Stevinne

I used to love the Aurora tanks when I was a kid. They were pretty high-quality models for the time.
 

I used to love the Aurora tanks when I was a kid. They were pretty high-quality models for the time.
 

One muddy tank:
 
I’m calling it done!
 
A quick and easy project.
 
 

One base coated tank:
 
I’m waiting on the glue to dry to mud it up and then it will go in a case

Hello and welcome to the group. Don't be too intimidated, people have been building wooden ships for hundreds of years. They did it, so can you. Someone here has a signature that says something along the lines of "The wood is patient," and I've always taken that to mean that no matter how bad things are going, with a wooden ship model there is the chance of salvaging it.
Before you start, I'd recommend getting your hands on Frank Mastini's "Ship Modeling Simplified," which is a great book for the beginner modeler and really lays out in easy-to-understand terms and illustrations a step-by-step guide for building a wooden ship model. It's a great resource, particularly for someone who is starting to build a wooden ship kit where the instructions might not be translated too well into English. I've given a couple of ship models as gifts to family members and always included this book. Each time the ship has been built.
You've also come to the right place. This site is filled with folks who are pretty much experts in the field and are more than willing to offer advice. Do start a build log, so folks can follow along and see how you are progressing. That way, they will have a better idea of what problems you might encounter.
I'm interested in seeing how your ship turns out. I love vessels from this period, and we don't have many logs for this particular kit, so good luck, enjoy the journey and remember, everyone started out like you.
 

Hi Mike, 
I will try my best to point you in the right direction. 
1. Always clean plastic models before you start the build. Use warm soapy water and clean without removing from the framework/sprue. If you don't it may be difficult to get paint to adhere. 
2. Best to prime as a finer finish will result. I used spray primer from Halfords.
Don't use thought in hot weather or you may get a pebble dash effect. I hand paint all my models so can't help with airbrushing. 
3. I use Tamiya and/or Airfix, its personal preference l think, most are good. My preference is water based, not as tough, but easier to manage.
4. I have always used the colours recommended with the kit and never had an issue.
5 & 6 I believe best practice is build the model painting as you go, finalise painting, panel lines and fine details. Once painting is completed coat with a gloss varnish then apply the decals and seal them with gloss varnish.  When the varnish is dry you can start the weathering process, the decals are weathered along with the rest of the model. Finally, when you are happy apply a mat varnish to seal everything in. 
7. I found Tamiya glue to be as good as any. 
I hope this helps.
Best wishes as always. 
The Lazy Saint. 

Hello and welcome to the group. Don't be too intimidated, people have been building wooden ships for hundreds of years. They did it, so can you. Someone here has a signature that says something along the lines of "The wood is patient," and I've always taken that to mean that no matter how bad things are going, with a wooden ship model there is the chance of salvaging it.
Before you start, I'd recommend getting your hands on Frank Mastini's "Ship Modeling Simplified," which is a great book for the beginner modeler and really lays out in easy-to-understand terms and illustrations a step-by-step guide for building a wooden ship model. It's a great resource, particularly for someone who is starting to build a wooden ship kit where the instructions might not be translated too well into English. I've given a couple of ship models as gifts to family members and always included this book. Each time the ship has been built.
You've also come to the right place. This site is filled with folks who are pretty much experts in the field and are more than willing to offer advice. Do start a build log, so folks can follow along and see how you are progressing. That way, they will have a better idea of what problems you might encounter.
I'm interested in seeing how your ship turns out. I love vessels from this period, and we don't have many logs for this particular kit, so good luck, enjoy the journey and remember, everyone started out like you.
 

Hello and welcome to the group. Don't be too intimidated, people have been building wooden ships for hundreds of years. They did it, so can you. Someone here has a signature that says something along the lines of "The wood is patient," and I've always taken that to mean that no matter how bad things are going, with a wooden ship model there is the chance of salvaging it.
Before you start, I'd recommend getting your hands on Frank Mastini's "Ship Modeling Simplified," which is a great book for the beginner modeler and really lays out in easy-to-understand terms and illustrations a step-by-step guide for building a wooden ship model. It's a great resource, particularly for someone who is starting to build a wooden ship kit where the instructions might not be translated too well into English. I've given a couple of ship models as gifts to family members and always included this book. Each time the ship has been built.
You've also come to the right place. This site is filled with folks who are pretty much experts in the field and are more than willing to offer advice. Do start a build log, so folks can follow along and see how you are progressing. That way, they will have a better idea of what problems you might encounter.
I'm interested in seeing how your ship turns out. I love vessels from this period, and we don't have many logs for this particular kit, so good luck, enjoy the journey and remember, everyone started out like you.
 

