Dear Woody,

If I recall correctly, the Italian company that produced the ill-fated resin kit is Amati. The fact that I have read several other admissions (presumably from reasonably skilled modeler's) of fatal mistakes dissuaded me right away, as did the multiple warnings regarding combat. As far as Revell goes, I regret that ehobbies, so far, is only going to offer me %15 off any purchase this month. I find that quite unacceptable, though the fellow writes that he is still checking to see if he can do anything more. I am weighing my options, because although I ordered U-99 from hobbyweb.com, it is on back-order, and their inability to respond to my inquiry about its availability is prompting me to cancel my order. Only ehobbbies has a u-99 kit presently in stock. But I am trying to use my leverage to have them give me a better deal. After all, they sold me a defective product.
In any event, I only mention Amati as I am considering purchasing a wooden plank on frame kit of an Elizabethan galley. The small amount of research I have done makes me fairly confident that I can build an intermediate plank on frame ship (I am in the processs of building a Viking ship by Latina, that is introductory to moderate), even if plagued by the poor instructions that Europena kits often provide. But if all Amati's kits are always that tenuous--I am told the chief difficulty with the u-boat kit is that there are fairly serious fitting problems between the tower and deck--I would have second doubts. My goal is to eventually have an array of different warships from different historical eras. What I am really after is a replica of the H.M.S. Victory, but I have a lot of learning to do before I can take that on. I am told, however, that a second, intermediate kit should suffice as the perfect transition. I wanted to start with a u-boat because, being out of practice as I am, building a plastic kit first would offer a good re-introduction to those most basic habits of a scale modeler: patience, always fitting pieces before you glue, so on and so forth. But the academy debacle has disrupted my plans.
This message is too long. I will conclude by saying that you, Rainer, and I are certainly in the same boat. I really admire your active solicitation of various companies to build quality kits of German u-boats beyond the mere VII and XXI. There certainly is a void in this niche of the market. Rainer may be the most devoted of all. Settling for nothing less than a type IX C, he is going to build u-175 from scratch, with museum quality. I only regret that my own capabilities. limiting me strictly to kits, do not favor such an attempt.



With Warm Regards,

Einsamer Wolf

P.S. While I gripe and moan about blowing $25.00, you must really feel the pain in the loss of that pricey Amati kit. I suppose I really ought to be thankful that my loss was so small.