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PostPosted: Fri Apr 06, 2018 10:22 pm 
ISW is one of the larger makers of resin kits. Like all ship model kits, ISW's Agincourt has some fine features, and some less fine.

The kit comes well packaged. The small resin parts are in a separate small bag. Boats and larger pieces are in their own separate bags as well, minimizing the risk of damage. Instructions are the typical ISW laconic form, with pictures rather than any assembly directions. All resin parts are numbered, however, so you do not have to search by shape.

The kit comes with the most extensive et of redundant parts I have ever seen. There were 14 turrets for a ship that needs 7, and at least 4 main mast parts, excluding the struts. There were half a dozen main yards and three crane booms, although only one crane post.

ISW has a process of molding hulls in one piece of solid resin. This, in my experience of their kits, minimizes warping and avoids the typical problems in fit between an upper and a lower hull. The hull was a magnificent casting, with excellent detail and remarkably few air holes in its base. There were no voids or casting defects in the hull.

Regrettably, the same cannot be said of the other parts. ISW has an established reputation for flash and coarser casting of small pieces. My Agincourt example, however, was egregious. Not one of the 14 provided turrets was free of voids and flash. The small parts were so badly crusted with flash they could hardly be recognized. Every single piece required careful trimming and prep before it could be used. Worst were the mast parts. They were not round, but off center and crusted with heavy flash. Extensive sanding could not make them truly round. I opted to use them, especially the crane post, as it had nicely cast pulleys and other details. This was a mistake; I have significant experience scratch building masts for Combrig kits, and a better result would have been achieved by replacing all mast elements with brass and styrene rod. The mast starfish were unredeemable, and my inability to replace them with brass leaves the kit with a distinctly 'lumpy' look.

The secondary guns were also not round, and were over scale. There were no main armament barrels. I did not mind, as I routinely use brass after market barrels, but it is a notable deficiency. B and D barrels provided teh set I used. They were perfect, and B and D will provide a set of 14 12 inch barrels if you ask, even though their standard sets are for 10 barrels. The boats were the standard type ISW has provided in every kit I have purchased from them. Some are very lovely, other less so. I replaced all of them with Tamiya kit boats, with a significant upgrade in appearance.

The PE fret is extensive and has really excellent vertical and inclined ladders. ISW's PE is some of the easiest to use with which I have worked.

Ultimately, the flash and fit problems made this an unsatisfying build. I have even greater respect for the results Kostas Katseas and others have achieved with this kit, given its starting condition. These problems make for an interesting contrast between ISW and Combrig. Combrig's castings are much finer, including a hollow hull. The fit is impeccable. On the other hand, truly extensive puttying and sanding is often required to get the hull to fit properly, even needing to saw apart the lower hull on occasion. ISW avoids this. ISW also has fine PE.

ISW covers some unusual subjects that are worth building. If you take on the Agincourt kit, be warned you will need to spend a great deal of time prepping parts and scratch building, and after market replacement parts will appreciably improve the final result. My suggestion for after market or scratch built-
-all masts, mast starfish, boats, gun barrels.

A worthy kit for advanced modelers.


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PostPosted: Tue Apr 24, 2018 10:09 pm 
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Joined: Wed Feb 09, 2005 5:45 pm
Posts: 1562
Location: Abu Dhabi
Thanks a lot !!!! great review :thumbs_up_1:

But IMHO just missed something.

The hull is fantastic as You said ,but seems to have a little issue which is very easy to correct (corrected mine)

The bow is slightly downwards ,all the Gin's hulls I've seen included mine has this problem,maybe 1 mm downwards on the bow


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IMG_20180424_203418 (1) - Copy.jpg [ 144.73 KiB | Viewed 2017 times ]
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