texxn5

Hello Art, this is a very good question. I have investigated both models, and recently finished the Charles W Morgan which has 7 whaleboats. I have a good library on whaleboats. There were many variations of these boats as they were basically expendable. The Model Shipways to me seems to be the best choice, and the details are up to you as to how detailed you want to build it. I have a section on whaleboats on my website with a page called "New Bedford Whaleboats" and also a build log from another modeler who is building the MS model. Personally, I would go with the Model Shipways, and it is built in the USA.
Check my website:
 
http://www.charleswmorganmodel.com
 
John

Looks good Mike, things are shaping up. I returned your PM earlier, let me hear from you and I can get some things together for you.
John

Wow Glenn, very impressive. I'd love to be able to handle the machine tools for building something like this. Is it possible to stop by some time and view this magnificent build? I live about 30 minutes from College Station, and sometimes the Admiral and I venture up there to see an old friend (former Aggie 102 years old). He was a Petroleum Engr., and I think even has a building named for him - name is Mike Dillingham. We also like Abuelo's which is main reason we go there. It gives us a chance to take the little red car for an afternoon venture. I'll be following this log...great!
John

I love the Victory, and you are representing her very well here. I'll be following along for the rest of the build. Keep it u[ - outstanding!
John

The Amati kit and the Model Shipways kit are of two different styles of whale boat.
 
The Amati is not of a boat use on a larger sailing ship. It is a model of a Tancook Whaler, a type of fishing boat use on Tancook Island in Canada.
 
The Model Shipways kit is of a different style, used on those larger whalers. Artesania Latina makes a kit of a boat also used on larger sailing whalers, in this case specifically the Charles W. Morgan, a ship that still exists in the Mystic Seaport Museum. Both the Artesania Latina and MS kits are models of actual boats used. I'm not sure if the Amati kit is from a real boat, or only of the general type.
 
The Artesania Latinai kit has some mistakes in its design, as compared to the boat used on the Morgan. The hull and most of it are correct. I can not remember the article exactly, but the biggest mistake is the shape of the rudder. I think the build log is on this site, but an internet search should find it. This kit is actually less detailed than the MS kit. If I remember the build correctly, the author added a lot of scratch built details.
 
The MS kit comes with an entire bound printed step by step book, on building the kit, not just their normally good stapled instructions.
 
I have the Amati kit, the Artesania Latina kit, and in the past have had the MS kit, which I stupidly sold. The MS kit is much better.
 
Both Artesania Latina, and Amati are known for questionable historic accuracy, but the Artesania Latina, is very close, and the Amati looks to be quite close to drawings I have seen in Chappele's books.
 
From what I can see of the Bluejacket kit (I really wish they had more and larger pictures of their kits), it looks to be excellent also, but I have not seen the kit in person, only web pictures. They have an excellent reputation, and I do own some of their kits.
 
If you want a model of the boat used on the Morgan, go with the Artesania Latina kit, otherwise, I would go with the MS kit. If you want one of the Tancook type, the Amati is the choice, but will need detailing, on the interior.
 
Looking at the MS and BJ sites, the MS kit is 24" long 1/16 scale. The BJ kit is 10" long and 1/32 scale (it says 1/3 scale, but I doubt that the real boat was only 30" long). As both kits seem to be assembled stick by stick, I'd again recommend the MS kit, there is a lot of very small pieces in both, and the larger kit would make it easier to handle those parts. Depends on your skill level, desire for a challenge, and display space.
 
The Artesania Latina kit is 1/25 scale, according to the article I saw. Depends on which site you look at, and the actual scale is not listed on the box. The Amati is also about 1/24, or at least falls in that range according to the general dimensions for this type.
 
The two US manufacturers have a much better reputation than the other two. I normally avoid the European manf. but bought those kits after checking to see if they were accurate.

The Charles Morgan whaleboat does have a build log on this site.

Found the article on the Morgan whaleboat. http://www.thenrg.org/resources/The_Journal/574/57-4%20NRJ%20Morgan%20Whaleboat.pdf

Looks good Mike, things are shaping up. I returned your PM earlier, let me hear from you and I can get some things together for you.
John

Hello Nenad, our sympathies and prayers go out to you and your family as well.
John

Hello Nenad, our sympathies and prayers go out to you and your family as well.
John

I love the Victory, and you are representing her very well here. I'll be following along for the rest of the build. Keep it u[ - outstanding!
John

I love the Victory, and you are representing her very well here. I'll be following along for the rest of the build. Keep it u[ - outstanding!
John

Great job - congrats
John

Wow Glenn, very impressive. I'd love to be able to handle the machine tools for building something like this. Is it possible to stop by some time and view this magnificent build? I live about 30 minutes from College Station, and sometimes the Admiral and I venture up there to see an old friend (former Aggie 102 years old). He was a Petroleum Engr., and I think even has a building named for him - name is Mike Dillingham. We also like Abuelo's which is main reason we go there. It gives us a chance to take the little red car for an afternoon venture. I'll be following this log...great!
John

Hello Nenad, our sympathies and prayers go out to you and your family as well.
John

