WHAT! Another newbie

yep, I'm afraid so. I've built/building rc aircraft and now I want to jump in the boating world. I've just moved to a home that's just down the street from a park with a large pond that will make a great place to launch ships in. Dean's SY Komet is what I'm looking at to start on. Is it too much for a first boat? I saw on another forum that Roadrunner has built this ship. Hopefully he can post his pics of the build.  I live in Helena, Alabama USA. For fun on the weekends I fly a hot air balloon.

William

William, I don't know whether the thread is still on the site but there was a fabulous build thread on [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] about the SY Komet some time ago.........there was a very very detailed review of it, and the pro's and con's of buying and building such an expensive kit, with a lot of second rate fittings which needed re making from scratch as they were sub standard..............however if you are a good modeller with good modelling skills, the model isn't beyond the capabilities of a decent modeller..............I myself have a phobia against Dean's Marine as I built some early kits  and sadly didn't like them, [plus other personal issues].............but this is one kit that would be on a bucket list to build........go for it..............and also welcome to the site..............nice to see you posting,

also if you do buy the kit.......please please put a build log on here.........we'd love to see it, as well as any aircraft that you have made in the [past.

best regards , neil and the team.

DONT DO IT!!!!

I built the SY Komet (SMS KOMET) from deans marines, it took me 2 years of pure hell, the hull was twisted and badly cast, the gel coat port holes were all out of alignment, the hull plating was not right to each side, and the white metal fittings were a joke in there own right. i had to remake pretty much 99% of the fittings, untwist the hull, re form the plating and re drill the port holes. i have never sworn so much in my life over that kit, and from that single kit of £500 (that how much it was at the time) i will never buy another Deans marines kit EVER!!

Try and Aero-naut kit you get a much better boat for you money!! from as little as £80 up to the big £250 mark and i can assure you as a first time boat builder those kits will get you into the hobbie with a GOOD soild model in very little time at all!!! 

Build log examples here!

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Do yourself a favour don't spend that much on crap...

It was my post on the Komet over at mayhem forum and i said the same then as i am now.


Aero-Naut kits can be found here

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RR

I thought it was yours RR but didn't want to say so ...thought you might come in on that one, lol

lol yeah that was mine Neil, i hate bad mouthing a model company but after that Deans kit i couldn't bare to give him any more hard earned cash.  Not sure if you remember i even offered him to come in and explain why the model kit is far from perfect, i wasn't offered anything to correct the major flaws in the parts. I know for a fact i would have made a much nicer model from Scratch using the plans from my hobbie store, which is what i used to correct the model to start with and make a much nicer model and probably around the same price!


Anyway if you decide to take the model on, your choice then if your looking for information about her she was in 2 states, one from 1911 then she was created and named HMAS Una, in that state she was fitted out as a luxury yacht and captured by the Australians in October 1914 and converted to the S.Y (S.M.S Komet) and fitted with deck guns and had the lower foredeck removed (over head canopy) the modifications were minor on cosmetics, however is building the SY/S.M.S Komet, then be aware that the kit you get is inaccurate to the official conversion. In 1925 she was sold to Port Phillip Pilot Service and renamed Akuna and used as a pilot boat until she was decommission and broken up for scrap in 1955.



Things to bare in mind.


The model however is a little over 5.5 foot in length with out the bow sprite, with it, your topping 6',1" shes twin propped and you'll need to replace the white metal props with 70mm brass ones, (thepropshop stock those) at a whopping cost of £35 Each!!


When i built the model i used two 600 sized motors with a 2.5:1 gear ratio running at 6V she used 10kg of ballast to sit her on her water line, you also have to fix it permanently in place as the deck hole is not big enough to use removable weights, your looking at a gap just big enough for your hand to work in, which is enough to slide in a 6v LA battery or a 12v 3.4A (slimline) she dose list badly even in a light wind due to the large size of the superstructure.


I would post photos of her but i really can't be bothered to re live any more of the 2 years building it, and honestly the version i made NO way portrays the Deans version, as mine is CORRECT!


Meh sorry if it sounds like i'm ranting i guess you can tell how much that model annoyed me  

Thanks for the replies guys. If I do buy this kit, I don't think I'll be too concern about how accurate it is to the real ship. RR has made me really hesitant about pursuing this kit. I'll have to think hard about this one.

