1?200 USS Enterprise CV-6 Build Video 12

[@NigelsModellingBench]

Hey Ben, that sucks buddy. I had some resin missing from my Enterprise set, so contacted Kim and it took quite a few nagging emails to get a result. In the end I pointed out to him that I had purchased many sets from him and other people had bought on my recommendation and asked if this is how he treats me, how would it be with someone who just bought one set?? I have sent you a high res scan of sheets T and U so you can at least maybe copy some of it or see what's in the KA set to replace it? I recently had a broken part from KA models, it was replaced after one email and one week.

[@TheMidwestModelShop]

Thank you Nigel! I’ll see if I can make some parts from scratch or even 3D print replacements from these. I appreciate it! And from here on out, I’ll be steering clear until they change their ways. I’m going to encourage everyone else to do the same until they make some improvements over there.

[@NigelsModellingBench]

@@TheMidwestModelShop they’ve been the same for years. Apparently no shops want to deal with them either?

[@mathieuleboss8389]

Well that doesn't encourage you to buy pontos models add-ons! They already double the price of the Trumpet kit but if they are in bad faith or dishonest... When they are paid, they receive the money and there are not 50 emails. So someone like Ben who is recognized on KZbin and who advertises on pontos, by showing their products, what a lack of respect from this company! Outrage of France.

[@SheldonGingerich]

Ben, the Navy has hatches not doors, ports not windows. There are no stairs, only ladders. Stairways are ladder wells. Keep us the great work, you are a master!

[@louiswasserman2953]

Sorry to hear about your trouble with Pontos. I think the corrections you made are spot on and compensate for the missing pieces. Wishing you and your family a Happy Holiday.

[@adamperry4347]

Good info, happy I went with KA vise Pontos.

[@JohnCScaleModeling]

Ben, sorry to hear Pontos abandoned you. You, however have done some incredible triage. It’s way beyond my skill level, but your work is truly inspiring. Thank you for sharing your skills.

[@martinpedley7595]

Great recovery with the scratch build parts

[@barry-clark]

More than good I'd say. Fantastic detail creation work.

[@jimelchek5701]

Great recovery Ben! I, too, have been disappointed by Pontos recently. My Winter Project this year is the 1:200 Mikasa. After receiving the Pontos upgrade kit I immediately inventoried the contents. I noted that two of the "scribed brass" items (total of 5 parts) were missing. I sent an e-mail to Pontos but, as you have experienced, no response of any type was returned. I'm hoping that the recent Customer Service issues are fixable, and Pontos can get their act back up to speed, because their design, engineering, and production is industry leading. In fact their Mikasa offering is the best I'd seen from from anyone (Toms, Gold Medal, MK/KA, or Eduard). However, if recent experiences noted by you, Nigel, myself and others is the "New Pontos" then it is Buyer Beware.

[@TheMidwestModelShop]

I enjoyed the Eduard kit for the Arizona. I think I’ll look into them for my next “big” project after Enterprise and Titanic are complete.

[@jimelchek5701]

I don't know what's the problem at Pontos, but I've always been skeptical of the Extra Detail portion of the business models, for both Pontos and KA/MK. As I understand it the bulk of their activity is to provide the PE for the base kits (Trumpeter, Merit, I Love, etc), The Detail Up part up the business is an extra business line that is wholly dependent on #1 someone buying the base kit AND #2 they have to want the Detail Up kit as well. This means that their Detail Up kit sales are wholly dependent on the popularity of the base model kit, and will be only a FRACTION of the base kit sales. Add to it the fact that both MK/KA and Pontos have competing versions of the Detail Up kits which further restricts sales to either company (Think about the competition between DC-10, L-1011, and 747... MD and Lockheed killed each other fighting for a smaller market segment with largely the same product). THEN consider the thousands of FTE man hours to research, design and produce the kits, with no guarantee of good sales volume. Even at the relatively high prices the charge, they aren't likely making huge profits, and in some cases, might not even be recovering their upfront development costs with the Detail Up kits. Eduard, on the other hand, has kept things simple. As far as I can tell they've stayed with the PE line and haven't messed with turned brass, wood deck, resin and/or 3d printing. If you remember your Arizona build (my favorite) you used Eduard, Scale Decks, White Ensign, and someone for the gun barrels. As such, their development, production, and inventory costs are much less, BUT you as the builder have to hope that other folks can fill in the "missing parts" so to speak.... just as you are doing with your brilliant Titanic offerings. Lastly, hobby sales have slowed a bit since the covid pandemic has eased and folks are using some of their discretionary income elsewhere. This is not a death knell for the hobby, but perhaps and indication that the meteoric rise in offerings will slow a bit Just my Inflation Adjusted 2 pence offering....

