A Most Excellent Purchase

[treadhead1952]

Hi All,

Looking about for new subjects to purchase to build has always been a modelers' joy. With the advent of the internet and a new found interest in paper modeling a new dimension, the digital paper model was created. While some places offer free ones, most of the retail internet sites will offer either a downloadable edition or send them to you on a CD. Since I have a cable modem this seemed like a real deal. When I got on this site I discovered our own Michael Krol and Gremir Models. Looking over his stock of ships, I knew that I had to get a couple to see how I liked them and the service. I am not disappointed.

I used Mikes' preferred method of purchase, Pay Pal and once my bank and Pay Pal got it together went to Mikes' site. I chose the HMS Chiddingfold, a Hunt II Class Destroyer Escort in 1/200 scale, a subject that I have been wanting to add to my collection of DE's having built the 1/700 Sky Wave styrene kits to death.



I must say that Mikes' method of delivery is a bit unique, you select your choice(s), pay up and almost immediately you recieve an E Mail to the account that your Pay Pal account is based on with a link to download the package. Not only does it contain the parts sheets, history, directions, and photos of the model, it also has a viewer/hub that allows you to print out the required pages in a lot faster time than some of the programs I have on my system. It is required to submit an encoded section from your computer to Mike so that he can generate a key that will allow you to unlock all the features of your download. If you follow the directions the process is quite painless and he is prompt. Once unlocked you get to see all the parts, print them out, scale them to other sizes and even manipulate the colors if you like. He does have a test print section that lets you verify that your printer will work correctly and adjust things if required. In the case of the HMS Chiddingfold I was able to print out the title page, 11 pages of parts and template sheet in jig time.

The layout of the parts is just like any other paper model subject, all in register with a nice saturation of colors. The instructions are quite simple to follow and for a change for me, in English. I look forward to building up this little jewel of a kit.

The second kit that I purchased from Mikes' site is the HMS Glowworm, a Royal Navy G Class Fleet Destroyer in 1/200 scale. Like the previous kit, it all happened quickly and efficiently and thanks to Mikes' dilligence I had my unlocked Dataviewer ready to print out the required 15 pages of parts, 2 template sheets and title page in no time at all. Again, all the parts sheets printed out perfectly, colors nicely done and everything in register.



There are also several assembly step photos included with this one that actually shows you the steps to build up this kit in addition to the instructions and photos of the completed kit. These should aid in construction of the model even for a treadhead like me. I look forward to building this one as well and adding a G Class Fleet Destroyer to the collection, something not possible in styrene.

So if you are looking for some interesting subjects to add to your Royal Navy Fleet as well as a few other kits that he has in the Ships section of other navies, I can highly recommend Gremir Models as a source. The prices of either of these kits is only $12 and when you tally in the extra software and data that you recieve as part of the downloads, I consider it quite the bargain.

GreMir Models

Jay Massey
treadhead1952
Las Vegas, NV

[Don Boose]

Great write up, Jay, and a well-deserved tribute to Mike Krol and GreMir Models.

All the models are of very high quality, Mike is extremely helpful, and the ability easily to resize the models is a great benefit.

Don

[GreMir]

Jay, Don
Thank you for the kind words - I must put a disclaimer, though
Everything is done manually so the time between the purchase, delivery and registration might vary from few minutes to few hours and it depends on the time of day/night as I can take care of orders only when I'm at home in front of PC.

I have 1.5 job and a family so if your experience is different from Jay's, please take that into account

[dansls1]

I must also give my praises to Mike and Gremir. I purchased a model and recieved one as a prize from a contest last year - and had difficulties getting the key to work due to some issues with how my network was set up and which printer I wanted to use. Mike was very patient and helpful and we got my issues sorted out - as you can see in my (albeit very slow) build of the Super Corsair

[Golden Bear]

I hate to contradict Michael, but he never really disappoints on delivery. He does a hero's job with his site.

BTW, he has LOTS of interesting models. Look at his aircraft (ahem, German) for things that you cannot find anywhere else and extremely well done.


Carl

[cgutzmer]

I have never been disappointed with Gremir - top notch in every way!
Chris

[Padre]

I also have to say, after purchasing 5 models, that the service has always been swift and excellent! Go GreMir.

[treadhead1952]

Hi All,

As a bit of a sidenote to this subject of Gremir Models and Micheals' work, when I purchased his HMS Onslow, another excellent digital model in 1/200 scale, I was pleased to discover that it comes with not one but two paint schemes. The first being the original manufacturerers' gray on gray as built as well as the dazzle camouflage scheme. In discussions with him about when this dazzle pattern was applied, I contacted the Royal Naval Museum from a suggestion by another modeler and surprisingly enough to me at any rate, I recently recieved a response that answered my question completely. If you have any Royal Naval vessels that you would like to research a good starting point would be their site at:

www.royalnavalmuseum.org/

It is very well organized and laid out and fairly easy to navigate.