Experience with OcCre
 

I was wondering if anyone has had any experiences with the new manufacturer OcCre. Am getting ready to order a new kit and have been looking at their selection.

Re: Experience with OcCre
 

Hi Brandon,
One of our members id working with a OcCre kit, Bryan. See this post - Hello all. Novice online
If he doesn't log on in awhile, maybe you can send him a PM.
John

Re: Experience with OcCre
 

i have done an occre kit. the san marco. most of the directions are in spanish . they have no support help. the model was nice and detailed, but not a whole lot of help ,with instructions.

Re: Experience with OcCre
 

Currently building my second model (San Martin by OcCre). Found that the instructions/plans/pictures are more than enough, although I have yet to begin the sails/rigging. I was more than pleased with the quality of parts especially after the Artesania Latina kit (Virginia Swift) that I first completed. Once I finish the San Martin I plan on beginning the Santisima Trinidad by the same company.

Re: Experience with OcCre
 

Thanks for the info Dave, I threw caution to the wind and started building the Apostol Felipe. So far, so good. The instructions aren't great but using the pictures and the plans it's fairly easy to follow along. Some of the cast fittings I noticed weren't completely formed but don't think it's anything that I can't work with. On the whole I am satisfied with the quality of the kit. I have had my eye on the Santisima Trinidad as well after this.

Re: Experience with OcCre
 

Hello ,just putting in my two cents,OcCre is made buy Billing Boat out of Denmark.According to Billing's,OcCre is being destributed to North America only.Regards Walter :blah: :blah: :old:

Re: Experience with OcCre
 

Something tells me this isn't true. I thought OcCre was started by some ex-Art Lat people in Spain. They are also distributed in Europe (and world) by Hobbies Guinea. If you compare the kits from each company they are very similar, even down to the instructions.

http://hobbiesguinea.com/default.php?cPath=57_631

Re: Experience with OcCre
 

My Deepest Apologys.I was wrong in saying that OcCre is made by Billing Boat.I was thinking about WindJammer,Soo Sorry :=(( .I stand corrected Walter

Re: Experience with OcCre
 

I'm working on the Satisima Trinidad, the crosssection, and have encountered a problem with the shrouds, they are out of place. Has anyone else experienced this and what did you do????

Re: Experience with OcCre
 

I just built the OCCre Corsair, modifying it a bit to make it look more like the Black Pearl (the Pirates of the Caribbean ship). Here are some impressions :

In general, the instructions are sketchy; the photographs are small and don’t always agree with the plans. The materials are of variable quality. Some of the wood is a bit coarse grained. Some of the cast parts are beautiful, others not so much – the belaying pins are a bit rough, and require a bigger hole in pin racks than the instructions call for. The instructions call for wrapping the blocks with thread – the thread is cotton - loose and fuzzy stuff, which requires waxing – most of the thread is pretty crummy stuff, not nearly as good as the synthetic (in a wider variety of sizes) provided with Model Expo kits. Also, I found it difficult to work with (unraveled, crimped and tattered when worked with tweezers) and didn’t look so good, so I used brass wire for most of the blocks

First issue I had was that the instructions call for planking the deck before installing it. This makes it harder to do a good planking job, since you don’t know exactly how it is going to fit to the keel and bulkheads. Also makes it harder to bend to the fore to aft curve.

The bulwarks had several issues. Instructions called for planking the inner sides before installing them. And they are made of laser cut plywood, which doesn’t like to bend. Wetting them caused them to delaminate. Additionally, there is a gunport at the point of sharpest curve, causing the bulwarks to kink slightly at this point..
I tried to make my own bulwarks out of basswood, but ultimately used the plywood ones, making glue blocks to hold them together at the bow, at approximately the correct angle – as to fit the bow deck. They should have allowed for some support blocks for the bow deck, so you could use it as a guide when gluing the bulwarks.
I planked the interior of the bulwarks after installing them. Planking would have been easier and neater if they supplied different widths of planking wood, so as to avoid small gaps or large overlaps around the gunports.

First layer of planking called for 2 mm x 5 mm planks. 2 mm wood just does NOT bend well. I think they expect you to do a lousy planking job and fix it all with a rasp and wood filler – which I had to do. Second layer of planking would have benefited from a wider variety of plank widths and a spiling diagram.

Issues of scale:
Some of the wood parts are just the wrong scale. The handrails on the upper deck and the crosstrees, as well as the steps on the ladder over the side, call for 2x3 mm wood. At 1:80 scale, 2 mm is about 7 inches! 1/16 wood looks much better. Deadeyes and blocks are also out of scale. At .25 in. across, they would be 20 in on the real ship.
Instructions call for using the same cord as the anchor lines for the coils of rope on deck. It looked really stupid. It only took 4 or 5 loops to reach the required diameter. Model Expo thread looked much better.