[@allanenders5525]

Great job, missing/ lost parts and scratch building are a big part of the Hobby, the only issue is the timeline set back. I guess it’s a Murphy thing! Nice to see things being pinned, I use a lot of paper clips, they have almost a serrated surface that holds glue well, the brass pins get saved for places that require smaller diameter holes, many kits are rebuilt, broken landing gear, propeller blades, and the pins are indispensable! Glad you’re showing the technique, maybe it will help some new builders figure out how to cope with problems! Have a Great Christmas and a Happy New Year...

[@MikeinAmman]

After the first two minutes, I ran back to the shop to check if I had sheets T and U. I'm one of the lucky ones, but based on your experience, I'll be looking for alternatives to Pontos moving forward.

[@keithralston1133]

Hope you all have a safe and happy holiday. Great adapting and overcoming Pontos deficiencies!

[@jcramerphotog]

I am building the 1/350 pontos essex lhd-2, and have found many of the resin parts missing (more than half); wrote to pontos and apparently they have no interest in responding. Will definitely steer clear from them in the future; looks like you are not going to let their poor service get in the way of a great build!

[@AC-hc2fk]

Excellent job with the scratch building! I've never commented any of your videos before but I've been watching them for a while now and just wanted to say how much of an inspiration you are. Seasons greetings from here in Scotland and I hope you, Nora and the rest of your family have a wonderful Christmas and New Year.

[@TheMidwestModelShop]

Thanks! And to you and yours as well!!!

[@perrylamb6286]

Ben, excellent recovery from your missing parts. Very sad that customer service is so bad, especially for such an expensive kit. Sigh. As always, you explain things well and your thought processes that lead you to an outcome are great. You could be a software engineer in my field! Press on. Merry Christmas to you and your family. Hope it is fun!

[@Marterrin]

Great to see the build moving along again and very nice work. Disappointed to hear that pontos has let you down,

[@fivecitydirttracker4776]

Impressive recovery Ben. Happy Holidays to All

[@brentpearce1516]

Merry Christmas :)

[@bernarddickinson9841]

Thanks very much Ben for your honesty and incredible modeling skills. As always fantastic content and very well presented . Merry Christmas to you and all your family 🍻🍻🍻

[@maxstetsenko9615]

I have had similar issues previously with Pontos and don't use their sets unless I have no alternative. I'll buy from a shop so if anything is missing I have the option of returning it and not have to deal with Pontos. I have the KA set for the 1/200 scale USS hornet and love it. It's has everything you need and their instructions you can actually follow. I would buy KA over Pontos any day. Your build is coming along really nicely. Merry Xmas to all from Aus!

[@jamesjester2542]

Your not the only one to have trouble with Pontos. Seems a few other builders on here have or are having issues with Pontos also. Geezzz as good as you are maybe you should go to work for them. Might teach them a thing or two. I'll be out for awhile. You and yours have a safe and great Christmas and New Year my friend.

[@NorwegianModellingBench]

Great recovery there Ben! Sorry that you had such a bad experience with Pontos. As you know, so far I have had a really good customer experience with them. Can’t understand why it varies so much, not good at all 😔 Merry Christmas and happy holidays to the both of you 🎅🎄

[@oliverpearson1577]

Ben, can we please address that shirt you're wearing? Holy moly!

[@ChrisK-LTC]

Sounds like Pontos is going back to their old ways. I have steered clear of them, mostly because they are overpriced and there is a lot of replacing parts simply to replace parts. I use Eduard mainly and love their PE sets. OH, that shirt is AWESOME!

