New - Ellie Mara - Two-Masted Coastal Schooner - 1/87 scale - BlueJacket

[kurtvd19]

 

 

REVIEW OF BLUEJACKET'S – ELLIE MARA  KIT #1115

Scale:  1/87 - HO Scale

Length overall:  15"

Height:  12"

Beam: 3 1/4"

Skill Level:  Upper end of their Ensign level.

Cost: $124.00

 

Photo by BlueJacket

 

HISTORY

 

This kit is an HO scale waterline model of a late 19th century centerboard Maine coasting schooner.  The model is based on the 72' GRACE BAILEY built in 1882 in Patchogue, NY by Gilbert Smith for Edwin Bailey and named after his daughter Grace Bailey.  She was rebuilt in 1906 and renamed MATTIE.  She was restored in 1989-1990 and was renamed back to the original name GRACE BAILEY the name she currently holds.  She is still sailing in the "Windjammer" fleet providing sailing cruises along the coast of Maine.  She was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1992 and is one of the four remaining two-masted wooden-hulled schooners, once the most prolific type in the American coasting trade.

In keeping with tradition, the kit name of ELLIE MARA is the name of the daughter of  BlueJacket's owner Nic Damuck. 

 

INSTRUCTION BOOK AND PLAN SHEETS

 

The kit comes in a 16 3/4" x 6 3/4" x 4" box. A big box for a 10" long hull but some 12" long wood and Brass pieces and the folded plans make a longer box necessary.  I suspect that this might be the smallest box BlueJacket stocks. PHOTO 1  The box requires a good amount of "packing paper" to fill the extra space.  My review kit arrived in perfect condition attesting to careful packing.  Upon opening the box and discarding all the packing papers I suggest that the next item to be removed after the hull, wrapped in bubble wrap is examined should be the instruction manual. PHOTO 2  Open it to the last page of the manual with the parts lists.  Use the two pages of parts to do an inventory of the kit to make sure you have everything accounted for. PHOTOS 3 & 4   The manual is a total of 16 pages, printed double sided.  Besides the two pages of part lists there are four pages with eight color photographs of the completed model.  All areas and details of the model are shown in these photographs.  PHOTO 6

PHOTO 1

PHOTO 2

PHOTO 3

PHOTO 4

 

Pages two and three contain a very short history of the prototype boat, a listing of tools and materials needed, a couple of tips to help with the build and a list of paints needed and where each is used.  PHOTO 5   Pages four through ten are the actual instructions with very clear descriptions of how to build the model.  Bold type is used for NOTES and CAUTIONS to make it clear to the modeler to pay attention to them.  There are no drawings or photographs within the well written instructions area but with the plan sheets and the color photographs in the manual they are, in my opinion, not needed.

The two plan sheets are 24" x 36" and there is color used on each sheet to make some details clear and the rigging very easy to follow.

 

                                                   PHOTO 5

PHOTO 6

 

THE KIT PARTS

 

The parts are all contained in sealed clear plastic "bags".  I removed the parts from the kit "bags" to be able to photograph the parts due to the difficulty in seeing the parts while in the "bags".  They are very well sealed to prevent loss in shipping and being able to count them while doing the inventory.  PHOTOS 7 & 8

 

 

                                             PHOTO 7

PHOTO 8

 

The laser cut wood piece and the two pieces of laser board are in a plastic bag together.  Laser board is coming into use for parts in model ship building but the model railroaders have been using it for some time.  The following link to the subject "Laserboard, what material and where to get it" here on MSW is below.

https://modelshipworld.com/topic/15915-laserboard-what-material-and-where-to-get/?tab=comments#comment-781873

I think the use of the 0.035" (scale 3") Laserboard for the cap rails is a perfect use for this material as it is smooth, grain less, and it bends to the shear with no force required.  It is also used for the cabin roof.  The sheet of 0.015 (scale 1.3") is used for the mast hoops, the ships boat's floorboards and cap rails.  The 0.015" laser board does the job better than most modelers, me included, could do with wood in this dimension.  PHOTOS 9 & 10

PHOTO 9

PHOTO 10

 

The rigging line is provided in three sizes 0.005", 0.010" and 0.020" in black and 0.010" in white.  PHOTO 11

PHOTO 11

 

There are two sizes and lengths of chain provided.  A 3" piece of small links for the Bobstay and a 12' piece of larger links for the anchor chains.  Also shown are four brass chain plates that are used in the construction of the two davits.

