For Beginners -- A Cautionary Tale

[Tector]

Model Shipways has a great starting kit, the 18th Century Longboat (designed by our own Mr. Chuck Passaro). I got skunked by a larger kit years ago, then came back to something smaller and easier like that kit. It contains some wonderful instructions on how to plank, and makes the process far less arcane.

 

And forgive yourself your mistakes when you make them. Each one of them represents a learning experience, and nobody is going to judge you for learning here.

Edited October 18, 2019 by Tector

[Ryland Craze]

Another nice model to start with is the Colonial Schooner Sultana by Model Shipways.  It is an inexpensive kit when on sale by Model Expo and builds into a very nice model.

 

Chuck Passaro has written a detailed set of instructions on how to build this model.  It can be found in the MSW Database of articles by following this link: http://modelshipworldforum.com/ship-model-build-and-practicums.php  .  It is the last article listed on the page and has eight chapters.

[lili.marlene3945]

Hi everyone,

 

I would like to give my testimony about what Ccoyle have written up here, I think it’s very relevant.

But before to begin, please, note that English is not my first language, so my excuses in advance for the mistakes that could be done.  I’m trying to improve my English every day but as we say in French : you don’t grow a flower up while pulling it.  And by the way, I am very keen to learn, so don’t hesitate to correct me if there are big mistakes.  I used to be a teacher (History) and I aware that we can learn by advices of others.  And if someone needs to understand something in French (for the ship modeling leads undoubtedly towards France -- let's just think about Frolich, Delacroix, the Plans of Admiral Pâris, etc.) I can translate everything you could need.  So don't hesitate to ask me, if I can help, I'd be glad.  That being said, let’s go to our point.

 

Three years ago, I began to translate the Minutes of the Wreck Commissioner’s Inquiry on the Loss of the TITANIC from English to French (and I am having the idea of publishing it in ebook when it will be finished) and since then I’m making a lot of researches upon the history of this big ship and a passion was born.  

So I decided to build this ship with matchsticks. 

However, I didn’t know where to start : no plans, no experience, no glue and no clue ! lol! 

I soon realized that it was unrealistic job ! 🤪

So I decided to cast off upon the Titanic’s lifeboat (the ones that made 30 feet and are of wood), and after some trials, I abandoned ship…  Euh…  No, the matchsticks, I mean ! lol! 😂 and choose to do it in plywood.  But still have no plan and not a ghost of an idea on how to do it.

 

Therefore, I went on many web sites and forums and I have found one from France where some people told me about a way to build that lifeboat : the Bread-and-Butter’s method to make the hull.  They have explained it to me, but without taking into account that I was knowing nothing about shipbuilding and how to read a plan which were only a kind of “spaghetti” of lines ! 😳.  Nevertheless, in spite of it all, I began my solid hull, but very soon I realized that I have sanded too much and lost my semmetry, which was very important.

My biggest problem, even if I didn’t get it at the time, was that I still didn’t know how to read plans (Half Breadth Plan, Body plan and Sheer Plan) in spite of the fact that I went on the internet et read a lot of pages, in English and French, but it still puzzled me.

I’ve rebuilt another solid hull and sand it, but still another waste of time and wood.  I get discouraged, and let down the idea of the Lifeboat.  Futhermore, I have no idea of how it works once the solid hull done : the deadrise, the keelson, the ribs and how they could fit together puzzled me.  Reading about it without having some pictures didn’t help me at all.

It was too much for my knowledge.

 

Few times after having abandon the lifeboat’s idea, I have found a Gabare in the ship plans of Admiral Pâris, tome 3 (“ Gabare du Nord-Ouest”) and have told myself that maybe I could manage it much more easily.  I’ve built my board (the plywood upon which you work your boat hull upside down) as well as my bread-and-butter solid hull.  However, nobody have told me how the lines in the wood worked along with the buttock lines of the Body Plan to have it symmetrical.  So guess what ??  Yes, you get it : another waste of time and wood !😥

I told myself that I was very stupid ; anyone else could have make it properly, etc. etc.  I threw away my tools in the deepest drawer that I have found and hope to forget it.

