jpooch01

Update: I've now got all but the last strake on each side installed, then it'll be getting close to time to remove it from the mold. Yay! I screwed up the 5th stbd. strake and had to make one from scratch. Even with the other one as a form, it took a while to get it just right - great forced-experience! To tell the truth, I'm kinda surprised at how well it's gone (so far, anyway). I didn't pre-form the one that has the curve in it as described in the manual. Instead, I wrapped it in a terry cloth and soaked everything in near-boiling water for a few minutes and it just formed itself right around the curve in the formers perfectly. So far, so good...

I'm totally new at this, too, but I can say with certainty that this New Bedford Whaleboat kit is the most perfect beginner's built-up-hull kit that I could have chosen! Challenging, yet completely do-able with some research, patience and determination. Not frustrating at all, but extremely rewarding and I'm lovin' every minute of it. Plus, you can get it for about one-third off MSRP on Ebay! Pretty slow service and shipping, 10 days from order to receipt, but well worth the wait, IMHO. And that may have just SEEMED long, anyway, what with Amazon Prime's two-day delivery, I'm probably just getting jaded. Currently, I've gotten through fitting and mounting the fourth strakes and will be starting on the fifth pair today. Gotta say, it's lookin' every bit as good as those on the build logs on this site and others, however, that situation may only be temporary. Up to this point, the laser-cut strakes have fit amazingly well with only (mostly) minor sanding-to-fit. The horses that support the mold around which the hull is built are WAY off right out of the box, but are easily fixable with a lot of sanding and careful forming, shimming etc. - same with one of the mold's bulkheads, but to a much lesser extent. So far, though, the rest of the parts are incredibly well formed. At first, I did have a pretty low opinion of Model Shipways kits, since the horses are the first thing to be built and they were so far out-of-spec, but after getting them corrected, the rest of the kit has been a joy to work with. Guess they ain't as bad as I first thought. Glitches happen... I would highly and absolutely recommend this kit as the first attempt for a greenie (like me). So far, it's been a super-steep learning curve and highly educational - exactly what I was after. A friend has offered to lend me a good camera and to help me to post some pics. I should have them up before too long. Best wishes and good luck with your first build, John

Well, I've made a good start and got the garboard & 2nd strakes installed. I gotta say that it's been a lot easier than I thought it would be. Having the strakes pre-laser-cut has a lot to do with it, I think. It's weird that they were able to cut the strakes so accurately that they almost fit with no mods, yet the simple mold horses were off by about 1/8 inch or more. I'm really enjoying the hobby thus far. Relatively inexpensive, extremely gratifying and massively time-consuming, just what I was looking for! Plus, I get to learn a whole new vocabulary (cuss-words notwithstanding - I already know PLENTY of those, and they've been used pretty often so far!).

So, how do ya dial numbers on that thang? Does it get good reception in tunnels? Yuck Yuck.

Nothing to forgive, Dil. I'm not fanatic about it and intellectually I KNOW that tech is an inseparable part of most folk's lives now, everybody's really, including mine. I don't know if it's a good or bad thing, but it's a fact 'o life nonetheless. Hell, I'm sittin' here tappin' away on an electronic keyboard and listenin' to the news on the Boob Tube right now! I have a computer, of course, and I depend on it (even though I don't particularly like it). I did hold out on getting one until about 9 years ago, though - last of the XP units they had and, God, how I HATED learning how to use it!!!! I thought that it was pretty good to have held out that long, at least. I'm fortunate in that I've pursued a career as a single-piston-engine airplane pilot, mechanic & inspector (A&P/IA) - specializing in vintage, fabric-covered, piston-engine planes. 1940's technology that essentially never changed to this day Gotta love that! Good 'ol mechanically-fuel-injected engines is as high-tech as I see on these planes (but I like carburetors better - only 2 moving parts in 'em). Magneto ignition, too, and not even a mechanically-variable ignition timing system like in old cars. They're locked in at a specific timing & that's what ya get. They do have a spring-loaded retarding system for starting on the smaller, opposed-cylinder engines, but the big radials don't even have that! These engines run with no auxiliary battery or anything else, other than avgas & oil. For the past 30 years, I've been the only full-time employee of a dinky little glider pilot school and sightseeing business here in Boulder operating out of an uncontrolled field that doesn't even require radios in the aircraft. Our towplanes do have radios, but I never even turn them on. The young "techie" pilots that I hire just can't even fathom that. I get a huge kick and constant entertainment out of hearing their comments on the subject! My comeback is usually something like "Well, if it's considered dangerous to be yappin' on a phone while driving, then why should you do it on an an airplane radio while in flight if it's not required?" That usually shuts 'em up, at least for a few minutes! Yeah, I'm stuck in the past & lovin' every minute of it! These wooden boat/ship kits are just the ticket for a guy like me. Best wishes and warmest regards, and thanks again for taking the time to post your thoughts. John

My 18 year old flip phone doesn't have a camera either. I've intentionally avoided "teching up" any more than is absolutely necessary to get along for decades. So far, so good. I saw a report about how the smart phones etc. are as addictive as heroin or cocaine. I totally believe that when I see the throngs of kids and adults with their eyes glued to 'em. Not for me - not now, not ever! IMO, they rot your mind as bad as booze. Screw that!! I've beaten several addictions in my life and I won't be willingly taking up another one. I do, however, respect people's right to choose to participate in the tech stuff if that's what they want, though. Thanks for the tip, regardless, I appreciate that you took the time to post.

