José Catela Pequeno

Good afternoon (at least here in Portugal/Europe), Thank you for comments on my Xebec. My idea is go for a more complex ship and of a different type of rigging. I can see that Vanguard has a lot enthusiast. It reassured me that my initial options were correct. Possibilities remain more or less the same: Vanguard Models: HMS Harpy, HMS Flirt, or HMS Sphynx (this last one is expensive and, probably too complicated for me); or Maristella: HMS Ontario, or HMS Speedy (these have the advantage of a larger scale and being available with sails, and the drawback of being classified (by Maristella itself) as relatively difficult to build. I'll keep you informed! Best regards

Hi! My name is Catela Pequeno and I’m from Portugal. Three years ago, I decided to resume an old hobby: scale model building. Before my twenties, I use to build plastic kits, including cars, aircrafts (mainly 1st WW airplanes) and ships. I still have an unfinished Passat, from Heller, with most of the rigging complete, but which I will probably never finish. Now I turned to wood model ship building. To start with, I carefully choose what seemed to me a simple ship and selected the kit manufacturer – A Xebec from Amati Models. I basically followed Amati’s instructions, with a few modifications copied from other referential building logs. The project was seen as a learning experience, that turned out to result in a nice model ship, given the lack of experience. I completed this ship 2 or 3 month ago – you are invited to check on the building log on the following link: https://shipsofscale.com/sosforums/threads/xebec-an-amati-model.11733/ -- and leave you a few photos. Now I am looking for a new project: preferably an 18th or early 19th Century ship, with a large scale (>=1/60), which calls for small ship in real life. I would like the ship to be an evolution from the Xebec, when it comes to complexity. My first choice was the HMS Ontario, or HMS Speedy from Maristella, but red a log of HMS Ontario build that mentioned construction difficulties up to the point that the project was abandoned. A similar ship that caught my attention was the HMS Harpy, from Vanguard Models. I also found a very nice construction log of this ship on this site, that gave me the idea that my skills may be under some stress, but should allow me to finish the model. Does someone have any recommendations on which model to choose, based on the difficulty of each one? Thanks for your attention. Best regards Catela