JOHN GARGANI

Frank: I have made the Alabama twice already now, and it is a fine model. The enhancement after market parts you refer to are from Radimir's company on EBAY and I have ordered a ton of stuff from him over the years, everything is first class from him. The clamps slip over the bottom deadeye unit and through the channels, and can be fastened to the hull in several different ways. He has printed instructions available for all his parts. If you can't find the link, write to him and he will provide it. Between the after market parts and making the ratlines from scratch, these big plastic models come out fantastic, and for that reason, I have not ventured into wooden models....Too late in the game for me to spend another fortune on new armamentarium! lol....

Hi! I'm John, and I have been making plastic ship models since my senior year of College, all the way back in 1973.....Like so many of you who have made this a lifelong thing, I have constantly sought to improve my art, and always adding more various tools and helpful aids to make the ships look better. The problem I have, and I'm sure many of you also have this issue, is two-fold: Number one, is that, we are a rare breed these days, and as such, the models that we make are not found in any stores, and we depend upon online sites and E-bay, as, many of our ships are often not even produced anymore. Consequently, we will find ourselves making the same ships multiple times: for instance, I have already made the big three: Heller Victory and Soleil, and Revell Constitution THREE times over! lol.....I am running out of people to give these extra models to! and problem Number two, related to the first, is that there are few if any NEW models out there to pique our interest. Recently, however, I did find a great challenging one: Radimir, of HiSModel on Ebay, who hails from Czechoslovakia, sells all sorts of after market enhancements for our ships, well: he finally got around to producing a new one and in this case, he issued a version that already has all of his various after market goodies in one package ( cloth sails, wood decks, etched parts, wooden blocks etc). It is called the Statenjacht.....check it out on Ebay. Here is a picture of the finished model, with all of the very tiny etched parts, it was a real challenge to make.