Well done! This was a fantastic review of all three ships and I totally agree with you. It's almost like the best combination of the three would be OcCre for the wood, AL for the brass details, and Billings to get your money back.
Great comparison video. Totally agree with you regarding the kits. I have the Billings Boats HMS Victory and the instructions are poor , the rigging instructions are terrible and the wood quality average at best.
After 60 years of modeling ships, my opinion is A. L. is your biggest bang for buck. Occre is pricy and good. Billings is very close to scratch building. Billings is probably my favorite. Expect to carve the ornamentation. The wood stock in all isn't very important. You are modeling. I built the Billings Royal Yacht. Beautiful mahogany for hull planks. Then they suggested to paint them white.
Hi David, I agree with you Al is the best for the budget, unfortunately my experience with Billing Boats is not good, I wasn't impressed with the Kit I have here, I think the best kits I have seen are Caldercraft, though Ive not built one yet
Was looking forward to watching this video, however, the music drowns out more than half the dialog. You put lot of time and effort into making the video please lose the music. I would assume if you were having a conversation with a friend you wouldn't have music blaring to the point you couldn't understand each other.
In my experience, models from OcCre have the nicer wood, but building instructions on paper (including 1:1 plans) are often not as detailed and do not come with a stand. In addition, the rigging twine is very fluffy. Artesania Latina usually has only linen wood, relatively thin frames and you always have to paint to get colour, plus there are no plans on paper, but sometimes finer details. Sorry, but the plastic boat from Billing Boats is a no-go (my Bluenose also had plastic parts).
It all comes down to whether you want to assemble a kit of a ship then you want all the timber to be the same. If you are going to build a model of a ship then then the timber size is irrelevant as A good builder can handle the difference in timber size and it all has to be sanded so thickness dose not mater. But yes, I agree with your sentiments about the Billings boat kit is the same as mine.
Hi Stuart thanks for your comments, whilst I agree i would suggest that many newer modellers would not have all the equipment to hand in order to fix the issues, when you purchase a kit (and some can be expensive) you would expect the sizes to be correct, especially in this day and age, maybe im expecting too much lol
I’ve just come across your channel and I like your content and style. You seem like a nice chap but you sure have attracted a bunch of cranky wankers in the side galleries. I follow several modeling channels and many feature a pleasing musical track, but you might want to find a track with a flatter volume profile in order to let your calm and easy voice to stand out. I think that your side by side comparisons of model kit manufacturers is unique among modeling channels and I find it interesting and useful. I have built A.L. and Model Shipways kits and enjoy learning about other vendors, but the Billings kit just about made me puke on my cat when I saw the plastic. You potentially save me some money there. Considering that Billings claims to have invented the model ship concept, their plastic hull was a disappointment. Thanks for the great vids and I look forward to more. Cheers from the Chihuahuan desert, USA
Hi Angus, the videos you are currently watching are the first when I decided to add voice, so in all fairness the C/W's do have some grounds to complain, I was still experimenting with the music volume level, although having said that you are always going to get someone who complains about something, I must admit I was shocked with the Billing Boats kit, although I hope not all their kits are the same, I meant to ask on your last Comment, are you at a real Boat yard or is it a virtual yard due to your models?
@@g-kip thanks for writing. The “boat yard” is a tongue in cheek reference to my model boat building, considering we live in the desert where the only nearby water is the Rio Grande (river) and even that is dry for much of the fall and winter. The desert and mountains are beautiful but not conducive to sailing except for the vicarious thrill through modeling. (And it’s so dry that paint dries really fast! 😀)
I thought as much, as I did take a look on Google at the Chihuahuan Desert, I was curious, amazing scenery. Quick drying paint can only be an advantage, though Im not sure about the glue though.
Typical Billing kits are so poor. Shame really as they have some of the nicest ships ever built. I’m just finishing off the Calypso from Billing and it’s been a challenge understanding the instructions and missing parts. They tend to have part numbers on the diagrams but the part does not exist on the parts list. I’ve already got the Soleil Royal from AL and San Felipe from Occre as my next build.
@@g-kip Thanks mate. I wanted a Victory but couldn’t face another Billings and the Caldercraft version is too big. Seems strange the Spanish manufacturers are a bit reluctant to offer the Victory except for Occre’s special edition kit.
Hi thanks for your comment, the music volume has been addressed in later Videos, this is one of the first videos where I added voice, and I was still trying to sort everything out.
Mate seriously. If you know timber then you can understand that .2 mm of a difference is pretty acceptable. This is not plastic and no machine will cut and keep a thin strip at exactly the same thickness. I agree with having diversity in timbers, but I think your thickness comparison is irrelevant.
Hi Josh, thanks for your comments, my main issue is the widths of the planks, there is a large variation when your told the planks are 5mm wide you dont expect to get them ranging from 3.96 - 5.01.
Hi, I appreciate you are not a fan of the music (youve already made that clear ;-) on another video), the video's you are commenting on are when I just started adding voice to my videos, you will find the music is no where near as loud in my newer videos.
Well done! This was a fantastic review of all three ships and I totally agree with you. It's almost like the best combination of the three would be OcCre for the wood, AL for the brass details, and Billings to get your money back.
Couldnt have said it better myself lol
Nice comparison. From time to time the music drowns you out. I would be interested in a full build of the OcCre model. Thank you.
Thanks Richard, noted about the music
Great comparison video. Totally agree with you regarding the kits. I have the Billings Boats HMS Victory and the instructions are poor , the rigging instructions are terrible and the wood quality average at best.
