Kit review 1:200 Russian Pre-Dreadnought Battleship Orel - Orel - Card Kit

[GrandpaPhil]

This is the Orel kit of the Battleship Orel of 1904.

Orel is alternately spelled Oryol and literally translates to Eagle.
 

Having built an Orel kit before, I can attest that their kits are excellent.

 

I bought mine off Amazon.

 

This kit has optional laser cut and photo-etch sets available.

 

Like the Solferino, the instructions come in Russian (I think), Polish, German and English.

 

There are construction diagrams at the beginning of the book this time.

Construction is a modified Plank On Bulkhead.

 

The quality of the parts sheets are excellent and printed on A3 paper or card.

 

Most parts are printed on paper for laminating onto card.

 

Some are printed on card and ready to use.

 

If you are interested in card models, Orel, a Ukrainian company, makes excellent ship models, in addition to a full range of other card models.

 

They have a pretty decent selection of ironclads and pre-Dreadnoughts from around the world in 1/200 scale.

Most have optional laser cut and photo-etch sets available.

 

I liked the first model that I got from them well enough that I ordered three more.

When I get the other two I’ll review them too.

 

The price for this particular model was $46.99 with free shipping.

Edited May 5, 2023 by GrandpaPhil

[ccoyle]

10 hours ago, GrandpaPhil said:

They have a pretty decent selection of ironclads and pre-Dreadnoughts

 

This is a bit of an understatement. Orel actually have one of the most extensive catalogs of such subjects of any publisher, if not the most extensive. And they are very prolific compared to some publishing houses. It pays to check their website (papermodeling.net) frequently.

[Philipp Flersheim]

I built this model the year before last and found the experience all in all less than enjoyable. I had previously built a range of other models published by Oriel, most of which had been designed by Alexandr Kustov (the Askold, Lavoisier, Solferino and Wladimir). Kustov's models are all excellent, with clear and comprehensive instructions. What is more, the quality of the print is outstanding (for example, copper does really look like copper), and you can build them without having to use anything except the paper that is being provided (and some thread for the rigging, railings etc.). The Orel (not by Kustov) is different. I found two things most annoying: First, even very small parts were printed on relatively thick and stiff paper, which made forming them a pain, and second, the instructions and diagrams are of such a poor quality that it still baffles me where some pieces are supposed to go. On top of that, you are expected to use templates to form additional pieces of wire or other materials, which I found irritating (but that's of course no more than my personal preference). The upshot is that when buying a paper model kit, it is a good idea to pay attention to who has designed the model: this is really relevant.

[GrandpaPhil]

I haven’t built the Orel kits of the Orel, the Mikasa or Le Redoutable yet.  They are on my soon to build list though.

 

The templates for the railings didn’t look the easiest to use, but I’m overall looking forward to the builds.

I’m used to scratch building from card anyway, which actually gave me fits when building Solferino.

 

But, overall I don’t think the railings will slow me down too much.

 

I have AAMM plans for the 90-gun steam battleship Le Napoleon and the battleship La Hoche in the same or similar scale (1/192 for Le Napoleon) too.

Edited May 18 by GrandpaPhil

[Richard44]

10 hours ago, Philipp Flersheim said:

The upshot is that when buying a paper model kit, it is a good idea to pay attention to who has designed the model: this is really relevant.

How do you do this?  I could have easily missed something, but I've looked at the Orel website and at some of the models and couldn’t see any reference as to the designer.

[GrandpaPhil]

The booklets have the name of the designer in them.

[Richard44]

57 minutes ago, GrandpaPhil said:

The booklets have the name of the designer in them.

I thought that might be the case, but you only find out after you've bought the kit. Whereas Philipp more or less suggests finding out before hand.

[ccoyle]

13 minutes ago, Richard44 said:

I thought that might be the case, but you only find out after you've bought the kit. Whereas Philipp more or less suggests finding out before hand.

It may take some digging, but it is generally possible to find out who designed a particular kit, even if that info is not available at the publisher's website.

[Philipp Flersheim]

Well, I have bought most of my kits here: https://kartonmodellshop.de/info/willkommen.html

They regularly mention the names of the designers on the websites of the individual models. For example this here (the CSS Fredericksburg) was designed by Kustov: https://kartonmodellshop.de/skurrile-marinekonstruktion-das-panzerschiff-css-fredericksburg-1864-1-200-deutsche-anleitung.html. Admittedly, the text is in German. 'Modellentwurf' is 'model design'.