kit review 1/200 Solferino French Ironclad - Orel - Card Kit

[GrandpaPhil]

The Orel kit of the Solferino looks very nice, and very detailed, especially considering the scale.

 

I got mine off Amazon, and it got slightly roughed up in transit, but nothing major.  It came in a bound magazine style booklet.

 

 

There is a laser-cut set, a sail set and a dowel set that you can buy as an option.
 

The construction appears to be a modified version of plank on bulkhead:

 

 

The hull covering is similar to the method used by Ab Hoving in his tutorial, with vertical planking pieces, attaching directly to the frame.

 

There is a nice description of the ship in the beginning of the booklet, but it is in Russian (at least I think it is Russian), which I do not know.

 

 

The instructions are pretty good.  They come in Russian (I think), English and German.

The diagrams are very useful and detailed, but scattered throughout the booklet.

 

The parts are printed on good quality paper.  Most are printed on normal paper, with the intent to layer them on card, some are printed on cardstock and ready for use.

 

 

On the whole, I am impressed with the quality of the kit.

 

Orel makes a large line of steamers, including the Great Western and multiple Pre-Dreadnoughts.

 

One of the things that I like about their kits is that they can be built full-hull (I do not particularly like waterline models).

One thing I do not like is the scale of this particular kit.  However, even considering the scale, I am impressed with the level of detail in this kit.

Also, for the larger warships in this series, 1/200 is perfect.

[Baltic_submariner]

Interesting review of very forgotten subject.

 

Few years ago my friend gifted to me from same publisher model of yacht-light cruiser Almaz and armored cruiser Rossiya and I was amazed by level of their details ( Almaz even had interior of some rooms ) Well, I think I'm not talented enough for them so they are staying in my library.

 

If anybody didn't know they make many other ship models from sailing ships into the modern navy ships. It's Ukrainian or Russian publisher so they have many subjects from their history but not only. They published probably all bigger ships from Russian side of 1904-05 war with Japan as same as many ships from Soviet Navy but had also many of even more subjects.

 

If someone is interested they had many architectural models - mainly from Russia, including gigantic model Kremlin fortress in separate parts.

 

There is also another Ukrainian/Russian publisher named Dom Bumagi ( I could mess a little transcription into english ) which also makes very detailed models of warships. Not sure did they are connected or not.

Edited October 22, 2021 by Baltic_submariner
error name of one producer

[Philipp Flersheim]

I built this model, which was published by the Ukrainian company 'Oriel' (Kherson) and designed by Alexander Kustov. Kustov's guiding principle is that it should be possible to make everything of paper - so no templates are needed for additional parts made of wood or wire. I found the Solferino kit excellent: the descriptions and diagrams clear and the quality of the print impressive (for example the copper and brass parts). Everything fit perfectly, the build was fun, and the result looks good (with any faults being due to my lack of experience).

[GrandpaPhil]

I had a lot of fun building this one!

 

It is a most excellent kit!

Edited February 1, 2023 by GrandpaPhil