Napoleon by Imai (1/150)

I'm not sure, but I think this may be a re-release of the old Heller kit 'La Belle Poule'.......

searat12 wrote:

I'm not sure, but I think this may be a re-release of the old Heller kit 'La Belle Poule'.......

I don't think so: according to Heller's catalogue, the dimensions of La Belle Poule are 460mm length, 432mm height... Not the same as the Napoleon...

Absolutely not.  The Heller Belle Poule is a frigate - and by all accounts a fine kit, given its small scale.  The Imai Napoleon is a ship-of-the-line.  The relatively large-scale Imai kits are widely regarded as some of the finest plastic sailing (or, in this case, sail/steam) ship kits ever.  They were only on the market for a few years, back in the late seventies and early eighties, before the company went out of business.  But they set a standard few other such kits ever touched.

Apparently US of A only, otherwise I would have been tempted to bid on this bundle (even if I already have the Heller Victory). Wonder what the final price will be

Julian

As it happens, I have BOTH kits!  I had to go root around in the attice for a bit, but they are indeed different kits.  The Heller 'La Belle Poule' is a two-gundecked frigate built post-Napoleonic wars (and is quite a nice little kit), and the Imai 'Napoleon' is a considerably larger 2-gundecked ship of the line (with some scattered guns on an incomplete third deck) that is auxiliary steam-powered.  Having a quick look at 'Napoleon,' there are some immediate issues to consider.  First, the gunports are not open, but are the sort of molded indentation usually seen in the Airfix kits (i.e., no gundecks, only the upper deck is available).  Second, the planking of the hull has that deeply engraved wood-grain that some find objectionable.  Good points include very crisp molding, excellent instructions, a wood display base, cloth flags, and a very good guide to doing rigging generally, although the rigging diagrams themselves for this ship are very basic.  Should build up into a pretty good model.  As far as I know, there are really only two plastic warship models that deal with this period of post-Napoleonic ship-building transition, 'Napoleon,' and 'La Belle Poule,' and so both are important for that reason.  As to whether you should buy the kit?  I think it all depends on the price, and how interested you are in the subject.....

Heller also produced Le Napoleon.  Are these the same kits?  Also, is this a newly released kit from Imai?  If so, I would be very careful getting involved in a bidding war and look for a "Buy It Now" price.

Bill Morrison

Thanks for the info, gentlemen!

Well, I don't think I'm going to bid on that one. It would take years to build (and rig) those two kits; besides, the final price is surely going to be quite expensive - not to mention shipping fees... And who has enough space in his house to store the two models once finished?

warshipguy wrote:

Heller also produced Le Napoleon.  Are these the same kits?

I don't think Heller ever produced this kit; it's not even listed in Carbonel's book about Heller, "Heller, La maquette à la française"...

I know that Heller once did . . . I saw it in the Squadron Shop in Wheaton, Maryland in the early 1980's.  It was stated to be 1/150 scale.  I have never seen it since then. That is why I'm asking whether it is the same kit.

Bill Morrison

All I can say about this point is that I don't remember a Heller Napoleon.  But that means virtually nothing.  The Heller sailing ship range, in the company's heyday, was enormous - and, frankly, it contained so many reissues (and so many duds, in terms of scale fidelity) that I quit trying to keep track of them. 

I remember several Airfix kits turning up in Heller boxes, and a few Revell (specifically the Revell Golden Hind and Flying Cloud) as well.  I don't recall seeing any Imai kits in Heller boxes, but that certainly doesn't mean there were none.  At that particular point in the history of the plastic kit, companies seem to have been leasing molds to each other all over the place.

 

IMAI finally went out of business in 2002, the assets of the company
were aquired by another well known japanese modelkit manufacturer AOSHIMA.
Since then AOSHIMA has reiussed most of IMAI´s kits, amongst them
the 1:150 scale "Susquehanna", "Nippon Maru" an "Kaiwo Maru/Kaiou Maru",
1:120 scale "Cutty Sark" and "Constitution", 1:100 scale "Spanish Galeon",
1:70 scale "Golden Hind", 1:60 Scale "Santa Maria" and some of the
smaller 1:350 scale ships. What we haven´t seen yet are the "Napoleon",
"Catalan ship" and "Chebec" in larger scale and the smaller sized "Roman warship",
"Greek warship" and "Galeass". IMAI also had a series of mini ships, in larger
scale than AIRFIX, equally to the smaller PYRO sailing ships.

The 1:150 scale ships, like "Susquehanna" are listed for 9800 Yen at Hobbylink Japan,
that´s approx. 92,- $, plus shipping costs 5000 Yen (another 50,- $). So "Napoleon"
might be in the same price range, if AOSHIMA decides to reissue the model.
Maybe they didn´t reissue the kit yet, because the other ships are more famous,
like Santa Maria, Constitution and Cutty Sark. A buddy of my modellers club has
built a "Napoleon" an he says that it is a fantastic kit , like other IMAI kits as well.
So if you can find a "Napoleon" for less than 140,- $ in Ebay, this would be OK,
because a newly reiussued kit hardly would cost less including shipping.

By the way, I have written an email to the product management of Revell in Germany,
encouraging them to cooperate with AOSHIMA, to add some nice sailing ship
models to Revell´s line. They had a cooperation with Aoshima before, in the early 90s,
so maybe there is a chance to see ex IMAI models by Revell via Aoshima?......   

Axel Wolters 

there was an older thread about that gem where I've already wrote my remarks.

/forums/647922/ShowPost.aspx

Hello,

 

I puchased the Napoleon kit about a year ago on ebay and paid a quite steep price for it: it has a crisp fit but I feel the kit is rather basic and not very challenging to build, masts are in one piece, the basic rigging etc. I have another problem with my kit and I hope somebody can help me:

1. on one hull half the figurehead has broken off & lost.

2. on the other hull half the lower part of the rudder area is missing due to a molding/casting failure during the productionprocess for it clearly hasn't broken off.

 

The question is, who can make a silicone putty mould of these areas and send them to me?  This would enable me to repair it invisibly, also I'm willing to pay for the costs involved. I can provide a picture of what exactly are the areas.

 

Thx Papillon.