Chris555

To my uninitiated eye the Badger and Alert seem more complex than the longboat.  I assume these would take longer to build.  Is the difference that while slower to build I'm less likely to make a fatal disfiguring error with these ships?  I'm finding difficulty levels hard to gauge.  What makes the three you've mentioned easier than other ship models that look somewhat similar in configuration?  

I like the lines of the Badger and would be more excited to have this on a shelf vs a dory from Bluejacket.  Certainly plenty of learning opportunities here.

No worries about going slow and careful, I'm a retired engineer and my tendency is to over-analyze and over-design.  

Again, all advice is greatly appreciated

Chris

6 hours ago, Chuck said:

Hello Chris

 

While I think the Logboat kit is doable I would recommend starting with at least one smaller kit just to get started.   It is an advanced kit but nearly everything is laser cut for you.  But it requires a bit experience with sich fiddly parts and the hull can be a bit delicate.  

 

I would recommend you start with one of the smaller Bluejacket kits first which dont take a lot of time to build.  Something with a little rigging.   Once done I am sure the Longboat would make the perfect second project.

 

Chuck

Hey Chuck, thank you for responding, it's greatly appreciated.  I looked over those kits but they seem more basic than I want.  It's a tough call to have enough challenge to maintain interest without so much it destroys motivation.  What would be the next small step up from these kits?  I would like a kit that provides experience with simple PoB as well as basic rigging.  Planking is really limited for the Bluejacket beginner kits, solid hull doesn't interest me much.

I see there is this model "Model Shipways 18th Century Armed Longboat 1:24 Scale" that looks virtually identical and less than half the price of the Syren Medway longboat.  I see this is basswood, how else is this kit different, quality I assume?  At that price I could build it twice for the practice and keep the best one 

thanks,

Chris

Hi, I'm new to the site and checking in...  I'm recently retired and have been investigating model boat building as a new hobby.  I originally thought a simple longboat or Viking long ship would be the best way to develop skills but then I came across the Medway longboat group project.  This seems like a hybrid between PoF and PoB and still manageable for a first build.  What do you think in terms of difficulty,  too much?  I really like the highly detailed explanations from Chuck in the project thread.  It seemed like planking would be the killer when I first started investigating this hobby but now I'm realizing it's more likely to be sails and rigging that trip me up.  

I haven't built a model since I was a teenager (plastic WW2 tanks and planes mostly) but worked as a carpenter (mostly house framing, some finish work) in my 20s and have done some basic mechanical and architectural drafting back when that was still done with pencils and paper.  Hopefully some of those skills, at least the 3D visualization, will transfer over.

I've been fascinated with the "age of sail" historical period all my life and read the entire Patrick O'Brian series of novels after seeing the movie Master and Commander.

Thanks for any guidance you can provide,

Chris