This is the only Deans kit i've made to date so the only one i can say with 100% certainty isnt worth buying, you could easily build the boat from scratch from the hull drawings and do a much better job at probably less the price.

Although this isnt the first time i've heard about a bad Dean's kit ...

Quote :

I had a similar gripe about the Deans MHS Amethyst kit that I built. The finished model looks good, but could have looked so much better if the original parts and instructions had been of better quality (and all there). 

Unfortunately I don't have the skills to remake complex or detailed parts in order to cover up the inadequacy of the manufacture, so I'm stuck with something that's not quite right. I shan't be recommending or buying another Deans kit, which is a shame, as I was really looking forward to building some of their extensive range

Quote :

I have similar problems with my Slipway 'AZIZ'.  Unfortunately, due to health issues I am/was not able to complain.  The last time I did I spent 4 days in hospital! 

The best I can say is that the only decent parts are the etched brass fittings & that the only reason there are so many outstanding models out there, is due entirely to the skills of the modellers.

I, for one, do not think I will never buy another kit.  They are all grossly overpriced.  When you add together the cost of materials plus a couple of hours labour, they are a rip off.

I shall only scratch build from plans in future.


Regards  Al

Quote :

 %)Just found this site and read some of the comments re. kit quality and thought you might be interested in my experience with Deans Marine and Komet a couple of years ago. I have built a number of boats, larger and smaller than this, both scratch and kits from a number of manufacturers. I can honestly say that by comparison to anyone else this kit is appalling especially when you consider the cost. The drawings are totally inadequate information wise (apart from the fact that Deans say - don't leave them in sunlight, or they will fade - come on! its 2011 not 1950 - change the way you print them) I contacted 'Float a Boat' in Australia for a decent set when Komet was Akuna and their drawings are properly detailed and even show hull profiles, so you could make the hull yourself and scratch build it which would be easier than paying a furtune for the kit. 
The instructions are photocopied sheets clipped together in one corner with so many errors that it is laughable. Some photos are out of focus. The box detailed length and breadth in German (why?) and was wrong anyway. The upper deck plywood had a knot hole in the middle of the planking nearly half an inch across and one of the funnel mouldings had a fault that also had to be replaced, how could quality control have missed that?
Puzzled by the unprofessional approach I contacted Deans to ask if I had received a preproduction kit by mistake as I couldn't imagine anyone actually selling something of such poor quality. No came back the answer, and if I found difficulty with the build it was probably that my skill level was not up to the standard needed for this kit!
Call me old fashioned if you will, but what happened to 'the customer is always right' logic. As a mug who had just paid them a shed load of money their arrogance just about topped off my frustration. Needless to say I will certainly never buy another of their kits and have passed on my experience to all our other model club members.
It actually took me a year to return to the model and carry on with it, many times I resisted the temptation to parcel it back to them as ' not fit for purpose' or 'not of merchantable quality' but in reality I hated the idea of heading down that road when who is to say what is acceptable in a kit. Chuck any old rubbish into a box and stick a fancy label on the front and off you go - no standards, little quality control, poor component identification, poor instructions, I could carry on but isn't it a shame that there are no quality standards, score out of ten, etc. to judge a kit before you buy it. Thankfully there are now websites like this around so with a little sideways research you can get other peoples views on the subject.

Those are just a few Quotes thats others have made about Deans kits, all of which you can find on now ghosted build log of the boat before i scrapped going to mayhem over the trolls that resided there at the time.
 
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however if you want a copy of the plans try http://www.floataboat.com.au/ thats where i got mine from in the end to correct the errors. and build it from scratch!

RR

Thanks for the additional info Roadrunner.

i'm sorry Vespadude but this post is tantamount to libellous and slander , and so to prevent any law suit against the owner and mods on her I have removed it for safety sake.

If you do wish to jeopardise your own self then I would only say this to you that is you feel this way about the owner of the company and someone wishes to chat to you about the aforesaid company then let them pm you and chat via EMAIL, NOT private messages.

I am sure that you will have compatriots out there who feel the same as you, but sorry, it is not for public discussion on an open forum

I hope you understand that it was not a personal dig on yourself, but for protection of the site and crew who run this.

"GOD"...I thoroughly enjoyed that!!!