Russ MIlland

I have one of these kits and am considering building it as my first build in many decades. I will be interested in how difficult you find it to be.

I have a large collection of nautical themed books which I am thinning out due to downsizing of my home. These are not books about ship model building but rather are essentially marine history books. There are just over 100 books available. They are all in almost new condition. I am offering them at $5.00 each. Most of these books are available as used books online and almost all can be bought online by Canadians for about $30-$40 including shipping. At this time I am unwilling to ship books so am targeting this message to people who are willing to travel to Stoney Creek, a suburb of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada to acquire those books they wish with payments in cash. If you are interested, PM me. I can respond and provide you with a list of the available books. Those books that I do not sell will be donated to a marine museum.

Well put! I find that when model building, I am in that state which some call "being in the zone" where you can keep everything else out of your mind and time flies by. And it is real fun!

This how I do it .. the easy way. Works like a charm even though I know how to upload files from my cellphone to my PC using a cable.

https://pictures.abebooks.com/isbn/9781585429202-us.jpg This is a remarkable book. A friend of mine on her retirement decided tot take up water dolour painting and read the book. She was o impressed that she took an in person course taught by the author. She now produces extraordinary paintings. The book is available new on Amazon for $28 and user on www.abebooks.com for about $1.

Just went to search for this bluprint tv streaming service and found that it was closed sometime since 2021 .. great idea I wonder if there are any successors to it

Thanks everyone for the common sense advice for newcomers like myself. Sharing all of this information is much appreciated.

As I am just returning to model building, your videos are very welcome as they re-introduce me to approaches to model building and the tools involved. Many thanks Russ Milland

Thanks for the reference to the Vanda-Lay website. I am impressed with the array of tools they offer. I had a large Myford ML7 lathe and a table top milling machine but had to give them away in a downsizing of our home.

Just realized that the other Da Vinci kit in the "build" log was not upgraded as it was much more complex than the simple kit I have. There are at least three Da Vinci museums in Italy (in Milan, Vinci and and Florence) and I did visit The one in Florence in November of 2018. But I really enjoyed the many models of things he invented including the Ornithopter. The "build log" model here is very similar to the full size model on display at the museum. Russ Milland Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada

I am enjoying this thread a lot - what a wealth of information for a reborn model builder. I also acquired a kit for the Da Vinci Ornithopter made by a Canadian Company who focus on producing on simple models suitable for use in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) program classrooms. The company is found at www.pathfinders.com. This kit is priced at $28.00 on their website. Their kit is shown below. Da Vinci is one of my life long heroes (The others are Tesla and Yoda). I have an immense book with all of Da Vinci's work in it (see below as well). Copies are available online for about $100 US. (see www.bookfinder.com). This thread just may encourage me to have this kit as a imminent build. Now should I upgrade the kit as has been done here .. that is the question. Russ Milland Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada

I have only recently returned to our hobby so all of this wonderful feedback on "glues" is very welcome as I have been wondering what types of glue to stock up on. Many thanks for sharing Russ Milland Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada

In the first image, the Dremel-drill is obvious .. is the rest of what I see the Vanda-Lay lathe structure .. where would I source one of these? Russ mIlland

Yes, I have spent the las few hours posting a couple of book reviews and information about two museums as well as exploring the forum and its seemingly endless amount of interesting and useful information. I did not mention in my introduction that I first have to finish downsizing a large storage unit of stuff after we essentially downsized to a smaller abode when I became disabled. Once that is done, I hope to set myself up for some modelling projects. Russ Milland

1. The title of the book.: Hamilton and Scourge: Historical Treasures from the War of 1812 2. The author's name: Emily Cain 3. The publishing data - 1984 - Fountain Press Limited 4. Pertinent specs - Hardcover with jacket, 150 pages, 11 x 8.5 ins. ISBN 0-86343-090-2 indexed 5. Modelers are especially keen to know if the book has plans, drawings, color plates, or any other such informative goodies. What kind and how many? Good quality or bad? Anything particularly noteworthy? - Well written book with some colour images; no plans; drawings of ships on inner covers 6. Summarize the contents of the book: The story of two schooners converted into warships in the War of 1812 which fought on Lake Ontario but sank in a storm. They were discovered in 1975 in perfect condition in the depths of Lake Ontario. They are now "managed" by the City of Hamilton (Ontario) Museum System and are protected by underwater system against intruders. 7. And finally, give your subjective opinion of the book. - A good story including the history of these types of schooners. Beautiful plank-on-frame models have been built of both schooners and are in the Hamilton Museum system collection. I do not believe they are on display to the public at the present time. The book is not in print but available online as a used book. Look for it on www.bookfinder.com. More information can be found at Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamilton–Scourge_survey_expedition Russ Milland

1. The title of the book.: Ship Models - The Thompson Collection at the Art Gallery of Ontario 2. The author's name: Simon Stephens, Curator - Ship Models and Boat Collections, The National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, U.K. 3. The publishing data - Skylet Publishing/Art Gallery of Ontario - 2009 4. Pertinent specs - Softcover with jacket, 184 pages, 100 colour illustrations, 11 x 9.5 ins. 5. Modelers are especially keen to know if the book has plans, drawings, color plates, or any other such informative goodies. What kind and how many? Good quality or bad? Anything particularly noteworthy? - Very high quality colour images and scripts for each image 6. Summarize the contents of the book: Full colour images of 69 models in the collection with one or paragraphs describing each mode and its history 7. And finally, give your subjective opinion of the book. Did you enjoy it? Why or why not? Are there highlights or shortcomings that you think potential readers would appreciate knowing about? Let them know! - An excellent book and a joy to peruse. I only wish that they could have included more of the collection. The author, Simon Stephens is mentioned in many different posts in our forums. WARNING: They keep mentioning that this was published as a five volume boxed set but my copy is a single paperback book and that seems to be what they offer online. There are four other books on the other collections donated by Lord Thomson mentionedon the back cover of the above book accounting likely for the five volume set. The book is available from the Art Gallery of Ontario at an amazingly low price of about $15.00 in Canadian Finds. I purchased my used copy online through Abebooks.com. https://shop.ago.ca/7546/thomson-collection-at-the-ago-ship-models/ Russ Milland

I have recently returned to the hobby of model shipbuilding. I once belonged to the Metro Marine Modellers (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) decades ago when I was young. I am now retired and moving back into this hobby and now belong to NRG , The Marine Shipwrights of Niagara (Ontario, Canada) and the Confederation Marine Modellers of Hamilton,Ontario, Canada Year Ago, I did build the Graupner Elke kit and still have that model. I still have numerous ship kits and books which I am now sorting through to decide on which to build and which to pass on to others. I do have the hull completed for the Billing Boat's Zwarte Zee. I have also acquired (not built by me) a wonderful plank on frame model of a three masted 24 gun warship which I will shortly share on this forum to help determine what the prototype was. I am very impressed with the wealth of "Build" information here on this website. Russ Milland