Euro Ship Kits - moved by moderator

[pirozzi]

Is anyone familiar with Euro Kits? I am contemplating one of their high end kits for my next project and was wondering how they are. Are their kits high quality as far as plans, materials, and accuracy? I am familiar with most manufacturers such as Corel, Mamoli, Mantua etc., but don't know much about Euro.

 

Thanks for the help in advance,

 

Vince P.

[realworkingsailor]

Are you talking about Euromodels?

[pirozzi]

Yes I believe it is Euromodels. I am interested in the Royal William.

Vince P.

[UdoK]

Hello Vince,

I have never seen a euromodel kit in real, but from what I have seen in other european model Forums the plans and Quality of their kits are not bad.

A preview of their Royal William plans are displayed on the Website.

 

http://www.euromodel-ship.com/eng/royal-william-1.html#axzz2i8ee7IPE

[pirozzi]

I am building that kit. Its fabulous.  Go to the Euromodels web page and there are downloadable instructions for building her in seven parts.

Hi Brian,

Thanks for the help. Do you have a build log going? Also, does the kit come with sails, or can you purchase a set? I would like to rig her with sails like my SOS.

 

Vince P.

[pirozzi]

Hello Vince,

I have never seen a euromodel kit in real, but from what I have seen in other european model Forums the plans and Quality of their kits are not bad.

A preview of their Royal William plans are displayed on the Website.

 

http://www.euromodel-ship.com/eng/royal-william-1.html#axzz2i8ee7IPE

Hi Edward,

Thanks for the link. I will look it up.

 

Vince P.

[pirozzi]

Hi Vince

From what I have read,this kit is probably one of the finest kits for this type of vessel to come out of Italy.It is on my own list although I am still on the fence as to whether to buy the kit or just buy the excellent plans and do a scratchbuild.If you do choose to buy the kit,then I recommend Keith Julier's 'The period ship handbook' ISBN 1-85486-081-X.This book should be available through Amazon secondhand as I have a feeling it is out of print.I am aware you are an experienced modeler so please don't think I am teaching you suck eggs.Keith however does point out a few of the kits idiosyncracies,so not only do I think you may find it an interesting read,it would give you a 'heads up' as to what to look out for.

Kind Regards Nigel 

Hi Nigel,

Thanks for the book reference. I have learned much of what I know by reading reference books and never turn down a new one that I don't have. I will give this one a look.

 

Vince P.

[pirozzi]

Some European kits are awful.  However, Euromodel has some really good kits. i have two and have complete satisfaction. The sails have to be provided by the buyer. Silkspan, a strong tissue like material, is more to scale and, in my opinion, a better use of making ship model sails.

My two cents.

  Crackers       

Thanks for the information. I am hearing much good feedback about Euromodels. I think I will make this my next project. I only have about 6 months left on my SOS.

 

Vince P.

[pirozzi]

I am very impressed already with Euromodels and I have not even bought one yet. I went on their website to download the excellent shop notes they have on the Royal William. There are 6 files of notes with extensive building instructions of every part of the build. I downloaded all of them except chapter 2 because the website would not let me do so.

I sent them an E-Mail to their customer help department asking if they could fix the problem with chapter 2. I was hoping for an answer sometime in the future if I was lucky. I have contacted other manufacturers in the past and very rarily got an answer at all. Euromodels answered me 1 hour after I sent the request and also fixed the website at the same time.

Now that is customer service! I am really looking forward to purchasing the Royal William soon after completing the SOS in about 6 months.

 

Vince P.

[pirozzi]

Hi Brian,

Well bully for him. I wish other companies like Mantua for instance, had someone like him. When I start the build, I am looking forward to working with him.

Vince

[NMBROOK]

Glad your impressed Vince.As a matter of a fact I bought the Euromodel plan set for Royal William a couple of weeks back.Even though they are all italian(hence the need for the downloads) there are a few kit companies that could learn a thing or two from them.Very impressive,all seventeen sheets of them.If you wish to add any further detailing of your own,it is all there on the plans.They go far beyond what is included in the kit.If you are wondering why I just bought the plans,they are for a future scratchbuild to a larger scale.