 

But I must admit that I’m stubborn, and I really wanted to have my model boat !  So I rolled up my sleeves and I bought a monography from Gérard Delacroix, a French master in the ship modelling (he sell his boat something like 25 000$ !) which the title is “Armed Longboat 1834” ou “La Chaloupe armée en guerre 1834” and read it.  That made me understand how works the building of the deadrise, keelson, ribs, etc.  Furhtermore, Delacroix himself guided me and I finally understand plans, and buttock lines vs the plywood lines.  However, I drilled the holes in the Bread-and-butter solid hull with an hand drill instead of a table drill, much more steady and it was then impossible to get symmetry.  Another solid hull lost.  

That was last Spring (June).

 

I then decided to forget about the bread-and-butter solid hull’s method and tried to build a boat starting with ribs upon a board, keel upside down.  I choose another project, that is to say a Sloop named “KATHLEEN” actually build in 1904-1905 which I have found the plans on the Library of Congress’ web site, a project much more easier.

And the good news is that the building is going well.

 

But it took 3 years of reading ; studying plans and concepts ; getting familiar with modeling words, and above all, not getting discouraged too much or I might say not for too long !

I believe in my project a lot and I think this is THE reason why I am still making a ship today.  My starting projects (TITANIC and her lifeboat) were too big for what I was able to do, and I had a serious lack of knowledge, at a point I didn’t even suspect !

 

So here is my testimony, and I hope it will help someone out not to do the same mistakes than me, and above all, I hope it will leads people to ask themselves if they believe in their projects enough to be able to persevere in doing that or to turn it into something much more easier for them.  :-) 

 

Kareen.

[Llib]

This is great. It’s nice to know you’re not alone. That’s why I was browsing for an expo I could attend during my winter travels. This site caught my attention and here I am. I have been on my first boat for 18 years...Flying Fish, way over my head for sure. I find myself stepping away when I fear the next step. I’m rigging now and the daunting 1/8=1’ scale getting smaller as I move up the mast is quite challenging...but I think I’m beginning to like it. The instructions are all but used up and I work off the plans alone. Wish I knew if I was anywhere close to where I’m supposed to be. Kind of quiet and lonely out here. Would be nice to have friends who understand what I am doing, for sure.

[EricWilliamMarshall]

To ccoyle’s original intent (as I understand it); I came across a quote from Ira Glass (NPR radio):

 

Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, and I really wish somebody had told this to me.

All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But it's like there is this gap. For the first couple years that you're making stuff, what you're making isn't so good. It’s not that great. It’s trying to be good, it has ambition to be good, but it’s not that good.

But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is good enough that you can tell that what you're making is kind of a disappointment to you. A lot of people never get past that phase. They quit.

Everybody I know who does interesting, creative work they went through years where they had really good taste and they could tell that what they were making wasn't as good as they wanted it to be. They knew it fell short. Everybody goes through that.

And if you are just starting out or if you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Do a huge volume of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week or every month you know you're going to finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you're going to catch up and close that gap. And the work you're making will be as good as your ambitions.

I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It takes awhile. It’s gonna take you a while. It’s normal to take a while. You just have to fight your way through that.

—Ira Glass

He is speaking of writers, but the same applies across many disciplines and, certainly, here, I believe. More detail can be found here: https://jamesclear.com/ira-glass-failure

 

[stuglo]

Forgive my "pennyworth" but I think that though there is much truth in what has been written, I would emphasize certain things. the most important is the need for a mentor or at least a web site that can explain how to do and illustrate what others have done (learning from others). I like books and have several dozen on ships and model shipbuilding. Patience is essential, and,as in sports etc, the mental (research and "working it out in you head") often takes much longer than the actual building. Basic hand tools are good enough-  excepting the mini electric drill , power tools save time( but also can rapidly cause mistakes). Be prepared to devote YEARS to a build, but when choosing, find something that is relatively simple but an interesting subject. The quality of the kit, particularly the plans in a language you understand, is important. I would suggest a larger scale few or no guns and simple! rigging. Double planking allows for a learning process or curve and allows a botched effort to be hidden with the more satisfying second planking. I would personally avoid painting my first model as I think it is difficult to get a good result without the satisfaction and confidence that a successful first build brings. My first built was the Mare Nostrum. I would recommend it.  I chose for my second (because I thought it would be my last) the Corel Victory. I was lucky that I had 2 friends that chaperoned me, as well as good books, both specific and general. I am now on my 18th build, still feeling challenged but varying types and difficulties: aspiring to the great efforts seen on this and other sites. If as a newbie or old salt you hit a "rock", go rest, relax and the return refreshed and have fun. At the very least you will have something to show for your endeavor.

