scalerc

I was looking at the offering by Deans Marine and they are plentiful, but wanted to get a feel for the overall quality of their kits as well as general opinions on this manufacturer.

TRCX

heard about them ...............seen them................ then again never tried them.

they look like they got some good boats

you know what they say you never know until you try![X(]

although that could be the worst decision you've ever made in your life - LOL !!!!!![:'(][:'(]

it could also be the best, look on the bright side - from the pictures I've seen it looks like those boats have alot of
scale detail in them - they look like there worth every cent!

go for it !!!!!!!!!!!!! try it they look nice - I would (IF I EVER GOT ENOUGH MONEY) ( R 11.87 - 1 pound )

what kind of boat are you looking at ?

kyle

Bill Noon

Deans Marine certainly rank amongst the better of the Uk model boat suppliers.

subsinker

My Feedback: (61)

I have built a few of Deans kits over the past few years. Yes, they are good kits. Not great but good. They lack the museum quality fittings if that is what you are looking for but they certainly build up into very nice representations of the ships they were intended to look like. They are not shake the box and fall together types but will reward you with good results if you put in effort. As for sailing qualities, they are very seaworthy if built as per instructions. Do you have a kit in particular you are looking at?

Pete

scalerc

I haven't decided on a particular kit yet, but an looking at some of their merchant ships and wanted to get a feel for whether or not they are worth the effort. I have heard some good and some bad about their kits. Most say their fittings leave much to be desired and that unless you truelly want to build the subject look elsewhere. So these comments although I am sure are not ment to deface the manufacturer do put some doubt into the consumer, so as a result I am questioning the worthiness of the build.

13BT

My dad is currently building a Deans marine kit (Robert E Peary) and says its the poorest quality kit he has ever seen! But hes stuck with it now because he cant get his money back.

Fittings are rough, plans show inconsistent detail, and lines drawn on the plastic are thick in some places so you arent sure where to cut.

There are satisfied Deans Marine customers out there indeed, which leads me to believe my dad was sold a 'reject' kit.

scalerc

Not sure, he got a reject kit. I spoke with a shop in the UK who sells these kits and their recommendation was the following: "Unless you are interested in the subject, stay away from Deans" He says most of the ones he sells are to people who either served on the ship or had their dads serve on the ship and they are building it for nostalgic purposes.

So I have been tempted to get one of their kits, but without seeing one first hand I am staying clear. Heard lots of negative and no positive as of yet. Even the magazine reviews I read refer to poor fittings.

13BT

yes, the fittings are very rough. If you really must have a Deans kit, make sure you inspect it at the shop counter before handing over your money.

Even my dads other boat building mates were shocked at the poor quality of the castings. The propeller didnt spin true, the plans had been photocopied so badly that all contrast in the photographs were lost, and details in the photos werent consistent between other photos so you were left very confused indeed.

I think it is a reject kit because i refuse to believe a manufacturer as well known and established as Deans Marine could stay in business as long as they have by selling kits of the same shoddy quality as the kit my dad was sold. Maybe the reject stock was mixed up with the good stock, who knows

I can get pictures of the fittings if anyone wants to have a look

scalerc

You are probably right. Your dad seems to have gotten a bum kit. It would be nice if you posted the pics of the poor fittings here on the forum. Maybe it would get others to comment on their experience with Deans and verify if you just got a bad kit or it is standard stuff.

cwm1

Here is a picture of a completed Dean Tribal class destroyer.

13BT

Well heres the pics as promised. Sorry it took so long.

They show, in my experienced opinion, very rough finishes on the propeller, split rudder, and fittings. And the quality and clarity of the plans leave much to be desired [:'(] One would expect a higher level of quality for the price paid [&:]

Requests to Deans Marine for a refund or replacement were not successful and they had the gall to assume the difficulty of the kit was due to inexperience on dads part, which is completely untrue.

This family wont be ordering from Deans again, thats for sure.

scalerc

Yeah those pictures show a pretty bad set of plans and fittings. They do however backup something a Deans Dealer in the UK had passed on to me when I asked about their kits. I had purchased Model SLipway and Caldercraft kits from him and we have a repore with each other so I asked him his opinion on the Deans kits since he carries the range and sells the kits. His response was that he would not recommend them to anyone. He does sell them yes, but most of the buyers he says are people who either served on the subject or had their Dad serve on the subject so they are sentimental purchases. All other purchases of their kits is simply because people want to have that particular subject. So you have to be a very experienced (able to reproduce poor fittings) modeller to build one of their kits. Otherwise be prepared to spend extra to buy new fittings.

The other reason to stay clear in my opinion is the sheer volume of new kits they introduce each year. Look at this years potential list of kits at least 10 kits. The other top kitters will probably only release 1 or 2 new kits in a year if we are lucky. You can't produce that many new kits and still keep the quality high.

Their response to you also shows they suck at customer support, which is strange concidering this is a UK based company. All the support I have received to date from other UK manufacturers and suppliers has been top notch, the rest of the world could take a lesson in customer service from them, especially the hobby shops here in the US, they know very little about what they sell, and even less about customer service. They will say whatever it takes to make the sale but that is another thread....

Have to agree Deans Sucks unless someone can prove me wrong.....

Sunny1

Please email to me personally and I will tell you my experiences with a kit purchased from Deans. [email protected]

Nick76

I realise this is an old topic but wanted to also extend my dissapointment with Deans Marine

I recently purchased one of their kits and found the printed plastic was the wrong sizes and or missing sections and parts incorrectly numbered.

The white metal fittings are very poor quality.

I recently found out that the props that come with my kit which was made from white metal is designed for show only, which is odd as its sold as an RC kit!

The manual that came with the kit was unreadable due to low toner when they copied it.. There were a number of errors with the plans that Ihighlighted to them but thought it would be to much hassle to update them.

After posting concerns on their forum and talking to them on the phone Iwas insulted and called a liar.


I and my familiy/friends will never use Deans again.

13BT

Same thing with us. Seems like they never bothered to top up the ink/toner?
Poor quality plans. Poor quality fittings. Poor customer service. Failed on all fronts. Give this company a big miss.