Hi Ya'll;
Well here's one for you, well, two actually. The first one is from HMV. It's the Mehrzweckschiff "Mellum" in 1984 fit. Kit number 3420. The next is the JSC- Mikroflota - Petrojarl Cidade De Rio Das Ostras. kit -1 over 2008-96. The first one is 1/250 scale and the latter is 1/400.
Both have to do with Oil. One is a stationary Loading,Processing and Transfer ship ( She stays on station over the Well-Head instead of a rig.) That's the JSC model. The other is a spill management and sweep vessel (also a command vessel on scene). That's the HMV model.
Both have a LOT of small detail that is impossible to imagine! The Mellum is 10 sheets. That's total sheets. The FPSO offshore Processing Ship From JSC has Twelve. Now, that doesn't sound like much does it? The FPSO from JSC has five instruction Sheets and one and a half pattern and template sheets! The HMV model also has five instruction sheets! The patterns are scattered amongst the regular build and material sheets.
The colors on the JSC Ship seem faded somewhat. That is not a mis-Print. The FPSO is faded from a long time on station and the marine red paint has faded from exposure to high seas and salt spume and air! She probably only sees port once in a blue moon! Maybe only when something important breaks!
The colors on the HMV ship kit are quite striking. Black Hull, White, Buff or Yellow Bright Red and Black trim in some places, with some Steel and Anthracite in other places. The model represents her as clean and ready to respond to a callout.
Now for the instructions . JSC's seem confusing. That's because of the unusual construction of the hull. It takes some serious study to figure out what they are showing you. The hull builds up way different than usual. You still have the baseplate, But, it builds without the tabs you usually see. Now, that means, if you are not ready it will give you pause.
The HMV ship-kit builds in the way we expect. Baseplate and frames as usual. Clean bright printing will let you build this ship as usual. I think the JSC kit lacks the finesse of the other kit, but it will take you paying a lot more attention to where the edges are when you cut.
Here's a fact many may not be aware of. The HMV kit of the "Mellum"has an upgrade kit available! Yup! $44.00 dollars of Laser-cut detail parts allowing you to show complete Wheel-House inner detail and things like that, Plus better crane and gear parts. Deck gear is especially interesting here and they get it right.
Now the puzzler, The "Mellum" builds up with the inner Wheel-House detail wether you get the detail set or not. I am seriously thinking of using .020 palstic and just using the paper parts as a pattern and doing those Wheel-House parts that way, and cut out the windows and use.010 clear sheet for them.
The JSC ship at the smaller scale does NOT give you that option. I imagine you could try. I have done it on 1/700 Naval vessels in plastic, just to see if it could be done! All in all, these two will keep you busy for a while. I will get my new camera fired up, and then drop back and let you know how it's progressing with photos too.
It will probably be a couple of weeks. With no operations at the Museum I have time, But I also have a shut in I have to transport. I just thought I would give you a heads up on these two. Oh! BEWARE! Do NOT buy the "Mellum" On the "Bay" The vendor there would have you believe the Detail set is included. It is NOT !