ccoyle

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.

I would like to finish the Kanonen Jolle from MK first, but I still have the WH box out -- concurrent builds, maybe??

Oars are done! As it happens sometimes with repetitive tasks, I hit upon a way to mass-produce the little buggers and finished up the remaining ten yesterday. All told, I only broke one shaft and one handle during the whole set -- those two will go on the bottom of the stack, obviously. Now I can move on to other, hopefully more interesting tasks.

Yea! Another pre-dreadnought!

Hello, David! A good teacher friend of mine recently retired from Rim of the World High, not far from you.

Dunno -- but I will build it anyway! 😉

Welcome! That particular kit is a popular beginner's project, and there are plenty of finished examples here on the forum. Very interesting place to be from, San Andres Island -- I had to Google it. Cheers!

1/72nd Scale Wütender Hund - Privateer Klaus Störtebeker's Cog Shipyard **Now available as of 03/2020** (A note about this review: I am not James! Which means that I do not currently possess a slick photography setup, nor do I have photogenic hands. 😋 Judge the photos accordingly!) Polish designers have been in the vanguard of card model kit development for decades. One Polish company, Shipyard, has established a deserved reputation for high-quality card model kits of sailing subjects, usually in 1/96th scale. A few years back, they started producing what they call, thanks to the vagaries of translating Polish into English, “laser-cardboard” kits in 1/72nd scale. These kits included laser-cut parts, a set of laser-cut formers, and all of the fittings and materials—including paints and brushes—needed to finish the model (everything except glue). With the release of Wütender Hund, Shipyard have now entered into the wooden kit market as well. After all, paper is just processed wood, right? When I first read about this impending release, I was keen to find out if Shipyard’s venture into wooden kits would produce something on par with their top-notch paper kits. After a quick glance through the kit’s contents, I think that it’s safe to say that Shipyard has come up with a winner. Ready? Then let’s take a look! Wütender Hund was the vessel captained by Klaus Störtebeker, the leader of a group of North German privateers that were active at the end of the 14th century. The ship is an example of a cog, a common type of merchant vessel during the Middle Ages. The name “Wütender Hund” roughly translates as “mad dog.” When completed, Wütender Hund is 355 mm long by 316 mm high and 200 mm wide. Upon its arrival at my door after its long trip from Puszczykowo, Poland, I was pleased to find that the good folks at Shipyard had packed the shipping box very well, with plenty of cardboard to stiffen it and packaging peanuts to help it survive stops in Poznan, Arnhem, Cologne, and Liege on its way to America. Neither the kit box packed inside nor its contents were damaged in any way. The kit box itself is 500 x 350 x 50 mm in size and features bold graphics, details about the kit, and photos of the prototype model. It comes protected inside a clear plastic shell. Opening the box reveals three smaller boxes along with plans, instructions, and sheets of laser-cut parts packed in clear plastic sleeves. There was no packing material inside the box, but then again there isn’t really anything inside that could be damaged by simply sliding around. We’ll start by unpacking the mysterious inner boxes! Inside the largest of the boxes are rigging materials. Wütender Hund has a very simple rig, having only a single mast and one yard, so there isn’t a whole lot of dowels in the kit—three, to be precise (the smallest-diameter dowel is intended to be used as a glue applicator). One dowel had a slight bend at one end, but the remainder were nice and straight. (I think there's a dog hair in the photo -- I have three dogs, and one of them is a shed-o-matic!) Five diameters of rigging cordage are provided, from 0.1 to 1.0 mm. All of the rigging is left natural; tarred rigging will need to be colored. Blocks and hearts are laser-cut. Each block or heart is built up from multiple layered parts. The inner parts are smaller than the outer parts, so that the finished hearts will have a groove for stropping. (Edit: Having now built up a few of the blocks, I can say that these turn out very nicely.) Moving to the next box, we find individually bagged materials and tools. Two diameters of copper wire are provided for making various metal parts. These and the turned brass belaying pins will need to be blackened. One bag contains tiny pieces of cut plastic tubing that will be used for making gudgeons. Two paint brushes, one square-tipped