Which kit for beginner-friendly kit that's 1:64, Double-planked, Square-Rigged and Pointed Bow and notionally British?

[William A]

Having lived near Greenwich and some experience with plastic kits, it felt like the Revell Cutty Sark was an obvious choice to bridge the gap into model ship building. It was only after having bought it and started work I realised just how rough much of it was, and honestly my enthusiasm has almost completely drained. I got excited about the prospect of proper rigging but the extra cost pushes the model into the same league as a wooden ship model, and it feels like throwing good money after bad.

 

As a result, I'm in the market for a kit with the following criteria:

• 1/64 since I would like to build more than one eventually and a consistent scale would be nice. Double-planked seems like the best way to go.
• Ideally a British ship: nothing against other nations, but a steady diet of Aubrey/Maturin has this as something I want
• Square Rigged, with a Pointed Bow: These are just the things which I think make a ship beautiful and I want my model to have them
• Realistically either double masted and/or with a quarter deck would be preferable. 

 

With that in mind I've been searching around for options and come across the following as potential options:

 

• Vanguard Models HMS Speedy: https://vanguardmodels.co.uk/product/hms-speedy-version-2023/
• Vanguard Models HM Sloop Grecian: https://vanguardmodels.co.uk/product/grecian/
• a distant third, the Caldercraft HM Yacht Chatham: https://www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk/acatalog/caldercraft_yacht_chatham.html#SID=95

 

I would be grateful to hear any further suggestions, or opinions/anecdotes about those ships I've shortlisted above. 

[Bob Cleek]

From what you've shared about your ship modeling goals, I would very strongly urge you to read this entire thread which is a generic answer to your question.

This thread contains decades of wisdom gained from experience. Everybody in this forum wants to see newcomers succeed. Many who are not experienced ship modelers will say that they think the most important thing one needs to build a ship model is patience. Actually, I think humility is the more essential quality. The good people who sell ship model kits, God bless them, do have an interest in selling their product and giving their customers the impression that the customer can build a complex wooden ship model kit by simply following the instructions. Instilling the confidence to build any given kit is a prerequisite to selling their kits, so there is a tendency for the manufacturers to gloss over the steepness of the learning curve required to build a fully rigged model ship kit. Many are sold, but few are finished.  

 

I will also offer my personal opinion, which is shared by some, at least, that double-planked ship model kits are not easier to build and that double planked kits are outdated at this point in the development of kit technology. Again, in my opinion, for what it is worth, the double-planked kits still sold today are generally of lesser quality than the single-planked kits and I would not advise an inexperienced modeler to choose one for their first effort. It was once true that starting with a double-planked kit was advisable, but with today's laser cut planking in many kits and much better framing design, there's really no particular reason to double-plank anymore.

 

As I think most experienced modelers would advise, anyone who is not familiar with model ship kit building would do well to start by building the three Model Shipways Shipwright Three Kit Combo Series. See: Model Shipways Shipwright 3 Kit Combo Series-MS1474 (modelexpo-online.com) Building these three relatively inexpensive boat models, which are progressively more difficult, will provide through excellent instruction manuals, a solid foundation in the skills and techniques required to move on to more challenging kits. I don't want to scare you off, but building plastic model kits is nothing like building wooden ship model kits. They each require quite distinct skill sets.

Edited October 2, 2023 by Bob Cleek

[allanyed]

It sounds like you have virtually no experience with wooden ships.   If that is the case, many folks here will attest to starting small and learning before tackling a more complex model.  It seems a major winner in that category is the three vessel series by David Antscherl available from Model Shipways.  https://modelexpo-online.com/Model-Shipways-Shipwright-3-Kit-Combo-Series_p_5465.html is one source, there may be others.  

 

You mention wanting a British ship but list Grecian which is American. 😀

 

Allan

   

[William A]

@Bob Cleek thank you, I did read that thread. I appreciate that everyone thinks they're the exception to the rule, but I just don't know how to drum up the enthusiasm for a tiny fishing boat

 

@allanyed captured in 1814 as HM Sloop Grecian so that'll have to do

[Bob Cleek]

29 minutes ago, William A said:

I just don't know how to drum up the enthusiasm for a tiny fishing boat

Then, perhaps you should read that thread about how to get started in this hobby again.  

 

The Model Shipways beginner's series produces some very nice models which don't take forever to build. If they are built with care, they are great accent pieces to display.  If you can't imagine the joy and satisfaction of building a small boat, then maybe what you are really enthusiastic about is just having a nice big model ship to display, in which case you should buy one already built. Collecting built models is a satisfying part of the hobby for some, as well. The secret to building good models is to "Do the common thing uncommonly well over and over again." Trying to do an uncommon thing before you master the common one will throw a wet blanket on your enthusiasm quicker than anything else. 

 

The enthusiasm you are drumming up for building any of the kits you've mentioned is easy to do... before you start. Last chance: Listen to what the guys who've gone before you are saying. "Over and out."

[RossR]

If planking your model the way an actual ship was planked is not the most important thing to you on a first model, consider looking at Occre.  I built their HMS Beagle as my first model and am happy with the results.   They may not be the most historically accurate models when it comes down to the finer details, but they can be built with minimal tools and no prior experience.   For the Beagle and I think the Polaris, they have a series of about 100 short YouTube videos to help step by step.   
 

