

 

 

 

 

There are 5 thin pages of templates for the underlying skeleton but also includes the main deck which appears to depict linoleum.

 

Again there is a single thin sheet for all the ‘ironwork’ details as well as the rollable gun barrels etc.

 

There are 7 double sided sheets of assembly diagrams and these again are line drawings as opposed to renders as I must admit I think these will be clearer to read than renders which I was excited about for Borodino.

 

 

 

 

The last page shows a top and profile view of the ship and I think it looks very handsome from this side with a relatively deep hull.

 

 

 

Again I obtained the laser cut forms but these supply only 5 sheets of the thicker underlying forms with no thin sheets for detail parts.  I also note from the instructions that although similar hull shape to Aurora above there are considerably less formwork so particular care may be needed to keep everything lined up and square until skinned up.

 

 

First Thoughts: I am really pleased I got this one.  The shape, layout and particularly the colours should build into a really nice model.  The bow crest colouring and several of the cabins and upper decks are all really nice.  The single yellow funnel is a much more subdued yellow compared to Aurora above. 

 

 

Summary

I’m really impressed with Dom Bumagi kits and from what I gather they have a reputation for the amount of detail they provide which I can attest to. Given the choice of publishers for the same subject, Dom Bumagi would most likely be my 1^st choice.  The plan is to finish Borodino before starting either of these but since I have finally got my shipyard set-up to a state I can work in I may start working on these in the background. 

 

Cheers

Slog  

[Dan Vadas]

Very nice looking Kits Slog. I see what you mean about "crowding" the parts pages . I also like the look of the plans - I'm not overly fussed about Rendered ones either. I might look at getting a Dom Bumagi kit myself after I finish Bismarck, unless I die of old age first .

 

Looks like you have your work cut out for you for the next couple of years .

 

  Danny

[Captain Slog]

Hi Danny,

 

Thanks for dropping in.  Although my experience of other publishers is quite limited, based on the 3 Dom Bumagi kits I have I am going to make a bold statement and say that they are up there with the later Halinski’s!

 

I think my work will be cut out for the next couple of lifetimes!  I also have 1 to 3 ‘must have’ IJN Battleships to go with the Halinski Fuso that is still waiting patiently…not to mention a few more vehicles I need LOL.  Only having every second weekend to model is very frustrating.

 

Cheers

Slog

[Dan Vadas]

On 29/07/2017 at 10:22 AM, Captain Slog said:

The only thing I don’t like at the moment is the yellow colour for the funnels, which is a really bright primary yellow.  Borodino’s yellow funnels look reserved in comparison!

G'day Slog. I just re-visited this post and had a thought about the above problem - as the funnels are printed on thin paper, why not re-draw them and change the colour, then print it out. I'm sure you'd get a better result after a couple of tries.

 

  Danny