PHOTO 12

 

                                               PHOTO 12

 

 

CAST BRITANNIA PARTS

 

PHOTO 13 shows one of the three type/size of blocks provided.  There are six stropped 3/32" double blocks, six stropped 1/8" double blocks and 30 stropped 1/8" single blocks provided.

 

                                                     PHOTO 13

 

PHOTO 14 shows the ships boat, galley stack, windlass, ship's wheel and two casks.

 

                                                             PHOTO 14

 

PHOTO 15 shows the hawse lips, running lights, two sizes of stropped deadeyes, and two bilge pumps.

 

                                                  PHOTO 15

 

PHOTO 16 shows the anchors, shackles, anchor stocks, double bitt, two wide Britannia strips and four narrow Britannia strips.

 

                                                                PHOTO 16

Not shown are 12 deadeyes – once you have seen one deadeye you have seen them all..right?  Actually, I left these in the original "bag" for safe keeping and they do not show well in a photograph.

 

 

WOOD: STRIPS AND DOWELS

 

The strip wood consists of three sizes of plain strips and two pieces of single bead strips of bass wood.  There are three sizes of wood dowels with two of birch and five of bass.  PHOTO 17

 

                                                            PHOTO 17

 

BRASS PARTS

The 26 Brass belaying pins are very nicely proportioned and flawless.  Be careful when you open the "bag" containing these parts – they are tightly packed and good luck if you drop one in the carpet.  PHOTO 18

 

                                                       PHOTO 18

 

There is a single photo etch fret containing eyepins.  Leave them on the fret until needed.  PHOTO 19

 

                                                           PHOTO 19

 

 

 

MISCELLANEOUS PARTS

 

Miscellaneous parts are the decal with the ship's name PHOTO 20 and a three-foot-long roll of black tape PHOTO 21.

 

                                                   PHOTO 20

PHOTO 21

 

 

A 1/2" piece of 1/6" aluminum tube is provided and shown in PHOTO 12.

 

THE RESIN HULL

 

The hull is shown in PHOTOS 22, 23 and 24.  PHOTO 22 shows the entire hull and PHOTOS 23 and 24 show close ups of details.  Overall, the casting is good.  It is the rare resin cast hull that does not have numerous voids caused by air bubbles in the resin and this hull has several such voids.  However, they are all able to be fixed easily.  There are also a couple of shallow longitudinal voids in the sides of the hull – again, easily fixed.  The hull is without distortion, and it sits flat on its bottom.  The next hull may have many less voids, or it might have more.  Each will vary and if the number of voids or the size of the voids will present an actual problem, the manufacturer will not sell the casting.

 

PHOTO 22

PHOTO 23

PHOTO 24

 

 

Telling how to fix defects in the hull is not a usual part of a kit review, but so modelers reading this review who have not made a resin based kit are not dissuaded from buying this kit, I think its worth explaining that its no big deal to make the kind of repairs this hull needs.

PHOTO 24  shows the port side.  To fix the voids in the stanchions and bulwarks is a simple matter of using a filler material to fill in the void.  Use a flat faced tool to square off the faces of the stanchions and let it cure.  Sand if necessary and after removing the dust add more filler to fill in any shallow areas.  Repeat this process as needed.

The same procedure is used to fill the longitudinal voids shown in PHOTO 23.  This type of void is easily filled.  Use a putty knife type of tool to fill the voids with filler.  After the first application cures, sand the area knocking down the high points of the filler and after removing the dust apply an additional coat to fill in the shallow areas.  Repeat as needed.

 

CONCLUSION

 

In my opinion this kit is a good product.  The instructions, plans and photographs work together to provide adequate guidance in building and finishing the model.  It's reasonably priced for the intended skill level and the parts supplied give the modeler what he/she needs to make a very nice model that can be displayed in a place of honor in the home.  I think the kit is a good starting point for a more advanced modeler to do some upgrading by substituting some parts with scratch-built pieces making it into a unique model.

 

END

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 2, 2022 by kurtvd19

[MrBlueJacket]

Kurt,

Thanks for the review.

 

Nic