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Folks, as a reminder, please recall that we have two ways to quote text built into our software. If you want to quote a previous post in its entirety, then use the "quote" button at the lower left corner of that post. Only use this button to quote short posts -- DO NOT use it to quote long posts that have lots of photos in them! Those redundant posts unnecessarily hog bandwidth and are a pain to have to scroll past. If you wish to quote a shorter section of a long post, then click and highlight (left click-and-hold + drag) that portion of text; when you let off the mouse button, a small box will open that says "quote selection". When you click that box, a reply window will open with the quoted text in it. You can repeat this step to quote multiple portions in a single reply. Thanks!

Looking very good so far!

Mamoli kits are now produced by Dusek Ship Kits. There's an ad banner on the home page that links to their site. Owner is Daniel Dusek.

Try googling images for Pride of Baltimore II. She has a similar rig, and there's tons of photos of her online. Look for ones that show the particular sailing attitude you wish to capture.

Hey, folks! Here's a great tip for making realistic rope coils. This post was originally made by member Peta_V in his excellent build log for Master Korabel's AVOS kit, which you can read here. Enjoy! ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Here is a short guide, how I do coils. I have a jig from the scrap wood with 3 removable pins (2,3,5) and 3 securing points (1,4,6). 1. Secure the line to point 1 and make several loops around pins 2 and 3. I do 4-6 loops so the coils does not look similar. (I start with removed pin 5). Once finished with loops secure the other end to point 4. 2. Unsecure line from point 1 and pull out the very first loop through the middle of the coil. 3. Now you have to twist this to form the eye and secure it with pin 5. 4. Remove pin 2 and fully insert pin 5. Now you can adjust the coil as you want a once happy secure the end to point 6. 5. Now I secure the coil with 3 drops of CA glue. One where the eye meets coil, second ať the bottom of the coil and third to secure the loose end to the coil. Remove the coil from the jig by removing pin 5 and trim the excess thread. 6. Place the coil on the deck Perhaps someone finds it usefull. Stay healthy! Peta_V

That's a great technique, Peta. I hope you won't mind that I copied your last post and made a separate entry for it in the Masting & Rigging subforum. That way it can be more easily found by folks searching for help with this particular task. Cheers!

Moin, moin, Michael! Welcome to MSW. Always happy to see another "steel navy" builder sign up. If you are relatively new to ships, be sure to check out some of the builds by our member RGL, such as his recently completed USS Essex. He's got the knack for working with after-market detail sets and realistic painting and weathering. For an inspiring model of a Fletcher, take a peek at Bob Steinbrunn's award-winning USS Kidd, if you haven't already. Hope you will share your build with us, too. Cheers!

You're off to a good start. Looks like the helper is having no trouble keeping him/herself occupied!

I based my comment primarily on the drawings you showed earlier. But the quest for information on general ship building practices is one reason why ship modelers accumulate lots of books! Also, as you point out, this is a beginner's model, and some things are simplified -- when you tackle a more advanced project, its plans, materials, and construction will more closely imitate the real thing. Cheers!

Hey, folks! You may have noticed that our non-ship/non-categorized build logs area has become rather popular. With that in mind, allow us to say something about naming your non-ship build logs. You should give some thought to how you name your non-ship build logs. Remember, titles serve two functions: they tell us what your build log is about, and they are a key factor in making our site's search function useful. Just like a ship build log, your title should include: name of subject (e.g. Brewster B-239, PzKpfw IV Ausf H, Saturn V, etc.) your exact username (spelled and capitalized exactly as it appears in your profile) the name of the manufacturer if building from a kit the scale of your model. You can add other details if you like, but keep in mind that a cluttered title is almost as bad as a title with no details. And the search function really does depend on you typing in your username correctly. For example, if your username is "fictionalguy", but your build log title says "by Fred" or even "by fictional guy" (notice the space), your build log(s) won't show up in a title search by username (assuming the searcher typed in your username correctly) -- it has to be exact. Here's some examples of good titles: Grumman Gosling by duckdanger - Airfix - 1/72 1968 Volvo 142 by howswedeitis - 1/15th scale - scratch Eagle Transporter by oldscifirocks - MPC - 1/72 - from Space 1999 TV series So that's it. Keep it simple. Make it functional. It makes our site look sharp and improves its usefulness. Thanks!

The only hitch with these very early Caldercraft designs is that their instructions are quite spartan compared to the latest kit designs. Other than that, it would be a great first build. Whatever is missing in the way of instructions can certainly be gleaned from MSW. Their Sherbourne kit was my second build, BTW.

Ugh! Pneumonia is no fun. Hope you are up and around again soon.

A steal of a deal!

I think you guessed correctly on the metal band. The bowsprit, though, should not be tapered where it fits into the cap. Perhaps too late to fix at this point, but something to file away for future reference. Cheers!

Looks like you got your log started just dandy. Good luck with your project!

Are you talking about the Corel Flying Fish (which is a terrible kit in my opinion), or the Model Shipways clipper? The latter is an advanced-level kit and should only be attempted if you have some prior experience. Most Model Shipways instructions assume that the builder has such prior experience, and MS kits do require more scratch-building of parts, using dimensions taken from plans, than is typical for other manufacturers.

