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  1. 1:22 Venetian Gondola Amati Catalogue # 571 Available from Amati for around €105 The gondola is a traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat, well suited to the conditions of the Venetian lagoon. It is typically propelled by a gondolier, who uses a rowing oar, which is not fastened to the hull, in a sculling manner, and also acts as the rudder. Today's gondolas are up to 11 m long and 1.6 m wide, with a mass of around 350 kg. They are made of 280 hand-made pieces using eight types of wood (lime, oak, mahogany, walnut, cherry, fir, larch and elm). The process takes about two months; in 2013, the cost of a gondola was about 38,000 euros. The oar or rèmo, is held in an oarlock known as a fórcola. The fórcola is of a complicated shape, allowing several positions of the oar for slow forward rowing, powerful forward rowing, turning, slowing down, rowing backwards, and stopping. The ornament on the front of the boat is called the fèrro (meaning iron) and can be made from brass, stainless steel, or aluminium. It serves as decoration and as counterweight for the gondolier standing near the stern. The gondola has existed in Venice since the 11th century, being first mentioned by name in 1094. It is estimated that there were eight to ten thousand gondolas during the 17th and 18th century, but there are only around four hundred in active service today, with virtually all of them used for hire by tourists. The uniqueness of the gondola includes its being asymmetrical along the length, making the single-oar propulsion more efficient. For centuries, the gondola was a major means of transportation and the most common watercraft within Venice. In modern times, the boats still do have a role in public transport in the city, serving as traghetti (small ferries) over the Grand Canal operated by two oarsmen. The kit This is quite a new kit from Amati, and who better to realise a scale model of a Gondola, than an Italian company. This particular subject appears to represent a modern Gondola, which is still no bad thing as I’ve seen a lot of these myself and they are beautiful vessels. This isn’t the first Gondola released by Amati; they did a model of an 1882 vessel (#1600), with a covered passenger section, which was 1:20 scale and is now unavailable. Original Amati Gondola kit The new kit is a very different model. As is always the case, this kit is packaged into an attractive and high quality, glossy box, with a single photo of the finished Gondola on the lid, and a couple of other finished views on the sides. The vessel is finished in its famous satin black, and the artwork design reflects this. Despite the box’s depth, the actual components don’t occupy too much space, with a few packets of flat sheet parts included, plus a single, large plan, manual etc. We’ll look at these parts now. You could say that this model is very much a plank-on-frame (POF) build, with a series of ‘C’ frames which sit upon a flat, ply floor, sheathed initially with single-piece timber sides. It’s quite a simple approach to building but allows the model to be fitted out and furnished easily, whilst also displaying elements of the hollow hull. The model also needs to have its interior painted black during different phases of the build, due to those areas still being within eyesight when finished. Several thin ply sheets are provided which hold the parts for the frames, footboards, strakes etc. Here you see the frames sheet, with side elements. A little later, you can see a number of selected manual pages, so you’ll get a better idea of construction. Incidentally, the single plan sheet isn’t what you use for main construction guide. The model is mostly don’t via the manual photos, with the plan only really giving an idea of the finished model. This ply sheet contains parts for the oar, display stand, and some visible interior bulkheads. Also visible are the seats. These will be finished with a material which looks like crushed red velvet. On these two ply sheets, you can clearly see the asymmetrical floor of the gondola with engraved positions for the frames, and also side tabs which will key into the single-piece sides, ensuring that alignment is perfect. More turtle deck parts can be seen here, as long as the tabbed floor sections which slot into the frames. Here you can see the Gondola’s side panels with the tabs that correspond with the flat, ply vessel bottom. That was the last of the flat timber sheets, but included is a large sheet of steel photo-etch. This carries the prow and stern shapes, plus two ornamental strakes which lie down each side of the hull. A reasonably sized sheet of material is included which represents the crushed red velvet of the Gondola interior, as well as for the seat furnishings. Lastly, a single length of dowel is included which is for the oar construction, a cast metal lamp, and the oarlock in grey resin. Instructions As I’ve already stated, the model is mostly built using just the stages from the manual, and not the plan sheet. All photos and instructional text are nice and clear and describe in good detail, exactly what the modeller must do at each stage. Photography is excellent and every picture is perfect reference for your build. Conclusion When I came into the hobby around 22yrs ago, the original Amati Gondola was a kit I always coveted, having a copy of their catalogue. For whatever reason, I missed out on that kit and eventually forgot about. Being sent this new kit to review has more than made up for that as this look a beautiful and beautifully simple model to build, but one that’s very attractive. I love watching the Gondolas when I visit Venice, and this model very much captures the evocative appeal of this type of vessel. Something a little mysterious. Maybe I’ve been watching too many old films too! Amati’s Gondola is also a very affordable kit that offers plenty for the builder. As a modeller of primarily warships, this is the sort of side project that I very much enjoy, and as soon as the opportunity presents, I will open a build log for this. My sincere thanks to Amati for sending this kit for review here on Model Ship World. To buy directly, click the link at the top of this article, or visit your local Amati dealer.
  2. 1:20 Grand Banks Model – Heritage 46 Amati Catalogue # 1607 Available from Amati for around €513 Grand Banks History The boatyard has its origins in Hong Kong, where it began building custom wooden sailing and motorboats in 1956, as American Marine. The Spray, a 36- foot -long displacement vessel, was designed and built in 1963 as a prototype trawler yacht. This new, robust, and visually pleasing type of boat was so successful that the company founders decided to put the vessel into production. Series production began in 1965, for the first time under the name Grand Banks, and the different models were each designated according to their length in feet. In 1968 the company moved to Singapore and since 1973, trawler yachts have been made of glass fibre reinforced plastic. The success of Grand Banks led to competing shipyards also beginning to mass-produce trawler yachts in the 1970s. Photo from boats.com The spacious living quarters aboard the Grand Banks 46 Classic provide ample room for comfortable long-range cruising. With top speed exceeding 20 knots, the 46CL is an ideal yacht to get you quickly to your favourite cruising destination. Safety and reliability are, of course, a built-in Grand Banks tradition. Wide walk-around decks, aft cockpit, and well-equipped steering and navigation stations both on the flybridge and in the salon are all part of the package. There are countless attributes of a Grand Banks that contribute to its reputation as one of the most reliable, high-quality yachts designed and built for cruising. The kit This Amati Grand Banks kit release is packaged into a highly attractive box with a glossy lid that depicts the completed model, including some scrap detail views. The scale of this one is a crumping 1:20! In real terms, that equates to a finished model which will be around This box appears to be the same size, or thereabouts, as the HS Vanguard and Orient Express kits, but possibly a little deeper. In fact, the kid itself doesn’t extend to the bottom of the box! One thing you’ll notice on the lid of this very heavy box is that the hull in this release is made from ‘resin’, or to be more accurate, glass-fibre resin. The large, single-piece hull is made from white resin and has a satin, slightly chalky but very smooth appearance. One thing I need to say here is that this model CAN be fitted out for RC and Amati sell an additional kit that can be used with this model. Ok, back to the contents. This is another of those kits where I don’t seem to be able to get everything back into the box once I’m done. Frustrating! The inner box has an integral lid which gives the box a load of rigidity as well as stopping anything easily piercing through the lid, into the contents. Lid off, and the first thing to be seen is an envelope with the manual and plans, with sheets of enveloped timber underneath. For the purpose of this article, I’ll tackle the contents in a different order. Many key constructional areas are laser-cut in a very nice quality birch ply. No parts numbers are shown on these sheets, and you need to cross match the sheet with the pictorial parts sheet that’s included. Of course, each sheet is numbered to identify it. Here you can see parts that will build up to create the entire superstructure. If you intend to make this RC, this whole area will lift out to provide access to the motor and servos/linkages below decks. Having looked through the instructions for quite a while, I do think that if you are capable, sheathing the entire superstructure in thin, white plasticard sheet, such as Evergreen, would produce a stunning finish. Anyway, that’s just me thinking out loud. Whilst the hull is glass-fibre, there are some thin ply strakes which fit below the gunwale. These can be seen in the two sheets at the top of this photo. There is some darker laser marking on some parts, but thankfully the parts aren’t degraded because of it, and some light sanding will remove it. Two sheets are cut from 1mm mahogany, and contain many cabin interior parts, plus window frames etc. The grain on these parts, in thinner areas, will be a little more fragile, so some kid gloves will be needed to handle them. It’s a case of not removing parts from sheets until they are needed. Of course, the exterior of the superstructure will need to be skinned, and these parts are for that purpose. Going back to possibly using styrene sheet to skin the model, you could in theory, use these as templates for doing just that. However, that’s not what’s intended here. Some parts are included on these two 3mm sheets, manufactured again in mahogany. These include more substantial parts, such as the multipart gunwales and ornamental scroll rails etc. The mahogany here is a little lighter and I think a staining varnish would be nice here to give the parts a deep, rich colour. A small cradle is supplied for the hull, and not the large stand shown on the box lid. This cradle is a simple MDF affair. Personally, if you are spending £500 on a kit like this, I’d look at buying/building a nicer mounting solution to this one. The smaller sheet contains parts for the dinghy/launch. There is a small amount of MDF in this kit. Here, the parts are for superstructure. A little area of familiarity is the inclusion of wood strip for various things, such as framing, deck planking etc. There is also a quantity of brass rod too. The two boxes supplied here are found at the bow and stern of the hull when packed. One of these supplies all the pre-shaped, chromed rails, and they are superb. These are quite complicated shapes and I don’t see any deformation etc. I really do suggest you remove this box to a safe place, right up until you need to fit them. Damaging these would be annoying. The other box contains a suite of various seating parts. The bases are cast in a matte white resin, and the seating is beige faux leather. All are very nicely made. A smaller box is included, containing the boat’s dinghy, cast in the same matte white resin. This of course will be fitted out with various mahogany parts etc. Residing in the boat’s hull are two packs of fittings. This first one contains two PE parts frets, some timber section, the boats props, wheel, rigging blocks, cleats etc. The second fittings box contains trim tape, brass ferrules, rigging cord, plastic grating, brass pins etc. An envelope contains a steel PE fret due to the nature of the parts on there, such as the grilles on the side of the superstructure. In this thickness, steel isn’t quite as flexible as brass, therefore not as easy to damage in key areas. There is also acetate in this package, for the various cabin windows. I think the cloth is perhaps for the cabin curtains. The last envelope contains a set of plans, full colour instruction manual, written notes and colour-printed sheets that have details for the parquet floor, flag, rugs, maps, charts, and even magazines for the cabin tables! Here a number of selected images from the manual. Conclusion On the box, Amati say that this is an ‘easy to build model’. Ok, everything is relative. Anything is as easy as you want to make it, but it’s the result which will define the effort you put in. This is by no means a beginner kit, but the construction of the kit, the beautiful fittings, chromed rails and small details, will make this an enormously enjoyable project to build, and if you’re like me, a very welcome change from regular masted, wooden ships. The plans and manual are also excellent and show all aspects of construction extremely well. It could be said that this isn’t a cheap kit, but I think it’s very reasonable for what you get, including that superb glass-fibre hull. There’s very little you can get wrong with this if you work objectively, and of course, it will make a really unique large shelf display model. If you’ve been thinking of taking the plunge with this, or in need of something a little different, I’d most definitely recommend Amati’s Grand Banks Heritage 46. My sincere thanks to Amati for sending out this kit for review on Model Ship World. To buy this kit direct, click the link at the top of the article, or head over to your local Amati distributor.
  3. SMS Scharfschütze 1/250 available from GPM Hi, Gang! This will be a sort of quick-and-dirty review, since the kit is not a new release. Whenever I order stuff from Poland, I like to order the most stuff I can get for a particular shipping cost -- if I'm going to get a few items, I might as well get the most for my shipping buck. My most recent order from the Polish firm of GPM arrived today, consisting mostly of after-market canopies and wheels, but I was able to squeeze in a new card model as well. This one is SMS Scharfschütze (Sharpshooter), one of twelve Huszar-class destroyers built for the pre-WW1 Austro-Hungarian navy. The kit has been out for roughly a decade (there is no release date on the cover sheet), so I'm a little lucky that one was still available all these years later. It is available in either 1/200 or 1/250 scale. I chose 1/250, since pretty much all of my other card ship kits are in that scale. At that scale, the finished model will be 26 cm long -- a little more than ten inches. The kit has a number of interesting features. One is that it doesn't come in the usual booklet form, but instead is printed on individual sheets. A second unusual feature is that the designer's name is not given anywhere. However, the kit and its diagrams look remarkably similar in style to the V108 kit which served as the basis for the tutorial I posted in the card models section. That makes me suspect that Digital Navy's Roman Deytna may have designed the kit. Perhaps one of our august members can confirm that for me. One bit of good news with this kit is that it doesn't just come with Polish instructions. The bad news is that the only other language is German. I read German, so that's great for me, but perhaps not so great for the rest of you. Fear not, though, since the kit does include a sufficient number of diagrams to guide the builder to a finished model. Also, the model is not overly complex -- I think that anyone who has built V108 or any similarly simple kit, such as the ones available from Paper Shipwright, will be able to build this kit without too much difficulty. There are only two pages of printed parts, so the total parts count is low. Optional parts allow for the model to be built in either a full-hull or waterline configuration. The print quality is good. Here's where it gets a little more interesting. The kit is a "limited edition" offering -- a kind of deluxe kit that includes both laser-cut details and a laser-cut frames set. It costs only US$13.64, so it's a pretty darn good deal. One of the two pages of parts is laser-cut, which will save a lot of fiddly cutting, even if the laser-cut parts give a sense of being very delicate. Whether they will prove to be delicate during construction remains to be seen. A separate key for the laser-cut parts is provided. There is a separate laser-cut fret containing railings. The frames are cut from the standard "beer mat" used in Poland. At one time, metal gun barrels were also available, but they have been out of stock for quite a while. So, that's it in a nutshell. I think this is an intriguing kit, design-wise, and it depicts a very interesting and infrequently seen subject. The price is definitely a plus. Given my fondness for small warship projects, I may have to make room in the queue for this one sooner rather than later.
