Fright

Great article and food to chew on! Level of skills, time and patience are needed for any accomplishment done well and modeling is one of those. My 3rd model was Lindberg's Cap'n Kidd Pirate ship and I don't know how many times I wanted to throw that thing against the wall! Nothing seemed to fit, constant breaks on parts, totally warped bowsprit - it taught me perseverance and patience, and even taught me how to resolve my problems. I am 'working' my way up the ladder with each new model that I build. It never hurts to do a little research and read some reviews about what kits are there before you jump into really deep waters! Just like anything else, having a good network of other modeler's posts and support makes it all worth while. Thanks again for this wonderful article.

I ran across a modeler who used Brandon Enterprises weathering powder on his painted copper hull. He used FF-162 kit which includes Old Yeller, Green Grunge, The Blues and Used Brick powders. Used sparingly! It looks pretty impressive! I plan on going this route with my Constitution build.

kmgreene - Being my 1st sailing ship build, I went with Revell's 1:96 USS Constitution to get my hands 'wet' in rigging, knots and terminology before I invest big money in a wooden model. I've followed some builds by Force9 & Captain Isaac Hull, as well as J Brent youtube 'how to' vids and purchased two books; Anatomy of the Ship: The 44-Gun Frigate USS Constituion and Rigging Period Ship Models as reference material. So far, I am very happy with my choice on this model and, to the best of my ability, I'm building her as the 1812 version. I ordered some nice line from Cottage Industry Models, metal eye bolts, included the 'camboose' on gun deck and purchased some barrels from Modelers Central. In closing, I'm really pleased with this kit and I think you will be to! Best to you and your project!

I agree with Modelerbob and with EJ_L on Revell kits (larger scale). My 1st build was 1:72 Revell's Gato submarine and I have started work on 1:96 scale USS Constitution for my 1st ship of sail. As mentioned, the Constitution has a lot of flash but is not that much trouble to work with. My model's hull and decks lined up nicely. I also looked at Zvevda Black Swan and heard their kits were good quality, but i got a great deal for around $60 for my Constitution and I was leary of spending more money on my first ship with rigging. Best of luck to you on your build and these forums have some fantastic people and advice to help you along.