Anja

Hello John,
Welcome aboard, 

It doesn't matter if you're a beginner or an advanced builder, this is a great place to learn and share tips and techniques.
When you're ready, feel free to start a buildlog.
If needed, you'll find plenty of advise, help and encouragement from everyone.
I wish you smooth sailing and happy modelling.
Regards,
Anja

Hello from south west Washington on a nice wet day.  The Long Beach peninsula to be exact.
 
I took the plunge and bought my first wood boat model.  I purchased the Model Shipways Phantom for my first try.  I am a model railroader so I have built building kits.
After looking through the parts and the instructions, I am a bit intimidated so far.  I am looking forward to getting started however.
 
John

Welcome to MSW Blaine. Syren is a good choice! all the best, Geoff

Hello Blaine and welcome aboard,
 
You will find that we share a lot of information on our builds, so free to look around and enjoy all the possibilities this forum has to offer.
This is a great place to learn and share tips and techniques.
And if needed, you'll find plenty of advise, help and encouragement from everyone.
 
I wish you smooth sailing with our gallant crew.
 
Regards,
Anja

Greetings Blaine,
 
I too am motivated by the detail and support offered by the Syren instructions and especially by the expertise available and freely offered on this site.
 
I'll look forward to your build log.

Hi Blaine,
 
Welcome to MSW.   The Syren should go along way on helping you get the fundamentals down.

Hello Blaine and welcome aboard,
 
You will find that we share a lot of information on our builds, so free to look around and enjoy all the possibilities this forum has to offer.
This is a great place to learn and share tips and techniques.
And if needed, you'll find plenty of advise, help and encouragement from everyone.
 
I wish you smooth sailing with our gallant crew.
 
Regards,
Anja

Hello Blaine and welcome aboard,
 
You will find that we share a lot of information on our builds, so free to look around and enjoy all the possibilities this forum has to offer.
This is a great place to learn and share tips and techniques.
And if needed, you'll find plenty of advise, help and encouragement from everyone.
 
I wish you smooth sailing with our gallant crew.
 
Regards,
Anja

Hello
Registered with this site in January and impressed / enjoy very much.    Started model ship building in 1997 and currently completing my 4th build - AL Bounty.   I generally work on these models during Oct / Nov - to March / April but coming off a 5 year absence.   Began the Bounty in January 2003 and worked each winter up to 2008.   At this point 95% completed.   Jan - March / 2011 this went up to 98%.  
 
This January decided to complete and "decide" if I will continue with another build.   There is a reason for questioning another build.  I find my strength / enjoyment in ship building from the deck, deck fixtures, mast and rigging.   Spend many evenings into the early morning hours working on my ships and enjoyed immensely.   BUT my weakness is in hull construction.  Compared to the Bounty, on a difficulty scale my 1st 3 builds (AL Swift, Mamoli Britannica, AL Harvey) are not to bad in this area........mine are not correct ...just ok.   The Bounty was frustrating at times and made me question if ever another build.    
 
When I returned this January to completing the rigging, the enjoyment returned and started checking out kits online.   One that visually grabbed my attention was the US Brig Syren.  Very nice!  Started reading reviews......all very positive particularly the instructions supplied.   "Well, one more try"?   So I purchased and received 2 weeks ago and can say impressed.
 
What I want to get out of building the Syren is proper hull construction.   Understanding of bearding, rabbet (none of my previous builds mention this), bulkhead alignment and proper planking, etc.   I have come to the conclusion that if I understand the what, why and a few other things, then enjoyment in this area of ship building should follow.  
 
I have played with the fit of the keel and bulkheads over the last few days but won't get into the Syren until next fall (planning a build log).   Until then I will be reading up on hull construction, the Syren instructions and gathering info from the forum / build logs on this site.   
 
Blaine 
 
 
 

Hi Keith and welcome!
 
I was a total beginner also last fall and decided to start learning with something small and simple so I purchased the longboat. It took me 2 months to complete and I learned a lot! The small size presented a challenge but you get a good introduction to a lot of the basic techniques in wooden ship modeling. You don't need a Dremmel for this model and there is minimal sanding required. I only wish I had found this site before completing it. I used only the instructions that come with the model and would have benefited from the build logs here. Just take your time, read way ahead in the instructions and get a good understanding of how everything comes together before doing any glueing. You will enjoy the build! Good luck.

Welcome aboard Donn,
 
I hope you will join us by contributing your buildlog here.
Enjoy your stay here.
 
I wish you smooth sailing with our gallant crew
 
Regards,
Anja

Welcome aboard Donn,
 
I hope you will join us by contributing your buildlog here.
Enjoy your stay here.
 
I wish you smooth sailing with our gallant crew
 
Regards,
Anja

Welcome aboard Donn,
 
I hope you will join us by contributing your buildlog here.
Enjoy your stay here.
 
I wish you smooth sailing with our gallant crew
 
Regards,
Anja

I am new to the site and I am pleased to have found it. I am a retired college professor spending my retirement years playing golf, woodworking and building model ships. I purchased the Bounty (Caldercraft) about 10 years ago and completed about half of it before I started building furniture for my children and there growing families. Recently, I have had time to get back to shipbuilding. In truth, I had forgotten how much I enjoy building model ships.