  4. SMS Sleipner 1900 1:250 HMV Catalogue # 3047 Available from Fentens Papermodels for €13.99. All images by the author except where noted. Image courtesy of Fentens Papermodels History From the publisher’s website: “The name Sleipner comes from the eight-legged horse Sleipnir of the Nordic god Odin. The name of this extraordinary horse describes gliding on land, water and in the air. How fitting for an elegant dispatch boat like the Sleipner. The torpedo boat's maximum speed was around 26.5 knots, which was impressive at the time, and with a length of 61 meters and a width of 7 meters, the Sleipner was quite impressive. Image from Wikimedia Commons: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/SMS_S_97.jpg When commissioned, SMS Sleipner carried the designation S97. The torpedo boat destroyers S90 to S101 are sister ships of the Sleipner. All of these ships were built at the Schichau shipyard between 1898 and 1901. S97 Sleipner was launched in Elbing on December 16, 1899 and was put into service on May 28, 1900. Sleipner's two propellers were powered by two triple steam engines and Schichau-Thornycroft water-tube boilers were used. The maximum water displacement was 394t. The ship was supposed to have a crew of 49 men. The SMS Sleipner was intended from the start as an escort ship for the imperial yacht Hohenzollern. That's why we often talk about the imperial dispatch boat Sleipner. The usual accompaniment of the Hohenzollern when traveling consisted of at least one warship and a dispatch boat. This task was carried out from 1900 to 1914 by SMS Sleipner. Many pictures show Hohenzollern with Sleipner somewhere in the background. The Hohenzollern's journeys took Sleipner, among others, to Venice, to Alesund, and also to the Norwegian south coast. It happened that the emperor himself was on board SMS Sleipner and he used the ship for visits or events occasionally. During the Kieler Woche and similar sailing events the SMS Sleipner occasionally worked as a yacht tug for large sailing yachts such as Germania or Meteor. The dispatch boat also was applied to the service of science and on July 1, 1904, under the direction of the German meteorologist and geophysicist Hugo Hergesell and the French naval officer Sauerwein, it brought a kite probe to a height of 1,880 meters. The Sleipner's armament consisted of 2 rapid-fire cannons of caliber 5 cm, which were used as saluting guns. The torpedo boat sister ships had 3 of these rapid-fire cannons on board and were also equipped with 3 torpedo tubes. On September 4, 1914, the Sleipner was renamed T97 and used as a coastal defense ship. In 1917 and 1918 she also performed patrol duties and served as an escort ship. After the war, the former Sleipner served in the Reichsmarine for a short time. On March 22, 1921, T97 was struck from the register of the Reichsmarine and then sold to Düsseldorf for demolition on May 26, 1921.” The Kit HMV (Hamburger Modellbaubogen Verlag) have added another tempting kit to their lineup of high-quality card models in 1/250 scale. This time, the subject is one we don’t often see, if ever, in the card medium—a handsome dispatch boat from Europe’s Belle Époque. The cover of the kit (see above) features several digitally rendered views of SMS Sleipner. The ship’s sleek lines suggest that Sleipner was built for speed, as indeed she was, considering her torpedo boat heritage. But other visual cues hint at her more aristocratic and less-deadly purpose, such as her lack of armament, ornate railings, and awning-covered salon. The cover also informs us that the kit consists of 329 parts and has a difficulty rating of mittel (intermediate), suggesting that the kit is appropriate for anyone having a few card models already under their belt. At 252 mm in length, the finished model will not make huge demands on anyone’s limited display space. Let’s look inside the kit and see what you get! Instructions/Diagrams As is typical with HMV kits, there aren’t any written instructions other than a very brief overview consisting of a list of required tools, general tips for building card models, and a key for the various codes used in the diagrams. A circled letter ‘L’, for example, means that the indicated part can be replaced with a part from the optional laser-cut detail set. Fortunately for us, HMV’s diagrams are first-rate and cover all phases of construction. Parts Not all of HMV’s kits have full hulls, but this one does. The design gives the builder the choice of building either a full-hull or waterline model. The hull is designed with the usual HMV “egg crate” construction. Sleipner’s hull has noticeable turtle-back joints between the deck and hull sides, and this might be one of the trickier aspects of the model to pull off neatly. The printing is crisp, and the registration is flawless. Sleipner wears the white topsides and buff funnels of the peacetime German Imperial Navy. The design includes doubled elements (see part 27a below) that will make the proper location of superstructure features, such as the salon walls, much easier than was possible using the old folded-tabs method. Optional parts are included for adding depth to printed elements such as watertight doors. Nice additional touches include a stand and an optional sunshade. Laser-Cut Detail Set To help cope with some of the smaller and more delicate parts of the model, a set of laser-cut detail parts is available to purchase separately. The set consists of six frets in various colors, including metallicized card for the propellers. Particularly nice are the lattice-work railings. The part numbers for the set are laser-engraved on each fret, but—just in case—the set includes a list of all the parts in the set and a pictorial key. Conclusion For years now, card modelers have counted on HMV to publish new kits depicting attractive subjects that tend to be off the beaten path, with an emphasis on Germany’s rich maritime heritage. Sleipner slots into the HMV lineup very nicely. With high-quality graphics, clear construction diagrams, and the option to use laser-cut details, Sleipner should appeal to all fans of card model ships, from novice builders to seasoned veterans. Sincere thanks are due to Benjamin Fentens at Fentens Cardmodels (see link at top) for providing this example for review. Tell them you read about it at Model Ship World!
  5. As my interest in jigsaw puzzles and ship modeling is well know by my friends and family, I was presented at X-Mas with this 3D model kit of Queen Anne’s Revenge (Blackbeard’s ship) by my wife's nephew and family. It’s more or less, a combination of my two interests in one box weighing in at a substantial 3 lb. 7 oz. While it is certainly not an accurately detailed rendition of the vessel, it will be my first entry into card models and I look forward to it’s assembly, which judging by the 23 page illustrated step by step instruction manual, (in 7 languages no less) should not be too difficult to complete. There are a total of 391 pieces including the display stand. The vast majority is printed on 15 sheets of 11” x 16.5” pre-punched sheets of 1mm card stock printed in color, but the sails are on 3 sheets of textured paper and there are 22 plastic canons, a small sheet of double sided tape, a card hole puncher, and small sheet of prefinished Mylar to represent stained glass on the rear of the ship. Although glue is not required for construction, obviously if you would like to keep it for display you might like to use some. No tools are required, other than the hole puncher that is included with the kit. It claims to be rated as a 6 in complexity, but not sure if that is out of 10 or what. I tend to believe that according to its estimated construction time of 4 hours it can’t be all that complicated. This kit is designed and manufactured by CubicFun Toys Industrial Co. Ltd out of Guangdong, China and is referred to as an anniversary edition, but I’m not sure if the company has produced an earlier model or if it refers to something else. While there is no indication of scale, the completed size of the model is listed at 29.1” X 10” X 24.4” (or 74cm X 25.6cm X 62cm). As this was a gift, I have no clue about its cost or if it’s a pirated copy of some other company’s product, but from what I can see, it is well produced and nicely packaged. While the model is admittedly more toy like, it is not pretending to be anything other than a 3D puzzle. Overall, I think that it seems to be a good introduction to card models especially for modeling fans that are inexperienced or just want to get their feet wet, so to speak.
  6. I once owned a rescue dog who needed a lot of behavioral work. So after some one-on-one sessions with a specialist we eventually graduated to attending obedience classes with others. I can’t say that we ever overcame all the issues (and I’m not sure who was training whom!) but I certainly learned the value of positive reinforcement. Consequently, since I have a tendency to be easily distracted and leave unfinished projects laying around, I wanted to reward myself for completing my first wooden ship model. While I enjoyed the wood model, my situation is perhaps not the best for them. Simply put, sanding wood makes too much dust for me to do in our living spaces and I really don’t have an interior space to do it. With the arrival of Winter sanding outside isn’t much of an option. So I’m putting off the next wood model until Spring and the return of good weather. So returning to my interest in card models I read up on the models produced by Tomasz Weremko, aka, Seahorse. Card models are certainly more apartment friendly than wood models and they are much more budget friendly. Level of detail, of course, is entirely in the hands of the builder and designer. While I’ve tinkered with designing and building my own card models, I’ve never actually built a commercially available kit. I still consider myself a novice builder and while I love the look of fully rigged ships I hesitate to commit to building one. I wanted something small, preferably in 1/72 scale to match my last model, and without too much rigging. I first decided that Searhorse’s Armed Virginia Sloop would fit the bill. However, its 1/100 scale means that some of the details are going to be quite challenging for my hand-eye coordination. I confirmed that by reading Clare Hess’ build log. (Mr. Hess’ log can be found here: https://shipmodeler.wordpress.com/2022/07/29/building-the-armed-virginia-sloop-paper-model-part-1/) But Seahorse also offers a US Revenue Cutter in 1/72 scale. In addition, according to Mr. Weremko’s complexity scale the cutter ranks as a ‘2’ as opposed to the sloop’s level of ‘3’. It ticks all the boxes! Did I mention the budget friendlyness of card models? I ordered both as full kits complete with laser cut parts, sails, dowels and (almost) all the necessary bits and bobs provided. Both kits and shipping from Poland came in at $72.00 USD. I ordered directly from the Seahorse web site on December 4th and eagerly awaited the arrival of the kits from Poland. After checking the tracking website daily (which stopped showing progress once the packages arrived in Los Angeles on the 9th) they arrived in my mailbox on December 16th. Mustering my dog-training discipline, I’ll save the sloop for later but I instantly opened the cutter package and reviewed the contents. As expected, there’s nothing disappointing about this kit. The basic model is presented as a saddle-stitched (e.g., stapled) booklet with full color photos of a finished model on front and rear covers. Ah, something to aspire to! There is, of course, a minimum of written text in both Polish and English comprising of a short history of the ship and ‘Basic Rules and Tools’ for construction. There are four pages of pictorial instructions, two pages of parts printed in black on white paper and two pages of parts printed in color on card. Now, in my set there was a second set of the card-printed parts inserted into the fold. I’m not sure if this was an oversight or if the second loose set was included because the printing of the first set (which is bound into the booklet) is a bit weak. Or, perhaps Seahorse can sense a ‘newbie’ and kindly included spares. Whatever the reason, intentional or not, it gives me a sense of security and a makes me think that Seahorse is a quality operation. (It’s also a bit unsettling that I joyfully anticipate looking at a centerfold of a model… ship!) There are a couple of hazards for neophytes. The first is that the required thickness of card for laminated parts is appended to the part number and is easily overlooked. The number is followed by ‘//’ or ‘*’ or ‘**’ to indicate 0.3, 0.5 or 1.0 mm card thickness. However, I think I’ve shielded myself from this potential error by purchasing the laser cut parts sheets. I’m also puzzled by this sentence in the instructions: “To avoid too many symbols, uncommon thickness of some parts should be matched to the width of the stripes covering its edges.” I can only assume that this refers to the keel which is considerably thicker than 1.0 mm and has a piece that runs along the bottom edge of the keel. That ‘edge’ piece appears to be about 4 mm wide so, therefore the keel should be laminated to that thickness. Now that I’ve typed that up it makes sense to me. I also see a couple parts with ‘W’ numbers which are not part of the printed sheets. I believe these need to be created from wire (which is mentioned in the ‘Basic Rules’). The templates for these parts are on the fourth page of instructions along with the mast and spar diagrams. The most numerous of these appear to be the rail stanchions surrounding the deck to prevent crew from falling overboard. My last observation is in regard to the copper sheathing below the waterline. It’s interesting that Seahorse has provided a simple solution and a detailed solution to the sheathing. On one side of the copper colored sheet the sheathing is designed as strips to cut and apply much like the hull planking. But if you flip the sheet over you find that it has been printed to represent the individual sheets of copper. So, depending up on your sense of fanaticism, er, level of detail, you have options. I like that. All said and done, I’m quite happy with my purchase. I’m not certain when I’ll get started on the cutter and the Virginia sloop is certainly farther down the line. (Maybe the sloop will be next Winter’s project.) At this point I’m still mustering my canine-induced self-discipline and working on resizing my skipjack design. But once I’ve hit the ‘proof-of-concept’ stage in that project it’s ‘game on!’ on the cutter. Pictures (or it didn't happen!):
