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Hi, Alan. Be sure to check out the San Diego Ship Modelers' Guild -- a great local club that meets on the Berkeley down at the Maritime Museum.

Hey, Paul. Turns out my in-box was full! 😲 Try it now.

Hello and welcome! I am a big fan of the Midwest kits -- inexpensive, great instructions, high probability of success. But, from the list that you provided, I would advise Hunter as a first model, as cutters in general are good beginner models, having fewer guns, a single mast, and less rigging than other comparably sized vessels. As has been mentioned, Mamoli kits are now manufactured by Dusek Ship Kits, and Daniel has been revising each kit as it is reissued. I don't know to what extent the kit has been revised, but previous reissues have been of good quality. There are also several other options for cutters on the market. I have built Caldercraft's Sherbourne and can recommend it, with the caveat that the instructions are a bit sparse and a Midwest kit under one's belt is a good idea. Amati/Victory Models offers Lady Nelson; the kit was designed by the same gentleman who did Sherbourne. Amati have an excellent reputation for quality. Master Korabel have recently released Avos. I am currently building their Swedish gunboat kit and can attest to the high quality of MK kits. The assembly of an MK kit is rather different from the usual kit method, so I would suggest looking through a couple of the MK build logs here to get a feel for them. You have done well in narrowing down your selections to kits that are all fairly within reach of a beginner, and I hope you will find the additional advice in this thread not too overwhelming. Cheers!

Really quite beautiful work so far!

Hmmm... strange. Haven't had that issue before. Are you interested in the model? I doubt that the owner will be interested in shipping from the UK to Michigan.

A lady by the name of Diane posted to our FB page looking for someone to re-home her dad's partially completed Billing Boats Norske Love. She's not looking to sell it -- just hoping that someone might like to give it a good home. She has the box and remaining materials. She lives in South Leicestershire. If interested, PM me, and I'll get the two of you in touch. Here's her original post:

I always encourage folks to try their local library. You might be surprised by what they have available on the subject -- even some of the books that have already been mentioned.

I can understand that Mom & Pop businesses need to cut costs somewhere, but really -- map tacks (or push pins as we call them "out west")?

I don't know what the equivalent colloquial phrase in Italian is, but those are some crazy mad framing skills on display there!

I like this idea. I, too, have a Sultana kit in my stash, where it will probably remain forever (unless someone offers me some scratch for it -- hint hint). I didn't like how my hull carving efforts turned out, so I drafted a new set of bulkheads from the plans using the technique described by Edwin Leaf in Ship Modeling from Scratch. Sadly, I didn't like how that hull turned out, either. Oh, well! I hope yours turns out much better!

Hi. What you have there is what's called a decor model. These are mainly produced in SE Asia these days, but they were once commonly made in Spain, hence the name on the plate "Fregata Espanola", which simply means "Spanish frigate" in Spanish (of course). Despite the name, it is neither an accurate model of a Spanish frigate, nor even any frigate in particular, which explains why it may not look like other similarly labeled models. It is simply a low-cost likeness of a generalized ship that is meant to look good on a mantel or bookcase shelf. If it reminds you of your grandfather, then give it a gentle cleaning, reattach any loose ropes, and give it a place of honor somewhere, if you have room, and think about him when you see it. Cheers!

Whoa! Were those instrument panel bits partially prefabricated on the fret??

Part of the fun of building models is to push the boundaries of what can be done with any medium -- even wood modelers do this. I have seen unbelievable models built out of toothpicks, and Doris has built the most exquisite creations out of paper. This is, after all, a hobby, so enjoy it!

I partially agree with that statement. I think it is more accurate to say that MS instructions tend to assume some degree of prior experience on the part of the builder and therefore tend to offer less in the way of a step-by-step process.

Shouldn't the answer be self-evident? Start the next model! 😉

I volunteer, on the condition that manufacturing operations are moved to the Peak District. Of course, I will need to be reimbursed for moving costs ... and trained on wood shop procedures.

Verrrry nice!

Chain plates are the metal straps that secure deadeyes to the hull. Twisting them from wire is one way to make them for a model. But as the name implies, chain plates on real ships were once made out of links of chain; later they were made from metal sheet. Either way, they're not wire. But -- as I said previously, you can make them from wire. Just get yourself some annealed brass or blackened wire. The plan sheets probably show how to twist them somewhere. Good luck!

I'm uncertain about what the first three items are supposed to be -- perhaps you could show us from the plans what they are? Sounds kind of like they are referring to head rails. As for chain plate wire, forming those from wire is a short-cut method for making those parts -- they look okay, but the technique is not really true of the original. If you choose to use that method for making chain plates, you can replace the kit wire with annealed brass wire of the same gauge -- you can even get it pre-blackened, if you so desire. Look for it online at hardware suppliers. Cheers!

That depends. There are, to be sure, first-time modelers who have completed projects of that magnitude, but honestly they are rare. Most new modelers find there's a bit of a learning curve for sailing men-of-war, even if they have prior modeling experience (I know I did). I always try to steer beginners toward something relatively simpler for a first project. There is, of course, a large number of kit subjects available of smaller vessels from the same time period as Connie, so you may find one of them sufficiently interesting. Cheers!

Beautiful work, Isidro! I modified your title to sound more like how we would say it in English.

This sounds like the correct explanation to me.

Amazing, as usual!

Ooh! Pictures?

Juhu is correct. If you're looking to model HMS Surprise because you like the film or the Aubrey/Maturin novels, then you're in a bit of a quandary. Surprise in the film is played by the real-life HMS Rose; if you look closely and count the gunports, you'll see that HMS Rose is pierced for 24 guns, not the 28 of the fictional Surprise. The real HMS Surprise, upon which the fictional ship is based, began life as a French frigate, L'Unite. After her capture by the British, she was classified as a 28-gun frigate but rearmed with twenty-four 32-lb carronades. So, your options are to either build one of the not-really-HMS Surprise kits (which resemble neither the real Surprise nor HMS Rose, of which there is no kit), scratch build a model based on her admiralty drafts (which do exist), or wait for the Caldercraft kit (which has already been a very, very long wait).