Kind Regards Nigel

[mtaylor]

As I recall, Peter was on MSW 1.0 and did some build log work on one of their models to get some feedback.  I wonder if he's here on MSW 2.0?

[pirozzi]

Hi Nigel,

Thanks for the book reference. I have learned much of what I know by reading reference books and never turn down a new one that I don't have. I will give this one a look.

 

Vince P.

Hi Nigel,

I received "The Period Ship Handbook #1" and it is excellent! The whole first half of the book is devoted in detail to building the Royal William. I bought it used on Amazon for only $16. And as an added bonus, It shows in detail how to rig brails on the mizen lateen sail, which I need to complete the SOS I am now working on.

Thanks Much.

 

Vince P.

[Ponto]

Since I've been pondering one of the EuroModel kits for some time (pricey though), it's nice to see positive commentary... and on a side note, I noticed Model Expo is now offering this line in addition to their other European offerings.

 

JP

[jeff shreve]

Glad I found this thread !   I recently grabbed a Euromodels Ajax off ebay and the lack of English and instructions was a bit of a bummer. I'm not experienced enough to have tackled the kit.  Had checked out the Euromodels web site before but missed the help sections with the downloads. Great to have this available.

[piratepete007]

Hello Shipmates,

EUROMODEL HELP DESK - without going into the reasons behind why I am running this info desk from South Australia for Euromodel, let me assure all and sundry that the work is purely non-commercial, non-financial and I just do it for fun ! I am currently building all of their ships but how far I get depends on who asks me what !!! So specifically, I am flat-out on the Friedrich Wilhelm zu Pferde (a German frigate) at the moment and so far have published six parts - text and photos - on the Euromodel website under 'Customer Assistance'. Have a look at it since it contains many ideas applicable to all their ships. Free to download. Purely my own ideas on how to put this ship together but at least it is a guide but definitely not an instruction manual. I would not dare to presume to tell others how to build these ships as the detail in these plans is incredible. I also read somewhere in this thread a query about sails. Euromodel DOES include cloth and detailed drawings for sails. I am easy to contact through the Helpdesk on the Euromodel website so look forward to hearing from anybody.

 

My apologies for not posting on the MSW as I am too wrapped up in creating these manuals .... but I will try to mend my ways.

 

Piratepete007 (actually Peter)

[marktiedens]

Peter - as I have the Royal William kit sitting in my closet I was wondering when you might have all the manuals completed for this great kit? What I have seen so far is outstanding!

 

thanks,Mark

[Keith_W]

Hi Pete, I have admired the models on the Euromodel website but to my knowledge there is no current build log on any of their kits. Given that you have a non-commercial relationship with Euromodel, and that you are just a very dedicated fan ... I suspect the moderators will not have a problem if you post your build logs? Of course I don't presume to speak for them, but I am sure that one of them will pipe up shortly. I think it would be a great resource for this site. 

[piratepete007]

Amfibius - and others. There are indeed seven build logs on the Euromodel website under 'Customer Assistance',  all in various states of build. I have labeled them as 'Interpretive Manuals' because I am building them as I see them being built. Where else can you find such detailed plans for a kit whose plans drag you from a standard kit build and into the realms of quasi scratch build (if you want to) ? Rather than assembling a straightforward kit, these products absolutely stretch the imagination in a delightful way ! So for a number of years I have been posting this material onto their website but how I can dissect this up into small pieces for a build log on the MSW site, I am not sure. Believe me that this done for the sheer pleasure of doing something !

 

Piratepete

[NMBROOK]

I would just like to say you are doing a fantastic job Pete.I do agree as I have mentioned before,Euromodels plans surpass everything else I have seen.If I could ask you one question,it would be 'does the Euromodels plan of Mordaunt show the stern as in the kit,or is it more correct i.e.with lower balcony?'

 

For anyone interested couple of Royal William Build logs on here including a 1/50 scratchbuild.