  7. 1/50 Hercules Tug boat by Occre product code 61002 Cornwall Model Boats retail at £247 from the Occre site Hercules Tugboat | Wooden Ship Model - OcCre Model Ship Hercules Tugboat Includes nameplate. Includes the basic wooden model display. Static model. With the possibility of making it RC -> it is shown in the instructions how to make it navigable. Hercules Tugboat model features Possibility of illuminating with the Led Light Kit Ref. 55010. Deck openings to access the RC and motorization mechanisms. Ultra-realistic casting. Step-by-step video tutorials. Instructions in 5 languages. HD photos step by step. Parts list with measurements and materials. IP sheet to identify the parts Scale plans. High-quality model. Lifetime warranty. Contains the following technical elements for Radio Control: Propeller / Prop shaft / Prop shaft horn with self-lubricating bearings / RC rudder blade with hull and servo anchoring mechanisms. Curiosities of the Hercules tug boat The Hercules is a steam tug built in 1907 for the San Francisco Shipowners and Merchants Tug Company, as part of its Red Stack Fleet. During the first part of her life, Hercules was an ocean tugboat. Due to the prevailing northwesterly winds, sailing ships often employed the Hercules on voyages north up the coast from San Francisco. On other occasions, the Hercules was used to tow barges to other West Coast ports and to Hawaii, and to transport equipment for the construction of the Panama Canal. In 1947, the Hercules and the tug Monarch were tasked with towing the hull of the battleship Oklahoma to San Francisco Bay for scrapping. However, 500 miles from Hawaii, she was hit by a powerful storm and the Oklahoma began to fill with water and sink. The Hercules was unable to break free until the last moment, narrowly avoiding being dragged to the bottom of the sea by the Oklahoma. In 1986 she was designated a National Historic Monument. She is now one of the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park exhibits and is moored at the Hyde Street Pier. Technical sheet of the model Hercules Tugboat Scale: 1/50 Width: 163mm Height: 420mm Length: 915mm
  8. 1:84 Santisima Trinidad – Trafalgar 1805 Artesania Latina Catalogue #22901 Available from Artesania Latina for €749.99 The Santisima Trinidad (full name: Nuestra Señora de la Santísima Trinidad), was a Spanish first-rate ship of the line with 112 guns. This was increased in 1795–96 to 130 guns by closing in the spar deck between the quarterdeck and forecastle, and to 136 guns around 1802 (plus 4 small guns on the poop), thus creating what was in effect a continuous fourth gundeck although the extra guns added were actually relatively small. She was the heaviest-armed ship in the world when rebuilt and bore the most guns of any ship of the line outfitted in the Age of Sail. She was built at Havana, Cuba, to a design by Irish naval architect Matthew Mullan (domiciled in Spain under the name Mateo Mullán), originally intended as a ship of 112 guns. He died on 25 November 1767, and the construction of the ship was continued by his son, Ignacio Mullán. and the ship was launched in March 1769 and completed in August 1769 as a 116-gun three-decker. She was considerably larger than her British contemporary Victory and somewhat bigger than the French Bretagne. Commanded by Francisco Javier Uriarte and the flagship of Rear Admiral Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros, she took part in the Battle of Trafalgar on October 21, 1805, as part of the combined Franco-Spanish fleet. Due to her great bulk, her helm was unresponsive in the light winds on the day, contributing to her ineffective service in the combined fleet's cause. Her great size and position immediately ahead of the fleet flagship Bucentaure made her a target for the British fleet, and she came under concentrated attack by several ships. She lost her mast and eventually surrendered to the Neptune; a 98-gun second rate commanded by Captain Thomas Fremantle. She was taken in tow by the 98-gun second rate Prince but was eventually scuttled by her British captors northwest of Cádiz. History abridged from Wikipedia. The kit Before I post my own information on this new release, I’ll give you the details of the kit, as per Artesania Latina’s own blurb. “In addition, the naval modeling kit of the Spanish vessel comes with several paper templates to make the building process of the model easier. Among other functions, they are used to arrange the elements on the decks and to place the embrasures and other objects on the sides of the hull. Speaking of the hull, its structure can be assembled as if it were a 3D puzzle. With this faithful 1:84 scale replica, you can represent correctly the appearance and artillery of the Santísima Trinidad in the battle of Trafalgar since it brings the howitzers that the ship carried in great detail -144 cannons-. Likewise, modelers who wish to line the hull of the magnificent model of the Spanish ship are in luck because the kit includes copper tape to be able to do it below the waterline. Once it is assembled, the model of Santísima Trinidad (22901), measures 46.88'' (1191 mm) length, 35.63'' (905 mm) height and 18.26'' (464 mm) width. Its design using a false keel and frames brings its assembly closer to the real ship. As a bonus, the kit of Santísima Trinidad comes with 5 die-cast figures.” This new generation of large Artesania kits certainly pack a whole load of contents for your money, and of course, the boxes are very large…and heavy. Definitely another kit where you need to try hard to fit everything back under the lid if you intend to repack for a later date. This new release comes with FOURTEEN sheets of laser cut and engraved ply sheet in a varying number of sizes and thicknesses. The material, in my sample kit, is perfectly flat, without warp or defect, and all of the cutting and engraving is clean with no laser blow-back. All parts are also laser numbered too. Included with the timber sheets is a set of three A4 parts plans which you can use to quickly locate the part you want without fumbling through the actual sheets. All of the timber parts in this kit are cellophane wrapped and not too tightly as to cause deformation. As you look through these sheets, you’ll see the unusual manner in which the parts are supplied. You won’t find a single-piece hull, or even a two-part solution. The hull is built up from three parts, and the bulkheads are multi-part creations that use dovetail joints to hold the parts under glue. The hull itself is built up in sections and expanded as you progress from bow to stern. This is a lot like the system used in the monthly magazine partwork builds. The various elements of construction should mean that the build proceeds with minimal risk of the keel being twisted (although I would always ensure this is the case, as you build). You will find a number of parts on these sheets that relate to things which aren’t frames or bulkheads etc. such as the deck grates. I’m not absolutely sure I like this aspect, as these aren’t engraved. To fix this, you would need to varnish, then score along the grates to show the main batons running bow to stern, and then apply a dark ‘wash’ to make the grate look like it’s made from individual parts. You also won’t see any deck sections in the parts sheets. There aren’t any. All decking is single planked, directly onto the top of the various frames/bulkheads. You will need to ensure that your plank joints are very tight together, and I would also think along each edge too, or the deck wouldn’t be solid. Another point that’s important to mention here is that the hull is single-planked. You will need to tread carefully here if you are used to double layer planking. You will need to ensure that your timber doesn’t sag anywhere as you won’t have the fallback of another layer. The good news is that the planking timber is superb quality and it’s 2mm x 5mm (300mm long). You also won’t see any bare timber in the finished build, so you have a little extra leeway too. The lower hull is coppered (5mm wide tape) and above the waterline, the colours are black, red, and white. Multiple packs of high quality strip timber are supplied in cellophaned bundles, and clearly labelled for size. I very much do like the quality of the timber elements in this kit. They are a world away from my first build…ironically, an Artesania kit! Another pack of timber is included. This time its dowel of various diameters. The material used is birch, with the small quantity of 2mm being bamboo. Thankfully, the latter does look fine, but I don’t go a bundle on bamboo for mast/yard material. There are FOUR fittings boxes with this kit. Here are the photographs to see for yourself. The rigging blocks are deadeyes are perfectly good as far as quality goes, with the metal parts being cast in a zinc alloy. This includes the cannon. Some seams are present on some of these parts, and you’ll need a rotary tool to remove these. Other zinc alloy metal parts include buckets, anchors, stern décor, ship’s wheels, lower quarter gallery sections, belaying pins, belfry roof, etc. The figurehead is also far nicer than many of those supplied in other contemporary releases, with this one being cast in multiple pieces to eliminate the problems with single-part casting techniques. There are some brass parts too, such as the lantern tops, bell, anchor rings etc. The fittings boxes also include brass wire, netting, eyelets, glass parral beads, brass nails, turned metal stanchion, capstan, brass chain, metal cannon balls etc. You will note that the lower decks have stub barrels and not whole guns. You won’t see them down there anyway, especially in 1:84. Love them or loathe them, Artesania has supplied a full set of sails. The material is quite thin, and the stitching is good, apart from that which edges the material. This is way too much and not nicely done. If you want to use these sails, I suggest picking out that stitching and redoing in yourself. However, I would simply leave the sails OFF a model of this type. A number of other items are packed within another clear sleeve. These include some very nice silk screen printed flags, a roll of 5mm copper tape, acetate sheets for glazing, and various paper templates that you lay onto the planked hull, in order to position gun ports, fenders etc. If you like photo-etch, then this kit has in in abundance. All of the SIX sheets of this is produced in brass, using multi-layer etching processes, and cellophaned to a thick card backing to protect it. You will see that a lot of the parts, certainly the larger ones, concern the stern fascias. While these are very nice, I would use them in conjunction with timber to enliven them further and produce something which looks more 3D. The same applies to the quarter galleries, but if you install the supplied materials properly, then you will still have a very nice result. Now…rigging cord. There is quite a lot of this, as you would imagine, and generally the quality is ‘ok’. There is a small degree of fuzz on the spools I looked at, although not as bad as that of a number of other manufacturers. I would consider either replacing the rig or using one of a number of techniques to reduce the fuzz. This kit supplies a few printed sheets, and what looks like a full-size colour side profile photo which will be very useful for reference. A full colour parts list and fittings sheet is also included. At this point, I have to tell you that there isn’t a printed manual. All of the instructions are available for download from the product page on Artesania’s website. There over FIFTEEN downloads too, so you’ll see why this isn’t included in print. Ideally, you could do with a laptop or tablet in the workshop and access the instructions from there. The instructions are graphically driven, and the sheer number of photos is astounding. Around 8000 photos are included, over 800 pages. I know Chris would kill me if I submitted that number for his kits! Everything looks extremely easy to understand with just about every angle of the build covered, multiple times. I’ve included a few photos from the various instruction downloads. If you head to Artesania’s YouTube page, you will also find a number of tutorial videos for this specific kit. Conclusion While I’ve seen numerous unboxings of some of Artesania’s recent large kit releases, this is the first time I’ve seen one for myself. Construction is generally quite different to what you’d expect with regards to bulkheads and hull skeleton construction. I’m not at all averse to this methodology at all. In some respects, it seems almost modular, and highly unconventional. It does appear to work well for the builder, having researched a number of online builds. I still have to get my head around a single-planked hull. It’s something I need to try and align with as I do intend to build this in the future. The hull is fully painted/coppered, so there is a lot of flexibility with the underlying timber if you need to fill and cut back…albeit carefully. You most certainly will need to be more careful than you perhaps would normally be on your lime planking. I know I’ve certainly improved in that area over the years, and you’re best employing a good method of tapering, such as the one that many use here…Chuck’s method. Another unusual element here is that ‘missing’ manual I mentioned. There is a QR code that you can scan which will take you to the product page on the AL website. Here you can download the manual directly. If you like a printed manual, you’re going to need some serious ink to print this. I know this aspect can be difficult for those that like a manual supplied, as is traditional. In all, this is a kit I actually quite like, and I know Artesania are proud of their products. I’ve been discussing their products with them over the years, and this is one they are excited about. As far as price point is concerned, I think this is pitched correctly, considering the size of the overall model and the quality of materials supplied. Another contemporary manufacturer has released a limited-edition kit which is twice this price, and around the same scale, and slightly smaller. In comparison to that, minus the other kit’s gimmicks, this kit still stands head and shoulders above that with regards to quality and value for money. I’ve often said that I have a fondness for AL kits as that is how I started in the hobby, but I wouldn’t steer you wrong. This is a very nice kit; with the caveats and things I’ve mentioned. If you have the skills to build an intermediate to advanced kit, this is definitely one to consider. My sincere thanks to Artesania Latina for the kit you see reviewed here on Model Ship World. To buy directly, click the link at the top of the article. Related Products Before I mention these, Artesania have also designed this model so that the grand cabin can be illuminated. Installation of the specific AL set is shown within the many photographs for this kit. The lighting set can be bought from AL for €24.99, here. Ok, I have been sent two additional sets that are designed to be used with this kit. These are a figure set (to add to the small number included within the kit) and a paint set. The paint set, which is available here for €31.99, includes TWELVE 20ml bottles of acrylic paint. These paints can be applied with a brush or thinned for use in an airbrush. The website says they can be thinned with alcohol or thinner. From this, I presume you can use either isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol, or possibly something like Tamiya X20A. For the latter, do a small test to make sure the paint doesn’t congeal. The paints in this set are: · Off White x 2 · Off Black x 2 · Bright Red x 1 · Red x 2 · Ice Yellow x 1 · Buff x 1 · Cocoa Brown x 1 · Dark Red Leather x 1 · Gold x 1 The Figure set I have for this release, can be bought here for €29.99. This set consists of SIXTEEN figures and accessories which are period-correct. The figures appear to be cast in zinc alloy and look quite nice for this scale. Included in this kit are: · Captain x 1 · Officers x 4 · Surgeon x 1 · Marines x 2 · Grenadiers x 2 · Gun Crew x 5 · Sailor x 1 Also included are accessories, such as sabres, gun crew tools, ammunition etc.
