juhu

Obligatory box content. I think, thanks to the age of the kit, it lacks many fine tricks of the newer products. No laser cuts parts, just some timber, metal castings, paperwork and the eyecatcher: precarved machine-turned hull - as will be proved later, not such a big advantage as one may expect The hull has even thin carved line, presumably waterline, not very visible here. However after closer examination, it does not match the plan and I did not use it in any way.

Smuggler (planked hull, natural wood finish) Gloucester fishing schooners belonged to the most beautiful sailing ships ever crafted. (Just in my humble opinion, from period ships only Baltimore clippers can compete here). They have paid very high tolls for that privilege though. Handsome and very fast, but not very stable, they often fell victims to dangerous waters of Grand Banks. According to Chapelle, more than 160 ships and over 1000 fishermen perished in 1860s and 1870s. The voices for safer ship designs grew and resulted eventually in construction alternations, but this is another story…. The Smuggler by BJ, although not a mainstream kit is quite well known here I would say. Switching from plastic kits after many years, I wanted to build the model ship in natural wood finish as much as possible. Again just my personal taste, also after searching through the MSW galleries, I prefer the pure beauty of the wood to any paint cover, although the latter might be closer to reality. This build log is my first build log here and I must confess a little “cheating” here: As a first time builder I simply did not want to eagerly start another log, that would eventually be never finished – I have learnt the risk is surely there for the firstimers. Now, after a year of slow progress, one terrible project restart and many reworks I say, let’s try to put her in the light! Maybe I believe the most feared steps are behind me already. Maybe I could then kindly ask you for some advice or moral boost when needed – there is still a long way to go…. I know my build is far from perfect, but personally am quite happy so far, crossed fingers! I will now post my build progress here chronologically. Thank you for watching, commenting or just stopping by in advance! Juraj

Thanks a lot Allan, that really helps!

Hi all, may be very unimportant question, still: am building Bluejacket's Smuggler Gloucester schooner. Upon several other additions I wonder, was there any proper ship's bell located somewhere on the deck? Here is the shot of some renovated vessel I guess. Would be the bell's location on the samsons' post appropriate also for the period ship? Thanks a lot.

Very good looking indeed. I truly wonder, which Czech company is behind this project. I do have some tips though, let's see the answer , hopefully in May. Still, from commercial point of view, something like this is so unique, I would expect some promo, advanced news, maybe kit development posts etc. Just do not understand what is the purpose behind keeping it so secret.... But maybe am thinking just too much :)

Splendid case. So now it's turn to build a house around it - to have some nice display place for her!

Hallo Johann, thank you for both video links. Just magnificient, as all the posted pictures in this thread, which has been in my "follow list" for a long time. Pure joy to view your work, but I also must admit, it is always a little bit frustrating when I realise the fact I can never bring my ship model anywhere close to this :). Wish you all the best also for the upcoming year and looking forward to seeing the next posts of her! Juraj

Thank you Bob for your answer. Very good hints, particularly the "scale distance", I will try to take it into account as much as I can. Indeed, overdoing some details beyond the "scaled" visibility often makes model looking more detailed and more precisely build, disregarding how far it matches the reality. Something similar to be often seen in case of weathering plastic model kits for example

Hi Allan, Jon thank you very much for your time and posted info - very helpful. To sum it up - in 1/4 scale, probably leaving off the deck fasteners would not do any harm - due to the plugs covering them, they are barely visible. Yet I may find a way how to represent them in very gentle way. As for the hull, Trunnels are much more obvious being obviously from different kind of wood. Let's see.... Those pics are wondeful. Just by just if I may bother a bit more, would there be any complete view of deck margin plank? According to Chappele, there seems to be no strict rule when it comes to the deck patter, more it dependen on how much effort and money was there to be paid for the labor and how delicate the each vessel would be. I saw examples of margin plank being composed from butt joined pieces as well as more refine scarf join. But I could not find any info on how long would each piece of margin plank be. Also, margin plank joints are very seldom to be visible in available pics. Thank you Juraj

Just adding. I do have an original print of great book "The American fishing schooners" by Chapelle, yet was not able to find satisfying answers so far....

Splendid work and marvellous final result. Thanks for sharing. And of course, wish you all the best for your upcoming "family" projects!

