Which Brand of Wooden ship model kit is better or worse.....? Take a poll and answer a few multiple choice questions.

[Chuck]

Please select up to three choices for each question.  This will help model builders trying to decide which brands are worth looking into.  Companies no longer in business or making kits.  Let me know if I missed any and I will add them to the list.  This is a list of Legitimate ship model companies. 

[Heronguy]

Oops! I tried to vote Marisstella for best plans having spent a few hours going over them this week.   I must have hit Bluejacket by mistake - I have no experience with Bluejacket so my vote is not informed!

[Chuck]

You should be able to change your votes.

[Cathead]

Where can I downvote Corel on all counts?

[Chuck]

Do you see a button to show vote options.....then just select again.   I think.    This poll stuff is new in this version.  Let me see.

[Heronguy]

22 minutes ago, Chuck said:

You should be able to change your votes.

yep, thanks

 

[mtaylor]

Pity I haven't done more kits...only 3.   Sadly, the one kit that I really loved was the Billings Wasa and it's apparently no longer available.  Excellent and historically accurate plans but crappy wood and quality control..  <sigh.

[catopower]

Mark, who says it's unavailable? Billing Boats USA has them in stock, and they're still listed on the Billingboats.com.

[mtaylor]

My bad.  I hadn't been able to see their product listing for so long, I thought they were gone.   

[alde]

I voted but don't know how much value it has since I have so little experience aside from MS kits and the Syren offerings.

[Peter Bloemendaal]

Maybe you should include the question on how many different brands each voter has had experience with.

In the Australian hobby shops the majority of models available are from Artesania Latina. I have only used one other brand. So I can only compare and vote for the 2, which doesn't do justice to the better quality kits I don't know about.

[mjust26]

In Australia in the 80`s you could buy almost all if not all the brands from Italy and Spain but in the last ten years AL kits seem to be the only ones left in the hobby shops.   

Edited September 28, 2017 by mjust26

[amateur]

Hi,

 

That is not only in Australia. Same here.

 

Jan

[Chuck]

I understand,  but you need not actually build some of these kits to know about their details.   For example,  I have never built a Dusek kit before.  But I have seen them up close, both here on MSW and in person.  The quality of the laser cutting and the materials supplied is excellent.  Some of the best I have seen in a kit model.  So I would be very comfortable voting for them.  

 

Other than that I think folks should just vote their experience....whatever the reason.  For example,  if you did buy an AL kit because its all that was available to you and you found the plans and instructions terrible,  dont vote for them.  A "NO" vote is just as important as a "Yes Vote"

 

I have never bought or seen a Soclaine kit up close.  I dont know anything about them.   So I will not vote for them but instead I will just vote for what I do know about to the best of my knowledge.  You dont need personal experience with all of the brands on the list.  These results shouldnt correlate with the number of build logs for that exact reason.  More of one brand in a lot of build logs could be about availability while this poll is about other aspects for the brands based on the best of your knowledge,  whether from online viewing or from personal experience.

 

In addition,  the internet allows us to buy other brands that might not be available locally.  Hopefully that will help give folks an introduction to these kits.  As far as Australia is concerned,  that explains a lot about why the Chinese kits are so prevalent there.  Right or wrong but availability is a huge consideration and the expense to ship products there.  In the states here I have not bought a hobby kit or product in any brick and mortar store for ten years.  I have always bought them online and had them shipped.  There are zero hobby shops within 100 miles of me that actually carry anything ship model related.....

 

I think it is understood that most people wont have experience with many of the brands listed.  Rather than have them list which ones they have had experience with I think maybe a question asking which kit brand you have had a bad experience with would be better.  You can select those you thought had poor materials, plans and instructions.

 

 

[Chuck]

Based on a suggestion this topic was moved to this forum.  A very good suggestion, thank you. 

[Robin Lous]

I think Kolderstok deserves to be on the list. 

 

http://www.kolderstok-models.com/index.en.html

[rustin]

Hello, where I can see results of this voting. I have no experience with any brand kits. Now I looking for my first kit for building.

Martin

[Chuck]

Click the button under the last question that says see results.

[rustin]

Thanks a lot. I don't see it at first.

 

Martin

[Landlubber Mike]

I would have broken things out a little more.  Some kits for example have good plans but poor materials.  Some have poor plans but good materials.

 

I’d also note the results may not be fair to certain kit manufacturers.  For example, there aren’t many Billings or Bluejacket builds on here.  And the Lumberyard kit is a whole different kind of kit from the more retail mass market kit.

Edited October 3, 2017 by Landlubber Mike

[Chuck]

Giving this a bump!!!!  If you havent taken the poll yet.  Please do.  Lets capture more data for folks making a decision on which kits to buy.

[Marc L]

Hi -

I'm on my first kit. It is a Woody Joe kit and is excellent, but doesn't appear on the list. Sourced from Japan.