  9. After ordering the 'Slavic' Longboat from MSW supporter The Crafty Sailor on Sunday, September 10th, I received it on Friday, September 15th. I retrieved the package from the mailbox on my way home from work, walked into the house and declared, 'Honey, we can retire! My ship's come in!' 'That's nice, dear,' she mumbled as she went back to work. Nevertheless, I'm excited. This is my first wood ship kit and my first kit review. This Russian kit by Falconet is packed in a sturdy corrugated cardboard box. The text is in Russian but on one end of the box there is some consideration of English speakers where the model is described as a 'Viking ship of IX - XI century.' Slightly different from the Crafty Sailor description as a '9th Century Slavic Longship.' I mention this only in case someone is confused. I don't believe Vikings would be historically considered a Slavic people but since they were quite active exploring the rivers of and trading throughout eastern Europe I have no doubt that Viking vessels were common in Slavic lands. Upon opening the box one finds two sets of drawings on A4 paper. One set focuses on hull construction, the other on rigging. There is a very brief explanation in Russian and English and from that point on all instructions are simply illustrations with call-outs indicating the part numbers in each step. The wood and MDF parts themselves are securely wrapped in plastic cling film and appear--to my untrained eye--to be of high quality. The two exceptions to this is a piece of light weight fabric for the sail and a heavy paper sheet with cut out stencils for the shield painting. I believe the stencil also provides a guide for assembling the last four hull strakes out of three separate components each. (This is more implied rather than described in the instructions.) The sail cloth is entirely unfinished and there are absolutely no instructions on how to prepare it. When it first appears in the instructions it has a bolt rope around the edges. Lastly, there is a small zip lock bag containing extra-small pieces such as the mast cleat, shield bosses and rigging thread. The mast step is also in here and it is quite rough--it will need delicate sanding to finish it. Overall, the instructions leave a little to be desired but I believe I'll be able to figure them out--even as a total land-lubber in the world of wooden ship model construction. The parts themselves are on 8 sheets of laser cut wood of various thicknesses and 1 sheet of MDF. Note that the sheets are referred to as plates in the instructions. And while there is a diagram of parts per 'plate' in the instructions, there are very few identifiers on the sheets themselves. Nevertheless, in the instructions each sheet is illustrated and each part is numbered and prefixed with the sheet number so finding particular parts should not be an issue. Unless the part has become detached from its sheet. I will certainly take care not to detach parts from their sheets until needed! That may be more difficult than it seems. The laser cutting is very fine. The sheets containing the strakes (G, left and right) are quite thin and fragile and the parts need only the gentlist persuation to separate from the sheet. The final last two bits of the model are the mast and the spar. These are supplied square so they will need some sanding to round them off. I do have some concerns here as the parts are quite thin and vigorous sanding would be detrimental. Care, care, care, is called for. I do wish oars had been included with the kit, though. Maybe I should consider that an opportunity for a little scratch building. So upon final inspection I believe this is a good first model (for me). The greatest challenge, I think, is the delicate nature of the model. The entire model is less than eight inches in length, assembled. Luckily, however, I am used to hobby time spent wearing a magnifying visor while working at fine scales--being a painter of war-gaming figures. I think I have all the tools I'll need for this model which may not have been the case for something more complex (though I may have to shop around for some suitably delicate clamps.) I did have difficulty choosing a well suited beginner's model. This model looks like it can be accomplished in weeks, not months. I know myself well enough to know that once I have figured out how to do something, I often lose interest in actually doing it--especially if it is a time consuming task. I really wanted to avoid a more expensive, time consuming project, particularly if I had little interest in the actual vessel. For me, hobby time is tightly related to learning the history of whatever I'm modelling. Consequently, the purchase of the viking ship model has inspired me to re-acquaint myself with the history of Alfred the Great of Wessex. One of my favorite childhood history interests. I do intend to start a build log once I start knocking together the longship.
  10. 1:48 La Renommée section - CAF Model Available for $79.00 from CAF Model This one was quite a surprise when it came with the Postie on Monday. Not a full kit, but this time a small deck section in 1:48. The kit comes in a narrow, slender box with a product label on the lid. It's also another of those kits that when you take everything out, it's not very easy to get it all back in again...especially when you remove the stapes that are used to clip the many fittings bags together. Although in 1:48, the finished project is still quite small too, measuring 140mm x 100mm on the base, and less than 100mm tall, with figure stood aloft. The kit itself depicts a single gun section of La Renommée, complete with full gun crew and someone I can only presume is an officer. I'm sure those with better knowledge of French naval ranks. There isn't too much strip wood in this kit with the majority of the timber here being the moulded wooden edges to the plinth you will make. You will need a mitre tool for this too. Two short lengths of brass wire are also included. The timber sheets are quite small too with parts laser-cut in both pear and ply. The pear of course, is for making the exposed frames that you'll see on the open ends of the section as well as the regular hidden frames, the cannon carriage, and the ply for the core of the base. You will also see a part (3a) than is used as a template/gauge to ensure that the internal frames and angles of the bulwarks are set correctly. Note also the deck planks (pale strips) that you may well be able to use 'as is', with the laser cutting simulating the deck caulking. A big feature of this kit are the numerous gun crew figures that you will need to clean up and paint. These are provided as 3D-printed parts and you will need to carefully and cleanly remove the support structures from the printing process. These need to be cut back to just before the figure and then carefully trimmed/sanded flush to the part. With 3D-prints, never snap those supports off at the part as it can leave a small divot in the part. All figure types are individually packaged and numbered for reference. There are a LOT of small packs of fittings which include all the hardware for the gun, eyelets, stanchions etc. and again, these are all individually bagged and the part depicted on the seal, plus the part quantity. Some parts are cast onto brass blocks and you will need a small jeweller's saw or similar, to release the parts, and some fine files to clean them up. Also included is rigging cord in various sizes for the gun, rigging blocks, etc. The cannon is either cast in brass or bronze. I'm not too sure, but the detail definition is very good indeed and supplies quite a bit of weight to finished model. One thing of note here is the tiny lantern. CAF say this can be lit with an LED, but you will need to source those parts yourself. Instructions These are a simple affair, spreading out over 6 pages, in full colour with parts annotation being clear and overall, the whole model looks simple to build up. Also included at the rear of the instructions are two pages showing the part sheets and corresponding part numbers. CAD and finished model images Conclusion This has to be a nice little 'between projects' project! It's very simple to build, the materials are very nice, albeit some char will need to be removed from part faces in some areas, and there's plenty of parts to keep you occupied. One thing I'd like to have seen is the inclusion of a 'grain of rice' LED and some wire and battery clip for illuminating the model as shown, or even a requirements list and illustration as to how the prototype was tackled. That' not even a gripe though...more just me thinking it would've been a nice touch. This is quite an inexpensive model for what you get, when you look at all those 3D-print figures etc. I don't really see too many new kits like this these days, so this should perhaps be something to consider if you fancy a small diversion. My sincere thanks to CAF Model for sending this kit over for review on MSW.
  11. Hi, Just made a short video of "unboxing" the card kit 1:250 HMV SMS UNDIN. Included in the and of the video also, the Lasercut set from the same company. A quick look in the kit and it seems very detailed. https://youtu.be/tPKftt8peZs
  12. 1:64 HM Britannic Majesty's Cutter Trial 1790 - Vanguard Models This is the latest kit from Vanguard Models. I don't feel I can review this as I would with any other product, per se, as I already have a well known connection to the company. I don't want to be accused of having an agenda or bias. This will be an overview/in-box look at this release which is VM's 14th kit since the company began. It's also, for me, the first release in around 3½yrs that I haven't had any involvement with. The aim of this kit is to bring a relatively low cost naval vessel to market which is at a level where novices can try their hand. It's set at a skill level 2. We do go to great pains to make sure that these levels reflect the build as much as possible, and that they are benchmarks that can be trusted when you shop at VM. For more info on these skill levels, check out this page: https://vanguardmodels.co.uk/understanding-our-skill-levels-ratings/ The box for this kit is quite compact and there's very little room left inside it, so I had to be careful in repacking this afterwards. A lining of bubblewrap lied within the box and inside that, all timber and acrylic parts are also wrapped in the same. There's no chance of stuff getting bashed about during transit. As with the rest of the range, the model is built around a laser-grade MDF skeleton and then lime planking is set for the first layer. Above water, the inner core bulwarks are from laser engraved and cut ply, which is then later doubled with an exterior pear later, complementing the second layer of plank that are also from pear. Although I have included some images from the manual, you will be able to look at the entire manual online on the kit's product page too, for more clarity. You can see from those images that the MDF frame is another slot and lock affair, which is designed so the modeller may actually do a reasonable amount of construction before any glue is applied. This will ensure that the model is properly assembled and aligned to the modeller's satisfaction, before any of the more traditional work is undertaken. There are seven sheets of pear, in varying thicknesses. Nigh on everything is pre-cut for the modeller, such as the inner and outer bulwarks (no planking needed), wales, gunwales, keel facings, rudder, etc. The keel facings fit the central keel core before second planking. This allows a rebate to be naturally created, that then lets the modeller neatly plank within and up to it for the second pear layer. You will also see the gun carriages, stairways, and various deck structures on these sheets. I am perhaps at a point where I automatically recognise everything that's visible here. The details supplied are, in my experience, higher than those in contemporary kits, with parts that aren't generic, but created specifically for the release. The quality of the pear is also high. Great pains have been made with this over the last years, believe me! Here you can see the ply sheet which contains the initial deck. Also seen are the inner bulwark cores. These are engraved so the lowest, horizontal engraved lines sit along the lines of the ply deck. This ensures that the bulwark elevation and position are correct. On the ply sheet is also the innermost lower counter part. As standard, laser-engraved lime decks are supplied, complete with treenail details. These are very easy to fit and have no tendency to curl when installing. Three bundles of timber are supplied for inner and outer planking, plus materials for the mast, yards and bowsprit etc. This kit contains two frets of photo-etch parts in two thicknesses of material. You will see easily identifiable parts in these sheets, such as the depth markings, fishtail/horseshoe keel parts, eyelets, pump handles belaying pins, and chainplates. The latter are made from single pieces so there's no awkward assembly to be had. The kit supplies an MDF cradle for construction, but the display stand itself is made from a lower section of mirror acrylic, with two clear and parts that clip into it. The reason for the mirror is to emphasise the vessel's drop keel much better and make it a feature. There are two boxes of fittings. The first one contains rigging rope of various sizes, whilst the second has a wealth of other things, such as brass pins, cannon and carronade barrels, winch, rigging blocks, anchors, carronade wheels, glass parral beads, black card, and also a nicely made name plate for the mirrored display base. For those unfamiliar with VM kits, the manuals are typically printed in an A4 format, as here, with some of the larger vessels having A3 manuals. All manuals are full colour and spiral bound. This kit also has eleven plan sheets which detail everything from parts maps, through construction and then onto rigging. So, that is a look under the hood of VM's latest kit. I'm not here to pass my own comments as I am too close to VM to do so. The quality of this release is commensurate with the whole range and nothing has had any corners cut to bring it to market. I also feel the price is fairly pitched for such a kit, especially with pear being included. If you fancy trying your hand at this unusual little kit, then head over to the VM page and grab yourself a copy! https://vanguardmodels.co.uk/product/trialcutter/
  13. This is the Orel kit of the Battleship Orel of 1904. Orel is alternately spelled Oryol and literally translates to Eagle. Having built an Orel kit before, I can attest that their kits are excellent. I bought mine off Amazon. This kit has optional laser cut and photo-etch sets available. Like the Solferino, the instructions come in Russian (I think), Polish, German and English. There are construction diagrams at the beginning of the book this time. Construction is a modified Plank On Bulkhead. The quality of the parts sheets are excellent and printed on A3 paper or card. Most parts are printed on paper for laminating onto card. Some are printed on card and ready to use. If you are interested in card models, Orel, a Ukrainian company, makes excellent ship models, in addition to a full range of other card models. They have a pretty decent selection of ironclads and pre-Dreadnoughts from around the world in 1/200 scale. Most have optional laser cut and photo-etch sets available. I liked the first model that I got from them well enough that I ordered three more. When I get the other two I’ll review them too. The price for this particular model was $46.99 with free shipping.
