Estoy_Listo

Greetings, All
 
Checking in to say hello.  I'm semi-retired, like Shaunzy, and I can't wait to start modeling again. The Admiral and I are selling our house of 20 years, so no model-making for me until we get that settled.
 
Most of my wood modeling has been w/ stick and tissue gliders, but boats and ships were my favorites in plastic.  I grew up around Lk Washington and I spent a lot of time hanging around the marinas, this at time when tugs were pulling logs to mill and mine sweepers were moored nearby.  I've been drawn to working boats ever since.  My choices for first build are the Chesapeake Bay Flattie and the Muscongus Bay Lobster Smack. (I followed Popeye's and Greg Spring's builds from each.)  I'd really like to tackle the Corel Sloup, but suspect the planking might be a bit much for a first timer.  Looking forward to connecting w/ you all.  
 
Best regards,,
 
Mark Anderson
Seattle, WA 

Greetings, All
 
Checking in to say hello.  I'm semi-retired, like Shaunzy, and I can't wait to start modeling again. The Admiral and I are selling our house of 20 years, so no model-making for me until we get that settled.
 
Most of my wood modeling has been w/ stick and tissue gliders, but boats and ships were my favorites in plastic.  I grew up around Lk Washington and I spent a lot of time hanging around the marinas, this at time when tugs were pulling logs to mill and mine sweepers were moored nearby.  I've been drawn to working boats ever since.  My choices for first build are the Chesapeake Bay Flattie and the Muscongus Bay Lobster Smack. (I followed Popeye's and Greg Spring's builds from each.)  I'd really like to tackle the Corel Sloup, but suspect the planking might be a bit much for a first timer.  Looking forward to connecting w/ you all.  
 
Best regards,,
 
Mark Anderson
Seattle, WA 

Greetings, All
 
Checking in to say hello.  I'm semi-retired, like Shaunzy, and I can't wait to start modeling again. The Admiral and I are selling our house of 20 years, so no model-making for me until we get that settled.
 
Most of my wood modeling has been w/ stick and tissue gliders, but boats and ships were my favorites in plastic.  I grew up around Lk Washington and I spent a lot of time hanging around the marinas, this at time when tugs were pulling logs to mill and mine sweepers were moored nearby.  I've been drawn to working boats ever since.  My choices for first build are the Chesapeake Bay Flattie and the Muscongus Bay Lobster Smack. (I followed Popeye's and Greg Spring's builds from each.)  I'd really like to tackle the Corel Sloup, but suspect the planking might be a bit much for a first timer.  Looking forward to connecting w/ you all.  
 
Best regards,,
 
Mark Anderson
Seattle, WA 

Hey, Shaunzy
 
Welcome.  I'm in the same boat--same age, semi-retired, and looking to start my first build.  I'll keep my eye out for your building log. 

Thank you, neighbor.  Just working up the nerve to introduce myself. 

Welcome aboard, Fernando. Sounds like you've already gotten off to a good start!
 
Best wishes,
Mark Anderson 
Seattle, Washington 

Righteous results, Mike. I especially liked how you powered through your bother in November 
 
Mark Anderson 
Seattle, Washington 

This series is a good reminder to this newcomer to manage my expectations. What I aspire to and what i achieve (if I'm gloriously successful, mind you) will look like these before and after pics.  

Welcome aboard, Fernando. Sounds like you've already gotten off to a good start!
 
Best wishes,
Mark Anderson 
Seattle, Washington 

How do you guys keep your work area so neat and tidy?

Firstly a quick intro....I am now "semi retired from the financial services industry and apart from cycling was looking for a hobby where I could use my long lost skills as a model boat builder. I built a number of model boats in my youth...all plastic but always had a wish to try my hand at wooden boats. At the end of last year I took the plunge and bought my first wooden boat kit...."Cadaque" from Artesania Latina. A great way to test my skills and patience. I thoroughly enjoyed building it despite numerous errors and some dodgy fixes...overall though I was hooked. My next model is from Modelers  Central...HM Cutter Mermaid. I am in the throes of completing this model and am already researching my next build. I'll probably go for another Modelers Central model ( Colonial Ketch Mary Byrne or the Colonial Schooner Port Jackson). I hope to post my buildlog when I start my new build and look forward to any assistance from the experts on this great website. 
 
