The Ship Model Forum

Ok, maybe it was a mistake after seeing viewtopic.php?f=13&t=42473 but I had already taken the plunge and ordered!





Although this was ordered from Twin Horse, it is I am sure an ARK product, but the girl I spoke to there (Momiji) is absolutely fantastic! Whoever she is actually working for she is providing a customer service that I would would like to (but rarely do) get more often!

Anyhow, cut a long story short, she offered me a kit at a price that I just had to take!

Initial delivery was exceptionally fast, although some items were outstanding (which she warned me about in advance) and to follow.

Initial impressions, excellent service and pricing. Instructions at a quick look appear in-depth.





The outstanding parts are due to be shipped tomorrow, for delivery on Friday. Unfortunately as I am spending Xmas in the UK, it will be the New Year before I get to play!!

Have to say Momiji continues to impress with the speed of her email response and so far has lived up to her promises. Not a single complaint so far! Also because of a mess up in the initial delivery, they are bearing the cost, most unusual for a Chinese company and a pleasant surprise to find one that is putting some effort into their customer service!

A GOOD start

Good to hear that you are getting a favorable response and I for one will be looking forward to you posting up your Udaloy build.
Good luck
Dave Wooley

Good luck with it. I have the Arkmodel Udaloy and it IS this one!!! Instruction booklet etc. are identical. If so, you'll have a lot of work to do to get a good model out of it.
They might actually be the same people, although my contact person was called Tina, I do not receive any response from Arkmodel (both Tina and the boss) anymore. I wouldn't be too surprised that they just changed the company name and started all over again... They too did send me missing parts free of charge etc. They had a good customer service and fast response, I'm just a little puzzled over their sudden disappearance!

Good luck with the Udaloy it is a most beautiful ship for sure, but there will be a lot of work to complete this kit!


One main advice before starting to build an Udaloy: Choose which unit you want to build from the beginning. They are ALL VERY DIFFERENT. If you need any help on a particular unit you can just ask, I'll see what I have of that unit. I've been building from the beginning with the pictures of Admiral Levchenko, however I figured out later on that I didn't want to build Levchenko and that the unit I did choose, was very different in quite a lot of details.

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The merchant shipyard

Good luck with this kit!!!

If you will build a good modell of the ships projekt number 1155 "Fregat" you have a lot of changing work with this kit.

This kit looks like projekt 1155 only from big distance!

Apologies for the slow response guys. Went to the UK for Xmas and had little/no internet connection. Just back home now and so getting up and running again.

Have to confess you are getting me concerned! Hope I have not bitten off more than I can chew!!!

Well the delivery never arrived. They advised me that they had left it too late to be shipped for it to arrive before I left for the UK. As I arrived back on the 9th they advised me that they would ship on that date also.

Not a biggie, hopefully it will arrive as promised in the next day or two.

Well as promised the delivery turned up. Well protected (although I think it would have been insufficient for international shipping) and rather larger than I expected!!

Unpacked the coffin (its big enough to be one!) first:



Then unpacked the resin parts.



Initial impressions:

Stand, expensive but the way it also fits into the transportation box make it just about worth the cost.



Transport box, ideal. Will make it easier to move the model around without risk of damaging it. Plenty of padding to securely house the completed pride and joy! Ideal!

Resin parts all appear to be present, appear to be of good quality and sturdy build, no obvious signs of any of them being broken.

Kit even comes complete with chain and LED's for navigation and flagstaff!



Will get the rest of the kit out later and put into one pile, then will spend tonight studying the instruction book and the CD, hopefully making a start tomorrow!

Had the bits out ready to rock and roll!!!!

First, tested the box out to make sure she would fit! Wanted no mad panic at the end when trying to get a completed build into her!



The kit came supplied with 2 motors: BRS-550SH (12v), along with a mounting bracket.

Typical applications: hand screw driver, vacuum cleaner, motorized mini carton dimensions, air pump, paper shredder, motorized curtain, ride-on car

Specifications: (for reference)
1) Voltage: 6.0V (operating range: 2.4V - 36.0V)
2) Speed: 11,120rpm
3) Current: 1.15A
4) Stall torque: 532N.m (5,426g.cm)
5) Stall current: 82.5A

Mechanical features:
1) Out diameter: 35.8mm
2) Shaft diameter: 3.175mm
3) Body length: 57mm
4) Standard shaft length: 75, 80, 85mm



A pair of good quality universal joints were also supplied



To connect to a pair of shafts and stuffing tubes. Much better quality than those that come as part of the Tian Jie kits!



A number of different cuts sheets, which checked quickly appear to match the build guide



As do the etchings



It would appear that there are no decals, but there are brass etchings for what I would expect to have decals for, ie the vessel pennant number and the helo-deck markings. Can't decide if I like this idea or not!



What I did like is that the etchings were transported between 2 sheets of acrylic. This ensured they were safe from getting bent and/or bashed!



