Mantua 787 Sovereign of the Seas

Our much-missed late Professor Tilley had an acronym to the effect of Hideously Expensive European Model Kits.  I, for one, echoed his sentiment that, while they are models, they are not scale models. 

There are some exceptions Calder, Syren, and some others are really serious kits.  And, the price reflects that quality and precision.

Now, from my personal experience, Mantua is better than Corel or Artensia, but, still a bit on the "soft" side for detail and accuracy (their blocks and deadeyes and the like are not particularly well-formed or very uniform).  Mamoli is often a better product, if the choice was available.

Sadly, with Mantua, I'd assume I would be replacing all of the blocks and deadeys, all the rigging, and probably the belaying pins.  I'd hope that I did not need to buy up a bunch of basswood to replace the planking (which would be a dead certain with Corel or Artist's Latrine).

At a certain point, after you have bought a full set of plans, corrected all the hull shapes and collected a uniform, to scale, set of fittings, you might as well have just scratch-built the thing from scratch.

Ok, I'm a cold, wet, blanket--but, I've built some of these nothes before, and you are looking at spending 500 or 1000 hours on a thing you can only squint at.  After all, you are the one who will intimately have to thread lanyards through lopsided deadeyes, and have to reshape every block, every flaw will wind up magnified in your own eyes.  This is tough sledding.

Sadly, there is only the DiAgostini subscription kit as an alternative for SotS.

HECEPOB- hideously expensive central european plank on bulkhead.

Whew!

Look at reviews in other places like ship model forum, model ship builder, ships in scale, others escape my memory.

Assuming you've built wooden kits before, this one would be great if it is well manufactered.

Me, I'm still at the solid hull, two masted schooner level.

There's a pretty sexy open-the-box video on youtube. 

I coluldn't immediately find any build reviews.

Price is certainly very good.

The savings is useful because you will need to build a display case for this model, and that will be several hundred dollars. I would also say it's highly probable that you would replace/ augment some or all of the line in the kit. There is really beautiful stuff now available. Another couple of C notes.

I would say it's certainly worth a shot. 

One other thing though is to get a chest of drawers or some dedicated way to keep track of all of your bits and pieces. It would be a tragedy to lose track of any of those carving castings.

Thanks for the replies.  I did find many mentions of the HEC.... thing, and finally found where the acronym was explained.  Took some doing, but I get it now.  That being said, are plans for either the Le Soleil Royale or the Sovereign of the Seas available?  I would certainly entertain scratch building either of those ships.

As for keeping track of stuff, I have several parts bins of various sizes mounted on the wall next to my work space.  I keep all the parts of the current build in those clear plastic drawers so I can find what I need quickly.  Usually.  Not sure how many times I have looked for 10 minutes for something and it is right there in front of me.

Bob

Luvspinball

Thanks for the replies.  I did find many mentions of the HEC.... thing, and finally found where the acronym was explained.  Took some doing, but I get it now.  That being said, are plans for either the Le Soleil Royale or the Sovereign of the Seas available?  I would certainly entertain scratch building either of those ships.

....

Bob

 

 

I have always regretted the loss of several vendors of scale ship drawings.  I have noticed the posting of free ship drawings at several sites, but not enough to make up for the lost of Taubman's and a British vendor I forget the name of.  There used to be sooo many ship plans available.  Even today I find it easier to find scale drawings of ships, but still easier than for many other genres I model (especially cars- am I the only one that scratchbuilds car models?).