Hi all, I would like to ask fo the help with planking treenails / iron bolts for deck and hull planking for a gloucester fishing schooner ca. 1880. I am building Smuggler kit from BlueJacket (1/4 or 1:48 scale), but prefer not to paint it, rather let the natural wood to be seen and some faithfull representation of plank fastenings would help. A) Deck Here I am somehow confused. On a few historical shots actually no treenails are visible. I assume, the bolts were hidden under some kind of wooden plugs, not visible against the deck structure? Also on restored fishing schooner below, there is absolutely no treenail, no plug, nothing visible. I really do not know, how are the deck planks attached. Would it be then best to leave any fastenings off completely? I guess those nice treenails lines seen on many models are appropriate for earlier ships, may be not for these fishermen? B ) Hull Here I guess it would be simplier. Small drilled holes might be suitable representation of presumably iron or steel bolts used to fix hull planks? Any ideas or hints are highly appreciated!

Hm, no such experience. I would expect, particularly if the wood has been stored long enough to get dry, it shall cause no major problems over time. After all, it is glued properly, not a big mass of wood that should shrink and you got it under some protective lacquer coat I guess? Crossed fingers. (Parádna stavba, dúfam, že ju stihneš dokončiť, lebo ver mi, aj keď dostaviaš ten dom, po príchode potomka na modelárčenie zabudni na pekne dlhý čas )

Hi. Am not any expert, but what I know, on Roman warships there were often moveable bridges on the prove used for "aboardage" - after the ship hit the enemy, the bridge was lowered (it had some kind of iron hooks that would bite to the enemy ship's deck) so the infantry could board the ship. Romans were not so keen sailors and when possible, to fight as on the land was preferred. Check this. Could this be that strange thing, of course, simplified by the artist? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corvus_(boarding_device)

Just by chance, any news about this? Have searched all the Czech model kit companies on the web that I could think of, but this project seems to be top secret - no sign of anything. And as we have end of August, has anybody else noticed something?

Despite the number of the kits, imho the answer is simple: From the existing model the most accurate and the best offer with respect to the quality would be Jotika / Caldercraft. If the space and time is no problem for you, I would wait for this.... hard to say yet if it will be the best option, but looks very interesting...

Hm... I guess you mean only hull length then? Because Caldercraft's Endeavour, which is 1/64 scale, is listed as 725mm long Taking that a s a base, this one shall be like 966mm long in total?

Thanks for sharing this interesting info. Would it be possible to tell who is the manufacturer? Being from neigbouring country and modeling plastic kits for years I truly wonder which of the producers would venture into this kind of business. From the pictures presented it looks interesting - even tappered deck planks are presented, which is not standard on commercial kits (thumbs up!). On the other hand, deck planking seems to be straith, not curved (if truly so, thumbs down a bit). Eager to see more!

This looks very interesting! I see you choose to cut off the bulwarks completely and replace them with stripe rather than tricky chiselling in order to get desired thickness. I may to apply the same in my case. Was thinking about it but was afraid of the results. How did you achieve the smooth and regular run of this new bulwark, if there is no inner support helping to follow the shape? Do you plan to plank or paint the hull? Thx

The video itself is nice and I found it longer time ago when trying to find any more info on the kit. But as said, am not sure whether the all wooden model presented in video is what is in the kit. The kit looks just great, still, for the given price, am still eagerly waiting to see the real box content photo, manual, description on wood used etc... Well, hobby is about patience :)

Renderings look very good. But as said, too early to judge before seing the built model or at least box content. Is it POB or some 3D printed hull etc? Length 81cm is very nice, fits my display case, what would be the height of the model? The expectations are high, but so is the price tag, so lets see what's in it.

Indeed, if historical accuracy is concerned, better to avoid AL (and unfortunatelly several other european producers) Dusek would be better - there is also a monography for LeCerf available (search google for Ancre publications) Other very popular suggestion would be Armed Virginia Sloop by model Shgipways ( also it will keep you within ~ 1:48 scale as your already finished model). This one is quite nicely researched and should fit your size requirements too.

Very first entry in this list? https://modelshipworld.com/topic/181-banned-kit-manufacturers-on-msw-pirated-kits-prohibited/?tab=comments#comment-1322

Hm,,,,, this is strange. My Smuggler kit includes very, very detailed step by step instructions (by Erik Ronneberg) I cannot see the book in your pics, may be your package was not delivered complete?

Hi Glenn, came accroos your thread, being attracted by the strange scale you mentioned. Kudos, you are only the second person on the web I have found who measured the kit and came to the same conclusion: the scale is totally off. Not a suprise, considering Artesania Latina "reputation" , still not nice. And I admit, this prevents me from buying the kit, seeing 1/48-1/50 as a must. Nevertheless, am keen on seeing the progress on this beautiful ship! Regards Juraj