And a start of build picture



All appear at the moment to be of reasonable standard. There are a few teething problems in that there are a few parts missing... ie: No plans, no material for mast assembly (if I am following the guide correctly), the helicopter is missing, there are no decals (it says there should be some but I am unsure now with having the brass cut-outs there). I have contacted Momiji and are sure all problems will be remedied quickly, she has been faultless so far in all respects!

Good luck with your build. I didn't even get the "PE Decals", I have nothing at all, so I'm pretty much appointed to paint it with some stencilling or something. Haven't figured it all out yet either.

Hope all your parts are there, mine were also corresponding to the kit inventory, the only issue was that the kit inventory paper was also wrong. The bridge and forward deck house along with the second part of the helo deck were all missing. I've seen a different "type of kit" which did include these parts, possibly after enquiry to Arkmodel and sent afterwards. Maybe you can already check for these parts, in case you have them, your lucky. You'll see as you go along. Depending on your required standard you'll have an easy, or not so easy, build. You'll learn a lot in case you still have to learn of course

I only have the resin body of the helo, the rest of it is missing too (although I don't really mind that). One advice which I have also had from somebody who has finished his, the motors can be used with 6V as they have a range, better to use them at 6V, with 12V the ship tends to go up like a B2 bomber... Even with 6V the stern wave is nearly going over the stern...

If you have Arkmodel instructions, then they aren't that good, I'll be following your build, if you have any questions, go ahead or just poke me in the scratchbuilding section, if I have passed that stage I can possibly help you.

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The merchant shipyard

Many thanks for that and especially the offer! I have LOADS to learn as I am still a novice on building, and am already wondering if this will be beyond my skill! Still, will persevere and sure will make my way around the problems!

I will keep updating as I go, and please feel free to throw in any advice..... ALWAYS welcome!!!

Cheers

Steve

And we're off!!!

Thanks to Roel's fantastic work and build thread at viewtopic.php?f=13&t=42473 I was prepared from the offset on the initial problems I would encounter.

A quick check of the hull showed the two halves had been very well joined, filled and sanded, with just one minor area in the rudder area that needed some attention and a bit of filler



As I had been made aware, I offered the decks up to check fit. As can quite clearly be seen the beam of the hull opens such that there is a gap of approx 0.5cm either side between the deck and the hull.



As Roel experienced, the hull will need bringing in to the correct beam.

A support beam, from materials supplied (as they obviously are aware of this issue), has been fitted. Seen here a test piece has been fixed using an epoxy I have available, to test its strength and suitability.



I am also limited on the number of clamps I have available and so will have to investigate sourcing more! Otherwise it could be a LONGGGGG job!


I have subsequently been warned of an issue with quick set epoxy and polyester type hulls (which this probably is) and how it will hold good for a while before coming away! NOT what I want, so will try and get something different today!

Roel I have come to the conclusion must be some kind of GENIUS!!!

I started section 1 and thought I would get myself going by building a bit of structure.



Turns out that A1a is actually made up of AT LEAST 9 parts. I am ASSUMING that the large part is the base



Part A1b is made up of two parts, on a completely different sheet



As for parts A1d (or the parts to make it up) I have no idea! So far I have not managed to find it / them on any CNC or PE sheet for sure. I THINK POSSIBLY the sides and top may be below part C4j (on the top sheet shown below). But I am not sure and I have no idea where the end parts would be!

The problem is infact only going to get worse! IF you look at many parts on the CNC sheets, they are competely unmarked on both the actual item and on their drawings.

For example, looking at



whilst on the top and 2nd sheet, MOST are either numbered or easily identifiable by shape, looking at the 2nd and 3rd sheets, there are lots of parts there of different size just not identified! Fun and games! NOT!

What have I got myself into????? :-[ :-[ :-[

Hello there,

First things first. I'm far from a genious.
The part A1d is the railing, it's in the PE sheet with the helicopter pad railing (dense one), some more of that railing with small stanchions can be found in the PE sheet with the Kinzhal launchers (big roundels with eight small circles on it, don't know what you know about Russian weapon systems). However, if I were you, I'd wait with that part. (most of the PE is unlabelled and if you really can't find a marked part in the CNC part of the kit, often you can find it in the PE sheets or a it is a resin part)
I was also planning to make this forward deckhouse, yet haven't done that yet since I immediately noticed there are quite some errors in that particular part of superstructure. Funny thing is that the whole structure you want to build was provided to me in a resin molded version. So practically the base was already there. However the finish is somewhat disappointing, so I might end up scratch building it entirely after all, although I'm not sure, possibly I can fix it. One more advice, if you see pre-cut doors in sides etc. Don't cut them out, just leave the inside in place and glue the PE doors (with Cyanoacrylate) on top of them, they are just large enough to cover the pre-cut lines. Same counts for lifebuoy parts. Whatever is marked on the parts by pre-cut lines, don't cut them through.

As for this sheet, you're obviously a lucky one as the right part of the sheet, the unmarked part, are the parts which I'm missing, they are the sides and the top layer of the roof of the forward superstructure on top of which sits the aft AK-100 gun. (http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d19/s ... ion1_3.jpg)

The lower sheet contains the main deck, and the unmarked parts are again missing from my kit, are the helo aft stabilisers. The horizontal as well as the vertical planes of the helo tail.