Thanks Greg, very dissapointed with Billing Boat.
After 60 years of modeling ships, my opinion is A. L. is your biggest bang for buck. Occre is pricy and good. Billings is very close to scratch building. Billings is probably my favorite. Expect to carve the ornamentation. The wood stock in all isn't very important. You are modeling. I built the Billings Royal Yacht. Beautiful mahogany for hull planks. Then they suggested to paint them white.
Hi David, I agree with you Al is the best for the budget, unfortunately my experience with Billing Boats is not good, I wasn't impressed with the Kit I have here, I think the best kits I have seen are Caldercraft, though Ive not built one yet
Was looking forward to watching this video, however, the music drowns out more than half the dialog. You put lot of time and effort into making the video please lose the music. I would assume if you were having a conversation with a friend you wouldn't have music blaring to the point you couldn't understand each other.
Hi Thanks for your feedback, the music volume has been addressed in future videos,.
In my experience, models from OcCre have the nicer wood, but building instructions on paper (including 1:1 plans) are often not as detailed and do not come with a stand. In addition, the rigging twine is very fluffy. Artesania Latina usually has only linen wood, relatively thin frames and you always have to paint to get colour, plus there are no plans on paper, but sometimes finer details. Sorry, but the plastic boat from Billing Boats is a no-go (my Bluenose also had plastic parts).
Hi Wolfgang, i was really dissapointed with the Billing Boat kit, definately wont buy another.
@@g-kip I would have to agree 100%. Fantastic review!
It all comes down to whether you want to assemble a kit of a ship then you want all the timber to be the same. If you are going to build a model of a ship then then the timber size is irrelevant as A good builder can handle the difference in timber size and it all has to be sanded so thickness dose not mater. But yes, I agree with your sentiments about the Billings boat kit is the same as mine.
Hi Stuart thanks for your comments, whilst I agree i would suggest that many newer modellers would not have all the equipment to hand in order to fix the issues, when you purchase a kit (and some can be expensive) you would expect the sizes to be correct, especially in this day and age, maybe im expecting too much lol
I’ve just come across your channel and I like your content and style. You seem like a nice chap but you sure have attracted a bunch of cranky wankers in the side galleries. I follow several modeling channels and many feature a pleasing musical track, but you might want to find a track with a flatter volume profile in order to let your calm and easy voice to stand out.
I think that your side by side comparisons of model kit manufacturers is unique among modeling channels and I find it interesting and useful. I have built A.L. and Model Shipways kits and enjoy learning about other vendors, but the Billings kit just about made me puke on my cat when I saw the plastic. You potentially save me some money there. Considering that Billings claims to have invented the model ship concept, their plastic hull was a disappointment.
Thanks for the great vids and I look forward to more. Cheers from the Chihuahuan desert, USA
Hi Angus, the videos you are currently watching are the first when I decided to add voice, so in all fairness the C/W's do have some grounds to complain, I was still experimenting with the music volume level, although having said that you are always going to get someone who complains about something, I must admit I was shocked with the Billing Boats kit, although I hope not all their kits are the same, I meant to ask on your last Comment, are you at a real Boat yard or is it a virtual yard due to your models?
@@g-kip thanks for writing. The “boat yard” is a tongue in cheek reference to my model boat building, considering we live in the desert where the only nearby water is the Rio Grande (river) and even that is dry for much of the fall and winter. The desert and mountains are beautiful but not conducive to sailing except for the vicarious thrill through modeling. (And it’s so dry that paint dries really fast! 😀)
I thought as much, as I did take a look on Google at the Chihuahuan Desert, I was curious, amazing scenery. Quick drying paint can only be an advantage, though Im not sure about the glue though.
Typical Billing kits are so poor. Shame really as they have some of the nicest ships ever built. I’m just finishing off the Calypso from Billing and it’s been a challenge understanding the instructions and missing parts. They tend to have part numbers on the diagrams but the part does not exist on the parts list. I’ve already got the Soleil Royal from AL and San Felipe from Occre as my next build.
Sounds like your future builds coming up is a great line-up and I am looking forward to them!
I definately wont buy another, youve got a nice couple of builds to do Phil, keep you busy for a while
@@g-kip Thanks mate. I wanted a Victory but couldn’t face another Billings and the Caldercraft version is too big. Seems strange the Spanish manufacturers are a bit reluctant to offer the Victory except for Occre’s special edition kit.
@@philsreef746 When Constructo where around they did a lovely HMS victory kit, Whilst I do like the OCCRE version I do think its over priced.
Please. Cut the volume. Can't hear clearly most of what you're saying, Mate!
Hi thanks for your comment, the music volume has been addressed in later Videos, this is one of the first videos where I added voice, and I was still trying to sort everything out.
Mate seriously. If you know timber then you can understand that .2 mm of a difference is pretty acceptable. This is not plastic and no machine will cut and keep a thin strip at exactly the same thickness. I agree with having diversity in timbers, but I think your thickness comparison is irrelevant.
Hi Josh, thanks for your comments, my main issue is the widths of the planks, there is a large variation when your told the planks are 5mm wide you dont expect to get them ranging from 3.96 - 5.01.
Good God , WHY that bloody music ? Do you really do this just to annoy people ? 🤮🤮👎👎👎👎👎👎
Hi, I appreciate you are not a fan of the music (youve already made that clear ;-) on another video), the video's you are commenting on are when I just started adding voice to my videos, you will find the music is no where near as loud in my newer videos.