My tale of woe …
Last night I got the new U-boat from Revell from White Ensign Models in England. (I’m in America.)
Needless to say, I was excited until I saw how they’d packed the model for shipping – they put a cardboard girdle around the middle of the box, covering around 50% of the box, but then just put brown paper around the two ends of the box, taped to the cardboard girdle. So it looked a bit like a hot dog, with the bun in the middle and the frank (the softer kit box wrapped in brown paper) sticking out of either end.
As a result, the box ends took a beating as it came across the Atlantic, and the tip of the bow on the port hull half is smashed off.
The kit also came without the decals it’s supposed to have.
What a bummer to an otherwise very exciting arrival. I’ve written to White Ensign and I’ll see what they have to say tonight.
Cool kit though – the OOP deck guns are much nicer than the standard fare, though they still have room for improvement. I’m sure someone will release a resin improvement set, worth while here, as this is a striking model.
You get different kit pieces to create the conning towers of a number of different Type VIIC’s too. Great idea! The decks are very nicely done too. I couldn’t have started the kit anyway, as I am involved in three of the current armor group builds, but seeing the kit’s niceness sorely tempted me!
But of course there is always that broken hull half. [V]
I just hope this gets settled to my satisfaction. Sad to have the transaction marred in this way. [:(]
I’m sure WEM will take of it. John and Carolyn are Class A folks.
Jeff Herne
I’ve ordered from them before and up til now there’s been no problem. The box is really huge, but still it needed to be reinforced before coming across the Atlantic, and not just with brown paper. I mean … you know how hard ir was for U-boats to sneak across the Atlantic unscathed? [:p]
The hull sections are really long, by the way, and barely fit in the box. This is why the tip is smashed on my kit – even a little crushing will bend the hull until something gives.
Update: I wrote to WEM on Monday, and heard back from them on Friday after I sent a reminder on Thursday. They thought they had responded earlier, and apologized for not getting back to me earlier and for the problems with the kit.
They are sending me a replacement hull part and, hopefully, the decals that were missing as well. I am very happy with this response, particularly as I won’t be building it until their PE set comes out, and problably the resin crewmen coming from CMK as well.
I’ll update when I get the replacement parts!
Larry, I have to say that this is a very impressive kit. Mine came via Hannants in the Revell shipment rigid box but only had to travel a couple of hundred miles in total as I’m in the UK. Before you make any decissions on which build to tackle there is a decal sheet already released for other options on Hannants website you might like to look at. Like you I’m waiting WEM’s pe set for this beast before build! Can’t wait!!
Went looking for the decals after my post above just in case you need extra info. The decal set is by Ulad decals and claims to be part 1! It includes camo patterns for 16 more variants!
Tim, I’m also looking forward to building this big kit! I’m going to wait a while as well before building it – it’s definitely worth spending some extra time and money on to make even more impressive. I may use the decals for an alternate model, and am actually hoping for some dry transfers. but I’d still like to have the kit decals in case I decide to use them.
Hi Larry;
I do know after market decals are avail. already… Two sets of various Boats etc… I saw the decals at our local Shop last week… I can’t recall the Mfg… If in there this week I’ll let you know… It’s a mfg I’m not familiar with but they look fantastic…
I just may attempt this boat… It sounds like it has promise…