Another question, have you decided already which unit you are going to build? As mentioned before, it is quite important if you want an accurate representation of a certain Udaloy to decide it quite early on.

A small idea, haven't tried it myself as I don't have it, for your decals. Although for the future, maybe you can spray or paint part of your helo deck white first. Afterwards you can put the PE decals on top, keep it firmly pushed down by hand or a small amount of CA glue, and paint (best spray in this case I guess) the remaining helo deck Red or Green as your unit had it. This way you use the PE part as a sort of masking piece. I don't have this nor any decals so I'm still looking for a way to get my helo pad markings painted. With spraying I've noticed on horizontal parts that paint doesn't really tend to "crawl" below the masking, so if you spray nicely 90° you'll still have pretty clean edges.


Another option is first paint the helo deck and afterwards take out the helo part from the PE fret and use the fret as a mask, with a spunge dipped in paint (slightly, so that the paint doesn't drip) and start pushing slightly. It's the way we put stencils (text and symbols) on real ships too, although the stencil is made of old navigational charts instead of PE frets
I intend to put my pennant number on the hull like that, and possibly I will use our good old technique for my helo deck too.

_________________
The merchant shipyard

Hi Roel,

A1d is the railing! Of course how silly of me!!! Why don't they differentiate between PC and CNC by say all the CNC having a letter first, the PE having a number, or something like that!

I understand what you mean about Resin parts quality and lack of detail! If what I believe are supposed to be provided as searchlights, then they are a joke! I'll check tomorrow and post an image. If I am right then I will be sourcing some elsewhere!

I note what you say about cut-outs and will ensure that wherever possible I will leave them in, can't beat the voice of experience!!!

I haven't decided my build yet. I need to look into it a little more now I am finally moving! I guess as I am restricted to either 548 (Admiral Panteleyev) or 605 (Admiral Levchenko) if I wish to use the PE "decals" though.

As I still have not been able to locate the "AWOL" parts I am supposed to use to build the section 1 structure, I'll leave it for now. May be more clear when there are fewer parts to chose from!!!

I wanted to BUILD something so went to the 3rd superstructure, the main bridge assembly. All the parts were identified so off I went!

Lower (lowest) level first



Then added the next level



The next part would be to add the next level decking (bridge house) and the side assembly. Seen here as a test fit so please excuse the tape!



I was quite disturbed by how this came out, due to the structure hanging down in the opening. I didn't feel that this looked correct.



I scanned the build thread of Roel and found an image there which shows the same.



I also double checked on the resource disk provided with the kit and it also agrees.

So progress at last! Slow but sure! I didn't get my epoxy today, so hopefully tomorrow!

Hey, not sure if you know, but there are lots of nice Udaloy pics over on the Russian Navsource site:
http://www.navsource.narod.ru/02.html
The Udaloys are listed at the bottom right.

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De quoi s'agit-il?

Yeah, there you have all units listed. You can still see what you want. The first two have a smaller flight deck, without the overhanging parts, the others are mainly different in "details", more general stuff, however, like me, you can choose a bunch of different weapons. Vinogradov, next to Tributs was also fitted with the four twin machineguns. Nowadays she also has an anti-diver grenade launcher on both sides of the forward superstructure.

_________________
The merchant shipyard

Hi Roel

Have you made any sense of section 4 - part C1f and where they go?



The only place I can make sense of them and so they fit is in the recess C1b creates, but if thats the case, why go to all the hassle of creating such an intricate recess to then block it off???

You're off to a great start - look forward to reading/watching more pix and updates.

Pressed on with the superstructure today

I wasn't happy with some of the initial section. Thought that it could be better so broke it apart and rebuilt. Much happier 2nd time around



Built the next level



and fitted.........



Dry fitted the next



and commenced the assembly



Very little alterations required, just a little trimming here and there, but generally all going together very well. Had to manufacture a couple of parts during the rebuild, but thats my doing and nothing to do with what was supplied! All the parts on this section have been easy to locate so plain and easy sailing!

Completed the assembly



Dry Fit



And proposed position on the deck (just for fun)

As it looks you are going for a later Udaloy, Levchenko maybe, as the parts you've already fitted on the top level are not present in the earlier versions (including Tributs).
The missing part represents the big doors on both sides of the superstructure. These doors are going over the rails on deck and have a smaller door (hence the hole in part C1F). The small door is for normal access, the big one stays closed and people can pass. The big door is sort of blast deflector for the Rastrub launchers. When something bigger, not sure what, but probably reloads etc. have to be travelled from aft to forward, then the cart is driven over the rails and hence the big blast deflector door is opened to let it pass.

I made a cut-out of another picture, here you have that particular door, as you can see the walkway next to the superstructure is fully blocked like this, to avoid the blast of the missiles from hitting someone nearby.

One additional remark, as it seems you are building Levchenko, be aware that the small platform on the side of the bridge is one level higher and more forward than what is indicated (pre-cut line) in the kit.

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The merchant shipyard