 

Edited November 24, 2019 by stuglo

[NateB]

I have to agree with everyone here. I have seen it with guitars. So many people go and buy a new one and immediately want to be able to play Stairway to heaven and obviously can't, then put it down and never touch it again. They should be starting with a simple bass line or melody etc. I found that most people I asked thought it would be boring to learn. And then when I teach then the basics properly they actually found it fun and sometimes resparked their interest in guitars.

 

I also noticed that people would get frustrated with the higher level stuff because "it looked so easy to do" and when they couldn't it just totally demoralized them. 

 

So what I would like to add is that "easy" and "begginer" doesn't mean you won't have as much fun as something more advanced. 

 

Nathan

Edited January 30, 2020 by NateB

[bruce d]

3 hours ago, NateB said:

 

I also noticed that people would get frustrated with the higher level stuff because "it looked so easy to do" and when they couldn't it just totally demoralized them. 

This is, in my opinion, an issue that crops up far more now in the digital age. Seeing examples of the work of the best builders was, until about twenty years ago, something that was only possible if you visited Naviga or Model Engineer exhibitions but now it is a few taps away on any phone. The result is artificially high standards and expectations with no immediate insight into the dedication required. 

Again, in my humble opinion, MSW is one of very few sources of the unvarnished version of the rest of the story as it relates to model ships. 

Good here, in'it?

[stuglo]

When I first started building I compared my work to my tutor/mentor, and didn't feel so bad. Over the years ,due to seeing sometimes such beautiful work as on this site, it could be discouraged from continuing my poor efforts. Nevertheless, not all are perfect and the learning "curve" is is more a stairway form. Seeing these less than perfect builds, is also encouraging. The feeling of satisfaction in aiming  and achieving  a higher or more difficult task is tangible. In any case the building is essentially for ourselves, our non-building friends and relatives usually are amazed by our efforts and don't see the mistakes. Also, the older museum models are usually inferior even to the newbie efforts of today. As junior docs we were told "See one, Do one, Teach one". You're only newbies once- soon you will  be teaching us!

[captain_hook]

There is just another point that might be considered. Kits are always simplified to give even unexperienced builder the chance to complete it, to get a successful experience, to motivate them to buy another kit in the future and to keep production cost as low as possible. So even kits of bigger and more known ships like Victory, Sovereign or Constellation are simplified in some way share issues like gun barrels not to scale, overdimensioned rope, low-quality planking material or even miss some deck items that would be to expensive to make them just for one single kit. But a novice builder - maybe because of lack of information - mostly don’t have a choice but to keep faith into the provided plans and material, believing that everything supplied is just right and well designed to reproduce a miniature of the original. As the builder gets more experienced, he will likely upgrade kits with aftermarket fittings or alternative planking wood or even start scratchbuilding them because the supplied fittings or items simply aren‘t correct, simplified or out of scale. 
 

Considered hundreds of hours put into a frigate or ship of the line, it would be a pity for the builder to regret using supplied items or simply followed the plan / instructions after the model is build and experience and knowledge has grown afterwards - especially when a scale model was intended to build (what is likely to be promised by the kit manufacturer). 

[pythagoras]

Don't give up the ship!

Pythagoras (Tom)

[MichaelHunt]

CCOYLE

Your post of the 22nd June 2016 had me laughing out loud as I could use it as a biography. As a Brit and former Royal Navy submariner, I have always been

interested in matters maritime and also had the good fortune to visit the Cutty Sark both before and after her final refit.

