I’m wondering what you guys think of their kits. I want to build a model of the Samuel B. Roberts, DE-413. They don’t make a kit of that ship but do make the U.S.S. Rudderow. It’s the same as the Butler class but has a different propulsion plant.
Have any of you built the USS Rudderow kit? If so, what do you think of it? And what about IS kits in general? I’ve never built an all resin kit or even a ship kit so should I just steer clear of this kit because of lack of experience? (I’ve been strictly an armor modeler since getting back into the hobby a few years ago.)
Iron Shipway kits are terrific! I have built the USS Texas (1945) and it went together wonderfully. Parts fit was flawless, the level of detail is very impressive, and the service is outstanding. I received the HMS Norfolk as a gift, and I have noticed the same observations with dry-fitting. I am very impressed.
Resin kits are easier than plastic in many ways. There are generally fewer parts, they tend to fit better, and they are usually cast much finer. There is a better selection of kits available than plastic kits, though that gap is narrowing. The main differences lie in the fact that you have to wash the resin parts in a detergent and water to remove any molding residue oils, and you have to use cyanoacrylate glues.
As for price, resin kits often come with all the photoetch parts you would otherwise have to buy when building plastic kits. The actual cost works out to be nearly the same as with plastic.
Let me echo Bill’s sentiments above and add a few caveats.
A resin kit is not a plastic kit. There are some differences in the medium which you may need to address. Resin may warp. This may be fixed by putting the part in simmering (not boiling) water for a few minutes. Remove from the water and straighten the part, Allow to cool and proceed.
Second you may find surface bubbles. There are several approaches toward fixing them Large bubbles may need to be cut away to good material then build the piece back with some strip styrene, Bondo, and/or superglue. Small bubbles can often be fixed with a dab of Bondo or superglue.
The instructions in some of the early ISW kits were rather poor, often not much more than an exploded diagram. Later kits have much improved instructions. However a secondary reference may be required for some assembly & detail sequences.
ISW has an excellent customer relation philosophy. They want you to be satisfied. If there is something wrong with the kit when you receive it, contact them and they will replace the parts (even a whole hull). Youre building the kit, something doesn’t fit, you break a piece, drill through a part or sand too much. Contact them and tell them what you did and they will fix it. I have heard stories of a cat knocking a model off the shelf years after completion. The modeler contacted ISW and they supplied replacement parts. Buy with confidence.
Full disclosure, I have worked the ISW booth in the past at IPMS conventions and I have made several of their masters.
Thanks for the input. I think I’ll go ahead and get the kit. I really love the story of this little ship and her brave captain and crew. I wish that someone would come out with a plastic kit in a scale larger than 1/350. Oh well. I guess I’ll be picking up a new and stronger pair of reading glases for this build.
Their customer service is good because there is no way they would still be in business if not.
Their earlier kits are not a good first resin kit unless you like jumping into the deep end feet first with lead weights on. I purchased their APD Roper kit and it arrived with a banana-shaped hull, air bubbles in the vents and other top-side details that destroyed their usefulness - since they’re integral with the hull, you have to saw and replace them with scratch-built pieces yourself. Guns were all resin and flash - mostly unusable. This is where their good customer service comes in. Just contact them and they’ll keep sending replacements out until you have enough good ones.
Note that this is an experience based on a kit roughly ten years ago, and I’ve heard things have improved with their NEWER kits - the Sammy B is one of the older releases, I think.
The customer service is outstandig. They sent me the wrong hull of a DDG it turn out to be a DD. I was mad as hell,but they sent me the correct hull with no charge and told me to keep the DD hull. How’s that for service. I’ve bought 3 other kits from them. Again what everybody esle had said. You will not go wrong.
I got the kit the other day and have to say I’m pretty impressed with the quality. I’m not impressed with the instructions though. They leave quite a bit to the imagination. Thankfully there’s plenty of reference material available on the net that I’ll be able to use.
Yes, I know it’s a Zombie thread but there is some thing of interest…
I called ISW today as I can no longer find their web site.
Commander Models/ Iron Shipwright is changing their Hosting site Supplier. They are currently “down” so no Web page Available. Stay tuned…they will be back up under a different hosting site shortly.