Wow Glenn, very impressive. I'd love to be able to handle the machine tools for building something like this. Is it possible to stop by some time and view this magnificent build? I live about 30 minutes from College Station, and sometimes the Admiral and I venture up there to see an old friend (former Aggie 102 years old). He was a Petroleum Engr., and I think even has a building named for him - name is Mike Dillingham. We also like Abuelo's which is main reason we go there. It gives us a chance to take the little red car for an afternoon venture. I'll be following this log...great!
John

Wow Glenn, very impressive. I'd love to be able to handle the machine tools for building something like this. Is it possible to stop by some time and view this magnificent build? I live about 30 minutes from College Station, and sometimes the Admiral and I venture up there to see an old friend (former Aggie 102 years old). He was a Petroleum Engr., and I think even has a building named for him - name is Mike Dillingham. We also like Abuelo's which is main reason we go there. It gives us a chance to take the little red car for an afternoon venture. I'll be following this log...great!
John

Hello Nenad, our sympathies and prayers go out to you and your family as well.
John

Great job - congrats
John

Most of the evening so far has been spent just putzing around. I have made one executive decision. Well maybe two.
 
I have been struggling with how to make a real nibbing strake. It is going to have to be in pieces so getting the right planks or sheet has been an issue. The actual cutting of the nibs I see to be pretty difficult given that at the bow, each plank has a nib. Realistically, I think trying to cut something like that and have it presentable is more than I want to deal with now.
 
So, to reduce the effort I am sanding the nib off every other plank. This leaves more space between nibs which should make cutting them less intense. I've done that to one side and you can judge from the pic.
 
I think I will also first trace and cut the pattern in some styrene. Then I can use that as a template to figure out how/where to join some real planks. Since there is not much space between the deck and the waterway, there has been a question of where to put the joints. Scarph joints take up some room on their own so placing them will be part of the process.

John - the pix on your site really helped today.  Was looking how the bowsprit mounts on the deck and the plans are not helpful. At least to someone at my skill/knowledge level. Even Googling Samson Post didn't really give me an idea of what it is supposed to look like on Niagara. As it turns out it's pretty simple.

Great job - congrats
John

Great job - congrats
John

Final Update:

While building the model, I decided to conduct a little research into the area from which these boats sailed and found that this area comprises the original six Celtic Nations (Note:The term "nation" is used in its original sense to mean a people who share a common identity and culture and are identified with a traditional territory. It is not synonymous with "sovereign state".). The six Celtic Nations are  Brittany (Breizh), Cornwall (Kernow), Wales (Cymru), Scotland (Alba), Ireland (Éire), and the Isle of Man (Mannin). Both Brittany and Ireland border onto the Celtic Sea.  

Since I am of Celtic ancestry, Ireland, I decided to take a little modeler's license and make the model an Ireland based fishing vessel. Looking deeper into the geography I located two major fishing ports in Ireland; Killybegs is the largest and Dunmore East (Irish: An Dún Mór Thoir) is the second largest.  Killybegs is located near Donegal Bay on the northwest side of the island and borders more on the Atlantic Ocean; so I decided to eliminate it as a possible port for my boat.  Dunmore East borders the Muir Cheilteach (Celtic Sea), has the second highest figure for fish landings after Killybegs, and is the world record holder for the largest tuna caught on a rod. For these reasons I decided to make Dunmore East the home harbour for my mythical boat.

New decals had to be created for the bow and stern. I decided to list Dunmore East in both English and Irish Gaelic on the stern.  A small Irish flag was fabricated from the toothpick flags one finds on St Patrick's Day cakes and cupcakes and my family Coat of Arms was added to the Jib to identify the vessel's ownership.

I want to thank Denis (Popeye the Sailor) for helping me locate the Decal Making software, decal paper, and Decal bonder chemical, and for giving me hints on how to use it.

I spent a lot of time learning how to create my own decals; after a lot of experimenting with some scrap sail cloth material I was finally able to get a process for applying decals directly to the sail. After applying the Coat of Arms decal to the Jib I completed the rigging of the sails, and proceeded to install and rigging the large outrigger fishing poles. Interpreting the rigging drawing was a bit of a challege but I finally figured it out.

For those wondering, I used the MicroScale brand of decal products, SET, SOL, Glossy, and Flat, to apply the decals; these are the same products I used to use to apply decals on my plastic models.

Below are the photos of the finished model, Marie Jeanne. To get the best lighting I decided to take the model outdoors and photograph her in full sunlight. A slight breeze helped add some volume to the sails and extend the flag.
 


 
I want to thank everyone who has been following my build, posting comments, or LIKEs - it's been a fun build.  Now  I need to decide on my next build. Will update my signature with a link to the next build log.
 

Have you tried Bondo? It is east to mix, hardens quickly, sands to an invisible feather edge and is cheap. 30 Yeats ago I build a clyindrical body od the boiler for steam cutter model by turning a slug of Bondo on a metal lathe. It has held up well. I should also add that it bonds well to wood. I keep a can in my shop and use it often.
 
For those readers from across the pond, Bondo is the proprietary name for a polyester paste putty used by the auto body repair trade.
 
Roger