  14. 1:25 Drakkar ‘Oseberg’ Ships of Pavel Nikitin Catalogue # DROS002 Available direct for approximately £160 (7400 ₴) at time of writing History It is believed that the word “drakkar” originates from the Old Norse words “dreki” and “kar,” which mean “dragon” and “ship,” respectively. The warship acquired this name because the head of a dragon or another mythical creature (like Jormungandr) usually adorned the ship’s bow. The shape of the ship was also long and narrow, resembling a sea serpent. The Vikings constructed drakkars out of pine, oak, or ash wood. They used a special technique for splitting trees along the grain. They then watered the planks and held them above a fire to make them more flexible. The shipbuilders put the parts of the ship together with iron rivets and nails and bound them with cords and ropes. After that, they tarred the whole structure and caulked it by plugging holes and gaps and making the seams watertight. The sail was rectangular or square. It was made of sheep’s wool and covered with grease so that it didn’t get drenched. If there wasn’t a fair wind, the Vikings used oars – 20 to 35 pairs of them. In the Viking age, few ships could compete with a drakkar in terms of sheer speed, but drakkars were also very nimble. Thanks to the drakkar’s shallow draft, the Northmen could easily sail along rivers and fjords. They could land in places that were very difficult to access and attack their enemies unexpectedly. These warships were also barely visible between the waves because of their low sides. This helped the Vikings catch their enemies unawares, even in the open sea. Drakkars were created for more than just war, however. They were solid and capacious, so the Vikings sometimes used them for trade and to transport goods, but more often these ships were used for sailing long distances. How far did the Vikings travel? They reached the shores of Iceland, Greenland, and North America, to name but a few destinations. (Abridged from Vikings: War of Clans) The kit We’ve not exactly been awash with good kits of what we would call a typical Viking drakkar, or ‘longship’ as it’s more commonly known, despite the actual ancient translation. The Amati and Dusek are the kits which most come to mind. Pavel Nikitin’s new kit is also the largest in scale of this iconic vessel, weighing in at a whopping 1:25 scale! That equates to the following sizes: Length: 865mm Width: 430mm Height: 480mm Like the San Bartolome kit I recently looked at, the Drakkar is a second reworking, bringing a number of improvements over the original release, such as laser engraved ‘carved’ details on the bow and stern, including the ‘curls’ at each of those points. On other kits, this is where you would normally see such things as a dragon’s head, but this ship does not carry them, as per the actual recovered ship. I think in some respects, this was perhaps not as per a normal drakkar, but I could be wrong. The kit itself is packed into a slender but heavy corrugated box with a flap-opening lid depicting the finished model in all her glory, fitted with striped sail and 28 shields of varying décor. Inside the box, the various sheets are grouped into packages that are wrapped in cellophane, or ‘clingfilm’ as we know it in the UK. This keeps the sheets very tightly together. There are around 40 sheets of materials to build the drakkar. But that’s not all. Included with the ship is a very sturdy MDF jig which will most certainly aid those tasks that would otherwise be difficult, such as adding those clinker planks. As with other Pavel kits, this one also includes a homemade MDF and acrylic parts box, with the part numbers clearly engraved on the sliding lid. This box includes different sizes of high-quality rope in differing sizes (no fuzz!), 3d-printed boss heads for the many shields, cleats etc. The first task for the builder is to assemble the jig before then embarking on building the bulkheads. The bulkheads consist of a lower half into which a dovetailed upper half is fitted. The most outboard parts of each bulkhead are also separate parts. On the sheet, these are shown adjacent to their position on the uppers, with arrows depicting the location. This will add a little strength to the outer bulkheads, plus that change in grain direction at that point, will also help. There are also engravings on the completed bulkheads which denote where you need to pre-bevel the bulkheads prior to installation on the keel. The keel itself is a multipart assembly, with dovetail connection points. The bulkheads will be installed to the keel, inverted upon the building jig, and here is where the hull will sit until fully planked. A drakkar has a single mast and spar. These are provided as laser-cut/tapered parts that you will need to round off. Looking at the shape of these parts, then this is a welcome touch. Strips of dowel are also provided for the numerous oars. The paddles for these are pre-cut. For display purposes, a stand is also included, as is an engraved plate with a serial number. The kit is 00009. I am informed that the timber for this kit is a combination of walnut, cherry, alder, and beech. The instruction book is 28-page spiralbound A4 production with a protective plastic cover. The first part of the manual is text which relates to the numerous stages. Those stages are presented in drawing form in the second half of the manual. The drawings do appear to be nice and clear, and construction takes place over 68 stages. Inside the sleeve of the manual is a piece of laser-cut paper which contains three profiles which are designed to lay against the laminates that form the ‘fish’ or mast base. These are laid on at various stages and shaped to them. One plastic sleeve contains three nicely printed plan sheets which show the drakkar in various profiles, and in rig etc. The second wallet contains a single printed piece of material for the sail. You will obviously need to cut and stitch this yourself. The photos show this brightly painted, but I’d read that these were usually quite dark as protected with tar due to the expense of the sails back in days of yore. I do admit that the painted sail looks beautiful, and I’d probably go with that. The size of the sail is really quite an indicator at the size of this model in a large 1:25. Conclusion From both appearance and materials, this kit stands head and shoulders above other contemporary kits of Viking drakkar, by a very wide margin. Being based on the Oseberg remains, she also appears to be the most accurate of all of them too. The timbers used in the kit are stated as imitating those of the real vessel, which may have been the case, but the ships themselves were coated in tar and would’ve been quite dark. I suppose the final choice would be for the modeller. I would probably go for the tarred look. In all, I’m seriously impressed with this kit and Pavel’s determination to improve what already looked like the best kit available for this subject. All the small touches like the 3D shield bosses and the highly detailed laser carvings instead of the usual white metal fayre, really sets this apart. If you’ve ever had a thing about Viking ships or just want to build something a little different, then I really recommend this new release. *It was found that the kit had planks which were slightly too narrow to overlap properly. Pavel is now sending over replacement plank sets so I can eventually have a shot at building this lovely model kit. My sincere thanks to Pavel Nikitin for sending this kit out for review on MSW. To buy directly, click the link at the top of this article.
  15. This is a new kit from the Dutch company Kolderstok, and it's a significant addition to their growing line of 17th century Dutch ship models. I'm certainly thrilled to have my kit since I've been wanting to build a fluyt since 1970. Fluyts were cargo ships; designed to be cheap to purchase and cheap to operate. And, for the whole 17th century and beyond, they were very successful at it. The best modern references I know of to learn more are two companion publications from Seawatch Books: 17th century Dutch Merchant Ships, and 17th century Dutch Merchant Ships Plans Set for modelers, both by A.J. Hoving, C. A. Emke, et al. And there's my original source, The Great Age of Sail, Joseph Jobe, ed. The Kolderstok kit gives its ship's date as 1636, which suits me well. There is not much information in the kit's introductory writeup to say how the details were arrived at, though any involvement by Ab Hoving gives me confidence that it's on good foundations. It says: There is an active build log of a late prototype kit on a Dutch forum at https://www.modelbouwforum.nl/threads/het-fluitschip-uit-de-gouden-eeuw-hans-groenenberg.278397/. The builder there, Hans, is obviously in close contact with Hans van Nieuwkoop of Kolderstok. I expect that log to be enormously valuable (with the help of Google's transations) when I start on my own build. The kit has parts and instructions to construct either a lumber carrier or a whaler, though in the latter case you might want more boats (6-8 according to Hans) and of a different design than the two in the kit. I intend mine to build mine for lumber (I was trained as a forester many years ago) so the kit-supplied boats are going to be fine. The kit currently lists for 369 euros at https://kolderstok.com/en/products/fluytschip. There is a paint set available at 19 euros, which I also got. It comes with a full set of sails, but you have to stitch them yourself, which is a stopper for me. The kit includes flags, too, plus Kolderstok offers the possibility of printing a flag of your own design (prices aren't quoted for that service). There are a few nice resin castings for the transom including three choices for the central carving. Below are photos of just about everything that came in the box. It was very well packed and all the materials seem to be of high quality. I'm certain that I will upgrade the blocks that I use; the kit blocks are typical but I can't settle for them now that I've seen what can be gotten from, for example, Syren. And I hope to include sails in my build but, since I cannot sew, I'll probably make mine of silkspan (if I can). I like the 1:72 scale of the kit; it will be a nice size to work on at my bench and won't require adding a new room to the house when I'm done. The terrifying part of this kit, of course, will be planking the hull. To try and make this easier the planking starts upside down, from the keel, with the frames inserted into MDF forms. Most, if not all, of the hull planks are pre-spiled on laser cut sheets. Once the lower hull is complete the MDF is all removed, so the modeler could choose to outfit the lower decks. I haven't fully absorbed how the planking is going to go for me but I'm game to try it. The blocks, deadeyes, etc. come in a nice plastic box. And here's the paint set for the fluyt (an extra I added): Next are some photos from the manual, parts list, etc. There are two large one-sided plan sheets and 8 more smaller sheets, printed double-sided. The quality of the plans looks quite good to me. They're sharp and attractive and on nice heavy paper. I'd probably prefer that all sheets were one-sided, but when I actually get to doing the work I may find that these are just fine as they are. In the photos below the two big sheets are at the end. There are three sheets of sails with good instructions on how to deal with them. Finally are pictures of the spars and all the laser-cut sheets. The two sheets of MDF frames are at the top, followed by the laser-cut oak sheets which includes keel, stem, frames, etc. Below are the laser-cut basswood planks. The last four small laser-cut sheets are for the two boats, the tops, and some deck furniture. There's strip wood of various species. The walnut looks to me like black walnut (one of my favorite woods), and the cherry has a nice color, too. What the heck "abachi" is, I don't know, but I'm sure I will learn in the fullness of time. And that's it. I expect that it will be a difficult build for me and I have some learning to do before I start. But Hans is very responsive, the manual is clearly written and well illustrated, and the online build I mentioned at the beginning has very good photos. Bob
  16. 1:48 San Bartolome Catalogue # GSB005 Ships of Pavel Nikitin Available directly for €564.68 This San Bartolome was supposedly a part of the ‘invincible’ Spanish Armada led by Alonso Perez de Guzman, 7th Duke of Medina Sidonia, from May to September of 1588. The Armada was battered in multiple skirmishes with the Anglo-Dutch naval fleet, composed of light and manoeuvrable ships led by Charles Howard. This clash is known as the Battle of Gravelines. Elizabethan Pirates excelled in that battle, especially the notorious Francis Drake. The confrontation between Spanish and Anglo-Dutch fleets lasted for two weeks. The Armada could not regroup and, refusing to invade England, headed North. The English fleet followed the Armada along the East coast of the British Islands. The Armada’s return was very challenging, having to go through the north side of the Atlantic Ocean, along the West coast of Ireland. Due to strong storms, the Armada’s ships were taken to the far North and West shores of Ireland. During this expedition, the Armada lost more than 60 ships, of which only 7 of them were lost in battle. The kit When this one landed on my doorstep, I certainly wasn’t expecting the sheer weight of the package! San Bartolome is spread over not one, but THREE heavy boxes which weigh 14kg in total. What made this more immense were the extra associated sets that were also included, pushing the package to a back-breaking 19kg. The whole lot was encased in a shipping box built from sheets of MDF, then heavily wrapped in cellophane and black plastic sheet. The package arrived safely and intact from Ukraine in a little over 10 days, with a small hold up in Kiev due to the war. First of all, you need to understand something about the style of San Bartolome. Despite many modern design innovations, the finished model is designed to look like an old, antiqued ship, built in years gone by. Pavel Nikitin describes the finish as ‘retro’, Now, let’s take a look. To give you an idea about the finished size of this galleon, here are the dimensions: Length: 980mm Width: 540mm Height: 1030mm The box lids of all three San Bartolome packs, are adorned with a large, shiny label which depict the ship from the stern quarter, with the lighting highlighting the intentional retro style of the vessel. The label also states that the whole kit has a total of 3876 wooden parts. That should keep you occupied for a while. Box 1 Opening the lid shows that the first box, like the others, is crammed full of parts. In fact, it took me a long time to actually get everything back in the box after I’d done the photos. All sheets inside are grouped and wrapped, with a slip of paper to identify which group they belong to, making it easier to locate the said part. That’s quite handy when you consider that there are around SIXTY sheets of parts in this kit. Instead of shelf-standard plastic containers for fittings, a series of custom-made MDF boxes are included, with a Perspex lid that has engraved numbers to identify what’s in each compartment. The kit comprises of parts sheets that are cut from walnut, cherry, alder and beech. All of them are very neatly laser cut with parts that include bevel lines, where appropriate. The parts you see here with bevel lines, will form composite blocks which fill the bow area, creating almost solid area onto which to plank. You’ll also see that these sheets are in two different wood types, with the cheaper timber forming the parts what create the underlying structure that will be covered over. These unusual parts are actually to build up the various ports and openings for the side of the hull. Many sheets are as yet unidentified. The instruction booklet supplied with the kit is Part 1 & 2, and these may be from the forthcoming Parts 3 & 4. The cutting is very nice and lots of scarph joints to be seen. These sheets contain parts for various planked deck sections and panels which fit into the hull sides prior to hull planks. These define the positions for the gun ports etc. Various decorative elements are seen here, such as those for the bow. We are now onto some very large ply sheets. The bulkheads for this model are quite large and are also engraved with bevel lines. You can see cut outs for various stringers and the aforementioned built-up port that fit into the cut-out position parts you can see in a previous photo. Also here is a section of the false keel. The hull comprises a fore and aft half, and is actually make up from three laminates of ply. Pegs help to align the parts. Also present in the bulkheads are positions for bulkhead spacers to fit, keeping the bulkheads equally spaced from each other. More ply, this time to create various structures either within the hull design, or for building skeletons on deck structures. This kit is the ‘V2’ of San Bartolome, with the original having laser-engraved carvings. This version has 3D-printed parts for various external ornamentation. It’s quite difficult to see the quality in these pictures, but to my eye they look perfectly good and smooth. You may need to paint these to replicate the antiqued colour of the wood that the designers set out to be used. These parts are presented in another MDF box, covered in cellophane. These are the boxes of standalone components, with shaped timberheads, brass cannon, pillar, belaying pins, cleats, rigging blocks and multipart closed heart blocks etc. .....continued.
