Landlubber Mike

I also have a 17" Sherline lathe and mostly turn wood on it. Works really well.

It's been a while, but a week or so ago I dusted off these ships and put in some work. They are now mostly done construction wise - minus some items for the diorama - and up for the spray booth. It's amazing how long these 1/700 kits can take when using one of the comprehensive detail sets. You probably could assemble most out of the box in a day or two, but with the PE sets, etc., they take much longer. Here is the Asashio - I will add the guns and torpedo launchers after the primer coat just to make sure I get all the eventual crevices and tight spaces painted: Here's the Akashi - I found some blueprints, so spent quite a bit of time going beyond the FiveStar set to add things like new masts, exhaust pipes, etc. The deck looks fairly empty, but there are more than a dozen small boats that are added to the deck. I'll probably have some off the ship in the water as part of the diorama, and add things like construction materials since this is a repair ship. Thanks for looking in. Happy New Year everyone!

Wow, amazing model and diorama! The car looks 1:1 scale!

I'd build what you're interested in. If it's a frigate, build a frigate. I built the Caldercraft Badger as my first kit, and while I have three wooden ship builds in process at the moment, I didn't think they were too far a step up in skill level. To me, the bigger ships typically just have more repetitive tasks that need to be done, they don't necessarily involve new construction techniques. Just take your time and look at other logs and you should be good to go. If you are worried about experience level, just buy one of the kits with good instructions and lots of build logs on here. For what it's worth, the Euromodel La Renommee that I'm working on is a frigate. The kit pretty much comes with no instructions, but has really good plans. @piratepete007 has put together a wonderful practicum for this and other Euromodel builds that is very helpful. Euromodel kits do require more scratch building than typical kits - they are a good middle ground if you ultimately want to scratch build some day. I love the subject, which is based on plans found in Chapman's Architectura, but I'm convinced it's not a French vessel but more likely a Swedish vessel (more on that in my build log). I had started building the Corel Unicorn - also a frigate - but there are a lot of errors and shortcuts in the kit. It does make for a nice model, but if you're into accuracy, then it's not a good kit to try. I ended up abandoning my build for that reason - the hull was way too tall and the plans were all over the place - drove me a little too crazy and I just thought it made more sense to spend my time working on something else.

Wow, this is masterpiece modeling at its finest! Amazing job Jolle!

Wow, that came out really great Chris!! Nice job man!

Hi Steve, I think I'm going to go with the higher ("original") waterline from the kit plans. Apparently the waterline was at different levels during various periods, so it depends on the period you are thinking about modeling I suppose. For me, I like the look of the higher copper line, and it would save me from having to plank in ebony that much further down the hull. If it helps, page 4 of my build log showed models with the different waterlines: For the copper plating, I'm thinking of replacing the plates with those from Amati or Caldercraft (I forget which). I'm also going to try to oxidize the copper a bit to get that green verdigris look. I suppose you could paint it, but would the lower hull look like it's copper plated?

Nicely done Steve!

Another creative project, I'm in! Love the idea and use of native woods, this is going to be another Glen special!

That came out really great Craig! Excellent model of an iconic car. Love the paint color and finish!

Holy cow, this is super cool Jolle!! Loving it!

Great start Craig! Nice work on the louvres! At first I thought you'd end up replacing them but they came out fantastic.

They came out great Craig, nice job!

I'm doing mine a bit different in that I am covering the hull with very thin ebony. My guess is that I'll probably need some drop planks in certain sections or specially cut planks. For the planks below the waterline, I'm going to copper plate the hull so I'm not as concerned with the first planking. I just ran the first planking as naturally as possible, and filled the gaps with stealers as necessary.

Looking really good Steve. The hull looks easy to plank, but there are a lot of curves that make it more complicated than it would appear. Almost done!

Great job Craig! Coming along nicely! I have increasingly gotten to like Mr. Putty. I also like the Tamiya two-part sculpting epoxy. It works well and doesn't shrink like other putties. For big gaps, I try to fill with plastic card as much as possible. I'll also use CA as a small spot filler - it works really well and sands nicely.

That came out great Andy! Sometimes the 1/72 and smaller scale planes look a bit soft and toylike, but Airfix (and you) did a really nice job with this kit. Congrats!

Wow that was fast! Came out great Craig! Looking forward to following the next one.

Wow, what an amazing model Jolle! Thank you for sharing it with us! Looking forward to your next project.

Wow Andy, looks like the kit builds up really nicely. Will be great to see what you end up doing with it.

Looks like a nice kit of an interesting subject. Hopefully it doesn't have the fit and other charm issues SH is known for

Me too! Pontos does very comprehensive detail sets - should look fantastic!

Wow, that came out great Craig! Nicely done my friend!

Nice job! Really well done! Did you mean the Pontos kit of the Soya? I have it on the shelf as well - looks like a really wonderful kit.

Me too - thanks for blazing the trail for us Craig!