Search the Community

After a 45-year hiatus from my first build (Model Shipways Rattlesnake solid hull) I decide to build another. I'm retired and living in a condo, so I needed a hobby. I chose the Fair American because it was similar to the Rattlesnake, and I wanted to try a plank-on-bulkhead model. I started the build April 12, 2019. So far, I'm pleased with the progress. I wish that had taken more progress photos. Going forward, I will try to take more photos to document the progress. When I received the kit, I went through the parts list to make sure everything was in the box. I labeled some wood parts but not all. In hindsight, I wish I had labeled all the wood parts. Like some other modelers, I found the keel was too short. I made one of the proper length from scrape material and continued on.

This build is in planning at this time, should start in the next month or two. I have the kit and have checked the parts and started to prep them for building.

This will be my first POB model. During the past year I completed the solid hull version of the Model Shipways Rattlesnake. I made a lot of mistakes but learned a lot and acquired some skills in the process. I selected Fair American for my next project because I like the size and appearance of the model, as well as its relatively simple rig made even easier by the larger quarter inch to the foot scale. I am a bit nervous about the hull planking – especially the lower hull. But I have read and re-read the planking books and tutorials, and studied the build logs on this site. I am very grateful to have access to these. My “plan B” if I mess up the planking is to get a big bucket of plastic wood and some sandpaper... I have checked the parts list, and the only thing that seems to be missing is the small dowel for the flag staff (part WP5100-06). I noticed other build logs reporting that the center keel did not line up with the plans. Mine pretty much did – but my kit has the center keel as one piece; not the two described by others. I extracted the center keel, keel, stem, and sternpost from Wood Sheet “A”. When I placed them together, I discovered that the keel is approximately ¼ inch too short. Notice in the photo the gap between the stem and the keel. I will most likely just cut a small piece of wood to fill this unless any of you has a better suggestion. <<Gary>>

Hello again fellow builders. Was wondering if one wanted to lets say make the Fair American or Armed Virginia Sloop from 1/48 scale to 1/64 or another scale what might be the challenges a modeler might face? Aside from a few fittings and changing the size of the wood planks, parts, etc, the kits seem to have very clear instructional guides to work with but curious if anyone's every tried doing so and what the process would entail. Also would one say doing so would be significantly harder to build than the kit directly from the box? Appreciate the shared wisdoms cheers/jeers and/or speculations. Charlie