Latest update: Well, I got started on the MS whaleboat kit. I got the mold built and ready to mount on the horses - which are not even close to being accurately cut. If it wasn't for Mr. Fleming's Whaleboat build log on this site, I'd have been stumped from the get-go. Thanks John, you rock!!! I have to say, that at this point, this is the worst-cut kit I've ever dealt with! One of the "bulkheads" wasn't even close to symmetrical and the support horses were useless as supplied - both in shape and function. I've built lots of laser-cut RC and CL airplane model kits over the years from a variety of manufacturers and every piece just fits with little or no drama. This whaleboat kit is a mess - incredibly disappointing! If I had Paid MSRP for it, it would be heading back for a refund. I'm wondering if they sold these on Ebay, where I got mine, at about 1/3-off MSRP just to clear out a bad run of kits? If so, then that's a great way to lose repeat customers. No more MS kits for me! One thing I can say, though. This experience is really sharpening me up for a future (distant future) scratch-build! Now that the rant is over, I'm really lookin' forward to diving into getting started on the laminated keel, bow & stern posts etc. I guess that dealing with this poorly cut kit is just part of the "challenge and charm". I'm learning a ton in a short time, that's for sure, and regardless of the poor quality of this kit, I'm lovin' every minute of it! Sorry that I can't do a build log with pics, but I'm just too tech-ignorant to deal with picking out and buying a digital camera, figuring out how to use it, and then how to get the pics from it onto this site. The learning curve of physically building this boat, plus learning all the lingo and terms associated with it is quite enough, thank you very much! Oh well...

Roger that! That's just how I'm lookin' at it too. Great forum and folks here. Only a couple of days to go before my kits arrive & I can get started. Best wishes, John

That's the thread that convinced me to cancel the orders and go with Vallejo, or something else other than MS. Can't remember how I stumbled across it.

After reading your post/opinion, I finally broke down and bought the whaleboat kit too (see post #11). I'll build it first, then the armed launch - which looks WAY more complicated! I ordered the MS paint color-sets for both. From what I could find out using google searches, the MS paints seem to have a pretty good rep. If you or anybody else has had negative experiences with the MS paints, or if you think they're great, for that matter , please let me know. Thank you very much for posting! John

I ended up buying the Mantua Armed Launch kit instead. I got it for a good price from a gent on Ebay that bought it but never started on it . Seemed a little more suitable for me. Maybe it's from living in "The People's Republic of Boulder Colorado" for 35 years, but something about having my first attempt at the hobby be a model of a boat used in whaling... Well, it just didn't feel like a great idea for me. On the other hand, a craft used in war? No problem! Go fig. Anyway, it should be here Tuesday. Yay! Also got the Model Shipways paint set for it from The Model Boat Store. Now alls I gotta do is get one o' them digital cameras and learn how ta' use tha' durn thang fer the build log! Thanks again, everybody, for the help and encouragement, John

Hello again everybody, and thank you very much for the warm welcome(s) and for the good advice and encouragement! So, after reading through your responses and suggestions, I'm forgin' ahead with my plan. I might be able to get one of the whale boat kits locally, there's a very nice hobby shop in Denver that I seem to remember seeing one of these kits in about a year ago. If not, I found one online for $109.00 shipped. I'd love to just be able to get one today and get started ASAP, but I can stand the wait if I have to order one - maybe. Anyway, it's a little intimidating contemplating all the new and totally unfamiliar tasks, techniques, terms, lingo etc. that I'll be learning and putting into practice with this project, but I'm very much looking forward to the challenge(s) it'll present, too. Gotta keep the ol' brain chuggin' along. I'll have to buy a cheap digital camera to post the pics of the build (and learn how to do that, too) - no tech-freak here, now or ever! Not lovin' that aspect of it, either, but what are ya gonna do? My current phone is a 17 year old Motorola flipper. Again, my heartfelt thanks to you guys for all the help. I'll be posting my progress as soon as I'm up & running. Warmest regards, John

Hi everybody, I've been lurking on this forum for months and have finally decided to try out wooden boat/ship modeling. I'm pretty experienced at building both static-scale and flying-type aircraft, scale and non-scale, models and I also managed to finish the plastic Revell Constitution kit years ago (and loved every minute of it) and it came out pretty nice, but this will be my first foray into wooden boat and/or ship kits. I'm retired now and I need something new to do that's not too terribly expensive - yet gratifying - and that uses up a lot of time to accomplish . I'm thinking about the Model Shipways New Bedford whale boat for the first attempt. I want to get right into planked hulls and get THAT horrific learning-curve over with, at least. Any and all opinions and advice from the good folks on the forum are very much welcome and sincerely appreciated! Best wishes and respect to all, JP