Brenticus

Nice! I do love the Surprise. I named my sailboat after her . I kind of wish I'd put white on the bottom of mine.

@ Nazgul: Thanks for the recommendation! The Berlin does seem strikingly similar to my (less discerning) eye- especially below the waterline (which seems to be the difficult part to find). I'm not so much afraid of wooden kits in general (in fact, I am dying to do one), so much as I don't think my skills are at a place where I could pull off such a complicated build before getting more experience. I'll probably do a nice Rattlesnake or maybe a simple brig first, and then move onto the Berlin, as it really does seem very similar (aside from the stern, but that's just aesthetic). I'm very sure indeed that you are right about it being easier to modify. You make a good point about the carvings and the paint...the amount of carvings makes more sense on something lie the Vasa or the Wappen Von Hamburg (not Dutch, but a pretty prestigious warship, from what I gather). @ Marcus: Thanks for the link! There was some really interesting info in that thread, and I am looking forward to reading the thread on the Vasa forum that was linked within there. One of the guys said his dissertation was on Dutch ships, I believe (just skimmed it). That should be an interesting read!

Thanks for the replies, but I actually meant kitbashing a plastic kit into the Kalmar Nyckel (that's why I posted it in the plastic area, unless I did something wrong). I can see how doing a wooden one would be much more feasible, but I've never built a wooden kit yet, so I really don't have the skills to do something like that. What I am thinking about would involve sanding down some of the wales, adding custom gratings, and kit-bashing the balcony and beakhead, as well as gluing the decks in different positions (which I'm sure would require sanding them down). And other kitbashing parts of course. I don't know how feasible it is in plastic, though.

My fellow model shipwrights, I want to build a model of the Kalmar Nyckel (http://www.kalmarnyckel.org/), but apparently none exists. I lack the skill to build a wooden one from scratch. However, since I am going to crew her this year, I am absolutely champing at the bit to have a model of her. The Kalmar Nyckel (a pinnace) looks a lot like a galleon and is of that era, so I thought maybe a galleon could be modified to look like her. The Revell Spanish Galleon was out, since its aftercastle is too high and the stern itself has two balconies. The Golden Hind, however, looks pretty close. The plans of both are attached for comparison (My thanks to KeithW for the Kalmar Nyckel plans). The Kalmar Nyckel has a shallower draught, especially toward the stern. The wales up above the weather deck are entirely different, and the gratings are in different locations. The quarterdeck/poop (whatever you call those on a older vessel like this) is in a bit of a different location. The balcony on the stern is different, as well. It seems to me that all of this (except the draught, might have to live with that, I don't know) could be overcome with some sanding, cutting, and kitbashing. TL;DR: Can I use kitbashing, sanding, and cutting to make the Golden Hind into a presentable (though certainly not perfect) approximation of the Kalmar Nyckel? What do you folks think? Is this feasible? Do you all know of another kit that would work better?

I was afraid that was the case. One day, I must scratch build one, then. I'm going to be crewing her later this year, and I thought it would be really cool to have a model of the pinnace. However, my skill is far below a level where scratch building would be advisable at all, so I believe I will take your information, pocket it, and hold onto it until a time when I am skilled enough to use it. Thanks so much for sharing what you were able to find

Does anyone know if there is a model kit of the Kalmar Nyckel? She's a lovely pinnace that I will be sailing on later this year, and I would love to make a model kit of her. Google has not found anything. I am not optimistic.

That's a very pretty kit as well. Looks really nice!

Leaning heavily toward the Sherbourne, actually. Thanks @ccoyle for mentioning that kit, I hadn't seen it before. I really like it. And thanks to everyone for the advice- especially about which ones to stay away from.

@Jack: Hm, that recommendation surprises me. The website says it's advanced. It looks like a lot of tiny details. What I really meant by size was more like size of the subject matter though, not the model itself. I should have specified. Maybe a nice Armed Va. Sloop or the Sherbourne. I really liked that kit, actually...

@ccoyle: I clash sometimes between what I can easily achieve and what will keep my interest, but I take your point. The Sherbourne is a lovely little cutter, I could definitely live with that. It's just hard for me to do something like a lobster smack. The Pride of Baltimore II certainly is a handsome vessel, and I could look at a few other schooners...but I am afraid if I get a kit of something that is too simple I might lose interest. But I'll definitely try to keep it simple...which is good, since part of me wants to be like "just get the Bellona- it'll be fine!" lol @ Geoff: another vote for Victory models, must be pretty good. Thanks!