 

I did however buy a Billings Cutty Sark kit, many years ago and it did end up in the cellar with the hull about 70% complete. This was not because I

could not continue, but because the boss in the house found that she was being totally ignored while I was modelling. In my defense, I can claim to have made models in wood, before any plastic ones were on the market and I am quite good with basic woodworking tools.

 

Now in lockdown in France because of the coronavirus epidemic, the family suggested that I retrieve the kit, so up it came, after more than 30 years,

in remarkably good nick, having been kept in a cool dry environment all of that time. Having now had time to read the instructions, I intend to complete

the hull and upper deck, which is within my skills level. Luckily I have the fittings kit, as making those is way beyond my pay grade.

 

I am full of admiration for the examples I have found here from the other CS modellers.  They will give me both the motivation to continue and

examples to copy.

[ss hooker]

30 minutes ago, MichaelHunt said:

CCOYLE

Your post of the 22nd June 2016 had me laughing out loud as I could use it as a biography. As a Brit and former Royal Navy submariner, I have always been

interested in matters maritime and also had the good fortune to visit the Cutty Sark both before and after her final refit.

 

I did however buy a Billings Cutty Sark kit, many years ago and it did end up in the cellar with the hull about 70% complete. This was not because I

could not continue, but because the boss in the house found that she was being totally ignored while I was modelling. In my defense, I can claim to have made models in wood, before any plastic ones were on the market and I am quite good with basic woodworking tools.

 

Now in lockdown in France because of the coronavirus epidemic, the family suggested that I retrieve the kit, so up it came, after more than 30 years,

in remarkably good nick, having been kept in a cool dry environment all of that time. Having now had time to read the instructions, I intend to complete

the hull and upper deck, which is within my skills level. Luckily I have the fittings kit, as making those is way beyond my pay grade.

 

I am full of admiration for the examples I have found here from the other CS modellers.  They will give me both the motivation to continue and

examples to copy.

CCOYLE, OMG! same here! with this shut down I have been able to FINALY spend some time on my own ship project. while all we hear about on the TV is all the people who don't have a hobby going nuts and protesting in the streets, while "us" molders are quite content. Im kinda new to this site so I hope im doing things correctly. cheers, SS HOOKER. 

[Grisha]

On 6/22/2016 at 11:40 PM, tkay11 said:

There have been quite a few who have given up on even those kits labelled as simple. I'm not sure that there is an even simpler kit for them. It may be more that the hobby is just not for them.

 

Tony

I think that's what happened to me today. Nothing I'm reading or finding on youtube is making it seem very clear how to do the basic first steps. I'm at a very early stage and already have what feels like an irreparable mistake. I'm frustrated to have spent $200 on this but I just figured I'm reasonably intelligent and could figure out a beginner's kit.

[tkay11]

First thing: take a deep breath, think about it, and don’t give up just yet.

 

What is it that you are finding difficult, precisely? If you can narrow it down, just ask a question. This is why it would help to start a build log, as it shows the step at which you find difficulty and people will come to your help. Every modeller started somewhere, will have made mistakes and learned from them. I would bet that your particular problem has been encountered by many here.

 

of course, as I suggested, you may not like the hobby or overcoming the problems, but I’d suggest at least giving it a go.

 

Tony

[VTHokiEE]

1 hour ago, Grisha said:

I'm at a very early stage and already have what feels like an irreparable mistake.

I totally mucked up my first layer of planking on my build because I did a poor job fairing. I felt very inadequate and like I had wasted the money as well, probably lost at least one night's sleep over it. Then I tore it off, all the planking (mainly because everyone on my build log told me too and deep down I knew they were right, but I still didn't know how to redo it better). I restarted, asked and received some help and I was able to make it through that hurdle.

 

Bluejacket, I believe, will help you out; they are even active on this board. It is entirely up to you, but if you want to you'll be able to build that ship. Thankfully, it's wood and parts can be remade.

[mtaylor]

What the others said.  Take a deep breath and just relax, this isn't rocket science unless your model is a rocket.   Start a log and let us look over your shoulder.  I daresay that probably 90% of us had no idea what we were doing when we started our first build.  For many, there was no internet and no MSW to help.  

