Great kit and parts source

[JohnU]

I must say that Cornwall Model Boats is amazing. I have not found another place with such wide and complete offerings. They must have every model boat and part made. The prices are comparable to other hobby shop suppliers. Searching their site takes a little work. Like most of these stores, the search engine is not very good. I'm spoiled by Google. The big downside is they ship from Cornwall, England. The site sells in British Pounds. That means extra shipping cost and a currency conversion fee. It will probably take a couple weeks to get the parts too. On the other hand if there is something you need that's really hard to find, they have it.

https://www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk/

John

[Gregory]

I'm not sure how shipping on parts would work out, but I have bought a couple of kits from Cornwall, and the lower cost of the kit made up  for slightly higher shipping charges.  The kits were at least $100 less than what I would have paid for a US vendor for the same kit.

Edited April 22, 2021 by Gregory

[Keith Black]

 I couldn't agree more regarding Cornwall, top shelf folks. 

[Ian_Grant]

I have bought here in the past and like them very much. I cannot understand why shipping something from the UK to Canada is often far cheaper than from the USA to Canada. I've experienced this with model parts, books, and kits (not all from CMB!).

 

I also liked The Model Dockyard but Nick recently retired...

[Gregory]

32 minutes ago, rshousha said:

Let's all run to Cornwall models and throw our local hobby shops under the bus. 

Do you have a lot of local sources for kits and parts?

Let us know who they are, and we can check them out..

 

I've used Crafty Sailor in Canada ( not exactly local for me ), but their selection is somewhat limited..

Edited April 22, 2021 by Gregory

[ccoyle]

9 minutes ago, rshousha said:

Race to the bottom. Let's all run to Cornwall models and throw our local hobby shops under the bus.

 

More like race to conclusions. And probably most of don't have access to a local hobby shop. The town I grew up in hasn't had a brick-and-mortar hobby store for nearly forty years, so it's demise certainly wasn't linked to online sales. And even if there is a local shop, most of them have tiny selections of wooden ship kits and supplies and know next to nothing about the hobby.

 

And comparing the purchase of a Chinese knock-off to the purchase of a legitimate article from a legitimate retailer? That's an apple-to-oranges comparison.

[James H]

30 minutes ago, rshousha said:

Race to the bottom. Let's all run to Cornwall models and throw our local hobby shops under the bus. 

 

Taking this a little further, why buy from Sherline when Chinese copies are cheaper? Why buy from Proxxon when Chinese imitations are cheaper? 

 

Oh well. 

You're lucky if you have a local hobby shop.

 

Most I know of succumbed in the 1990's/2000s, let alone any that would ever sell anything as niche as wooden ship kits or the accessories needed to build them. Even when my little town had 4 hobby shops in the 1980's, and as many others that sold hobby stuff as a sideline, there was never even a sniff of wooden models. 

 

You know, Manchester (UK city) doesn't even have a model shop any more....and you'd think a city that size would have several. Nope. The last, Manchester Models (Deansgate) disappeared a good few years ago. 

 

When it comes to model ships/boats, it's generally the internet that's keeping us going.

[Gregory]

6 minutes ago, rshousha said:

This discussion is exactly proof of that.

Proof of what?

That Cornwall has a better business model than you do?

[Gregory]

12 minutes ago, rshousha said:

I was just commenting on the price comparison between then and an American website. 

You insinuated shopping at Cornwall was a bad idea and unfair to other retailers, and compared them to cheap Chinese knock-offs..

 

The price difference was for European kits, which would obviously give Cornwall an advantage.

 

Also, you mentioned price breaks for bigger players.  I believe that is common practice for a lot of products.. 

Ever priced one screw vs larger quantities?

Edited April 22, 2021 by Gregory

[JohnU]

Whoa, I didn't mean to start a flame war! Just recognizing excellence when I encounter it.

 

There is a very nice hobby shop here in Port Angeles, Pacific Rim Hobby. I do shop there whenever possible. I like to support local business.  A local shop can never hope to keep everything available in the store and they must have a high enough profit margin to pay their bills and employees. They can never hope to stock more than basics and popular items. And yes, their prices are a little higher than online. But not excessively so.

 

That means online stores fill an important need. There's a place for them as well. I wouldn't want to go back to the bad old days of getting catalogs(though I do enjoy a good catalog) and sending order forms off through the mail. It could be a week turnaround for a city a few miles away.