  17. 1/250 Seebäderschiff FUNNY GIRL 1973 - HMV Available from Fentens Papermodels €13.99 Photo courtesy of Fentens Papermodels (All photos by the author except where noted.) Hot off the presses in 2022 from Hamburger Modellbaubogen Verlag (HMV) we have another fine addition to their lineup of historical German working vessels. This time, the folks at HMV are offering a Seebäderschiff with the curious name of Funny Girl, no doubt named for either the Barbara Streisand film or for Fanny Brice, the film's central character. The German name for this type of vessel translates as "sea bather ship." This sort of excursion vessel is still used to this day for ferrying vacationing tourists from the German mainland to the various seaside resorts located on that country's barrier islands. Funny Girl was the last of three sister ships (the others being the Kloar Kimming and the Fair Lady) placed in service between 1970 and 1973. Funny Girl remains in service to this day, transporting up to 799 passengers per trip to sunny days on the beaches of Helgoland. As is usual for HMV kits, this design from Friedrich Pohl is in 1/250 scale, producing a finished model that is 27.5 cm in length (10.8 in.). The four sheets of parts contain 534--698 parts, depending on which build options are chosen. The size and parts count have earned this model a rating of 'intermediate' on HMV's scale of 'easy' to 'very difficult.' Upon turning the attractive booklet cover, featuring images of the prototype model, we find a nice description of the real-life Funny Girl. Sadly for many of you, this description is of course in German, which should encourage some of you to learn that fine language. Remember, Deutsch macht spass! These days, HMV kits include brief explanatory remarks on the lines and symbols used in the construction diagrams, so that the builder can know such things as where to make folds either up or down, and where optional laser-cut detail parts may be used. These remarks are written in German, English, French, Japanese, Spanish, and Russian. After tearing my hair out while trying to make sense of the diagrams in a GPM kit, I can tell you honestly that I really appreciate the clarity of the logical HMV construction sequence and diagrams. Experienced card modelers should have no trouble at all in following the six pages of detailed, computer-drafted diagrams. Construction of Funny Girl's hull makes use of the standard HMV 'egg crate' method of construction. Some care and attention to detail is required to pull this off well, so I recommend having one or two simpler models under your built before attempting a larger model like this. It would be a shock to me personally if any HMV kit were not up to the company's high standard of print quality. Funny Girl's printing is sharp, the colors are bright, and the registration is spot-on. Two-sided printing is included on parts that require it. As mentioned earlier, a laser-cut detail set is available for this kit. The circled letter 'L' in a diagram indicates that such a part is available for the item shown. The laser cut set contains eleven frets and includes a complete railing set, bulwark stays, deck chairs, anchor chains, life belts, anchors, and many other fiddly bits that are difficult to cut out from the printed parts sheets. The set costs €13.99. (Photo courtesy of Fentens Papermodels) A nice final touch in the kit is the addition of two pages of B&W photos of the actual Funny Girl. As you can tell for yourself from the kit prototype model, this new HMV offering can be built into a very attractive model -- and it won't take up a lot of shelf real estate when completed. (Photo courtesy of Fentens Papermodels) HMV's Funny Girl will make a wonderful addition to any collection of card models, but will especially appeal to those who have a fondness for small but attractive passenger vessels. Both the Funny Girl kit and its laser-cut detail set can be purchased from the Fentens Papermodels site at the link provided at the top of this review. Be sure to tell them you saw it at Model Ship World! Thanks to Benjamin Fentens for providing the copy of Funny Girl for this review.
  18. I have come back to model-building after a 40-year hiatus, and was looking for a kit for my first model ship. After some research, including good advice in the Model Ship World forums, I picked the Model Shipways “Become a Shipwright of Old” kit. Initially, I was going to get the Lowell Dory kit, but decided to get the 3-boat kit to develop my skills progressively. This kit seems to have a few advantages for a beginner: 1. It is a progressive series of builds. 2. The instructions are geared to a beginner. (Model Shipways has the instructions posted online, and I downloaded them before I purchased.) 3. It’s relatively inexpensive ($169 for three boats, less on one of Model Expo’s frequent sales). Others have reviewed this kit, so I am giving the impressions of a newbie, rather than a practiced eye. The three-boat kit comes with most of the tools needed to build the first boat. It also includes paint for all three boats. This is not clear in their advertising, which initially made me think I only got paint for the first boat. If you buy the kits separately, paint for the last two is not included. There is a lower-priced kit for the first boat, which does not include tools or paint. I ordered late on a Saturday night, and the kit was delivered from Florida to Georgia on Friday, quicker than I expected. My initial impression of the kit is that it was well-packed in a sturdy box, and the box for the kit itself is sturdy too. Opening the box, the individual boat parts are well-packaged. Not being familiar with boat kits, I was surprised to find so much material in one box. Somehow, I imagined that a kit took up more space. I found no missing or damaged parts when I checked each of the three sets of parts for damage, and against the parts lists for completeness. The individual wood-sheets are well-labeled and it should be easy to find parts as they’re needed. One of the paints had leaked slightly, but the paints are well-packaged in a sealed bag and didn’t damage anything else. The wood sheets all seem to be well-cut. The tools seem reasonable, although some of the blades don’t fit the provided knife. Looks like a good excuse to buy another tool! The printed instructions seem reasonably detailed, and there is a nice section at the end of the book for each ship, listing and describing the tools needed. They include a metric-imperial conversion sheet. All instructions seem to be in imperial units, so I assume this is for the benefit of non-American users. The pictures show the entire contents of the box immediately after I opened the box. I am happy with this kit, and consider it a good choice for someone such as myself. I have started building the first boat. I’ve taken pictures, and will start a build log soon.
  19. REVIEW OF BLUEJACKET'S – ELLIE MARA KIT #1115 Scale: 1/87 - HO Scale Length overall: 15" Height: 12" Beam: 3 1/4" Skill Level: Upper end of their Ensign level. Cost: $124.00 Photo by BlueJacket HISTORY This kit is an HO scale waterline model of a late 19th century centerboard Maine coasting schooner. The model is based on the 72' GRACE BAILEY built in 1882 in Patchogue, NY by Gilbert Smith for Edwin Bailey and named after his daughter Grace Bailey. She was rebuilt in 1906 and renamed MATTIE. She was restored in 1989-1990 and was renamed back to the original name GRACE BAILEY the name she currently holds. She is still sailing in the "Windjammer" fleet providing sailing cruises along the coast of Maine. She was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1992 and is one of the four remaining two-masted wooden-hulled schooners, once the most prolific type in the American coasting trade. In keeping with tradition, the kit name of ELLIE MARA is the name of the daughter of BlueJacket's owner Nic Damuck. INSTRUCTION BOOK AND PLAN SHEETS The kit comes in a 16 3/4" x 6 3/4" x 4" box. A big box for a 10" long hull but some 12" long wood and Brass pieces and the folded plans make a longer box necessary. I suspect that this might be the smallest box BlueJacket stocks. PHOTO 1 The box requires a good amount of "packing paper" to fill the extra space. My review kit arrived in perfect condition attesting to careful packing. Upon opening the box and discarding all the packing papers I suggest that the next item to be removed after the hull, wrapped in bubble wrap is examined should be the instruction manual. PHOTO 2 Open it to the last page of the manual with the parts lists. Use the two pages of parts to do an inventory of the kit to make sure you have everything accounted for. PHOTOS 3 & 4 The manual is a total of 16 pages, printed double sided. Besides the two pages of part lists there are four pages with eight color photographs of the completed model. All areas and details of the model are shown in these photographs. PHOTO 6 PHOTO 1 PHOTO 2 PHOTO 3 PHOTO 4 Pages two and three contain a very short history of the prototype boat, a listing of tools and materials needed, a couple of tips to help with the build and a list of paints needed and where each is used. PHOTO 5 Pages four through ten are the actual instructions with very clear descriptions of how to build the model. Bold type is used for NOTES and CAUTIONS to make it clear to the modeler to pay attention to them. There are no drawings or photographs within the well written instructions area but with the plan sheets and the color photographs in the manual they are, in my opinion, not needed. The two plan sheets are 24" x 36" and there is color used on each sheet to make some details clear and the rigging very easy to follow. PHOTO 5 PHOTO 6 THE KIT PARTS The parts are all contained in sealed clear plastic "bags". I removed the parts from the kit "bags" to be able to photograph the parts due to the difficulty in seeing the parts while in the "bags". They are very well sealed to prevent loss in shipping and being able to count them while doing the inventory. PHOTOS 7 & 8 PHOTO 7 PHOTO 8 The laser cut wood piece and the two pieces of laser board are in a plastic bag together. Laser board is coming into use for parts in model ship building but the model railroaders have been using it for some time. The following link to the subject "Laserboard, what material and where to get it" here on MSW is below. https://modelshipworld.com/topic/15915-laserboard-what-material-and-where-to-get/?tab=comments#comment-781873 I think the use of the 0.035" (scale 3") Laserboard for the cap rails is a perfect use for this material as it is smooth, grain less, and it bends to the shear with no force required. It is also used for the cabin roof. The sheet of 0.015 (scale 1.3") is used for the mast hoops, the ships boat's floorboards and cap rails. The 0.015" laser board does the job better than most modelers, me included, could do with wood in this dimension. PHOTOS 9 & 10 PHOTO 9 PHOTO 10 The rigging line is provided in three sizes 0.005", 0.010" and 0.020" in black and 0.010" in white. PHOTO 11 PHOTO 11 There are two sizes and lengths of chain provided. A 3" piece of small links for the Bobstay and a 12' piece of larger links for the anchor chains. Also shown are four brass chain plates that are used in the construction of the two davits. PHOTO 12 PHOTO 12 CAST BRITANNIA PARTS PHOTO 13 shows one of the three type/size of blocks provided. There are six stropped 3/32" double blocks, six stropped 1/8" double blocks and 30 stropped 1/8" single blocks provided. PHOTO 13 PHOTO 14 shows the ships boat, galley stack, windlass, ship's wheel and two casks. PHOTO 14 PHOTO 15 shows the hawse lips, running lights, two sizes of stropped deadeyes, and two bilge pumps. PHOTO 15 PHOTO 16 shows the anchors, shackles, anchor stocks, double bitt, two wide Britannia strips and four narrow Britannia strips. PHOTO 16 Not shown are 12 deadeyes – once you have seen one deadeye you have seen them all..right? Actually, I left these in the original "bag" for safe keeping and they do not show well in a photograph. WOOD: STRIPS AND DOWELS The strip wood consists of three sizes of plain strips and two pieces of single bead strips of bass wood. There are three sizes of wood dowels with two of birch and five of bass. PHOTO 17 PHOTO 17 BRASS PARTS The 26 Brass belaying pins are very nicely proportioned and flawless. Be careful when you open the "bag" containing these parts – they are tightly packed and good luck if you drop one in the carpet. PHOTO 18 PHOTO 18 There is a single photo etch fret containing eyepins. Leave them on the fret until needed. PHOTO 19 PHOTO 19 MISCELLANEOUS PARTS Miscellaneous parts are the decal with the ship's name PHOTO 20 and a three-foot-long roll of black tape PHOTO 21. PHOTO 20 PHOTO 21 A 1/2" piece of 1/6" aluminum tube is provided and shown in PHOTO 12. THE RESIN HULL The hull is shown in PHOTOS 22, 23 and 24. PHOTO 22 shows the entire hull and PHOTOS 23 and 24 show close ups of details. Overall, the casting is good. It is the rare resin cast hull that does not have numerous voids caused by air bubbles in the resin and this hull has several such voids. However, they are all able to be fixed easily. There are also a couple of shallow longitudinal voids in the sides of the hull – again, easily fixed. The hull is without distortion, and it sits flat on its bottom. The next hull may have many less voids, or it might have more. Each will vary and if the number of voids or the size of the voids will present an actual problem, the manufacturer will not sell the casting. PHOTO 22 PHOTO 23 PHOTO 24 Telling how to fix defects in the hull is not a usual part of a kit review, but so modelers reading this review who have not made a resin based kit are not dissuaded from buying this kit, I think its worth explaining that its no big deal to make the kind of repairs this hull needs. PHOTO 24 shows the port side. To fix the voids in the stanchions and bulwarks is a simple matter of using a filler material to fill in the void. Use a flat faced tool to square off the faces of the stanchions and let it cure. Sand if necessary and after removing the dust add more filler to fill in any shallow areas. Repeat this process as needed. The same procedure is used to fill the longitudinal voids shown in PHOTO 23. This type of void is easily filled. Use a putty knife type of tool to fill the voids with filler. After the first application cures, sand the area knocking down the high points of the filler and after removing the dust apply an additional coat to fill in the shallow areas. Repeat as needed. CONCLUSION In my opinion this kit is a good product. The instructions, plans and photographs work together to provide adequate guidance in building and finishing the model. It's reasonably priced for the intended skill level and the parts supplied give the modeler what he/she needs to make a very nice model that can be displayed in a place of honor in the home. I think the kit is a good starting point for a more advanced modeler to do some upgrading by substituting some parts with scratch-built pieces making it into a unique model. END