 

http://www.koga.net.pl/forum.html

 

Kind Regards Nigel

[NMBROOK]

That it is Brian,but the google translated version is interpretable if a little humourous in places  

Kind Regards Nigel

[piratepete007]

Mark - New Year resolution is to shift over to the Royal William for a few months but my experience with building the Wilhelm zu Pferde has taught me so much that I fear I may have to make a better approach with the Royal William. Stay tuned..

 

Nigel - do you have the Mordaunt kit ? I had a look at the metal castings for the transom components and essentially what you see in the drawings is what you add to the build. The transom/ stern is simply covered by the metal parts and is one of the easiest of all the Euromodel builds. The Royal William transom is a gigantic jigsaw but the only mistake people make with that is that they assume the various metal components are the wrong shape. BIG mistake !! The Wilhelm zu Pferde I had to carve a rider on a horseback and so the list goes on. The Mordaunt transom is very easy. Have I answered your question ? Have attached a drawing for others to view.

 

Keith Julier's books - he wrote a build for the Royal William AND for the French frigate La Renommee, both of which are from Euromodel. His books are another excellent tool but like my own works, should only be considered as a guide and not prescriptive. To 'follow the leader' is to destroy the intent of the Euromodel philosophy.

 

Pete

[marktiedens]

Thanks for the info Peter.I am in no hurry for the manuals as I have plenty of other projects going.

 

Regards,Mark

[NMBROOK]

Thank you Pete for your prompt reply.I ask as I was toying on adding the plans to my inventory for scratchbuilding purposes.I already have the Royal William's plans for a scratchbuild for my next 'personal project'.These plans appear to extremely accurate historically.The Mordaunt would make a nice model to sell,however the kit version is historically incorrect with the stern design,I just wondered whether the plans reflected the original or the kit.Either way it is still feasable to alter the stern to match Van de Velde's work and the pictures I have of the Navy Board model.I will check my references because the above drawing goes way beyond the kit parts.

Kind Regards Nigel

[Landlubber Mike]

I have the Friedrich Wilhelm zu Pferde kit.  The plans and materials are all top notch.  Even the cast metal parts, of which there are a ton, are all fantastic.

[piratepete007]

Mike - as you know, this is my current construction and more than any other Euromodel build, it has dragged me further into a quasi scratch build using some supplemental material which I did not have to use but could not help myself. An absolutely fascinating experience to extend past a straight kit build.

Pete

[pirozzi]

I ordered the Euromodel Royal William from "Ages of Sail", 5 days ago and it was delivered yesterday! That has got be a record, since it took 6 months to get the Sovereign of the Seas. Anyway, it looks like an impressive project and I am impressed with the quality of the parts and the plans. There was one broken part in the box and I E-mailed the Euro helpline. Once again, they replied in a half hour and this time all the way from Italy. They said they would be glad to replace it, but that the small piece broken off would not make a difference since it had to be trimmed anyway and was an internal part that would not be exposed. They gave me the choice. I told them I would work with it and if it did need replacing I would contact them back. I really am impressed with this company so far.  Once I finish on my SOS, which should be in about 2 weeks, I will start another build log for this one.

 

Vince P.

[NMBROOK]

Great stuff Vince,as a matter of a fact I have Mordaunt being delivered on Monday.Start as soon as  Royal Caroline is finished.The plans alone for Royal William weigh more than some smaller kits  

 

Kind Regards Nigel

[Landlubber Mike]

PiratePete,

 

Are you the author of the build manuals on Euromodel's website?  If so, a big thank you!  I downloaded them yesterday, and was very impressed.  

 

Vince,

 

Congratulations!  If the Royal William is anything like the Friedrich Wilhelm, I'm sure you were very impressed with the materials and the plans of the kit.  I have a few kits now, and almost wish that I had stuck with Euromodel kits.  I'm excited to follow your build, if you decide to post a build log.  

 

Nigel,

 

Congratulations on the Mordaunt!  That looks like another fantastic kit.  Hope you post a build log

Edited January 3, 2014 by Landlubber Mike

[NMBROOK]

Hi Mike

Yes I will start a log when work commences.I have printed out Peter's Interpretive build although he as only got as far as hull construction.

 

Kind Regards Nigel