[GrandpaPhil]

Irreparable with a wood kit is somewhat of a relative term.  Filler and paint hides many mistakes.  If all else fails, glue is dissolvable.

 

You should see the early stages of some of my models (including my Victory).  They looked horrible.  

Edited May 7, 2020 by GrandpaPhil

[Jasseji]

i feel i'm being one of "ccoyle's 12", having disappeared without explanation and without finishing the hull.

 

To my defense i have to add that i counted a total of 8 times when i changed the place (city, country, 300-1000km changes at each point) i live during the last 5 years and had a kid born in between so i had to move stuff away (well, basically hide it out of reach of the kid) and move it around so much times i cant count.

 

Finally having the perspectiveof a new, own home and propably a final move for the next 20 years (that is, if The Admiral doesnt kick me out at one point :P) i really WANT this hobby to succeed and not forget any of the help i got here.

 

I think with some of the "abandoned" builds it might be like this "oh crap i dont have time, have to pause build for life reasons, i WILL GET BACK TO IT", then other stuff piles and it's being postponed and postponed, the lack of explanation on the forum is due to the fact, that the person doesnt consider the build abandoned, only stuff piles up and then we get into the flow of: "Next Week i'll do something and update the Log, I PROMISE"= this way years can pass

 

 

Edited May 11, 2020 by Jasseji

[Reborn]

Hello everyone.  Name is Ron, but I also go by reborn (semi-long story so won't bore you here).  Hope the below is not too long-winded...

 

I am new to MSW, just signed up yesterday.  I read ccoyle's 2016 notes that started this thread in 2016.  I can relate to the fact that the 'really' simple boats/ships, which a beginner like me should start with, don't have the 'draw' like building something like the Constitution, or many of the others that should require an expert hand at building.

 

I am 68 now, but when I was about 10 I was given a birthday gift of the Constitution, Revell model I believe.  Following each step and gluing 'stuff' together was 'easy'.  Note I did not paint anything back then.  Then came time for rigging and quickly discovered I had no clue, and no one around to help me growing up in a small town in the middle of the Mohave desert of California.  Model never got completed.  Fast forward many years to about 2004

 

The bug bit me to attempt to build a model ship, and thinking back to my childhood it had to be the Constitution.  I was so taken with that endeavor that I ordered the Constitution from Bluejacket.  Let me first say I believe it is a 'great' kit, and as you all know, not one you just glue pieces together.  Anyway, enter the 'less than rookie/ensign' and work began in earnest  and then everything ran 'a ground', as you might say.  But luckily there was a mentor available named Charlie Cook.  I remember him telling me, after I told him I was new to this, 'Ron, this is not something you can build in a weekend, or in many cases even a month'.  Fast forward again...

 

The year is now 2020.  Here I am still attempting to build the Constitution, but progress has been made.  Over the 15 years, or so, things/life has gotten in the way...work, several major renovations in the house (complete kitchen redo, 3 bathroom redos - all done on my own, and a flooded basement that was and still is fully livable - again another super major project that was done by me, except for laying down the new carpet, but I digress...).  Anyway, here is where I am with the ship:  hull shaped, planked, copper plates attached (yep, about 3000 of them), outside painted; gun deck completed (even installed LED lights with outside battery and switch where you can look in the windows of the transom and see all the way to the bow end), spar deck completed - carronades installed and rigged, transom on, cap rail installed, bowsprit (lower part only) installed, shot lockers in place and all pin rails in place.  NOTE:  All of this I owe to Charlie who has helped me out immensely.

 

I am now at the point of placing all of the needed cleats, eye bolts, etc on the ship.  And, I have hit a snag.  I keep reading the instruction manual over and over, and looking at the drawings and even found some instructions for the Revell model, in an attempt to figure out where everything goes.  Terminology is doing me in, among other things.  BUT, I am determined to finish this ship this year.  

 

My immediate goal is to get the eye pins/eye bolts and cleats installed on the hull in bulworks and spardeck now, then I'll start to build the masts and finish out the bowsprit.  Any suggestions, or places that I can find better drawings or photos would be greatly appreciated.  