Hello and welcome to the group. Don't be too intimidated, people have been building wooden ships for hundreds of years. They did it, so can you. Someone here has a signature that says something along the lines of "The wood is patient," and I've always taken that to mean that no matter how bad things are going, with a wooden ship model there is the chance of salvaging it.
Before you start, I'd recommend getting your hands on Frank Mastini's "Ship Modeling Simplified," which is a great book for the beginner modeler and really lays out in easy-to-understand terms and illustrations a step-by-step guide for building a wooden ship model. It's a great resource, particularly for someone who is starting to build a wooden ship kit where the instructions might not be translated too well into English. I've given a couple of ship models as gifts to family members and always included this book. Each time the ship has been built.
You've also come to the right place. This site is filled with folks who are pretty much experts in the field and are more than willing to offer advice. Do start a build log, so folks can follow along and see how you are progressing. That way, they will have a better idea of what problems you might encounter.
I'm interested in seeing how your ship turns out. I love vessels from this period, and we don't have many logs for this particular kit, so good luck, enjoy the journey and remember, everyone started out like you.
 

Hello and welcome to the group. Don't be too intimidated, people have been building wooden ships for hundreds of years. They did it, so can you. Someone here has a signature that says something along the lines of "The wood is patient," and I've always taken that to mean that no matter how bad things are going, with a wooden ship model there is the chance of salvaging it.
Before you start, I'd recommend getting your hands on Frank Mastini's "Ship Modeling Simplified," which is a great book for the beginner modeler and really lays out in easy-to-understand terms and illustrations a step-by-step guide for building a wooden ship model. It's a great resource, particularly for someone who is starting to build a wooden ship kit where the instructions might not be translated too well into English. I've given a couple of ship models as gifts to family members and always included this book. Each time the ship has been built.
You've also come to the right place. This site is filled with folks who are pretty much experts in the field and are more than willing to offer advice. Do start a build log, so folks can follow along and see how you are progressing. That way, they will have a better idea of what problems you might encounter.
I'm interested in seeing how your ship turns out. I love vessels from this period, and we don't have many logs for this particular kit, so good luck, enjoy the journey and remember, everyone started out like you.
 

Hello and welcome to the group. Don't be too intimidated, people have been building wooden ships for hundreds of years. They did it, so can you. Someone here has a signature that says something along the lines of "The wood is patient," and I've always taken that to mean that no matter how bad things are going, with a wooden ship model there is the chance of salvaging it.
Before you start, I'd recommend getting your hands on Frank Mastini's "Ship Modeling Simplified," which is a great book for the beginner modeler and really lays out in easy-to-understand terms and illustrations a step-by-step guide for building a wooden ship model. It's a great resource, particularly for someone who is starting to build a wooden ship kit where the instructions might not be translated too well into English. I've given a couple of ship models as gifts to family members and always included this book. Each time the ship has been built.
You've also come to the right place. This site is filled with folks who are pretty much experts in the field and are more than willing to offer advice. Do start a build log, so folks can follow along and see how you are progressing. That way, they will have a better idea of what problems you might encounter.
I'm interested in seeing how your ship turns out. I love vessels from this period, and we don't have many logs for this particular kit, so good luck, enjoy the journey and remember, everyone started out like you.
 

I've been a member for a few years and followed many builds but not posted any of my own. So far I've built the Constructo USS Albatros and USS Enterprise but wanted to do a scratch built ship. After a lot of wondering which ship to build I decided on HMS Trincomalee. I started the hull and wanted to go and see the real ship in Hartlepool. I was in awe at the size of it. Took loads of pictures for reference and came home oozing with enthusiasm and raring to get on with it. I started this build in May 2017 and pleased to show you all how much I've done so far. I've just spent the last 3 months on and off coppering the hull (it is the most tedious job I've ever done). Finally finished putting just under 2000 tiles on a couple of days ago and because I was impatient to see what it would look like I painted the hull today. Next job is to build the front up

Some interesting stuff also on Modelsnmoore.com
 
jan

Thanks!

Very nice. It seems the Hunley is no longer available as a card model, which is a shame. I've visited the museum in Charleston, S.C., a couple of times and watched as they restored her and converted the museum from basically a warehouse to a really nice facility. I would have liked to do her in card.
 

Very nice. It seems the Hunley is no longer available as a card model, which is a shame. I've visited the museum in Charleston, S.C., a couple of times and watched as they restored her and converted the museum from basically a warehouse to a really nice facility. I would have liked to do her in card.
 