That's a nice looking (and affordable) kit. Thanks!

That makes sense. I was using Chuck's Practicum on my Sultana, and it really was excellent- the guy predicted/ outlined every issue I saw (and I saw every issue he outlined). This makes me awfully tempted to do the Syren, as I just found a big 50MB document by Chuck about that kit, and I'm a hard sell on small projects (or projects that don't involve "the great guns", as it were). Although they have a Midwest boat over at Hobby Lobby, so I'll have to keep that in mind too. Thanks for the input!

Hi, all! I just recently finished my first model ship, a plastic Lindberg Jolly Roger (log is on here). I'm moving onto wood kits. I started working on a Sultana I got for super cheap, but I find that the solid hull just doesn't work with me. It's not how I think, I guess. I don't mind the sanding and the work, but POB just makes more sense to me. So, I'd like to buy a nice POB kit and put that together (doing much more homework and work in general, I'm sure...but I'm ok with that). Since I am new, I would like to get a POB kit with the best instructions available. Which brings me to my question: In your opinion(s), what kit (from which mfg) has the best instructions? I glanced some of the instructions for MSW's kits which I believe are known to be pretty good, and I found some pretty considerable variances from kit to kit. The brig Syren's instructions looked really nice, and very comprehensive- more so than the Rattlesnake I had started looking at. But is this so? And what kit (from any mfg) would be better/ easier to follow? I've got a couple of good books on it (Ship Modeling from Stem to Stern and a couple of books on rigging). Maybe I should just jump in and get whatever I like best? Thanks in advance for any opinions/ references

The new location of the practicum (and others) is here: http://modelshipworldforum.com/ship-model-build-and-practicums.php

Thanks! I'm glad the elaborations I added look good. It's nice to have my first build under my belt. Now onto the Sultana, as soon as I have the scratch!

Oh, and I made the stand myself, sort of. I had a trophy shop make me the base, ordered the brass parts from Bluejacket, and put it all together- including the terrifying experience of drilling holes in the bottom of the ship in order for it to be secure (the keel was too small for the stands). I think it looks pretty good!

It's finished! I missed my deadline, but only by a few days. The finished product- not without its flaws- is below. Some of the lines sag, and I did my best to fix this, but sometimes I just couldn't get it to stay tight- particularly when it's fixed to something as flimsy as that modelspan. I applied superglue to keep it rigid, but it just wasn't straight enough. Next time, I'll know to use wire. I took a few liberties with the anchor and with the lines from the corners of the sails running aft Here is another place where I changed the configuration from that of the instructions, which insisted on fixing the lines coming from the sails be attached to the side of the ship at the lower part of the gundeck. That seemed an awfully long way down and a huge trouble in the case of changing sail, so I looked at some more pictures. Most of these showed the same lines being fixed to the ship much higher, so I tried to emulate that. I was short on time, but I had to find time to at least add the lines going from the main yard to the stern. But, believe it or not, this wasn't in the instructions. So I looked at some pictures of other models and of the Surprise/Rose and made my own approximation with one of the extra pieces from the kit. The kit also didn't specify that the corners of the topsails should be fixed to the main yards, though this was evident in pretty much every picture I saw. So I fixed that too- it took little enough time. This is probably the weakest part of my model, and close examination will show that one side is slightly different than the other in the way the foremost anchor is lashed to the ship. I was having trouble finding a definitive source on how this should look, and again I was out of time. So I took an illustration from A Young Officer's Sheet Anchor, which seemed minimalistic, and added a couple more lashings as I had seen in many other pictures of models. The result is probably somewhat dubious, but I doubt the recipient will notice or care, thankfully. Next time, I will definitely have to do more research, though. Oh, I did add puddening though! Something I had not been familiar with. All in all, I am thrilled with my model, flawed (very flawed, though that is mostly due to the instructions) rigging and all. I thank everyone here for their advice and encouragement, and I can't wait to push myself a little further and try something more in-depth (and maybe on a larger scale lol) that will have more detail and be more accurate. Can't wait to start the Sultana! And any critiques are welcome. As we in training (my current profession) say, "feedback is a gift."