 

Thanks in advance, and I wish I would have found MSW earlier in my ship building.  Looking forward to hearing from anyone/everyone.  

 

Ron

[mtaylor]

Ron,

Your best bet on additional info would be to the top of the Kit Build area.  You find a pinned topic called "Quick Find Indexes".  Open the first post and find the "wooden ships" in the post.  Click on it and it will download a PDF of all the wooden kit builds.   Inside, goto Constitution and you'll see all the builds, past and present.  Just look for the ones by Bluejacket and you'll get tons of info.

[Edward Bowser]

Whilst a member for many years this is my first ever post ! I also made a Billings Cutty Sark many years ago. I did in fact pretty well finish it although I must have got bored at the very end because a few fittings never got put on. Anyway, my big mistake was not to build a case for it, and it spent 35 years sitting in various unprotected places including for 10 years on a beam in the kitchen. It eventually resembled something out of Pirates of the Caribbean. I decided to try and clean it only to discover that most of the rigging, particularly the running rigging had rotted and all the dead eyes and blocks had gone brittle. So - everything cut, masts removed and start again. I was considering doing a 'renovation' blog but on reading this forum wanted to put in a plea to CCoyle - I see you have the fittings kit - but if you get to the stage of rigging the boat - throw away all the dead eyes and rigging blocks and get wooden ones ! Also throw the threads out, at least the small stuff - save you many hours of frustration in 35 years time.

[Gazzarian]

First Time Bodge

Thought I’d chip in on this as a newbie as I have made a terrible mess of everything….but it was fun. (This is not to be read by, er, perfectionists. Or indeed anybody who minds the arrival of a blithering idiot to their hobby world.)

 

So I thought the Amati Viking Drakkar looked a lovely shape, and the box said ‘Easy to Assemble’. Well, I don’t want to get all ‘false advertising’ on you, but, I mean, really chaps. To be fair there were instructions, but whoever translated them from Italian was clearly not happy in their work. They might just as well have said ‘assemble the pieces in the box following the pictures on the plans until they look like the picture on the box’. Actually the plans themselves looked nice, I thought I might frame them and hang them in the bathroom but glue stains, general tears (pronounce that word either way and it suits) and accumulated scrunchiness, also blood smears from when I cut my finger put paid to that plan. The plan for the plan.

 

So I don’t have any build pictures to share, sorry. Actually I did take a couple but I don’t want to get into trouble for posting upsetting images online. But what I can share for the benefit of this vast audience are a few labour saving tips. Ask a lazy man if you want to know the easiest way to do something and, boy, am I lazy. I mean, this deck planking, right? Install the false deck and then plank it? Are you kidding? Messing around with wedging tiny bits of corners and radii in the nether regions of the bulwarks or whatever they’re called? No, put the planks on first with the false deck flat on the worktop, leave them slightly hanging over the edges, then you can trim and jiggle to fit. Oh, I see….right. Ahem. Oh well, never mind. I mean, the Vikings would wedge bits of cordage, pitch, uneaten biscuits into gaps to make them watertight so my equivalent will just be more authentic. Although I ate all the biscuits.

 

Similarly, the top hull plank needs holes cut in it for the oars to poke out through. So far as I could make out, the instructions say to do this after you’ve installed the plank on the frame. What? Drill holes in mid air and expect to get a neat row? No chance. L and R planks taped together for symmetry, masking tape on top so you can draw a neat centre line and line the hole locations up from the plan. Perfect.  Oh, that’s why they perforate stamps. If you drill holes in very thin ply and then try to sand it….oh well, never mind, I’m sure Viking ships suffered battle damage.

Things were getting so desperate at this stage that I had to resort to my genius for creativity, which I have traditionally applied to the field of corporate financial accounting. The major issue was that, viewed from above, the hull looked rather like the outline of a horse which had been on the diet of a fashion model. (It looked worse from any other angle.) So I thought I’d shape a sort of gunwale rail thing to disguise it. The kit just had gunwales that were paper thin plywood anyway which, truly, is not a good look.