Very nice. It seems the Hunley is no longer available as a card model, which is a shame. I've visited the museum in Charleston, S.C., a couple of times and watched as they restored her and converted the museum from basically a warehouse to a really nice facility. I would have liked to do her in card.
 

I'm interested in this one, too. I'm hoping for an update. I was very disappointed to see that Billings canned its plan to produce a kit modeled on the Geoff Hunt paintings. I'm not sure which version is more accurate, but I like the big, old-style forecastle as depicted in the Anthony Role. A lot like the Great Harry, which was one of my favorite Pyro kits when I was a kid. I'd love to see how a colorful version of this kit turns out.

The Nautical Research Guild has plans for the Washington Galley, one of Arnold's fleet and, while not a gunboat, not a bad-looking two-masted vessel.
https://www.thenrg.org/the-galley-washington.php

The Nautical Research Guild has plans for the Washington Galley, one of Arnold's fleet and, while not a gunboat, not a bad-looking two-masted vessel.
https://www.thenrg.org/the-galley-washington.php

After several tries I finally gave up trying to build the Niagara boats using formers as shown in Hubert Sicard's site. The major difference in the appearance of boats built using the kit's bread-and-butter material and using formers is the appearance of the planks on the boat's interior (see picture above). However, it turns out once all the internals (thwarts, seats, gratings, etc.) are added there is very little of the boats interior that can be seen. In addition, my attempt at doing the stern yawl and doing the lap-strake planking from the start was pretty much a failure. Using 5/64's wide planks I was unable to keep anything like a consistent (or at least smoothly varying) overlap and it came out pretty ugly (see photo below - the one showing bare wood).
Sooo, I decided to use the kits bread-and-butter materials to build the ship's boats and have finished the first of the launches. I made the rudder so it can be detached as I find it hard to believe that the rudder was left attached when the boats were carried in the davits. Wave action (it can get pretty stormy on Lake Eire) could have unseated the rudder or beaten it to death. I also added a towing ring at the bow as I believe these boats were probably towed frequently.

Welcome aboard, I'd love to see some photos of the yachts.

If I may interject, go to an article posted in this forum:
http://modelshipworldforum.com/resources/Framing_and_Planking/Lining Off your hull for planking.pdf

Let me start by saying welcome aboard! It's a great hobby and this is a very good site full of knowledgeable and helpful folk. I've never scratchbuilt, but I think the definition is building something that didn't come in a kit, which usually contain precut frames or bulkheads and other parts. You can definitely use plans drawn from the original ship, most people here do that and they can probably steer you in the direction of good places to find them. I think things get a bit more tricky when you are building from plans that were originally from other model kits, particularly if you are buying them off ebay, since you don't know where the person who is selling them got them. I think it's one thing if a friend passes on plans after he or she is done with a model, and a totally different one if there is some guy with a printer in his basement, so to speak, churning out copies of other people's work and selling it for his benefit. But I am sure folks here who are more knowledgeable can give you a better idea.
 

My first bit of advice is to get yourself a copy of "Ship Modeling Simplified" by Frank Mastini. It's a great introduction to modeling and guides you through all the steps of building a ship in clear, easy-to-understand language. There is a chapter on choosing a first kit. One of the best bits of advice in there is to look for a kit that is double-planked - the first layer is the thickest and gives the model its strength, the second layer is paper thin, making it much easier to cover up any imperfections you might have encountered in the first layer.
If you are from the states, my second bit of advice is to get on the Model Expo mailing list. They are one of the top kit suppliers, have great customer service and their own line of quality ship kits. Their regular prices are competitive, but if you are on the mailing list you will see that they almost constantly run sales on all the manufacturers they carry, which can save you a nice bit of change. You can also go to the site and download the instruction booklets for several kits. This is only about 1/4 of the instruction you need, most of the direction comes from the drawn plans that come with the kits, but it will give you the start of an understanding of what you'll be doing.
You didn't say if you wanted a solid hull or plank-on-bulkhead kit.  The Model Shipways Sultana is an attractive, solid-hull kit that can be had for a reasonable price when on sale. It's a good starter kit. There is a great free tutorial (called a practicum) that can be downloaded here that shows how to turn what is a good kit into a really eye-catching model. You have to buy some extra wood, because it shows how to plank the solid-hull and build some items so they look better than the kit-supplied pieces. Even then, if you get it on sale it's a great bargain. The practicum is worth looking at even if you aren't considering the model, since Chuck Passaro is a master of the craft and you can learn a lot that can be applied to other models.
If the Sultana isn't your cup of tea, there are a variety of other Model Shipways kits that are good first builds. 
Whatever you choose, good luck and enjoy. This is a great site with lots of helpful folk, so don't be shy about asking for advice.