Problem with U-boat shipment from WEM

My tale of woe ....

Last night I got the new U-boat from Revell from White Ensign Models in England. (I'm in America.)

Needless to say, I was excited until I saw how they'd packed the model for shipping -- they put a cardboard girdle around the middle of the box, covering around 50% of the box, but then just put brown paper around the two ends of the box, taped to the cardboard girdle. So it looked a bit like a hot dog, with the bun in the middle and the frank (the softer kit box wrapped in brown paper) sticking out of either end.

As a result, the box ends took a beating as it came across the Atlantic, and the tip of the bow on the port hull half is smashed off.

The kit also came without the decals it's supposed to have.

What a bummer to an otherwise very exciting arrival. I've written to White Ensign and I'll see what they have to say tonight.

Cool kit though -- the OOP deck guns are much nicer than the standard fare, though they still have room for improvement. I'm sure someone will release a resin improvement set, worth while here, as this is a striking model.

You get different kit pieces to create the conning towers of a number of different Type VIIC's too. Great idea! The decks are very nicely done too. I couldn't have started the kit anyway, as I am involved in three of the current armor group builds, but seeing the kit's niceness sorely tempted me!

But of course there is always that broken hull half.

I just hope this gets settled to my satisfaction. Sad to have the transaction marred in this way.