 

Capt. Jack - I used Testors Model Master acrylics in painting Bluenose.  Four colors - Insignia Red, Blue Angels Yellow, Flat Black, and Flat White.  I did prime and sand the surfaces before applying final coats.
 
I recommend flat paints as they tend to scale better.  Gloss paints will pop, but to my eye they look a bit unrealistic.
 
Bob

Here are the oarlocks and oars, the display base and a set of horses for the skiff to be mounted on, and some views of the completed model. 
 
Questions and comments welcomed. .
 
Russ

So after much debate with myself, ultimately losing I decided to go out on a limb and throw this out to the masses.
 
I have seen many people ask here on the forums, and I personally have been asked by friends of mine, some variation of - what is a good entry level wooden ship?
 
When I worked in the hobby store, the answer was easy – not personally having built them myself I had to go by the marketing materials and the word of the ship builders who came through.    When I got into the hobby myself last spring I leveraged that information as well as the write ups of various ships to decide ultimately on the Phantom.
 
However, after building the phantom and now working on a few other models I find myself sometimes wondering myself, when that question is asked, what is a good starter ship model?
 
I had been debating on bringing this up here, just for general conversation as I don’t think there truly is a “correct” answer, but the opinions would be interesting I think.
 
Where I kind of found myself drifting towards is that there really isn’t an easy answer to that question.  After answering it to some degree in another thread earlier today I decided what the heck, let’s bring it up and see what sticks!
 
Here is where my thoughts on the matter tend to circulate.
 
In the plastic world you have a box of parts and those parts, with zero modification, create a rough model of the box art.  You can in some cases (snap together) create something with zero tools and zero experience.  You can, of course, get more expensive detailed kits but still in most cases the parts in the box will assemble as is to create what it is you are after.  The difficulty of plastic comes in when you start adding glue or when you decide to go for it and craft aftermarket parts etc. to add to the existing model. So there is a curve, but in many ways it is a voluntary one.
 
Wooden ship models are very much not the case.   You cannot (as far as I can tell) open a wooden ship kit and create a model of the ship on the box with the parts in the box as is.  It isn’t even an option.   I remember joking about it when I opened up that Phantom.  I was staring at a bunch of wood with a handful of prefabbed parts. 
 
So this is where my thinking that there really isn’t such a thing as “entry level” model ship kits.  By default, the model ship world starts you at advanced.   I have seen people marvel at scratch building, and oh my there are some incredible masters of it that scratch build from front to back and top to bottom .  However, I think some people do themselves an injustice in not believing that they themselves have scratch built something on their ship.   Whether it is a door way, a hatch, a wheel house or a mast; everything about model ship building is about taking one thing and making it into something else so as to fit the rest of the things to make a ship.
 
I think with wooden ships you start at advanced and go up from there.  I think when we talk about “difficulty” in wooden ships it isn’t so much what you have to do, but how much of it you have to do.  The skills come with the practice of what is done; learning how to plank properly, learning how to lay a deck, rig a mast, mount a cannon etc.  The difficulty and challenge is how much planking has to be done, how much detail is in place, how many lines have to be rigged and the pattern or how many tree nails have to be done, sails etc.
 
Please do not get me wrong, I am not in any way saying that everyone who builds wooden ships are at the same skill level, trust me I look at my work and then at others and it is painfully obvious I have a way to go. 
 
What I am suggesting is that newcomers to the hobby should not steer away from things because they are “advanced” looking or complicated because in reality whether it is a small boat like the phantom or a huge boat like the MS Constitution, you are using the same sets of skills and doing the same activities just more of it on one than on the other?
 
I can see the phantom being beginner due to quicker turnaround time, easier to “get one under the belt” maybe.  But after building the phantom and realizing it may be smaller but there was a lot more to it than what I expected.   The Harriet Lane, also listed as an entry level, seems to have a level of complexity that may initially shock someone who picked it up thinking entry level in a different way than the model ship world does.
 