As a small update, 2 things are new. 1. I forgot when my mother's birthday was, and it turns out it's 2 days away...not 2 weeks. I have my work cut out for me to get all of that running rigging done 2. I finished the rigging for the spars last night (the lines that raise/lower the spars, that is...don't remember the name). That is some tedious work! Also, it's practically impossible to tie them to the places indicated in the instructions. I'll post a couple of pictures about that a little later. Anyway, I've got my work cut out for me! Hopefully I will have all of it done VERY soon!

Yes, I was afraid I might have fallen a little short there (not that I am unhappy with it). The sails that come with it aren't bad, so I was a bit torn. But I had also read that that are supplied with kit will sag, and I had never tried making sails so I figured that might be a good way to address both points. It's a mixed bag I suppose, but I'm sure the recipient will be just as pleased. Thanks for the feedback and kind words. I've certainly learned a lot with this build, and hopefully some of the issues this log has recorded will be of help in keeping the higher-ups of your life content

While I love a ship under sails (though I think it really works best if one goes all out and adds crew, and perhaps a sea base), I think this particular model- and a lot of square riggers in particular- look better with bare sticks. It's just so much easier to see all of the intricate rigging, etc. But since this is a gift, I'm going to go with the wishes of the recipient (my mom). I sort of quizzed the my mom about which models look best (under the guise of how I should build my own), and she and dad both thought the ships looked better with sails. I was a little disappointed, since I thought they looked better without, but here she is- sails fitted for their sake. I actually, just got that book recently! Though it may be a little detailed for me. My deadline is drawing near, and at this scale I don't want to deal (or pay for) all of the blocks and deadeyes, etc. that would be required for a truly accurate rigging. However, I appreciate the recommendation. It's a great book. I particularly find its layout logical and handy- and it allows me to understand which lines do what, even if I can't do its detailed explanation justice this time. I imagine that book will be very handy when I put together my Sultana, as well.

I have finally finished making the sails, simple though they are with no clues or reef points, etc. I figure that's probably ok at this scale, but I'm not sure. I certainly like how it looks, especially the color. I sewed the sails to the yards as per the instructions, a method I would give mixed reviews but is easy if nothing else. Anyhow, here is what I've got : What do you all think of the sails- honestly? I'm a little afraid they might be a tad plain. I had made one with vertical lines, etc.but the lines were too bold I though, so I erred on the other side of things. But y'all's (I'm from KY I can say that lol) honest feedback would be appreciated. Cheers!

Also, I have done some research regarding the frigate La Flore/ Vestale and the hawseholes, anchor cable, etc. In most pictures I have seen of the more intricate/famous models (like the one in the JFK Library), the anchor chain just sort of seems to disappear into the ornamentation of the bow. In none of the models I've seen are the hawseholes readily visible, as you can see on the example below. And from another model (Amati) here: This is good news for me, since I am too scared of messing something up to drill hawseholes (had a lot of trouble getting the bow ornamentation to sit right...and it still doesn't quite sit where it should). Given this, I think I'm going to just kind of cheat and hide the anchor cable by having it feed up into the bow and maybe disappear at the appropriate place- as it seems to do in the pictures above.

After some delays in waiting for things like waiting for silkspan (which has now been replaced with Modelspan, though not on the website...was in a note from Bluejacket), etc. I have returned to my model. Last night, I was able to paint all of the yards (troublesome things at this scale, if one intends to paint the studdingsail yards a different color, which I believe was the norm), and make my first sail. I used Blue Ensign's method for the most part, though to a lower standard of accuracy (no clues, reef points, etc.), with one change- while I was letting the sail dry over the cut-out area of the cardboard, I added some small weights (jelly beans) to stop it from returning to shape. This seems to have worked well, and the sail has just a little concave to it, but is still very tight, as I have seen it in many videos of square-riggers- not quite as billowy as the vacuum-formed sails, but probably a little more accurate (correct me if I'm wrong). I probably won't be able to work on the ship again until next week, but I'm glad I kept progressing with it...I don't want to (and can't) let it sit. I'll hopefully have most of the sail/yardwork (ha! yardwork!) done soon and will post pics.

Is there a reason to choose this model over the 1/350 Minicraft version? Just curious, as I'll probably do a build for one or the other some time in the next couple of years.

Oh sweet! There's a way for me to not rig it at all! Let's do that one! Actually, I'm not sure what I want to do just yet, but thanks for all of the options/ info.