Amati vs Vanguard

[mr5356]

Good day to all builders, I would like to know if Amati (plans and instructions) are comparable to Vanguard models?

 

I in a infinate debate between the Amati Russian Mercury brig or the Vanguard Speedy... 

 

I shure know seeing and reading logs from Bleu Ensign and DelF both brands look good.  Seriously does Amati plan are as detail as Vanguard? 

 

Vanguard instructions seems to have a way that even a newbie could build it... But I haven't seen Amati ones...

 

 

 

[ccoyle]

What you need to know about this is that Chris Watton, who started at Caldercraft, designed the Victory Models line for Amati before starting his own company, Vanguard. Chris is an innovator who doesn't rest on his laurels -- he is constantly seeking ways to improve his kits, including design features, materials, plans, and instructions. There's a learning curve for this trade, as for any profession, so Chris's early work, though very good on its own merits, is not quite as splendid as his later efforts. So, Mercury, being one of his last designs for Amati/Victory, is roughly 2/3 of the way along Chris's career arc. It's a very good design with great instructions, incrementally better than his Caldercraft efforts, but it won't have all the latest bells & whistles seen in his most recent Vanguard offerings.*

 

Basically, you can't really go wrong with any of Chris's designs.

 

* I think that's a fair assessment of Chris's designing career -- he may feel free to correct me if I got anything wrong.

[Vane]

I have experience from Caldercraft kits and Vanguards. I have never built an Amati but studied several buildlogs. 

The first thing you need to understand is that many of the kits from the "Nelson era" has the same designer. But they are from different years and under different flags. All these kits are good but things has happend over the years. The intructions/plans for my Diana (one of Chris first ships) are very basic and looks quite old. When it comes to my Speedy , its like the perfect buildlog. Amati probably comes in between. 

Vanguard is a small business and Chris can basically create whatever he wants as long he dont run short of money. And as I understand, he want to be top notch but also recreate kitmaking. As a designer at larger business you are much more limited to follow the "company style". 

One of the advantages with Vanguards is the "simplicity" in the design and instructions. Alot of effort has been spent on finding solutions that will speed up the build. I luv that. But if you are an oldschool builder, you might want to figure out more from the plans yourself and spend time to cut and sand things and want to go with more traditional kits.      

    

[myxyzptlyk2003]

I have built kits from both Amati and Vanguard.    I like both.     To me, the materials are pretty much similar.   But where they differ is in the instructions.   Vanguard instructions are vastly superior and do, indeed, allow a beginner to build.    Amati instructions generally require some previous modeling experience.

[ccoyle]

12 minutes ago, myxyzptlyk2003 said:

Amati instructions generally require some previous modeling experience.

 

We have to be careful to distinguish between Amati kits in general and Victory Models kits in particular; Chris designed the latter. I have HMS Fly from the Victory Models line in my possession, and I can attest that the instructions are definitely written and illustrated to facilitate ease of construction for intermediate builders.

[James H]

Another feature of Vanguard kits is the extensive use of pear for planking, and some kits have options of maple decks too. Mainstream manufacturers don't tend to use pear due to cost in bulk production.

[Gregory]

I can't  speak about Amati, which probably has a good reputation for service, but you can be sure if you have any problems with materials from Vanguard, it will be taken care of.