[@Olympicmountainmodelshop]

Greetings Ben, LOL, not just Pontos buddy, I am missing mast pieces in my KA kit for my Titanic build I am doing.. I tried to email them but something was wrong with their site :( I truly hope I don't have to use kit masts as the KA masts are WAY better and more detailed! keep modeling, always with a "smile"! Happy New Year!

[@eddywells5689]

Bummer about pontos great vid happy Christmas a a great new year to you and family. 🍺🍺🍰🍰🎁🎁🙏🙏💞💞

[@michaeldantoni4292]

Looking really good 👍

[@paulsmodels]

Have a happy holidays! That's a real shame about Pontos. They really should make it right.

[@allenholt6614]

Wow, Ben, fantastic recovery from the Pontos debacle. They should be ashamed of themselves. Sounds like it will take modelers shunning them in the future -- when you have a choice, buy somebody else's photoetch! What you came up is probably as good as, if not better than, Pontos. And you did it yourself! I'm building along with you but much further behind because I'm also building a wooden ship model. I'm using Pontos and I checked after the last episode and seem to have everything.

[@kenbtheman]

Great build going on here. I always had a problem with buying an upgrade set that costs almost as much or more than the kit itself. I'm not cheaping out, but I do have to budget myself and think if it's really worth it before I purchase add ons. I think some of these aftermarket outfits really take advantage of us modelers. Some of the larger sets I've seen have parts that really aren't necessary and just bulk the set up and raise the price. Just my opinion, keep up the great work and videos, and have a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

[@TheMidwestModelShop]

You’re correct. That’s why I appreciate reviews, and when I can, I do the reviews for everyone else. Pontos is really a fan of replacing plastic parts with identical metal ones. Whenever that happens, I skip those steps to save time. Which always makes me wish they had done the same to save me some money.

[@B1900pilot]

In Navy parlance, the "beams" are called stanchions.

[@TheMidwestModelShop]

Thank you!

[@dannyherron8652]

Those tweezers look great. What brand are they? Do you offer them? Thanks!

[@TheMidwestModelShop]

I do not. But I have a video dedicated to tweezers. You’ll find it in the “Play Lists” section of the channels home page.

[@evilgenius66]

I'm working on this exact piece right now (except my pontos set has all the parts). Let me know if you want me to measure out the hole for the crane.

[@edrasa9003]

Sorry to hear about your Pontos experience. I have had the same problem. ie. No response to email about missing parts. I just finished Titanic with KA and was a little disapointed with the lack of direction. I am now into Missouri with Pontos. I wish I had gone with KA. Pontos is a disaster. I have learned my lesson and will never use Pontos again. That aside, hope you and family have a great holiday.

[@ericking4219]

So Nora told you to move the broom? Sign over your shoulder?

[@TheMidwestModelShop]

Correct.

[@ericking4219]

Oh, sorry if I hit a nerve, just a bit of fun…

[@TheMidwestModelShop]

No nerve hit. Sorry if that came across wrong🙃

[@stevechewning7741]

Your usual masterclass on photo etch coupled with a masterclass on scratchbuilding Truly dumb of Pontos.

[@Olympicmountainmodelshop]

Happy New Year Ben, just tried AGAIN to message KA models about my missing Titanic mast pieces and I keep getting an error message stating my message cant be delivered, try again later.. This is absolutely unacceptable considering the prices we pay for these detail sets.. :( We need a US producer BAD.. take care

[@WillianOliveira-dx8kw]

I'm a layman, I would like to know who provides the automatic translation of the videos, as I have watched the channel's videos with the help of automatic translation, as I have not yet mastered English, today the resource is unavailable, I shared the channel with several Brazilian friends who like it of Plastimodelismo....this video remains untranslated....unfortunately

[@TheMidwestModelShop]

Please wait. This has happened before. KZbin is slow to correct this.

[@Sama-ju8gr]

​@@TheMidwestModelShopThanks the tlanslation go back Works!!! Amem

[@MrCarsdude]

that fucking sucks ben im sorry!