What do you think? When the planks come pre spiled and bent might one just build in plastic?

[rudybob]

To me most of the point is gone even though I am bad at spiling and bending.

Of course it might bring more folk to the hobby

 

What's your view

[Kelp]

Pre-spiled wood would probably be good for a beginner’s first kit, to get the person familiar with the techniques of working in wood.  Making the wood pre-spiled would probably more likely enable the person to finish his/her kit and to then be encouraged by the final result to continue with the hobby and then attempt a kit a next step up in difficulty as a next project.

 

Don

[ccoyle]

Different kit philosophies appeal to different modelers. I admire those who enjoy spiling and are good at it. I have accomplished the feat myself, but I don't particularly enjoy it. I have built a kit from Master Korabel that had pre-spiled planking, and I enjoyed that build very much. As I always say, some people just enjoy putting things together (without having to manufacture all of the parts in addition). I like to build card models; it involves not only assembling, but also cutting out and shaping hundreds, sometimes thousands, of printed parts. It's not a process that appeals to everyone. Fortunately, our hobby has plenty of room for modelers of all types.

[mtaylor]

I recall seeing a plastic kit many years ago with some of the planks being molded and needing to be installed separately.   Gave the builder of the option of showing the lower deck area or not.   

 

As for wood, pre-spiled planks can be very good or very bad.  Depends on the kit and the care to which the kit is built.  I've done one pre-spiled kit and it worked out well for me.    On one hand, it provides an accurate planking.  On the other, one can learn that skillset.  

[BenD]

Honestly the kit market should have all types of models to fulfill what everyone likes. I personally like the kits with pre spilled planks. Anyone who really wants a challenge can try there hand at scratch building.

Edited August 4, 2022 by BenD

[Ponto]

1 hour ago, rudybob said:

To me most of the point is gone even though I am bad at spiling and bending.

Of course it might bring more folk to the hobby

 

What's your view

Your reference to building in plastic sounds a but condescending. I hope it was was not meant in this way. Scale models in any medium can lead to works of art or end in disaster. After building with wood for many years I've returned to the plastic medium and the skill set required is no less demanding than that  required of  the wood medium. It is just different.

Edited March 28, 2022 by Ponto

[rudybob]

3 hours ago, Ponto said:

Your reference to building in plastic sounds a but condescending. I hope it was was not meant in this way. Scale models in any medium can lead to works of art or end in disaster. After building with wood for many years I've returned to the plastic medium and the skill set required is no less demanding than that  required of  the wood medium. It is just different.

I thought it possible that someone would think that. I reflected at that time and was sure that no one would be offended. I was wrong. I work in plastic. It's fun. I also craft in plastic. On the cheap I wanted a Gloster Gladiator on skis but would not fork over for a kit at the asking price. I bought an Airfix and made my own skis from unused bombs and sprue. I hope everyone has fun. It was merely a question

 

In my morning e-mail I saw a nice Imperial Russian Steam Launch at an incredible price. It has pre spiled and bent sprue. I would have bought it but I don't stash models. That was the genesis of my question

 

Edited March 28, 2022 by rudybob

[BobG]

On 3/28/2022 at 1:23 PM, mtaylor said:

I've done one pre-spiled kit and it worked out well for me.

I built the Syren Medway Longboat and it had pre-spiled planks. I'm sure it made the planking easier but it certainly still had its challenges for me. I learned a lot from just being able to see what properly shaped planks look like to begin with. I'm sure I would not have been as pleased with the outcome of the planking if the planks had not been pre-spiled so I'm happy that Chuck decided to do that on that kit.

 

The learning curve for good planking has been steep for me and I'm still do not feel all that confident about it but it's coming along little by little. However, fairing the hull correctly is something that I still feel highly uncertain about. Now if the bulkheads only came pre-faired...that would be something! 😂

[allanyed]

Hi Bob,

Glad to see another member join the spiled planking club and avoid the completely unrealistic and poorly done planking designs seen in many kits.