  20. 1:48 HMS Granado CAF Model Available from CAF Model. Check article for pack prices Lieutenant Thomas Elliot commissioned Granado in July 1742 as a sloop for the Channel and North Sea. HMS Granado was launched at Harwich in 1742, during the War of the Austrian Succession as a sloop-of-war. During this war she captured a French privateer. During the Seven Years' War she served both as a sloop and as a bomb vessel and participated in naval operations off the coast of France and in the West Indies. Granado was paid off in June 1763. She was surveyed on 6 July. The "Principal Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy" first offered Granado for sale at Woolwich on 23 August. She sold on 30 August at Portsmouth for £575.When the Navy sold her in 1763, she became the mercantile Prince Frederick. Around 1775 she became the northern fisheries whaler, Prudence. Around 1781 she became a government transport and was wrecked on 20 May 1782 on the coast of India. The kit: CAF have currently released their 1:48 HMS Granado (full hull kit) in two packs, and this first part of the review will look at Pack #1, comprising of TWO boxes of parts. The price for Pack #1 is $327.00USD, as is Pack 2 which consists of a single box. I'll look at that set in the second half of this article. There will be a Pack #3 released in the near future, which will fit this model out to the status of an Admiralty model, with guns on deck and all the various other features we would expect to see, such as the mortars themselves. HMS Granado Pack #1 Pack # contains everything you need to build the keel and hull framing for this famous bomb vessel. That means there is no interior at this stage, but don't think that you won't get a whole lot of timber. With all the boxes in this kit, once those parts are removed from their boxes, I simply find that I can't get them to fit back in again. When CAF originally sent this kit to us for review, a number of parts sheets had particularly bad scorch marks on the reverse. I highlighted this to Tom, and he was aware of the issue with a number of those that had shipped to customers, and he quickly replaced those and sent them out for this article. I also have to say that HMS Granado took about a week to reach the UK, from China. As with everything from CAF, the shipping package is totally robust, wrapped in thick corrugated card and sealed with about 1000 miles of tape! That would present a delicious headache for any custom's department! Nonetheless, it arrived intact. What you get in this pack will create the CAD image you see above. Oh, and of course, you also receive a large plywood jig into which you will add the many frames to your keel, once built. Remember, this model will not feature a bowsprit when complete, as is the nature of such models, so even though this is 1:48, you may be pleased to know that the full-length if Granado is actually only 670mm! Plus you don't have masts and spars to worry about. For displaying, she'll be far easier than most model ships. There is actually something else for you to consider with this model. You can either build her as a complete hull, or you can build her split into an upper and lower section, exactly like the well-known model at the UK's National Maritime Museum. Here you see what I mean: The plans make provision for all frames and keel to be split at the appropriate places, and you will see this in the instruction images further on in this article. I do feel that to do this presents some serious challenges and that is on top of this model only being suitable for very experienced builders. BUT.....if you want that challenge, then it's there for you. Inside the boxes, all parts are amazingly well packaged so that they fit the box, and they are also all shrink wrapped. As the shrink wrap is nice and tight, it's worth keeping the parts in that for a while after you receive the model so that the timber can normalise and risk of any warp is reduced when you open the parts. All part sheets are engraved with the sheet number, and you must then refer to the manuals for the part identification. This helps keep the sheets compact and the numbers of visible part faces. Timber-wise, the kit is made up of both laser cut and engraved parts, plus a good number of CNC cut parts sheets which feature slot milling on both sides, so that all you need to do is square of any joint corners which will inevitably be slightly rounded. A small number of parts are also CNC machined to shape, so you just need to clean them up. We've seen this on such kits before, and it saves the modeller a lot of guesswork in trying to think in 3D. I did say these packs were full of timber, and they are also quite heavy. The timber varies only very slightly in colour on the occasional sheet, but the quality of the wood is excellent, with no natural problems with grain banding or knots to be seen anywhere. As I said, all sheets are also perfectly flat. I'm not quite sure what the timber is for these sheets, but the grain is very tight and not particularly visible, which is a bonus for modelling in the scales we use. The timber sheets in the first box are numbered as sets, i.e. 1A, 1B, 1C, 2A, 2B, 2C etc. and the sets are of different thicknesses. You can also see on the sheets, just how fine the laser cutting is, and one image showing the reverse of one sheet so you can see the minimal scorch. In fact, that sheet is probably the worst of them all, so it's not bad at all! Many parts sheets are also engraved with bevelling lines, taking a lot of the hard guess work out of things. You can also see from that last image that not only is that scorch on this (the worst sheet!) isn't very bad, but CAF has also turned the sheets over to create engraved bevelling lines on the reverse. Box Number 2 of 2 All parts in these boxes have already been unwrapped so I could ensure everything was ok to proceed with this article. This larger box contains the many plywood parts for the hull jog, providing an accurate way to install and align the ribs to the keel. The jig itself will also serve to work into Part #2 of the kit set, when you come to fit out the hull interior. Here is an idea of what the jig will look like when complete: Here are the pictures of the cradle parts: This is a project in its own right. Even though everything is tabbed, proceed nice and slowly and use a metal square to make sure everything is upright and 90 degrees to adjacent parts. Ply quality is also very good with no warping on my same, and all laser cutting being nice and fine. There are also more timber parts for hull construction, provided as CNC-routed parts. Also a little strip material too. Manual and plans The manual for this set is an A4 production of 26 pages, incorporating the aforementioned part maps for part ID. The construction side of the manual is created from a series of CAD illustrations, shown in colour for ease of use, and with some good English notation. The manual clearly shows how to proceed with building the model as a split hull too, but I think to try and make this a removable section is a little too optimistic due to all those frames needing to key into each other simultaneously. Here are some images from the manual: And as for the included drawings, these show the hull elevations as shown below, and also the completed frames. I won't show the latter as it could be used as a copy to produce parts without buying the kit. It does show various lines in different colours, to help you align and identify the various frame sections. To give you a general idea of how the hull in constructed within the jig, here are some images from CAF: I will very shortly post the next box series #2 in this topic.
  21. 1:400 Waterline Battle of Tsushima Series Modelik Catalogue #s 2105 - 2108 Available from Modelik starting at €5.00 All photos courtesy of Modelik. Introduction Modelik is one of the older and well-established Polish card model publishers. They publish a wide variety of subjects including buildings, vehicles, aircraft, and of course ships. One of the first big card models I ever built was Modelik's 1/100 scale Flower-class corvette, HMCS Agassiz -- I had to punch above my card modeling weight to finish it, but it produced a very detailed and striking model. Until now, Modelik's other ship offerings have also been in either 1/100 or 1/200 scale. But now, Modelik are offering a new series of waterline warship kits in 1/400 scale that I think will appeal to both skilled and novice card modelers alike. Overview Modelik's new 1/400 line-up has so far focused on ships that participated in the Russo-Japanese War. To date, there have been four kits published in the "Battle of Tsushima" series, and more are in the works, along with other 1/400 kits featuring both sail and steam subjects that weren't participants in that conflict. Some of the first kits in the series even include more than one model, which is a nice extra. Each kit is rendered in eye-pleasing computer-drafted artwork, has a non-intimidating and modest total parts count, aims at an intermediate level of difficulty (all rated a '2' on a scale of 1-5), and exhibits a satisfying level of detail. Let's take a look at the kits that are presently in print. #2105 Russian icebreaker YERMAK 1895 and tugboat RUS 1904 The 2-for-1 offerings in this kit will produce finished models 130 mm (5.1 in.) and 76 mm (3.0 in.) long. Yermak Rus #2106 Russian pre-Dreadnought NAVARIN 1891 The finished model will be 265 mm (10.4 in.) in length. #2107 Russian armored cruiser VLADIMIR MONOMAKH 1882 This kit will produce a model 226 mm (8.9 in.) long. #2108 Russian pre-Dreadnought battleship SISSOI VELIKIY 1896 + two torpedo boats, BLESTYASHCHY ("Brilliant") and BEZUPRECHNY ("Irreproachable") The three kits in this offering produce models that are 285 mm (11.2 in.) and roughly 132 mm (5.2 in.) in length. In addition to the basic kits, Modelik is offering some nice upgrades. A kit-specific set of laser-cut details is available for each kit. These sets include fine details such as anchors, boat chocks, davits, and thwarts. Modelik also sells laser-cut railings and ladders in 1/400 scale. These are all modestly priced -- buying everything needed for Sissoi Velikiy, for example, will set you back only an additional €7.50. Modelik will also soon offer a quay set from which the modeler can build a visually engaging dockside scene in which to set the new 1/400 subjects. Conclusion I don't normally build in 1/400 scale, but the price, quality, and subject matter of these kits has me sorely tempted to undo the padlock on my wallet! I hope we may see one or more of these attractive models soon being attempted by someone from among our august membership. If you do choose to buy one, remember to tell our friends at Modelik that you saw these at Model Ship World first!
  22. 1:200 German Battleship Bismarck Amati Catalogue # 1614 Available from Amati for €499.51 History Bismarck was the first of two Bismarck-class battleships built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine. Named after Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the ship was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in July 1936 and launched in February 1939. Work was completed in August 1940, when she was commissioned into the German fleet. Bismarck and her sister ship Tirpitz were the largest battleships ever built by Germany, and two of the largest built by any European power. In the course of the warship's eight-month career under her sole commanding officer, Captain Ernst Lindemann, Bismarck conducted only one offensive operation, lasting 8 days in May 1941, codenamed Rheinübung. The ship, along with the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, was to break into the Atlantic Ocean and raid Allied shipping from North America to Great Britain. The two ships were detected several times off Scandinavia, and British naval units were deployed to block their route. At the Battle of the Denmark Strait, the battlecruiser HMS Hood initially engaged Prinz Eugen, probably by mistake, while HMS Prince of Wales engaged Bismarck. In the ensuing battle Hood was destroyed by the combined fire of Bismarck and Prinz Eugen, which then damaged Prince of Wales and forced her retreat. Bismarck suffered sufficient damage from three hits by Prince of Wales to force an end to the raiding mission. The destruction of Hood spurred a relentless pursuit by the Royal Navy involving dozens of warships. Two days later, heading for occupied France to effect repairs, Bismarck was attacked by 16 Fairey Swordfish biplane torpedo bombers from the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal; one scored a hit that rendered the battleship's steering gear inoperable. In her final battle the following morning, the already-crippled Bismarck was engaged by two British battleships and two heavy cruisers and sustained incapacitating damage and heavy loss of life. The ship was scuttled to prevent her being boarded by the British, and to allow the ship to be abandoned so as to limit further casualties. Most experts agree that the battle damage would have caused her to sink eventually. The wreck was located in June 1989 by Robert Ballard and has since been further surveyed by several other expeditions. A detailed underwater survey of the wreck in 2002 showed that the sustained close-range shelling was largely ineffective in the effort to sink the ship, the many torpedoes launched at Bismarck were also almost completely ineffective, and the plating of the armour deck was also found to be virtually intact. The kit There are other 1:200 Bismarck kits on the market, and Amati themselves worked with Hachette a number of years ago on a 2007 partwork release of this ship. This was subsequently re-released by DeAgostini but is now unavailable. Last year, Amati revisited the Bismarck themselves and released a reworked kit, which from what I believe, is a more accurate and certainly more detailed kit. I know Amati went to great pains to get this right and used numerous contemporary sources for their information. In this release, Bismarck is depicted in her final incarnation with her fore and aft deck swastikas painted over, and the superstructure disruptive camouflage obliterated. The only remnants of this are on the upper hull sides. As far as model ships go, this one is huge! In fact, the completed length is 127cm, so you will need some space to display her. Unlike a sail ship with her tail masts and broad yards, Bismarck doesn’t have the additional height and weight to encumber her. A large model will also come in a large box, and that’s definitely the case with this one. Bismarck uses the same size box as the other large Amati releases, such as HMS Vanguard, HMS Revenge, Fifie, and the recent Orient Express Sleeping Car kit. As a guide to weight, the packing carton did give the figure of 10kg (22lbs), so that’s a reasonable figure to use. The box work for Bismarck is quite striking and depicts some views of the finished model. I have included these and other images of the finished studio model in this article. There are a couple of typos on the box side, but Amati are aware and will correct this in the next print run. The glossy lid itself is just a box cover, as when this is removed, the actual kit box is a complete one with a tabbed lid, making the whole thing very sturdy. Bismarck is based around a traditionally planked hull, on a very conventional timber framework. Where Bismarck’s hull may cause some consternation with planking, 3D parts are included which the modeller needs to blend into a finally sanded and shaped hull. Surface preparation will be one of the most important things when it comes to building this model, as you won’t want any planking strakes to be seen when painted. The whole hull will need sanding, filling, re-sanding, re-filling, until you have a surface like glass. Sealing the hull could also help, as could using glass resin and thin glass cloth. That will very much depend on your level of experience. If you wanted to build this model for RC, then it’s also possible as the upper deck is purposely left to be removed, although that’s as far as it goes. Any internal changes will need to be done by the modeller, but I don’t think this would be too difficult. There are definitely a lot of materials packed into this box. SIXTEEEN sheets of timber parts FIFTEEN laser-engraved deck sections FOURTEEN sheets of photo-etched parts in various thicknesses TWO large bundles of almost 140 planks for first and second layers Pack of dowels and metal rod Numerous 3D parts for tricky hull areas Many injection moulded sprues with superstructure details Brass chains Decorative nameplate/wooden plinth TWO full colour manuals with over 1000 constructional stages SIX parts plan sheets for part maps Large plan sheet of actual ship Here’s a look at the kit contents. Three boxes of injection mouldings Two boxes of assorted fittings Timber sheets Timber and metal strip Photo Etch Laser engraved decks Wooden plinth for photo etch nameplate Instructions and plans Two full colour manuals are provided for this kit. The first manual alone is 112 pages (landscape format) and has a staggering 612 constructional stages! That does seem quite daunting, but the stages re broken down in such a way that many of these stages will relate to individual areas, such as a single superstructure part, for example, and show the additional parts a few at a time. The first manual will take the builder from the basic skeleton of Bismarck, all the way through to a completed hull with superstructures underway. Manual #2 is over 90 pages, with another 560 stages. The second manual also contains a comprehensive parts list which you really should get into the habit of checking through with any kit you buy, let alone an investment the size of Bismarck! Six folded parts maps are also included. These are just a paper facsimile of the timber elements in your kit, allowing the modeller to perhaps find things more easily instead of manhandling all your sheets. You will also find the part reference numbers on those sheets, as they are not engraved onto the timber as some manufacturers choose to do. A single, rolled-up plan is included, and this simply shows the Bismarck in several elevations, to help you further with your model, despite everything being covered real well in the manuals. Amati also have a series of online build articles for Bismarck, and they are well worth looking at: https://www.amatimodel.com/?s=bismarck&lang=it Decals Only a few decals are included in this kit, and those are for the Arado plane and the underwater sound location system. They are all superbly printed and with nice, thin inks. Templates This kit comes with a series of templates that are led against the hull and used for tracing and cutting out sections for inlays, painting etc. Conclusion Amati are a name which many know to be a trusted manufacturer of high quality and accurate kits. This kit represents another angle to the old style of construction, melding those traditional elements with photo-etch components which are a major, integral part of this build, plus numerous 3D parts which remove some areas which would otherwise be tricky to plank. Without a doubt, this kit is a major undertaking to the prospective builder, and despite the 3D parts, the sheer quantity of etch means that you will need some patience and prerequisite skills in dealing with that medium. Bismarck is a multimedia kit which I feel is roundly aimed at a specific customer-base which is used to POB style construction, but perhaps not exclusively so. If you think a plastic kit with a fully injection-moulded hull sort of takes some of the fun away, then this could well be for you. I think that Bismarck is also very well priced for the size of this model, and the work involved. In the UK, Bismarck retails for around £490. All models this size have a large initial outlay, but the sheer pleasure and time involved in building them will always even itself out. Make sure you have a strong table for this kit. Our sincere thanks to Amati for the sample seen in this review. To purchase directly (if in Italy), click the link at top of article. All other countries, check your local Amati distributor.