I have done the Phantom (a solid hull) and worked on the hull of the Willie L Bennett (planked) and the Mayflower (planked) and I personally think planking was easier than the solid hull!
 
I truly hope I am getting this question out correctly,  as I have said I have debated it back and forth so many times in my head because I think it is a more complex answer than – This one or That one.
Now, this does not include built from plans type ship building, which is a whole different ball game.  
 
This is primarily in regards to kits.
 
Maybe a lot of this comes from what my expectations were of “Starter” versus advanced.  The Phantom was a challenge, again coming from the world of pre-formed parts.
 
Having only been at this just over a year just has me philosophizing over wooden ship building in general.   Looking at the builds and the people around here just got me to thinking; there really isn’t an entry level wooden ship builder. 
 
By default it is an advanced hobby.
 
Is the advancedness of  a particular model  in the kit? 
Or in the builder?
Or in both?
 
What do you guys think?  (And if you think I am just out of control, feel free to say so – I can take it; sometimes my mind goes weird places and the Admiral has to reel me back in)
 
Thanks for taking the time to indulge my random rambling.
 
Enjoy!!
-Adam

A little too late, but for the next time.  For unsealed wood, India Ink or a dye is  good substitute for paint.  Even black marker works very well.  It penetrates and leaves no brush marks, and any finish can be used over it.   
Allan

I'm totally new at this, too, but I can say with certainty that this New Bedford Whaleboat kit is the most perfect beginner's built-up-hull kit that I could have chosen!  Challenging, yet completely do-able with some research, patience and determination.  Not frustrating at all, but extremely rewarding and I'm lovin' every minute of it.  Plus, you can get it for about one-third off MSRP on Ebay!  Pretty slow service and shipping, 10 days from order to receipt, but well worth the wait, IMHO.  And that may have just SEEMED long, anyway, what with Amazon Prime's two-day delivery, I'm probably just getting jaded.
 
Currently, I've gotten through fitting and mounting the fourth strakes and will be starting on the fifth pair today.  Gotta say, it's lookin' every bit as good as those on the build logs on this site and others, however, that situation may only be temporary.    Up to this point, the laser-cut strakes have fit amazingly well with only (mostly) minor sanding-to-fit. 
 
The horses that support the mold around which the hull is built are WAY off right out of the box, but are easily fixable with a lot of sanding and careful forming, shimming etc. - same with one of the mold's bulkheads, but to a much lesser extent.  So far, though, the rest of the parts are incredibly well formed. 
 
At first, I did have a pretty low opinion of Model Shipways kits, since the horses are the first thing to be built and they were so far out-of-spec, but after getting them corrected, the rest of the kit has been a joy to work with.  Guess they ain't as bad as I first thought.   Glitches happen...
 
I would highly and absolutely recommend this kit as the first attempt for a greenie (like me).  So far, it's been a super-steep learning curve and highly educational - exactly what I was after. 
 
A friend has offered to lend me a good camera and to help me to post some pics.  I should have them up before too long.
 
Best wishes and good luck with your first build,
 
John

I'm so new that I haven't even decided on my first build, so I'm looking forward to seeing how you do.   

I'm so new that I haven't even decided on my first build, so I'm looking forward to seeing how you do.   

hey howya goin JP mate, welcome, here is the Database of Articles and Downloads <-- Click Here section, you want to look in the Framing and Planking <--- Click Here, it will help you to understand planking and for a quick look watch these 2 videos <--- Click Here have fun.   

I have a theory that may apply to Chris's post. When I started building my first log, I came to conclusion that my boat will never look as good as most of the builds on this site no matter what I did at the time. This led me to find myself at times thinking, "If I do this, I'll never be able to post the pics on MSW". Now that I have four kits under my belt I feel a lot better about posting to build logs. Unfortunately I do not have the time these days like I did 4 years ago to work on my builds. My Scotland Kit is over two years old now, still trying to get one whole day to sit down and get going on it.
 
These people may have finished their boats but chose not to continue the log because they felt it wasn't good enough to share. Some of the people on this forum are 30 plus year veterans at this hobby and they make such beautiful ships that it may drive away novices from posting.
 
Who knows where these build logs have gone, just saying my theory could be valid along with people just losing interest.