Nino.
P.S. They make terrific models. I have his Halibut and Nautilus SS-168 in the stash. I need a few more resin kits under my belt and then it’s Up Periscope time for these two great kits.
Funny you mention this, just this morning I was looking for information on Iron Shipwrights and stumbled upon a thread on FSM which has this link: http://ironshipwrights.com/ships_350.html
The Web site has been down for several days previous to my post. I believe it was Jon Warneke I talked with and he indicated the new web page materials were already loaded with the new hosting site. He was waiting for it to “Start up”. I understood that to mean real soon. I’m thinking my phone call did some prompting when I mentioned I would put some info on the FSM Ships forum.
Glad it’s back. Might still be some glitches but I wanted to look thru the site for some possible Xmas gifts. (Maybe a nice Salt Lake City or Brooklyn class CL.)
As far as gifts, these are for advanced skilled modelers. I have built one, and a lot of the detail needs to be self sourced to bring it to a fine detail state. But the bones are there. Mine is the USS Monterey.
My Nautilus needed some replacement parts for the Fairwater and they were sent out "quick-time. Great Service.
The ISW Subs are pretty easy, well, not really, but are good practice for the Surface Ship models. My 1st ISW kit was PT-568. I had a tough time with the props on the PT boat. Everybody wanted to “look” at the boat and so the props and shafts kept coming off. I have since left’em off as I have learned what Look really means to non-modelers.
I don’t display my models I just like building’em. That ISW PT boat had been left out on my work table with my scratch-built 1/240 scale IJN A-target midget sub. I really wanted to see the Revell 1/240 “Ward” and it’s prey together but I never got around to fixing my very very old model of the Revell Buchanan (Aaron Ward/Campbeltown) kit. However, my very old Revell kit is probably hopeless (I blew it up back in the mid 60’s-picture below).
In keeping with the ISW theme Topic… I thought I could not afford their 1/350 Ward at around 80 bucks. I do have 2 more of the Revell “Ward” models as spares/backups but when I think of how much these extra kits were and the PE and additional detail needed (Guns, shields, tower, etc…, The ISW kit is a Bargain! Too bad it’s not 1/240 as I have the Midget sub…
A technical question… My work table is 5 feet long- 20 sq ft total, but I only seem to get 1 or 2 sq ft clear enough to work on anything. (Maybe that’s why I have not done much over 1/200 scale yet…LOL). Is this normal?
Iron Shipwrights has added many new Submarine kits over the last 12 months. I never thought anyone would produce a really good SSN-575 in the Special Projects configuration nor a USS Triton, a rare design. ISW did! (Triton SSN-586 was Commanded by Capt. Edward L. Beach, writer of Run Silent, Run Deep and others.)
One member of this form and a member of Subcommittee have been instrumental in producing masters or documentation and certain special details for ISW.
I don’t know if I posted about having a new workspace9Place). It’s a former secretary desk. Yup, Had the whole desk top till I started working again. Now the workspace is 18" x 31" and getting smaller daily. I believe the fromula will work itself out in about the time I finish the “Pegasus” Model.
Then maybe it won’t . After the Parkinsons settled down, I have found work-arounds for the shaking, which is manageable because they caught it when it first presented in the tests. Thus, I still build, But, I find I am building slower and on more subjects at once than ever before. I was up to four and am now down to two! trying to decide which comes out of the stash next. The Room is not finished. I haven’t gotten the shelves up for it to be finished, so they sit, without decals till they have their space to sit and set? T.B.
I like Ironshipwright kits. I’ve built three: USS Truxtun (CGN-35), USS Bainbridge (CGN-25) and modified their USS Halsey kit into USS Richmond K. Turner (CG-20).
Overall, they are a straightforward build for a reasonably experienced ship model builder. The photo etch is of high quality and they are providing 3D printed parts for some of the detail. One must pay strict attention to which PE they are applying–sometimes there is more than one PE part with the same ID tag.
The instructions are a bit sketchy, so make sure you have a good build plan. If you want to see how they turned out, checkout www.killermodelsbypaul.com