and the other round, are provided. They appear to be white sable or similar. (Edit: I prefer pre-blackened annealed wire and will substitute that during construction where possible. The cut plastic tubing gets covered by the card stock during the construction process.) In the last box we find a set of four acrylic paints: black, red, white, and beige. (Edit: The paints give very good one-coat coverage.) There are a whopping 14 sheets of laser-cut parts. The laser cutting is very good, and char on the reverse sides is minimal and easily removed. Many of the parts are veneers, so their reverse sides are not even visible on the finished model. The thickest ply sheet contains hull formers. Unlike some wooden kits, these do not have fairing lines engraved on them, but since the bulkheads are thin, they will not need much work in that department. Other parts are cut from different shades of plywood (walnut is my guess), which should produce some pleasing contrasts on the model. Plank seams are laser-engraved. (Edit: After completing much of the hull, it's safe to say that the plywood quality has been very good, no matter the thickness of the sheet. There are a few blemishes here and there, which is to be expected in plywood. The plywood takes stain very well on the engraved side, but the reverse side not so well; this affects relatively few parts of the model.) The thinnest sheets contain veneers that will be applied to various parts of the model. These also have laser-engraved details, which I personally find rather remarkable when considering how thin these actually are, i.e. engraving lines nowhere cut completely through the material. The smallest sheet is brown card stock and contains parts that will need to be painted to simulate ironwork, such as rudder hardware. (Edit: I'm not sure what kind of stock is used for the iron work, but it is tough, molds to contours well, and after painting does a very passable job of looking like real iron work.) A complete suit of pre-cut and pre-printed sails (two -- whoa, nelly!) is included. The striking “mad dog” will need to be painted. As you can see, that’s a lot of parts! Happily, a complete parts list is provided, featuring labeled drawings of every parts sheet. Sixty-four pages of full-color instructions in two booklets walk the builder through the construction process. Book 1 covers hull construction, while Book 2 covers masting and rigging. (Edit: The photo instructions have been great! There have been only a few minor questions raised about what exactly to do, but so far I have been able to figure everything out. If anything, there might actually be more photos than than are necessary, but I'm not going to complain.) The instructions are almost entirely photo-based and include very little text, but the build sequence is thoroughly outlined by the high-quality and plentiful photographs. This format will feel familiar to card modelers. Two single-sided and one double-sided plan sheets are included. These include hull plan and profile views, masting and sail plan, and rigging plan. Shipyard’s extensive experience with both laser-cutting and the production of card model kits has enabled them to do a superb job of bringing to market what is essentially a card model in design that is constructed in wood rather than paper. (Edit: This extends even to having to attain proper parts thicknesses by laminating two or more parts together. Again, this is familiar to card modelers, but may be something unexpected to modelers who have only built the usual kinds of wooden models.) The quality materials, colorful instructions, and attention to detail suggest that Shipyard are sincere in their desire to bring together the best of both modeling media. Have they succeeded? I think they have, and I’ll probably find out for certain in the near future, as this kit practically begs to be started sooner rather than later. My sincere thanks go to Shipyard for providing this kit for review, and I hope that it becomes a big seller for them. For those interested in buying the kit, Ages of Sail, an MSW sponsor, is the US distributor of Shipyard products. For those wishing to stick to card models, Shipyard also offer a laser-cut cog kit in 1/72nd scale as can be seen here being built by Clare Hess and reviewed here. Cheers!

Great job, Don! That is a fine model indeed and a testament to your skill and determination. Cheers!

Yes, but you are very close to finishing! Nice work!

Ah, but you don't have to wait! The link is embedded in the intro in the first post.

Will probably get bumped to somewhere very close to the top of the queue -- along with finishing the MK Kanonen Jolle, the Okumuto Hannah kit, any number of 1:33 card planes, and my full-size Sassafras 12 canoe. Whew!