I never heard of this kit before, but it is one of the Mamoli kits that has been updated and reissued by Dusek Ship Kits. As such, it should be a decent product. And at 1/32nd scale, it should be more true to the original subject than the usual Mini-Mamoli offering. Cheers!

Town Class Cruisers: Design, Development & Performance Conrad Waters Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing, 2019 25 x 29.5 cm format, hardback, 320 pages 363 B&W and color illustrations, appendices, bibliography, index MSRP £40.00 ISBN: 978 1 1885 3 In my previous book review, I observed that the title undergoing scrutiny at that time had a lot of illustrations, but it didn't have very many visual elements -- the two things are not synonymous. This book, British Town Class Cruisers, has a variety of visual elements -- and in spades. But before getting into that, let's take a quick look at the table of contents. The nine chapters cover: 1. Class Origins 2. The Design Process 3. From Construction to Delivery 4. Design Description 5. Wartime Improvements 6. Wartime Operations & Performance 7. Post-War Requirements & Repair 8. Post-War Operations & Disposal 9. Evaluation Now let's get some of the basics out of the way. This is a book about WWII cruisers, so all of us ship nuts naturally want to know some essential tid-bits of information, such as what did the ships look like? what were their performance specs? and what kinds of armament did they carry? Trust me, Conrad Waters does an absolutely top-notch job of giving the reader all of those particulars in exquisite detail. Where this book excels, though, is in the details you might not expect. For example, the Town-class were built under the restrictions of the London Naval Treaty of 1930, which restricted the total tonnage of light cruisers the British could build. That and the particular need of Britain to protect a far-flung trade empire had a profound influence on British naval designs of the 1930s. Waters does an exemplary job, in a very readable fashion, of how these considerations were reflected in the eventual design and construction of the class's members. Here's another example of a something extra you'll find in this volume. We arm-chair historians of course want to know what the ships we're reading about did during the war, and Waters does indeed provide that information, including details of the class's service in Korea and well into the Cold War. But one nice and unexpected perk is the detailed descriptions (including diagrams) of every bomb and torpedo hit suffered by the class, based on historical damage and after-action reports. These provide interesting details on the survivability of the class, as well as an examination of improvements made to both construction and damage control methods as a result of lessons learned in combat. In a similar vein, Waters also describes developments within the class such as the evolution of AA armaments, even at the expense of main guns, brought about by the need to defend against faster, more modern aircraft. We're also treated to discussions of improving radar capabilities and how that played into various combat successes at sea. Okay, let's get down to the good stuff -- the eye candy. This book is a visual treat. There are plenty of diagrams, tables, and cut-away drawings. There are several hundred very crisp B&W photos, including some that are single- and even double-page spreads. There's even a few color photos. There are also seven color plates that feature 14 paint and camouflage schemes. The best of all of these though is two pull-out pages featuring three color plates of original design drawings. These include rigging diagrams for both the Southampton- and Belfast-subclasses and a longitudinal profile of Southampton. Even if you're considering the book only as a visual reference, you won't be disappointed. British Town Class Cruisers wraps up with three nice appendices that are well-worth reading in themselves. Appendix I covers camouflage & appearance, Appendix II is a treatment of the class's Supermarine Walrus scout planes, and Appendix III lists the class's battle honors. This is, in all respects, an exceptionally written and illustrated volume. It has enough detail to appeal to hard-core fans of WWII naval vessels, but is also written in a style that will keep casual fans engaged. It is well-worth the asking price in this reviewer's opinion and a great addition to anyone's nautical library. Thanks are due to Seaforth Publishing for providing a review copy. You can click here to purchase British Town Class Cruisers directly from Seaforth. CDC

Yep, they really should be flush, which is why I don't use them. If not flush, that thin second-layer planking will want to show the underlying bumps. Do you have a rotary tool, like a Dremel? You might want to try some kind of grinding attachment to get those taken down easier -- sandpaper alone, as you no doubt have realized, will just want to remove the softer surrounding wood.

Welcome aboard! Beautiful workmanship -- thanks for sharing!

Welcome! If you have not yet had a look at Frank Mastini's Ship Modeling Simplified, I believe that's the exact kit that he used to illustrate his methods. Cheers!

Wow, that was quick! Great-looking end product -- congrats!

This is pretty much a matter of personal preference. Either way will work. So will starting at the keel and working up, or starting at the keel AND bulwarks and working toward the middle. Main thing is to work on both sides equally, so as not to distort your hull. Cheers!

Actually, I went to my "man cave" to do a little work after writing that last post, and I finally had to face up to the fact that I needed to do some major cleaning up and reorganizing of my modeling storage facilities. After many models and even more house moves, the accumulation of stuff in various drawers and boxes has gotten to the point that the clutter impeded efficient modeling. So, I'm going to take some time to sort stuff out. The first drawer was kind of a shock -- this is going to be a challenge!

Two options -- neither very appealing, perhaps. If the kit has full-size drawings of the parts, then you can build them from scratch. Or -- trawl eBay for a second and hopefully complete kit. There's plenty of them, and usually can be had for cheap.