Allan

[OllieS]

I am new to wooden ship modelling (it was a response to covid lockdowns) so please correct me if I'm wrong.

It seems to me that there is a recent trend to manufacture beautiful kits in wood (at a price) that would be the envy of scratch builders of the past simply because it is now possible to do that. That's fine of course but I realise that that is not my interest. I look at them and think about it and then decide that what I actually want is to do my own thing aided by an older style of kit. 

[mtaylor]

1 hour ago, OllieS said:

I am new to wooden ship modelling (it was a response to covid lockdowns) so please correct me if I'm wrong.

It seems to me that there is a recent trend to manufacture beautiful kits in wood (at a price) that would be the envy of scratch builders of the past simply because it is now possible to do that. That's fine of course but I realise that that is not my interest. I look at them and think about it and then decide that what I actually want is to do my own thing aided by an older style of kit. 

Nothing wrong with doing older styles, IMO.   Yes, many of the new ones are more in scale and more detailed, but taking an older kit and "fixing it" is a lot of fun also. 

[Jaager]

In reference to the last question in the title:  Am I alone in this?

While it works about as well as can be wished for iron and steel,  plastic is |absolutely| unconvincing and inappropriate in representing wood. 

So the answer is: No.

[Stevinne]

I look at it as a continuum of model building skills. Some folks like to do everything on their own, others just want to concentrate on building. I imagine there are some scratchbuilders who can't see the point of laser-cut bulkheads and parts.  

[Bob Cleek]

If the comments and complaints I read in the plastic kit modeling forums are any indicationi, it seems there's an ongoing problem with the fitting accuracy of a lot of plastic model kits. Apparently, it's not all that easy to manufacture plastic parts to the degree of fit accuracy many plastic modelers expect. I'd expect fitting plastic planking would be a nightmare if the problems that are encountered just fitting two plastic hull halves together without gaps is any indication. 

[Dr PR]

Here's my two cents - and that's about all it is really worth.

 

I started modelling in the early '50s with simple balsa airplane kits (before plastic came along). They were mediocre at best. Next came the early plastic models that seemed to be wonderfully detailed at the time, but pretty crude by modern standards. They were a LOT easier to build, with MUCH better results. At one time I had a fleet of 15-20 plastic ship models - almost every penny of my allowance.

 

Then I started building wooden models from scratch in the  late '50s, with just a few sheets and sticks of aircraft balsa (all that was available from hobby shops at the time). I wanted to model vessels that weren't available in plastic. Scratch building every last piece - without any decent plans - was quite a challenge, but a lot of fun. But those early models really weren't much to look at and nowhere near accurate.

 

My first kit was  Billings Santa Maria in 1969. After scratch building it seemed like doing a paint by number painting. Not very challenging, but I learned a lot about wood ship model building, especially planking! With that kit many of the parts had to be cut from sheets of plywood that had the outlines printed on. I built a couple other kits, and added increasing amounts of hand made details. I have several more in my stash.

 

Now you can get kits with all the parts pre-cut and shaped. They seem to me to be like 3D jigsaw puzzles.

 

I am now kit bashing a kit of one vessel into something different, a blend of kit and scratch building.

 

And I am 3D printing hundreds of parts parts for a large (6 1/2 foot) scratch built metal and plastic model based on a commercially available fiberglass hull. Again, it will be a ship for which no kit is available, either in wood or plastic. All of the parts (printed or not) will be from my CAD model of the ship.

 

And I am working on plans for a wooden model of a wooden minesweeper. Again, every piece will be hand made.

 

So I have tried a little of everything, and I think there is a place for all of these versions in our hobby.

Edited September 21, 2022 by Dr PR

[Nirvana]

A friend of mine built the MS Longboat and had a heck of a time with planking. When Chuck released his bigger version and with prespiled plan.
He said this made it easier but was a challenge for him.

 

For me, I have no issues with regular planks. 

One disadvantage with prespiled is if you break one by mistake....... then what?