Choosing the best kit. The Mantua Panart or the Caldercraft.

[Roy Harran]

Looking to purchase the HMS Victory. I Are these the best kits. The Caldercraft get great reviews but it is soooo expensive. Will I be happy with the Panart or will I always feel it was a mistake and are the instructions good enough with great final results? 

[Gregory]

There is a reason it's so expensive..

The cheaper kits require you to be more innovative..  Consider your own skill set..

 

You might  wait for the new 1:64 Amati

 

 

Probably more than Caldercraft, but then, maybe Caldercraft will go down..

 

[GrandpaPhil]

I have a Panart Victory bow section.  I bought a damaged one from an antique store a while back that I bought and fixed.

 

The level of detail is somewhat wanting.  Many of the rigging fittings are also out of scale.

 

I would personally recommend the Caldercraft kit or waiting for the Amati kit to come out.  Please take note that I have never had a Caldercraft kit, but I have generally heard good things about them.  
 

Chris Watton designed the Amati Victory and his work is absolutely top notch.

[mispeltyoof]

I have the Panart Victory. Been working on it for fifteen months now. For the money (half the Caldecraft) I am happy to be “creative” over some of build. Details are obviously not as good but tolerable. The main problems I have had are the very,very sparse instructions meaning you have to study the plans constantly to understand what goes where and how to achieve hit. This is frustrating but rewarding when you manage to figure it out.

My main complaint,which has driven me mad is the number of missing parts. These are frustrating because of “silly” bits missing. E,G not enough brass pins, parts which are described as brass in instructions are in fact printed on thin wood.

Eyelets with three short,meaning having to buy spares which are cheap but not when postage added.two dummy gun barrels missing, shot garlands but no cannon balls. Deck gun carriage wheels and axles with four missing.Just enough tiny parts so if you drop or lose one you are stuck.

All in all it is IMHO a good kit and worth the money but spoilt by quality control errors ,mainly count the bits correctly before putting them in packets.These could easily and cheaply be solved and would make the kit far less frustrating to build.

 

[ccoyle]

Since this isn't an actual kit review, I have moved the discussion to the general wooden kits area.

[Kevin]

the Caldercraft is a good kit, but decent reference material is required as the plans are lacking, some great builds on her ,

 HMS Victory by gil middleton - FINISHED - Caldercraft - 1:72 - Page 25 - - Kit build logs for subjects built from 1751 - 1800 - Model Ship World™

 

i also attempted it but poor in comparison

[mtaylor]

Cannon balls can easily be fixed at minimal cost... there's birdshot (but down side is packaging as you'll get more than you'll ever use) or visit a craft shop and see what they have in the way of beads.

[Funkingonuts]

Do not trust mantua. I bought a kit based on pdf of the parts list. 
 

Spent good money on a panart kit.
 

What came in the box no way represented the quality promised and does not match the published parts list. Most of the wood was not as promised. Replacing all the walnut with basswood and for a couple of parts plywood… TO BE CLEAR THESE ARE NOT INTERNAL PARTS. These changes are for external finish parts. Basswood and plywood being substituted for walnut.
 

The company Mantua/Panart/Sergal do not represent the change anywhere ahead of the taking your money. The documentation in the box, the instructions and pats list are left as is. misrepresenting the contents. 
 

TL:DR

MANTUA/Panart/Sergal. Lowest quality wood. Failure to inform customers ahead of the sale, that all the good quality wood is replaced with basswood and plywood. 
 

I will never buy mantua/panart/sergal products again. 
 

shameful. 
 

 

Edited July 10 by Funkingonuts