Yet another kit recommendation

[Major]

Hello all. 
 

As my current project will be done today, I’m in the market for new one. I have picked 3 kits

 

AL Bounty’s jolly boat

AL Endeavour’ Longboat

Mantua Gioden Star

 

It will be my first plank on construction and first proper ship in general, however I am not a newcomer to modelling. 
 

I have chosen AL’s kits due to their simplicity (in comparison with other kits I looked at), but I’ve seen few bad examples of their kits and quite few unfinished logs. 
 

Golden Star, I know it will be more difficult, but I really like the ship itself.  Also I’ve got a chance of buying it for the price of previous two kits. 

Whats the most important, all kits are available in UK and ready to ship. I’ve spent hours browsing online model shops to find a lot of stock out - if that wasn’t the case, I’d be making 18th century longboat... Thanks ‘rona!

 

What would be your thoughts on that? Which kit would you choose? 
 

Regards

Tom 

[Jaager]

I am not a kit builder, but a cursory inspection of web advertising for the English brig Mantua Golden Star produced a few red flags:

 

The company description defines it as a plank-on-frame kit.  It is plank-on-bulkhead.  A very misleading indicator for its level of sophistication and leads to questions about basic company ethics.

 

From a photo on the Mantua site, I count 8 moulds (bulkheads) - which could pose a problem as an adequate base for planking.

 

The scale is 1:150. 

This is well into the miniature range.  While ship plans can be scaled, the physical properties of wood cannot. 

The relatively wide spacing of the moulds could be mitigated somewhat because the wood will resist the more acute bending.  There will be less of a problem with hollows., There will probably more of a problem with bulging.  Pushing bulges in will be fruitless if there is nothing there to bond the plank to.  Sanding a bulge down may remove too much wood. A layer of scrap wood can be scabbed on the inside between the moulds that will provide the removed substance. 

At 1:150 scale, the replication of smaller detail will require creativity in the choice of materials.  Getting the rigging to scale will be a bear. 

Walnut has open pores. Not as extreme as Oak, but still there.  The Lime surface and grain will scale better in appearance.  The inherent fuzziness and friability will present more of a problem as show material in miniature.

 

A brig is an excellent candidate for modeling at 1:48.  Reasonable in size and open to detail.  It is still not a size that can be pushed to the back of a book shelf though.   A 1:150 brig will not  require much room to display,  but will only be 3.3% of the volume of the 1:48 version.

 

[Major]

Wow, thank you so much, I appreciate your time and input. To be honest I didn’t really think about any points you’ve mentioned here - but then again I’m very new to that. Guess I’ll cross it off my list then. 
 

Regards. 
 

 

[ccoyle]

Have you looked at Vanguard Models?

 

https://vanguardmodels.co.uk/

[Major]

10 minutes ago, ccoyle said:

Have you looked at Vanguard Models?

 

https://vanguardmodels.co.uk/

Yes I have. There is a lot of items out of stock sadly, but if I was considering Golden Star, I think I could do one of the Russian boats too. 
 

Anyway, thank you for link and your time to post, I appreciate it.