 

Don't be fooled by the "dollar" prices quoted in Canadian web sites. It's not the same as the U.S. Dollar. I've found the prices comparable once the currency conversion is made.

 

Interestingly, Cornwall Boats web site lists their address as Cornwall, UK but my order appears to be coming via Canadian post office. Does anyone know why this is? Do they tranship through Canada? Have a Canadian subsidiary?

 

John

[James H]

21 minutes ago, JohnU said:

Whoa, I didn't mean to start a flame war! 

Don't worry, you didn't. 

[Keith Black]

34 minutes ago, JohnU said:

but my order appears to be coming via Canadian post office.

 Royal Mail thingie?

[dvm27]

Regrettably, the only remaining hobby shop I have access to is the chain Hobby Lobby and they carry few, if any, wooden ship models. It would appear that RC models are the present and future. Gone are the halcyon days of my youth where I could peruse hundreds of ship model fittings in my local hobby store then later Bliss Marine. If we don't support internet ship model shops then they'll be next to disappear.

[mtaylor]

We have one hobby shop here where I am other than Hobby Lobby.  It's been around a long time and expanded a bit for bicycles.  Mostly, it's aircraft, RC cars/trucks and trains.  They do have a small selection of plastic ships, cars, planes, etc. an surprisingly they do carry wooden ships.. mostly AL in stock and not many.  On the bright side, they'll order any kit you want.   I do support them for things like ply, tools, etc. when I can.  

[Ian_Grant]

I agree that hobby shops are scarce on the ground now compared to the 70's - 80's. I am lucky in that I have two excellent hobby shops within 5km here in west Ottawa, and another downtown. One specializes in RC, mainly planes but some power boats, with lots of stock of electronics. The other specializes in plastic models, lots of cars, planes, tanks, and a few boats. Downtown has trains and plastic models. I try to buy from the two nearby when possible - paint, glue, evergreen, brass extrusions.

 

But model ships are a niche, model sailing ships are an even narrower niche. None of these stores carry ship fittings. There are probably ten people in town who would need them. Regrettably, modeling is a dying hobby. One store owner told me that his customers are all my age (60's) getting back into the hobby now that the kids have left. The kids never got interested in models. I tried with my son but no dice.

 

We're lucky to have the internet to reach out to wherever the excellent shops carrying ship stuff are located.

[rshousha]

The second of my two best friends passed away this morning. Perhaps that is why I lashed out for no good reason. Somehow, it's always easier to lash out at friends. 

 

My apologies. 

 

[Gregory]

Sorry to hear of your loss..

 

Thanks for the apology..

[Keith Black]

Rshousha, I'm sorry for your loss, my condolences.

[ccoyle]

2 hours ago, rshousha said:

The second of my two best friends passed away this morning.

 

I am indeed sorry to hear that. I offer my condolences as well.

[rshousha]

Thank you, all. I am sure you've all had great difficulties this past year and I am being selfish in making a fuss. I do thank you for your thoughts. 

[Keith Black]

 My thoughts on being a member of MSW/NRG is, we're family. At times we may disagree, sometimes vigorously but we cheer each others success and we suffer as one when tragedy befalls one of us.

 

 

Edited April 23, 2021 by Keith Black

[mtaylor]

Sorry for your loss, Rick.   Losing friends is tough and sometimes grief does make us lash out at others.  Give it some time to heal and remember the good times with them.  

[Bob Cleek]

4 hours ago, Ian_Grant said:

But model ships are a niche, model sailing ships are an even narrower niche. None of these stores carry ship fittings. There are probably ten people in town who would need them. Regrettably, modeling is a dying hobby. One store owner told me that his customers are all my age (60's) getting back into the hobby now that the kids have left. The kids never got interested in models. I tried with my son but no dice.

 

I don't think ship modeling is a dying hobby at all. It may have been bigger with kids in earlier days before Lego co-opted modeling for kids, which I don't consider necessarily a bad thing. (It gets their creative juices flowing in much the same way.) Plastic model cars and the like were very popular when I was a kid, but I can see how my ten year old grandson can't muster the patience and attention span to build a plastic car kit when he's been raised on the instant gratification of video games. Nevertheless, now that I've opened my mind to take an interest in his world, he's teaching me to play Minecraft and I realize he's been building his own virtual world online with as much creativity as I ever exercised building plastic model kits at his age. Serious model railroading and model ship building were always primarily adult pursuits. They require specialized knowledge and dedication and lots of free time. It's an Old Guy's thing and always has been, and never a whole lot of Old Guys at that. Who else has the time and the money? That's not a bad thing, either. It's difficulty and demands keep the riff-raff out.  