Thanks for the very kind words (and likes) everyone - much appreciated!
 
 
 
   Thanks Dubz!  I get to cheat and use my work camera for play sometimes!  Here's a shot from my trip to South Africa.
 

 
 
 
Shhhhh!!!     I never said I wouldn't use it ANYMORE, only with the Confed!   But hey, if you want to come get it and have a cup of tea or coffee at the Lehman Shipyard, I'll let you have it!

Beautiful work Sean,
 
She looks great.
 
Regards,
Anja

Keith,
You will have support along the way as for the longboat.

Thanks, everyone, for the responses. The Batelina is an attractive boat, Doug. I'll keep my eye on it, even if I go with the longboat for my first model. Chris, I had no idea paper models could be so spectacular. Clare Hess's HMS Alert is a beautiful build.
 
I'm still thinking I'll go with the longboat for my first build--the combination of price, practicum/build logs, and that no one responding saying to avoid it, make it an attractive choice.

Welcome aboard Keith,
 
It doesn't matter if you're a beginner or an advanced builder, this a great place to learn and share tips and techniques.
When you have made your choice and when you're ready, feel free to start a buildlog.
If needed, you'll find plenty of advise, help and encouragement from everyone.
 
I wish you smooth sailing and happy modelling.
 
Regards,
Anja

Keith,
A warm to   
I can vouch for the Longboat,
It will have it's challenges but the instructions of Chucks are real good and there are quite a few of us that has built the model.
For the price, you can't go wrong.

Apartment dwellers on limited budgets who want to avoid sanding are excellent candidates for paper modelling. (And yes, tall ships can be modeled in paper: see here and here.)

Greetings Keith!
 
I watched another 1st time builder over the pat couple of months.  He built the Batelina by MariStella.  There are a couple of build logs  (Pierre Tessier and Don Robinson) for two.  Batelina is a possible 1st build for you - It is a beautiful kit,  can be build in a month or two elapsed time, has support (build logs) on this site, pretty inexpensive kit ($75) and don't appear to require much in the way of special tools.   It will introduce you to planking but in a friendlier hull design.  No rigging though (which would be an advantage for me right now!!!)
 
Whatever you choose I'm betting you'll enjoy it!
 
Doug

I did the Longboat a while back. It's a very good kit, bit challenging at times, but not overly challenging for a beginner. In addition the kit contains a Practicum written by Chuck Passaro (admin here on MSW) which is an excellent manual on how to build it. There are also an number of build logs here on MSW to use as reference. So I would say YES, go for it.  Start a build log here and ask questions. There are plenty of people who can help you.
 
Welcome aboard.

Hi all,
 
My name is Keith, and I've decided to get into model ship building. My grandfather was a modeler, and I grew up fascinated with his models (particularly a beautiful little xebex); I've also long been a fan of the Aubrey/Maturin novels. I'm a graduate student in the midst of a dissertation, so a hobby that lets me work with my hands and get off the computer/away from my research for a bit is a needed distraction.
 
To ease myself into model building, I started with a couple of plastic models. I completed the Revell PT-109 in a weekend and am currently working on Revell of Germany's North Sea fishing trawler. These have been useful to convince me that it is a pastime I enjoy and have time for (on occasion, at least). I am, however, chomping at the bit to work with wood.
 
I see that many people use the Model Shipways Phantom as an entry point, and for a couple of weeks I was planning to do the same. But after reading through a few build logs, it looks like the Phantom always requires lots of sanding and often requires a dremel. I'd rather avoid both of these for now. I live in an apartment that doesn't have space for a dedicated workshop area, so I don't have a good set up for producing lots of wood dust. Likewise, I'm trying to keep my initial investment somewhat reasonable, so I'd rather not purchase a dremel yet.
 
So, I've been considering the Model Shipways 18th Century Longboat (http://www.modelexpo-online.com/product.asp?ITEMNO=MS1457), which is a plank-on-frame. It seems like it would be a good intro to planking (which is what I aspire to) and rigging, and it's pretty cheap. Before committing, though, I wanted to see what you all think. Would the longboat be a terrible beginning model? Am I going about this wrong? Or is it a reasonable intro build?
 
Thanks for any thoughts. I look forward to being a part of the MSW community.

Welcome to MSW Keith! Good to have you with us. I know you are looking at keeping both sand dust and costs down so you can always hand sand things. Working with wood will mean that you will have sanding and sawdust unfortunately. I would recommend getting a small vacuum to help keep the dust under control. If you get one with a long enough hose you can always rig it, (use tape to hold it to the table) so that it acts as a dust collector when sanding.
 
If you think this may be something you really want to get into, I would recommend spending the money on a Dremmel. No need to buy the expensive sets with hundreds of bits, just get the basic drill with a couple of sanding drums to start off.
 
If money is tight even for that, there is nothing wrong with hand sanding. The paper is cheap and you can easily make sanding blocks out of scrap wood or buy cheap ones if you prefer that. Honestly, even with al the power tools I have, the majority of my sanding on a model ship is still done by hand either with a block or free form.
 
Both of the models you are looking at are great starters. There are many logs for both and they will give you a good fundamental of the basics.
 
Good luck to you on your maiden voyage into this great hobby! I look forward to seeing what you decide to start with and sharing this adventure with you!