Jens Andrée
Looks like I've solved the problem with some heavy handed sanding and a big splosh of putty!😉
I fully understand the problems involved making as big parts as the Haunebu II consists of, but still it was less than exciting to discover the problem my kit came with. Luckily I was able to move on.

Jens Andrée
It did not solve the problem and the bottom hull has snapped three times. Kindly asked Squadron for help, and as a last resort to BUY replacement parts hoping the did the right thing but no joy. Squadron couldn't care less since this was "normal issue".
When I responded to their reply with more information, and pictures, from my part they couldn't bother to reply...
I know it can be hard to make such big pieces - but when a part is faulty, from a $115 kit!, you think they'd be a bit more helpful?
I'm not ever buying anything more from Squadron - that's for sure!

Lee Fogel
Jens, did you ever finish your Haunebu build? So sorry to hear of the fit issue and the lack of customer support from Squadron. 🙁

Jens Andrée
With a lot of putty and "creative weathering" I finished it but it's been living in a box ever since and I doubt I'll ever unpack it again. I gave up trying to get some response from Squadron and have moved on, but I'll never buy anything from them again - that's for sure.

Lee Fogel
That's a shame all around, Jens. 🙁 I'm glad you could at least finish though.

Jens Andrée
It's no surprise that Squadron have quite a few of them in stock still, even though they're dumping them at a fraction of the original price. A lot of people who'd planned to buy it but read my blog post (and here) about the abysmal customer service all backed out.
I even offered to BUY replacement parts at first just to be friendly but I just got the middle finger, and that probably lost them more than a couple sales.
I know parts can warp, especially big ones, but when they're distorted beyond repair - and they're as thick as they are on the Haunebu II kit, you just can't easily bend things to shape, flood it with sprue goo and putty, and just hope for the best...

Luckily there are so many fantastic kits out there, and fantastic companies with awesome customer support, so I'm not running out of modelling kits anytime soon, but it was annoying because I really wanted this crazy kit.

Nigel
If it's any consolation, Jens, after reading of your experience Squadron have lost another potential customer...for anything!

Jens Andrée
I just wanted to be brutally honest that some of these kits are badly warped - and if you get one of them you're shit out of luck getting any support whatsoever. "Basic modelling skills" only work to a certain degree when you try to mend warped and distorted parts, but this thick it was impossible because of the material that was lacking on top of the warp. If I'd known how it ended I would've used styrene instead of putty for starters, but I didn't expect this.
I expect my kits to be of excellent quality unless I buy an old wonky kit for the challenge - and when you pay $115 and it's this bad, and you get the response I did - well, you'll never ever buy anything from them again!
I've also stopped completely buying stuff from Squadron after this and so have many others too due to the lack of support. Luckily there are others, like Industria Mechanica, for some odd and cool kits!😉