Stay away from Constucto at all cost

Apprentice

 

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I am currently working on Constructo's Enterprise kit, and have been for about the past 12 months (I only work on the kit on weekends for a few hours). I find the kit to have excellent instructions (detailed plans and color photographs), and high quality gorgeous wood and other parts. Many of the wood parts are precut. All of the precut parts and fittings are beautifully organized in numbered bags. The frame and bulkheads were laser cut to perfection. The instructions are tersely written (in 6 languages), though clear. For example, one part of one step said "plank the hull". That part of that step took many weeks to complete. The instructions presume a knowledge of wood model ship building or the ability to obtain such knowledge from elsewhere. The kit included (free) extra vaneer planking for the hull which has made my hull look absolutely fantastic (with some help by me, too!). I most previously made the Skipjack from Midwest. That kit was excellent and had excellent instructions, plans, and drawings (not photos). However, that kit was a level or two below Enterprise in terms of difficulty. Also, the Skipjack used much softer and thinner wood and required the hull to be painted, thankfully, to cover a number of mistakes I made. However, Enterprise is not to be painted so mistakes are not an option. As a result of Enterprise, my tool collection has increased. I would also recommend a Dremmel, in particular. I now also have an excellent book on wooden model ship building that has helped me immeasurably. If my wife agrees to give me more space for displaying my work, my next kit will be a Constructo, possibly San Mateo. Money cost is not a factor for me in selecting a kit, however, time cost and frustration is. I will not hesitate to buy another Constructo kit.

 

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Micheal

I am glad that you found Constructo kit satisfactory. Good lock to you.

For me, it is anything but. I was working on the Lady Smith, a turn of century (19th to 20th) trawler. The wood provided were extremely poor quality and insufficient in quantity, even if one exercise the greatest care. The pile wood keel and frames were the thinnest I have experienced, although my experience is confined only to AL, MS, Caldercraft and Constucto. The fitting did not match the size of the ship. The one that makes me very angry and fustrated was the propeller. It was too large and could not fit onto the hull. When I examine the plan carefully, I found that the propeller was the size as given in the plan, but there was a difference between the drawing and the actual model for the stern of the hull. Hence the propeller would not fit. All this after I have finished planking! I was definitely guilty of carelessness, but when one buys a kit, one expects the parts to be reasonably accurate. In this case, the difference was massive and I had to rebuild the stern completely to accumulate the propeller. The straw that broke the camel's back was the cover plate for the gunwale. This was a strip of rectangular section 5 mm x 2 mm, taking the same line as the top of the hull. For this part, the material provided was a peice of teak strip, 5 mm x 2 mm and one is expected to form it into the line of the hull. It is not difficult to form a 2 mm thick strip into a curve, but with an aspect ratio of 2.5, it is impossible for my limited skill. Other manufactuers provide a precut strip of the correct shape in such a situation. At that point, I gave up on Lady Smith and confined her to the waste bin. But my interest in model ship is not dented, only that I would not touch anything bearing that label with a 20 foot pole.

Apprentice

 

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I don't work for Constructo or any other company so I have no axe to grind, but it may be that my Constructo kit was a fresher and a newer model than yours. A year ago when I bought the kit, I learned that Constructo had only recently released a new version of the Enterprise kit and I made sure that I ordered this latest version. I note that you are in China. Maybe the kit that you bought was a bit old, in many respects, and the newer versions are better supplied, etc. Also, my experience in kits of this type is that many parts are bigger than they are supposed to be to give the modelmaker some room for error (or for correcting other errors). All I can say is that I do not regret buying my kit, in my box. Your mileage may differ depending on your kit and your box.

 

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My misadventure with Constructo happened two years ago, before I moved to China. The kit was bought from Model Expo as part of an order when they were doing a special deal that waived delivery charge within continental America for an order over a certain amount.

As for manufacturer providing oversized parts to allow for modelling error, I cannot accept the argument. What can the modeller do with an over-sized propeller, except to buy a new one at extra cost?

 

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At this time, it has to be Artesania Latina....

The kits are very well engineered, sometimes not 100% to scale but who really cares?

The "Kit" is not really, some of the key components are cut, ie. false keel/bulkheads and I am more of the opinion that "kits" are really "scratchbuilds" withought the pain of going to another supplier to request planking/decking/hardware material, etc....
I have friends that have bought "Kits" other than A/L and the manufacturing problems seem to out-weigh any benifits....

A/L, in the later kits anyway, seem to have taken things "On Board" more, Bulwarks better formed, Scuppers pre-cut etc.

My opinion anyway....

Happy with my lot....

 

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I have no experience with the Italian kits although I have read a lot of positive comments about them. Within my limited experience, I think Calder Craft is the best. Everything about their kit is excellent. The only thing that count against them is the price. By the way, if its not an already well known fact, one can order Caldercraft wtih a 17% taxe discount if one lives outside UK. The only problem is that the delivery charge is high

For value for money I would give my vote to AL.

Apprentice

 

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I've been working on the HMB Endeavour by Constructo. Instructions could be a bit better, but then, I picked an intermediate model to start with as a beginner. To date, I have not really been bogged down other than some lateral issues, which, thankfully, have been answer