 

In all my 71 years, I've only been in one store dedicated to ship model building. It was short lived and closed back in the mid-seventies. (I understand there is now one about an hour away, "Ages of Sail," which I may check out if I'm ever in the neighborhood. My impression is that it's a brick and mortar store with a large mail order business, sort of like the small Chinese restaurants who do more take out business than dine in business.  ) If anybody's looking for a walk-in place open seven days a week with lots of very expensive ship models on the shelves and tons of racks full of parts and pre-milled strip wood and every color of model paint made, good luck with that unless you live near one of the big mail order outfits.  It's just not a business model that ever penciled out. 

 

That said, the creative modeler should be able to find just about anything they need in local crafts stores, art supply stores, hardware stores, and the like. Those wishing cast scale parts and such will have to suffer the inconvenience of mail order, but how often does one need to do that anyway? (And never, if you learn to make them yourself.) Aside from an occasional specialized tool, I practically never buy modeling supplies on line and I expect a lot of serious modelers are the same. The only modeling things I bought in the last couple of years were a jeweler's hand vise, from a jeweler's supply house, and a few spools of Guttermann thread for rope making. I shop around and always compare quality and prices because I find higher quality tools in places like medical and dental instrument supply houses and commercial jewelry supply houses than I do in the "usual suspects" mega-hobby catalogs.

 

And I don't think there will be any argument that once you go "scratch," you'll never go back. It does take a bit of up front capital to obtain the tools, but there's always a work-around for just about anything except a Byrnes saw, with will pay for itself when compared to buying a couple of boxed model kits  The correct tools save time and huge amounts of money. Instead of scanning the catalogs to see what kits are available for hundreds of bucks a pop, the door to thousands of modeling subjects is opened. Often models nobody else has ever built! The plans are sitting there in books and museums and archives all over the world, many available at no cost whatsoever. (For instance, MIT just finished scanning the entire collection of N.G. Herreshoff's plans and offsets which can now be accessed for free online. The great British museum drawing collections are in the process of digitization now and can be accessed on line, with full-size hard copies available by mail for a fee.) The modeler who makes the leap to "scratch," no longer has to worry about buying much of anything from a hobby shop. It's a natural evolution after building a few kits. 

 

 

 

 

[bruce d]

Rick, very sorry to hear of your loss.

[rshousha]

Thank you all for your thoughts on my friend's passing. 

 

And now I have some time to write what I really think of the positive future of our industry: 

 

Anyone who has seen my website will see that there is a page that I call "The Virtual Factory". I have been touting this concept for at least twenty years, ever since I built my first website in 1996. 

 

In this concept, success will be found in creating unique products and services that will plug into a greater whole. Of course there is room for kits but it is clear that more and more people are spending time and money improving kits they buy. This trend will continue and, taken to extreme, a "kit" will be made up of the sum of its parts, those parts being made by many different businesses all over the world. 

 

Just from a financial perspective, this makes sense. It is already a modus operandi in the multi-media model sector where many of the latest 1:8 scale car kits are being produced bit by bit. Why spend $2000 on a kit when you can spend it at the speed you work? 

 

8 hours ago, Bob Cleek said:

MIT just finished scanning the entire collection of N.G. Herreshoff's plans and offsets which can now be accessed for free online.

 

As an example, I am receiving plans obtained from this museum on a regular basis and am now designing and cutting frames for very large R/C models continuously. Using advanced software, I am putting out about a kit a week for clients all over the world. One fellow even asked me to design a J-class boat for him that he could steer from the inside!  I declined that order. 

 

Next, there are already some great suppliers of parts. I have just received a pile of wood to cut from Northeast Lumber, for a client in Norway.  The entire transaction, from Zooming with the client, to getting the plans from a museum in the UK, and to getting the wood from Northeast, has been really fun. Now, it's up to me to get another fantastic model out of my digital workshop as soon as possible. 

 

Add to that people who are interested in 3D printing, photo-etch, rope-making, block-making, and such, and we have a great future. 

 

As someone mentioned the other day, one has to figure out a good business model. Yes, it is harder than just copying the next guy, and lowering prices, but it will be much more rewarding, and more stable, in the long run. 