 

This required me to put some bits of sawn off tree in the bath, cleverly remembering to turn on the tap for a bit, until I could tack them into a nice curvy bendy shape on my trusty piece of MDF worktop. Sadly the tacks left holes in them, which I hadn’t anticipated, but I don’t think they’re too visible. It almost worked but, tragically, I then glued the shield rack to the horse bones beneath the nice new perfectly bent shape of my new gunwale top thing. There are some pictures but if you could, perhaps, close your screen and your eyes before viewing them I’d be ever so grateful.

 

As you can also see from the pics that you are definitely not looking at, I totally gave up on the rigging. Stupid little misbehaving brats of thread. I’m a father and have never experienced such outrageous behaviour. They are in the bin where they belong.

Anyway, I learnt from my mistakes. Which was a lot of learning. Even for an idiot. HMS Victory next….

 

[mtaylor]

Hi Gazzarian,  

Welcome to MSW.   

 

For a first effort, it looks pretty good from here.  All of us have probably gone through this and with results we were less than pleased with.   I'd like to offer a suggestion, instead of HMS Victory, pick something a bit smaller with maybe two masts this time.  The learning curve for Vic will probably have you pulling your hair out so something a bit easier.  I'd suggest giving some thought to the Syren.  There's lots of build logs to help you get through it.

 

Also, do start a build log.  It's really the best way to get help, advice, and meet people.  Also, open a new topic to introduce yourself.  

 

Good luck and have fun as the fun part is the best part.

[Gazzarian]

Hi back Mark and thank you. Was joking re the Victory!

[ubjs]

It is of course positive that there are so many nice buildinglogs here to be inspired by. But as a beginner, you probably have to accept that the first boats will be far from perfect.
Maybe you should lower the requirements for your first boats and build them with a little less detail and above all simplify the rigging.
I think it would be good if there were suggestions in the instructions for things that can be simplified or even excluded.

 

I myself am a beginner, have so far put together some hulls but have not finished building any boat. Currently working on Master Korabel Polotsk and am impressed by the instructions and precision, but it is not a suitable first kit really. Maybe suitable as second build?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Louie da fly]

Gazzarian, that Drakkar is not too bad at all, though I do wonder about that mark on the front of the sail - is that one of the bloodstains?

 

You might like to have a look at this

when choosing your next build - these have been vouched for as suitable for beginners, and shouldn't cause too much pulling of hair.

 

In some ways it's therapeutic to make all these mistakes when starting out - it brings a certain measure of humility and patience (don't ask me how I know), and the realisation that sometimes the instructions are actually worth following, at least some of them.

 

To be honest, the clinker planking on the drakkar involves a fair bit of difficulty in its own right. The fact that you got it reasonably right is a credit to you, particularly with the less than adequate instructions.

 

When you start your next build make sure you start a build log as well

 

- it will give you access to the help, advice and encouragement of this amazing group of people. And occasionally commiseration when an error occurs that can't be remedied in any way (and though most mistakes can be fixed - wood is a very forgiving medium - they do happen once in a while and you just have to put it down to experience and resolve never to repeat that particular mistake.) And every model you make will be better than the previous one. The members here are of all levels of skill, from total beginners to those who are demigods of ship modelling, and everything in between. And the demigods were once beginners themselves and probably made some pretty ghastly mistakes when starting out.

 

Just keep at it and have fun with your modelling - that's the whole reason we do this stuff.

 

 

[Gazzarian]

Thank you for the kind comments and advice. Much appreciated. I will think about where to go next. Once the trauma has faded 😄

[AZLandLover]

I have read most of the comments on this topic.  I, also had to stop my build to deal with life's endless dilemmas.  However, after a two year hiatus, I'm back in the helm (per se).  I agree with those that think posting pics which do not raise of the level of the skillset could be a deterrent.  As it is, in the last two weeks I have made many mistakes in my build, so many, I am too embarrassed to share (yet).  Once the corrections are made I'll post them here.

In the meantime, it is nice to go back to cutting, gluing and sanding!

BTW, I am taking pics...😀😁

[mtaylor]

AzLandLover,

 

I daresay that all of us have been where you are.   A log may seem embarrassing but it's really not.  It's a learning tool, not just for you but others doing the same model.   So, my advice is jump in.