I've finally got round to completing a new version of my database of plastic sailing ship kits. Here it is:
download link
This version has all three formats of the database - Access, Excel and CSV - in a single zip file (it's less than 100K in size).
New stuff in the latest version:
- More kits added, some of them thanks to various FSM forum members
- Many additions and revisions to existing kit data
- Release dates added for most Revell kits (thanks to jtilley on the FSM forum)
- Release dates and more information added for most Heller kits (thanks to michel.vrtg on the FSM forum)
- Release dates added for all Airfix kits (thanks to Arthur Ward's book)
- Steamship kit data is now included in Excel and CSV versions
- Data in the Excel and CSV versions is now sorted alphabetically by ship name
As before, I hope this database is of use to the plastic ship modelling
community, and if anyone has any information, however minor, which
could be added to the list (either kits which aren't included,
additional information for kits already in the database), or if any of
the information in the list is incorrect - please let me know (either
post here or e-mail me at edward (at) pinniger (dot) globalnet.co.uk .
As for why I would spend the time to create a database like this
- after discovering "Rajen's Kit List"
(
http://www.quuxuum.org/rajens_list/shiprevs.html) , I found
it an invaluable guide to what kits were out there, and how good (or
not) they were. (I highly recommend every ship modeller has a copy of
this page saved to their PC's hard drive). When my database is
complete, I'll probably submit some or all of the information to the
list's creators in the hope that they can use some of it.
However, this list has very little information (other than the name and
manufacturer) on many kits, and many kits of sailing ships, in
particular, are missing from the list entirely. This gave me an idea of
creating a more specialised and detailed list/database, concentrating
on kits of sailing ships. As sailing ships are probably the most
obscure plastic model kit subject in this respect, with countless
reissues of one manufacturer's kits by another, modified/recycled kits
by the same manufacturer, and many dozens of old kits which have been
out of production for decades, creating a database listing them all
seemed like a very useful idea.