 

My designs are described at length on other websites. The next one I am doing is for a present-day yacht designer, whose boats I have sailed on many times.  And then the order book is pretty well full until 2023. So my tiny part of the Virtual Factory is working full-tilt. 

 

Best Regards,

 

Rick 

 

 

 

[Justin P.]

I love Cornwall Model Boats too.   I think the Canadian shipping thing is a product of warehousing.   They probably don't stock EVERYTHING in one place and rely on other vendors for stuff they do list.   I ordered a tool the other day from a mom&pop shop in Missouri, and the system they sold was shipped from San Diego.   

 

My local Hobby Shop is an RC emporium, with a few static model options but nothing like what we need in terms of materials or tools.   5000 options for batteries, and exactly one option for x-acto knife - that sort of thing.    The best place to buy hobby lumber is actually my local hardware store, not the hobby shop.  Incidentally, they also tend to carry more useful tools too.  The closest good shop for me would be 4-500 miles away.     So I shop online, and even then I have found that I have increasingly sought out even more niche companies like Syren as opposed to ModelExpo for upgrade parts.   Which is to say, even if my local shop had the very basic of "mainstream" model ship stuff like Model Shipways, I still wouldn't be likely to buy from there.   

 

15 hours ago, rshousha said:

The second of my two best friends passed away this morning.

 

Im sorry to hear.   Id like to check out your website, is there a link?   I tried googling it, but a few options came up and which one might be yours wasn't immediately obvious to me. 

 

10 hours ago, Bob Cleek said:

And I don't think there will be any argument that once you go "scratch," you'll never go back. 

There is wisdom here.   Ive definitely found that the more equipped I have become both in tools and in experience the more I am drawn to scratch building.    I enjoy a good kit, but the expense + time in looking for replacements parts + additional expense in buying/making those parts makes kits sometimes a bit more tedious feeling.    I dislike shelling out a few hundred dollars knowing full well that almost half of the wood, fittings, rope etc is more or less useless.    I agree that it is a natural evolution one makes in time, and can see myself headed in that direction.   Though I have kits on the shelf, I don't anticipate pulling one down after my Syren is completed.   My capabilities have grown thanks to the kits I have built, and the experience Ive gained and of course my involvement with MSW.   I feel compelled to take that next step and scratch is it for me.  

 

That said, one of the greatest benefits of having developed an "equipped" shop for scratch building is that now my kids come into my shop and look around and I can literally see their creative inspiration sparking.   Maybe not with models, but when they ask if we can make something, my model projects get swept aside and we make something.  I never thought my little corner of the house would become a place of fun for them, but ship modeling and my tool obsession has left us with this place where literally anything we can think of (within reason of course) can be made.   They may never take up ship modeling as a hobby, but being around the tools and wide variety of techniques and materials is I think giving them something potentially more beneficial.

 

Whats most distressing to me is the state of hobby mills and wood availability.   There are a few options, but I do miss having someone who catered specifically to ship modeling.   

 

11 hours ago, Keith Black said:

My thoughts on being a member of MSW/NRG is, we're family. At times we may disagree, sometimes vigorously but we cheer each others success and we suffer as one when tragedy befalls one of us.

Couldn't have said it better myself.   

Edited April 23, 2021 by Justin P.

[Rik Thistle]

When I was a youngster I vaguely remember a model/toy shop down Edinburgh's Leith Walk.  There was (still is?) one up Lothian Road.

 

Then in later years there was Marionville Models (MM) - a large shop in a perfect location at Edinburgh's Maybury roundabout.

 

You could spend hours in MM roaming amongst the Airfix kits, Balsa a/c kits, wooden ship kits, RC cars, ships, planes and helicopters...it was wonderful. And plenty of spare parts and raw materials. The owner would offer you a cup of coffee and the staff loved a good chat.

 

Then drones arrives...and from my POV the drones + accessories rapidly become the main source of income. MM is no longer at Maybury but has moved slightly further West to smaller premises, is mainly online and carries a different product line.

 

I think most shops/stores of this nature need to do the bulk of their business online to survive...walk in traffic is a thing of the past as everything is more and more delivered to your front door.

 

But there are still clubs, forums and exhibitions to help bind us hobbyists together...possibly more than there ever was in the past. So the hobbyist family may have lost shops/stores as a meeting place but gained other new means of socialising.

 

Richard