  23. 1:65 HMS Endeavour Artesania Latina Catalogue # 22520 Available from Artesania Latina for €231.40 History HMS Endeavour was a British Royal Navy research vessel that Lieutenant James Cook commanded to Australia and New Zealand on his first voyage of discovery from 1768 to 1771. She was launched in 1764 as the collier Earl of Pembroke, with the Navy purchasing her in 1768 for a scientific mission to the Pacific Ocean and to explore the seas for the surmised Terra Australis Incognita or "unknown southern land". Commissioned as His Majesty's Bark Endeavour, she departed Plymouth in August 1768, rounded Cape Horn and reached Tahiti in time to observe the 1769 transit of Venus across the Sun. She then set sail into the largely uncharted ocean to the south, stopping at the islands of Huahine, Bora Bora, and Raiatea west of Tahiti to allow Cook to claim them for Great Britain. In September 1769, she anchored off New Zealand, becoming the first European vessel to reach the islands since Abel Tasman's Heemskerck 127 years earlier. In April 1770, Endeavour became the first European ship to reach the east coast of Australia, with Cook going ashore at what is now known as Botany Bay. Endeavour then sailed north along the Australian coast. The ship was largely forgotten after her Pacific voyage, spending the next three years hauling troops and cargo to and from the Falkland Islands. She was renamed in 1775 after being sold into private hands and used to transport timber from the Baltic. Rehired as a British troop transport during the American War of Independence, she was finally scuttled in a blockade of Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island in 1778. Relics from Endeavour are displayed at maritime museums worldwide, including an anchor and six of her cannon. A replica of Endeavour was launched in 1994 and is berthed alongside the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney Harbour. The NASA Space Shuttle Endeavour was named after this ship, as was the command module of Apollo 15, which took a small piece of wood from Cook's ship into space, and the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule C206 was christened Endeavour during Demo-2. Abridged extract from Wikipedia The kit Firstly, this kit bears no relation to the Endeavour kit of years gone by. This is a totally new development in that the construction is entirely different….different parts, methodology etc. Artesania, simply put, are not the same company from those years ago, but the new owners have taken on a lot of the old inventory while also developing entirely new releases, such as Endeavour, Vasa, and Soleil Royale etc. The Endeavour kit that is available today should not be viewed with a connection to the past. Artesania Latina has designed this new kit using the research available to them, and by studying the full-size replica which resides in Australia. They have also incorporated into it the ability to fit it out with their LED lantern set, by means of adding the various holes needed to thread cables. That set is a separate purchase to the kit, but we have it here and will show it as a separate article. The one thing which does have the original Artesania feel to it is the glossy, tough box that these kits are still packaged in. Artesania’s on-shelf presentation is as nice as it ever was. Inside the box, all parts are initially bundled within a large, cellophane wrapping. Remove this and you’ll find the timber and metal parts are within another wrap, and all of the timber strip bundles are also wrapped, as well as held together with an elastic wrap, which I quite like. Note that the planks are supplied as half-lengths, so not full bow to stern. Also there are the familiar Artesania Latina clear plastic fittings boxes. These are just a few on-bench images before I opened things up properly. Timber strip Artesania's timber strips are definitely of a nice quality, being consistent in thickness and width. As I've stated, the hull planking is supplied as halves. My measurements show this to be 2mm x 5mm x 300mm lime strip. That's quite thick stuff to get around that very bluff hull, so I suggest you soak these beforehand, or use another tool such as a plank nipper to manipulate the material. Plenty of material is supplied for this. In fact, four whole bundles. There's no apparent stringiness or rough surface. This is just as well as Endeavour is SINGLE PLANKED! In a world where POF tend to be double planked, Artesania has bucked the trend with this. The 2mm wood should give the modeller plenty of leeway when it comes to sanding things, but getting the hull fairing right is very important. I also have to say at this point that the only part of the hull in which actual timber will be shown is a band around the width, the wale, which is given another layer of 0.5mm x 5mm strip unidentified timber. The rest of the hull above and below this is entirely painted. The quality of the remaining timber strip and dowel are as good as the lime, with no splitting, fraying, rough cut edges or any other defect. Wooden parts EIGHT sheets of plywood parts are supplied with Endeavour, in various thicknesses. All parts are cleanly laser cut and the material in my sample has no warping. I know some of the older AL kits had a strange spongy core to their ply, but this appears to be replaced with good quality ply in the new kits. One thing I did notice is that the single-hole rigging blocks are supplied as laser cut parts, for some reason, and you need to drill your hole in them. Not too keen on that idea. Here's the parts to show you the standard to expect in Endeavour: These are single-hole rigging blocks (above) There are a few things of particular note here. The bulkheads are not as you would normally see. These are made up from several parts which create what is more of a frame than a bulkhead. The parts also are joined by a dovetail. The stand is actually designed to accommodate, should you wish, an LED illumination module. AL have sent us one of these and I'll shortly post a review. All external keel parts are also in ply instead of solid timber, presumably because they completely painted. Two ship's boats are included, built up from frames that sit on a jig. All parts are also laser etched with numbers, and a parts plan is also included in paper form. Photo Etch This single sheet of photo etch appears to be a stainless finish, or at least not nickel plated, to my eyes. The quality is pretty much what you'd expect from a contemporary manufacturer, in that the etchings are clean, detailed and the connection tabs are slight so should be easy to cut through. Just remember that any PE part will need the connection nub filing down before fitting. You are also advised to use a decent quality etching primer so your paint can get a proper grip. On here you will see parts for the stern, chainplates, windlass etc. Fittings Two trays of fittings are supplied. The larger one contains some 0.25 rigging rope, brass wire, cannon, swivel guns, cast anchors, eyelets, pins and various other cast metal parts. The smaller box contains hawse cable, turned wooden capstan, deadeyes, larger rigging blocks, metal tube, eyelets, parral beads etc. Flags Endeavour also comes with some flags. These are a sort of plasticised material. You may want to source something a little thinner for your model. Rigging Cord A further pack of rigging cord is supplied in a clear blister pack, in black and natural. Sizes can be seen in this photo. Sails I've never been a fan of fitting sails to ships, but in case you wish to, then AL have supplied a full set for you which are nicely sewn from a material which is off-white in colour. There are no bolt ropes on these, so you may want to sew your own onto them. Templates Two sheets of paper templates are included. These are to lie onto the completed hull in order to provide locations for cutouts and other details such as wales etc. Instructions As mentioned in our Santa Maria build, AL kits do not come with any printed instructions or plans. The latter, quite frankly, isn’t needed due to the sheer depth of information in the electronic instructions. The manual comes on a DVD and is over FIVE-HUNDRED pages long! That would of course pose a logistical problem and extra cost for Artesania to include. It also poses a logistical problem for the modeller who will need the means to read the electronic manual at their workbench. Some computers, like my MacBook, don’t have a DVD drive. In instances like that, you can always go to the Artesania site and download the entire manual and save to either your internal drive or to a USB pen drive. Artesania’s instructions are very much full-on, in that nothing is left to the imagination. Every single stage is clearly illustrated and annotated with clear part numbers and symbols to declare whether something needs gluing or not. If you want to see the whole manual, click HERE. Here’s a few images from the manual, just to give you an idea: Conclusion Artsania's new Endeavour kit is most definitely a different beast from the original one from many years ago, and AL obviously aren't too worried about mixing things up a little and incorporating ideas from contemporary kit designs. I would definitely not recommend this kit for a beginner, simply because of the single-planked hull. I would like to have seen that done from at least two 1mm layers, so care will be needed to make sure you prepare the hull before you start to lay any planks. There are some very nice touches, such as the windlass with its folded metal body and brass gearing. Another things I would change would be the laser-cut single rigging blocks. They really do need to be replaced with proper rigging blocks. Artesania still know hoe to play to their target market, as this kit clearly shows, and the introduction of these new designs to their range is very welcome. Other new designs are their Soleil Royale and Vasa, constructed in roughly the same manner. It's wonderful to see Artesania Latina back at being a player within our hobby. I cut my model shipwrighting teeth on AL kits, so have that fondness for them. My sincere thanks to Artesania Latina for the sample looked at here. To buy this kit, head off to the link at the top of this page, or contact your local hobby supplier for availability. ALSO available for this kit: HMS Endeavour figure set Available from Artesania Latina for €20.65 This is a set of 14 crew figures for Endeavour, comprising of crew, some with separate arms etc. and also some PE parts for ship navigation instruments and ensign. Note also the extra metal parts which contain more arm parts for holding the supplied rifles. Casting is nice for this scale, and colour notes are supplied on the reverse of packet.
  24. KIT REVIEW – USCG HARRIET LANE MODEL SHIPWAYS KIT #MS2270 Scale 1:96 (1/8' = 1'0") Length (overall) 28", Width 8", height (on base) 16" Plank on Bulkhead construction This kit is the fourth in a series of progressive model tutorials by David Antscherl for Model Shipways (Division of Model Expo) with the Lowell Grand Banks Dory, the Norwegian Sailing Pram and the Muscongus Bay Lobster Smack being the three previous models. All have been reviewed here. The kit comes in the usual sturdy blue box with a large color label showing a completed model. The box weighs just ounces less than 5 pounds. Upon opening the box, the plans are the first thing seen. There are five sheets of 18" x 36" plans labeled as Deck, Rigging, Sail and two sheets labeled as Rigging and Laser Cut Board Parts Identifier sheet (A-L) and (M-Y). The box also contains the following: Sixty-six page full-color instruction manual Twenty-two sheets of laser cut Basswood Three sheets of laser cut paper card Seven pieces - strip Basswood Three wood dowels Six rigging line spools Five packs of blocks Eighteen different Britannia castings – multiple pieces of several parts One sheet of Photo Etch Brass Misc. Brass and other parts Parts list – 3 pages The sixty-six-page full color instruction manual is well done. Before any assembly is started it is my recommendation that the modeler should read every word of the instructions before doing any assembly. The first page of the instructions cautions the reader in red print to read the instructions. There are numerous tips for the modeler designed to guide to building this or any other models. Tips are printed in red to help the modeler. There are also "Super Detail" tips throughout that provide ways to improve the accuracy of the model. The most important tip is "Take your time". There are hints throughout the instructions printed in red to catch the attention of the builder. Read them. Most tips will help with this kit and some of them will help in the future with any kit. Planking Sheets Planking is supplied slightly oversized but to the correct shape for the location intended. Adequate extra material is provided on the width of the parts to sand to fit. The other 18 sheets of laser cut wood Three Laser Cut Paper Sheets 5 1/2" x 8" x 0.0095 Photo Etch Brass Box of Cast Metal Pieces, Rigging Material, Flags & Wire Ladders, Anchors, Canons, Davits, Ventilators Belaying Pins, Eyebolts, Wire & Brass Rod Windlass, Cleats, Eyebolts, Chain Flag and Rings Blocks Rigging Line Rigging – in progress photo – Courtesy of David Antscherl Parts List – 3 pages and US to Metric Conversion sheet Overall, I think this is a great kit with good cast parts and laser cutting of the wood is very well done. The laser cut pre-spiled planking is a nice feature and will help most modelers produce a good planking job. The good instructions and plan sheets should leave nothing to be guessed at. The rigging line is very good quality. The blocks are decent quality for the size, but they are the typical kit supplied blocks with square edges so finicky modelers may look for replacement blocks. Thanks to David Antscherl for providing photographs of the finished model. Thanks to Model Shipways (division of Model Expo) for supplying the review kit.
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