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Thanks for a valuable and thorough evaluation of this product line. The Diana is specifically one that I’ve been mulling over for my first foray (St. Louis and Albany as well, same era and size), and as I’ve seen how skilled some of your other scratchbuilding work is, it’s a sobering warning.

The economics of scaleable stereolithography models are pretty clear, but I don’t understand the process of adjusting the parameters of a file to “thicken” the parts in smaller scales to make them practical. I guess the same must apply to kits? It seems SSModels skipped a testing stage to get the product out in 1250 scale. Sadly the problem can’t be remedied in the absence of photoetch parts.

The inadequate or missing directions are bad enough, but the uncured resin worries me. Did you have to do more than expose the parts to strong sunlight or touch up with a small black light to fix the problem?

I’ve purchased some SSModels kits, particularly ones of 19th century Chinese warships in 1/700 scale (specifically for the cast brass cannon to use in scratchbuilding), and hadn’t noticed any obvious problems with the plastic parts. It’s disappointing to hear about these issues.

Beautiful results on the Diana, though—it tempts me to give one a try nevertheless!