PE Created Equal?

While I have found differences in brands of aftermarket PE for ships, this is in completeness. I have found little difference in terms of thickness, size of detail, etc. nor in ease of attachment.

Having read and reread your post I believe that your major concern is with how workable  the product is in combination with instructions  that are clear.  If indeed those are your major concerns the best products you can buy for your other ship models would be from Gold Medal Models and then White Ensign Models.  GMM is easy to work with and has good directions, their sets do not go down to the admirals ash tray but include the vast majority of what you need.  WEM sets are more inclusive but are a little more difficult to work with but contain superb directions.  Thereafter it is closer to call.  I would rank Eduard next.  Tom's brass is very soft and more difficult to work with, directions are not always clear.   Some of the Asian sets are incredibly vast with a brass part for just about everything but can be very difficult to work with and directions vary from good to nonexistent.

Short list: GMM and WEM.

WS

I have found that there is more than one way to address this dilemna. I personally do it this way.If say I am building a TRUMPETER ship kit.  I use their brand for the basic detail up steps. I then use GOLD MEDAL MODELS to do the general finishing. For RADARS and stuff like that I prefer EDUARD,s products. Now If I  am doing say a small destroyer such as a DRAGON "SMART KIT" destroyer escort, I will use ALL the P.E. that comes with it and fill out the rest with TOMS MODELWORKS P.E. I would say that I rank them this way.GOLD MEDAL , TOMS, and then for cars DETAIL MASTER. Of the foriegn mfgrs. it goes in this order JOHN R.HAYNES,EDUARD and WHITE ENSIGN.These are my choices. I also use a lot of what,s available in train P.E.(H.O. and N). this has worked for me flawlessly since I started using P.E. I haven,t used ANY on my planes or armor because I don,t build many of those..I hope this helps you.    tankerbuilder