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I wouldn't be too hasty to make that judgment. I'm not as well-versed on the plastic kit world as I once was (many, many moons ago), but I know that it is not uncommon for injection molds to legitimately exchange hands between plastic kit companies and that Trumpeter has acquired molds in the past in that fashion. I'm not qualified to speculate any farther than that.

Congratulations! Looks fantastic -- even has the flag blowing in the right direction!

Looks like you succeeded. 😉

I have no insight on which of those two kits is more historically accurate, but if you purchase a kit through Model Expo, you get free replacement parts, should you need them.

The gun is in and the top straps are in place. After I completed this task, I noticed I hadn't done all the bolt heads on the knees along the hull. **sigh** I hit on a rather easy way to simulate these by using thin slices of styrene rod, but this will be a task for another day. In the meantime, I placed one of the seat covers in the photo; as you can see, the sheet from which that part was taken is very light-colored, so I'm considering the possibility of staining or painting these. Otherwise, to my eye at least, they just stand out too much. Also, a question for Jim or others who have built this: The instructions call for the gun pit ladders to be installed before rigging the gun tackles, but it seems to me that the ladders would be in way a bit. Should I rig the tackles first? Cheers!

Congratulations upon completing this long journey!

Heck, I know people that scratch build without power tools. I do find my Dremel rotary tool very handy, and technically it is a power tool, but it's not a mill, lathe, thickness sander, or band saw, if those are the kinds of power tools you're thinking of.

Hullo, yes, it's been a while. I was waiting until I had some discernible progress to show. The caprails, knees, and rubbing strakes have been added. Next up is supposed to be installation of the gun, oh boy!

The hull form of the Gloucester schooners is considered among the easier types to plank.

That model was part of my recent Christmas haul.

I like it.

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Robert, my great-great-grandfather was a "guest" of the Federal government for a year at Fort Delaware after being captured at The Wilderness. Cheers!

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??