BUILDING THE LAUCK STREET SHIPYARD FAIR AMERICAN I have no commercial interest in and no financial gain from writing this building-log / review, I’m only a very happy customer //Erik Nyren Reposting this buildinglog ended up somwhere between a review and a log so I leave it up to our admins to move it if necessary Unfortunally this kit is no longer available however this buildinglog does give an idea of how to build a scratch model of the ship. Perhaps it can be of help to members building the Model Slipways Fair American kit, so I figured its worth reposting. To be honest I think the original complete log was posted on Dry Dock Models and only parts on MSW but it matters not. Historic background The history of the 16gun 1780 Revolutionary war Brig Fair American is not one I have been able to wrap my head around. It would seem that there have been several Fair Americans throughout history and that the Lauck Street Shipyard kit is based on plans drawn by Clayton A. Feldman. Those plans are drawn from the model of the Fair American in the Rogers collection at the Naval Museum in Annapolis, MD. For a deeper study of the Fair American history I would recommend the booklet “Progressive Scratch-Building in Ship Modeling” By Clay A.Feldman MD which in addition is a very informative publication on the basics of scratch building a ship model as well as a complementary book on the rigging of the Fair American. The Lauck Street Shipyard kit is a somewhat simplified POF-construction and not to be considered historically correct although this is the prise that has to be paid to have a kit of such complexity comprehensible for a lesser skilled modeller. From an amateurs point of view (that would be me) the kit is close enough to the history so I would not know the difference if not someone were to point it out. The Fair American kit Construction (Measurements taken from my model and may vary depending on several factors during construction) Length: ca490 mm Height: ca157mm (stern) With: ca140mm The kit is a Craftsman Style kit which means that it is developed by a professional modeller and a true craftsman. Further on the term Craftsman style stands for the highest quality and that the precision of the parts is a lot better than your general kit. What is a bit unique about this kit is that it’s a true plank on frame construction kit whereas most kits on the market are solid hull or plank on bulkhead. The kit comes with a number of wood billets with CNC-milled parts and the strip wood organised in labelled bags, there’s also some very nice photo etched parts and some other small parts for the deck details. There are 11 sheets of plans included covering all frames, profile view and templates for rails and gun ports among other things. There are also two additional sheets included covering the standing and running rig although the kit does not include materials for building the rig. The Fair American is a partially planked, true plank on frame (POF) construction exposing the inner construction of the ship to the viewer. The frames and many other parts are built up by gluing layers of CNC-milled parts resulting in a very sturdy and robust construction. Included in the kit is a Han style jig for framing the model in an up side down position. Materials The wood is of the highest quality American hardwood such as cherry, walnut, aspen and pine which calls for great contrasts in colour. I had no problems with strip wood breaking whilst bending or strips being milled unevenly. Some small parts have a tendency to break when cut from the billet due to their small size and thin billet, this is not a problem though as the kit includes ample security for this by including enough spares to these parts so breaking a few does not matter. On a few occasions I broke too many with my thick fingers, this was solved by drawing up the part on the same billet and recreating it. Manual Now here’s a treat. The manual actually comes in the form of a CD in order to cut costs, which is commendable. It can be printed out if one prefers to have it lying around. The manual is very pedagogical taking you through the build step by step with strategic pictures in colour to show critical points of construction. Mr Hunt has obviously gone into a great deal of thought when writing the manual which is more of a practicum than a dry manual. It is written with care in a personal and delightful manner. The manual includes tips and tricks as in what to do and potential areas where mistakes can be made. There are three additional CD:s included with pictures of the different stages of construction. Plans Plans are stored rolled up in a hard-paper tube eliminating folds that can mess up measurements. The plans are very good and clear with thin lines making measurements easy. Many of the sheets are multicoloured illustrating the construction in a pedagogical manner. The precision of the plans enables you to check your parts directly on the plan which you are repeatedly asked to do in the manual especially whilst assembling the frames. Building experience Building the Fair American kit is most rewarding, as the kit holds a quality that I have never seen. I have been able to learn unbelievable much in a short while as I could concentrate on the POF-construction and learning the basics of a ships construction in stead of spending hours compensating for badly designed parts.The personal customer service provided by Mr Hunt can not be compared with the larger manufacturers where responses are scarce and often the employees handling support has never built the kit in question. The fast and friendly responses from Mr Hunt adds to the building experience. Summary The Fair American is a kit that I strongly recommend to anyone wanting to learn the basics of POF modelling but also the more experienced builder would have a wonderful time building her. The kits outstanding quality in wood, plans and manual makes sure you can build a beautiful model with limited or no prior experience of POF models and no expensive machinery. This fine kit and with the service and support from Lauck Street Shipyard from the purchase throughout the build to a finished model gave me an overall building experience yet to be surpassed, and this for a most reasonable prize. Building experience Building the Fair American kit is most rewarding, as the kit holds a quality that I have never seen. I have been able to learn unbelievable much in a short while as I could concentrate on the POF-construction and learning the basics of a ships construction in stead of spending hours compensating for badly designed parts. The personal customer service provided by Mr Hunt can not be compared with the larger manufacturers where responses are scarce and often the employees handling support has never built the kit in question. The fast and friendly responses from Mr Hunt adds to the building experience. Summary The Fair American is a kit that I strongly recommend to anyone wanting to learn the basics of POF modelling but also the more experienced builder would have a wonderful time building her. The kits outstanding quality in wood, plans andmanual makes sure you can build a beautiful model with limited or no prior experience of POF models and no expensive machinery. This fine kit and with the service and support from Lauck Street Shipyard from the purchase throughout the build to a finished model gave me an overall building experience yet to be surpassed, and this for a most reasonable prize. Materials The wood is of the highest quality American hardwood such as cherry, walnut, aspen and pine which calls for great contrasts in colour. I had no problems with strip wood breaking whilst bending or strips being milled unevenly. Some small parts have a tendency to break when cut from the billet due to their small size and thin billet, this is not a problem though as the kit includes ample security for this by including enough spares to these parts so breaking a few does not matter. On a few occasions I broke too many with my thick fingers, this was solved by drawing up the part on the same billet and recreating it. Manual Now here’s a treat. The manual actually comes in the form of a CD in order to cut costs, which is commendable. It can be printed out if one prefers to have it lying around. The manual is very pedagogical taking you through the build step by step with strategic pictures in colour to show critical points of construction. Mr Hunt has obviously gone into a great deal of thought when writing the manual which is more of a practicum than a dry manual. It is written with care in a personal and delightful manner. The manual includes tips and tricks as in what to do and potential areas where mistakes can be made. There are three additional CD:s included with pictures of the different stages of construction. Plans Plans are stored rolled up in a hard-paper tube eliminating folds that can mess up measurements. The plans are very good and clear with thin lines making measurements easy. Many of the sheets are multicoloured illustrating the construction in a pedagogical manner. The precision of the plans enables you to check your parts directly on the plan which you are repeatedly asked to do in the manual especially whilst assembling the frames. More to come Regards Erik