Marc

[Richardjjs]

On ‎28‎/‎09‎/‎2017 at 12:58 AM, Cathead said:

Where can I downvote Corel on all counts?

Are you not happy with Corel. THought they where pretty good. Must admit they are more for beginners as the castings are not as good as Mantua and Panart.
 

 

[Cathead]

One Corel kit was enough. Terrible instructions, shoddy materials, inaccurate design.

[Richardjjs]

On ‎28‎/‎09‎/‎2017 at 1:48 PM, Peter Bloemendaal said:

Maybe you should include the question on how many different brands each voter has had experience with.

In the Australian hobby shops the majority of models available are from Artesania Latina. I have only used one other brand. So I can only compare and vote for the 2, which doesn't do justice to the better quality kits I don't know about.

My thoughts exactly
Don't think this poll is fair as it only takes into account votes polled
So if 1 person has voted for, say, Euromodels (ie Victory Models) and no body else has built a Victory MOdels kit then it is TOTALLY misleading

 

 

[trippwj]

1 hour ago, Richardjjs said:

My thoughts exactly
Don't think this poll is fair as it only takes into account votes polled
So if 1 person has voted for, say, Euromodels (ie Victory Models) and no body else has built a Victory MOdels kit then it is TOTALLY misleading

 

 

That is the issue with all opinion polling.  This one is a nice quick snapshot of what the members who voted think about the kit companies.  Recognizing the limitations, few meaningful conclusions, and certainly few statistical measures (standard error, things like that) are possible.

 

It is, surprisingly enough, the same with those amazing opinion polls we see, where they polled 1000 likely voters (or similar qualifying characteristic).  While you can say that x% were in favor of something, tge plus or minus y percentage points is NOT so accurate - they base that on questions which they infer to indicate how you REALLY feel about something.  It is silly how much emohasis folks place on those polls!  1000 people represent accurately the opinions of 200 million?

 

 

 

[Chuck]

This is a snapshot of what folks feel is the best or worst kit.  It is based on their experiences.  I would be inclined to say it is very fair.   Folks shouldnt read into it so much.  We ask folks what they like based on their experience and what they dont like.  They are voting honestly and that data collected is very good and very useful for others wanting to get an idea of what one of these MFGs are like.  

 

Some people want to over complicate things like this poll ..... it is ....what it is.  And very useful.  Certainly the kits built more will have higher numbers....but that doesnt mean the data is incorrect.  If fewer people have built a brand of kit and all of the polling indicates that it was a good experience then that data is worth knowing.   If a company has a high percentage of unfavorable votes, no matter how much market share they have,   I think that is very good to know.   Dont over think it.

 

If you have a differing opinion based on your experience then vote......the numbers either way are a very honest and accurate depiction.

 

Remember...you shouldnt look at this poll as a way to judge a winner like its a horse race.   You should look at this poll as an indication of what people think about the one brand they voted on.   If you only have access to AL kits from brick and mortar stores and think they are awful then let us know.  If you think they are wonderful.....let us know.   The reason why a company like AL has such high negatives is based on that personal experience.  It will certainly help someone who wants to build something better without worrying about being disappointed after buying a kit with no review or polling.  With the internet, all brands are available anywhere....it may cost more but a poll like this may give someone a reason to pay a bit more for one if they have great polling vs. bad polling.  

[Peter Y.]

I'd just like to add that it would be immensely useful, especially for people just starting their journey (like me) if this thread was accessible for everyone and not just registered users.

[ccoyle]

2 hours ago, Peter Y. said:

I'd just like to add that it would be immensely useful, especially for people just starting their journey (like me) if this thread was accessible for everyone and not just registered users.

Ah, but tidbits like this are exactly why we encourage people to come in out of the cold and become registered users! 

[Peter Y.]

1 hour ago, ccoyle said:

Ah, but tidbits like this are exactly why we encourage people to come in out of the cold and become registered users! 

If that's the case make the poll visible for everyone but the results only to registered users ;-) I bet you'd get better results.

35 minutes ago, Azzoun said:

Registration is free- so what's the big deal about doing it to get full access?

Well...

 

First off one would have to know that it exists and there's no way to find out without registering.

 

Secondly - it's an additional step and although it doesn't seem like much it may put some people off. Of course to verify this one would have to look at the site analytics (e.g. number of new unique visits vs. number of new registration requests).

 

Thirdly - I don't know about other people but I don't just go out and give my e-mail address to any site that might come in handy. Especially if I'm (in this case) new to the hobby and still unsure whether I'll still be interested in a few weeks time.

 

Lastly - Note that there are a lot more valuable resources available to view or even download from the site than this poll, so keeping it hidden away seems unreasonable.

 

This is just my subjective opinion - I've decided to register because this site has a great community and I'm certain that there are many people here that will help me with my first build. The fact is though that at some point after registering I've stumbled upon this poll and just thought to myself that it's genuinely useful - if I knew it existed I would probably register a couple of weeks ago rather than just now.