Occre Fram Kit - Impressions & Opinions

[PittsfieldPete]

A few days ago I ordered Occre’s kit of Nansen’s Fram from Amazon. I’ve been intrigued by the Fram for years because of its clever design which gave her the ability to become completely icebound for a very long time without being crushed and sinking.
 

My interest in Fram cooled down somewhat over the years, but it heated up again last week when I watched a rerun of the excellent short series “The Last Place On Earth” on Tubi. The series is closely based on Roland Huntford’s excellent book of the same title and tells the story of Roald Amundsen and Robert Scott and their “race” to the South Pole. I won’t mention any details about the program or book, but I will say that they’re both outstanding. 
 

Seeing the series again inspired me to look for a kit of the Fram. I don’t often build kits that are mainly wood, but I’ve got several wood-based models waiting to be built in my collection of over 2,000 unbuilt kits. Occre’s Fram kit was the only one I found when I searched Amazon and when I looked at the excellent photos of the finished model, I didn’t hesitate to order the kit. 

I have Occre’s San Francisco Cable Car and London double-decker trolley car kits, but I haven’t built them yet. However, when I looked the contents of each kit over I was very impressed by the excellent overall quality of the materials, fittings and nicely presented instruction manuals. This also influenced my decision to buy the Occre Fram. 
 

I’m posting here now to find out if any fellow modelers have built Occre’s Fram kit. If so, I’d like to hear about your initial impressions of the kit and what the building experience was like.

 

Seasons Greetings to all and best wishes for the coming New Year.

 

Thanks,

 

Pete
 

 

Edited December 7 by PittsfieldPete
Minor typos.