This is my second build. The first was a Chesapeake Bay Skipjack - but she went down in the great (website) crash of Feb 2013! I chose the Fair American as my next build for a number of reasons: - I wanted to try something with hull planking - to learn the ropes; - I didn't want too many masts, because I found rigging was an area where I still had a lot to learn; - The 1:48 scale was large enough to not make building bespoke parts or components too complicated; - I was concerned about the many reports stating that European kits have very vague / limited instructions; - The overall dimensions of the kit were small enough to fit on my work-space. This being said...... when I received the kit I unpacked the contents and did the pre-requisite component identification and validation. All parts present - but i was rather disappointed at some of the cast metal parts. There are two types of cast parts: some in little plastic bags labelled Fair A and others, labelled in Chinese with handwritten text "Fair A" on the package label. The Chinese manufactured components are clearly of a lesser quality that the others (presumable US made). Second issue I found was that the size of the centre-keel supplied was different to that depicted in the plans (See below images). My initial diagnosis was that because the inaccuracy was visible on all plans, but only applied on the X-scale of the plans - was that the plans had been incorrectly copied and that they were accurate in the Y dimension, but wrong on the X dimension. I mailed Model Shipways and they replied that there was no problem with the plans, but that the centre-keel laser cut was inaccurate and that they would be sending me a replacement centre-keel section. After their very prompt feedback, I felt better and engulfed myself into the books I had bought explaining the techniques of planking. Build will start as soon as I have the new part.

I am building a model shipways Fair American and have been working on a few bits of kit bashing. I like what rafine did with his build: http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/1114-fair-american-by-rafine-model-shipways-kitbashed/page-3 he could only say that he had an old model railroad street light for his. right now I have two different ones that are about right but each has some problems. the two I have are a set of Lionel lights part number 6-24156 and a set of Rail King / MTH part number 30-1062 of the two the Lionel are slightly smaller and closer to scale. but they do not have the framework to look like metal strips that held the top and bottom together. also they have a very simple top and bottom for the lamp. the Rail King parts have a more ornate look , if they were just a bit smaller they would be perfect! both are "O-Scale" and the difference in size is very small. So far what I have is using some of the parts from each I will have one lantern that I think will end up looking right. I am replacing the bulb that came with them with a small yellow led that has a random flicker to look more like an oil lamp. when I get time I will post some pictures of the two types of lamp and my results. the final lantern will be part of my build, here is a link to my build log http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/28-fair-american-by-figuerres-modelshipways-148-kit/