If planking in the historically correct way is a goal on your first model I would go with something other than Occre.  
 

Good luck.  

[DocRob]

My first and only wooden ship build until now is Vanguard's Duchess of Kingston and it was a pure pleasure build. I finished hull and masts in about three month and had lots of fun learning new techniques and I'm a bit proud with what I achieved. 
After a longer brake, I now start with rigging and this will keep me busy for a while.
 

The DoK might not be a beginner kit, but it's very well designed, has a great manual and plans and there are plenty of very helpful build logs here on MSW.
My planking might not be historical correct (I consider to buy a NRG planking clinic kit for further enlightenment), but overall, the build never frustrated me.
Like you, I wanted to start my wooden ship modeling career with a subject, I really like to build, but I knew beforehand, I will challenge me a lot.

I have an engineering background and decades of model building, using lots of different materials on my back and have a personal quality approach and like to challenge myself. Without these, I'm sure, I would have failed with the DoK.

 

Besides the pointed bow, she has all you asked for and adds some flashy decorations as a bonus. 

 

Cheers Rob

[DonSangria]

On 10/2/2023 at 2:05 PM, RossR said:

If planking your model the way an actual ship was planked is not the most important thing to you on a first model, consider looking at Occre.  I built their HMS Beagle as my first model and am happy with the results.   They may not be the most historically accurate models when it comes down to the finer details, but they can be built with minimal tools and no prior experience.   For the Beagle and I think the Polaris, they have a series of about 100 short YouTube videos to help step by step.   
 

If planking in the historically correct way is a goal on your first model I would go with something other than Occre.  
 

Good luck.  

I had very much the same experience with the HMS beagle from Occre.

Edited October 8, 2023 by DonSangria

[Thukydides]

As many others have suggested, if you have limited experience building wooden ships I would recommend you start smaller. That is not to say it is not possible to do any of the ships you listed (if you had to pick one I would suggest maybe doing speedy), but especially if the idea of rigging intimidates you, starting with a one masted ship might be better.

 

I like you when I first jumped into this wanted to do something bigger (closer to the ship of my dreams so to speak), but in the end after much reading I decided to start with a cutter. And I will be honest, I do not regret that choice in any way as the learning curve was steeper than I expected and I will be better prepared when I move on to my next model to do something more in line with what I imagined when I started this hobby.

 

With that I would recommend you take a look at either the Trial or Alert cutters from Vanguard for the following reasons:

1. They are solid kits with great instructions that means you won’t be fighting with the kit itself to get a good result.
2. Though starting with something even smaller (like a fishing boat) would probably be a better idea, whatever you do needs to inspire you to some degree and so this does offer a ship with guns etc that I get the sense you seem to want.
3. One mast means much simple rigging which will allow you to focus on it more to get the skills down.
4. The kits have a lot of scope for improvement if you find you want to push yourself more. You don’t need to do this as you will produce a great model out of the box, but having a simpler model lets you consider adjustments as an option. This can be done in very minor ways or bigger ways. Check out Blue Ensign’s Log or mine (see my signature) if you want to see some ways you can modify the Alert kit. This can be done to a greater or lessor degree depending on your desire/skill level.

Edited October 2, 2023 by Thukydides

[Theodosius]

Hello!

 

Cool, a topic, where I can share real experience, because, at the moment I'm also building my first wooden ship model :-).

 

You allready get real good advice from more experienced builders than me, so I can only speak for myself here: I started with Vanguards Speedy. 

 

Reasons (for me) why:

 

- It looks so beautiful, even if I have lastly "only" finished the hull, it looks so good, that the admiral is fine with it staying in the living room, even at this stage of my build 

I think one can't overesteminate the "beauty of the chosen model in the eyes of the builder", because, it will takes a lot of time to build one, and the "liking" of a model ist pure motivation in the long term!

 

- Top notch building instructions, you can download them from the vanguard web-page for free. I'm sure, you allready found that out by yourself :-)

 

- very important for me: the vanguard kits come all with top-notch-quality parts in every way! Especcially the wood! High quality pear, and that is then the basic, you can (I don't know without looking at the shop) go for boxwood for an addional share, but that is perhaps better spend on your second modell :-)

 

- ALL parts are in scale! All guns! All gun-carriages! All deadeyes! All etc, etc, etc. you get the point.  And that is not for all ship model kits, but Vanguard is top notch in this regard!

 

- Last two posts: no need to buy aftermarket parts for, well, aftermarket prices :-). So I can say, that the Vanguard kits may(!) look expensive on the first glance, but if you look at what you get, and compare this to other kits, the Vanguard's are very very very fair priced!

 

- phantastic community here, which gives a ton of advice and help! And from time to time, even the developer of the kit looks into the build logs here.

 

If I would start all over again, I shurly would chosse Speedy again! As you can see in my log, I had my share of problems, but I get all the help that I needet to sort them out, and I am realy happy with this kit/modell/quality/community here!

[William A]

Thank you all. I had a Cutty Sark model on the go which I shelved (see OP) - feeling a bit at sea (pun!) I'm going to push forward with that first and see how it lands. I don't suppose it will prepare me any better for a wooden kit but I can at least prove that I want to, and can, build a large ship kit to completion with at least the standing rigging.

 

Thank you all for the advice, I will check back with this thread once the Cutty Sark is nearing completion!